Be The Change

by Teresa Hall -- June 20, 2007

At 5:00 a.m. on Saturday June 16th the alarm went off.  Stumbling out of bed completely disoriented, it was nearly comical how different it is when it is the alarm clock style 5:00 a.m. instead of the night of music followed by sunrise style.  A life of music tends to be the “still awake at that hour” rather than the “its time to get up” style of weekend.  But this was different.  This was giving back to Mother Nature and well worth the painful alarm clock on a Saturday morning to Be The Change. 

Thanks to unwavering dedication in generating community awareness and encouraging involvement through any means possible, Kurt Zuelsdorf, owner of Kayak Nature Adventures in Gulfport, IS the change that our local habitat desperately needs.  His program, Bring Back the Bayou, has attracted local and national attention to an ongoing problem in the precious bay estuaries, namely the pollution and environmental damage that continues due to unfiltered and untreated storm water runoff that carries all manner of debris right into the most delicate areas of the greater Tampa Bay estuary system.

Kurt Zuelsdorf has helped generate media coverage and municipal, corporate and community involvement to clean up decades of trash from Clam Bayou, a nature preserve that is on the border between Gulfport and St. Petersburg.  In addition, he enlisted the support of the Southwest Florida Management District and The Green Armada to address the ongoing problem and initiate the type of total community awareness that has lead to necessary changes and upgrades to the Pinellas County Storm Drain infrastructure beginning in 2008.  The $6 plus million dollar project includes construction of retention ponds, filtered drainage and restoration of the bayou to a more natural state by 2010.

Although local and state agencies have allocated millions of dollars over the past few years to clean up Clam Bayou, the efforts have been spent on the most visible areas of the preserve, leaving the most delicate areas of the ecosystem still marred with literally TONS of garbage.  St. Petersburg may be the first and only city in the state to be named a “Green City” by the Florida Green Building Coalition, but lift up some mangrove branches along her waterways and Mother Nature may just argue that fact.  Until vast improvements are implemented in the local drainage system, the problem will continue, but in the meantime, we as a community can help.

The Clam Bayou Cleanup on June 16th was the largest cleanup effort in bay area history attracting upwards of 300 volunteers and a plethora of media.  Side by side with volunteers, traipsing through often knee deep muck picking up debris, were mayors Mike Yakes of Gulfport and Rick Baker of St Petersburg.  State Representative Rick Kriseman showed his support and thanked all the volunteers, even though his crutches prevented him from participating. 

In less than three hours, volunteers scoured a square acre of mangrove forest removing trash in an estimated 9,500 bags, along with items too large for bags that totaled an estimated 24 tons of garbage.  During previous Bring Back the Bayou efforts, 15 shopping carts, rusty bicycles, a motorcycle, hot wheels, Barbie dolls, a sofa and even a blow up doll have been fished from the Clam Bayou preserve.  Yes, a blow up doll, affectionately named Bayou Betty, that the previous owner most likely enjoyed much more than the wildlife at the preserve.  Curiosity certainly begs the question of just exactly how that ended up in a storm drain!

As the sun crept up to the mid-day sky, volunteers covered with mud emerged from the mangrove forest beaming with the wide smiles that only giving of this magnitude can induce as local home owners offered up their hoses for everyone to clean off.  While lunch, donated by various local businesses was cooked up on the grill, cleanup participants shared stories of their most interesting finds; hypodermic needles, for rent signs, children’s toys, drug bags, boat hatch doors, building debris, flip flops, oil containers, televisions and tires, just to name a few. 

The vibe in the air was tangible as people discussed other upcoming volunteer events and how we can keep the bayous clean until the storm drainage improvements are completed; it was music rising from the souls of people who care enough to crawl out of bed early and get dirty on their day off, just because.  The power of community was clearly evident as pride exploded through the conversations in a way that nothing else can.  Everywhere someone turned, they could not only see, but hear what it means to Be The Change.  Sometimes that 5:00 a.m. alarm clock isn’t so painful when you get to hear such beautiful music at the end of the journey.

Do you want to Be The Change? 
Here’s a few of the things YOU can do:

Rather help with your checkbook instead of your time?  Then sponsoring a fleet can help support much needed ongoing cleanup efforts.  For as little as $50.00, organizations and individuals can sponsor kayak rentals to volunteers willing to help the cleanup effort 365 days a year.  See why sponsorship pays in this video.

Are you the destructive sort?  Do power tools make you drool?  Then maybe spending the day helping to eradicate invasive plant species that choke our natural habitat and waterways is just your flavor of fun.

Enjoy snorkeling AND a scavenger hunts?  Then the Great Bay Scallop Search is right up your alley.  The Great Bay Scallop Search is a resource- monitoring program where volunteers snorkel along set transect lines in lower Tampa Bay to count scallops and document the population trend. The Great Bay Scallop Search has been conducted since 1993, with coordinating support provided by the Tampa Bay National Estuary Program.

Join a local environmental group such as The Green Armada or Tampa Bay Watch, subscribe to Bay Soundings and support businesses that support the local environment!  Every day, in many ways, you CAN Be The Change.

Fast Facts About Tampa Bay
from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program

Links to recent articles:

Heroes of Conservation: Moving Mountains with Kayaks, published June 18, 2007 – Field & Stream Magazine

Unsoiling Nature, published June 17, 2007 – St. Petersburg Times

Clam Bayou Park collects trash, volunteers, published June 17, 2007 – St. Petersburg Times

Group, cities ready for Clam Bayou cleanup, published June 13, 2007 – St. Petersburg Times

Cities, Community Groups Plan Clam Bayou Cleanup, published June 4, 2007 – Tampa Tribune

Clam Bayou, where the trash flows, published May 16, 2007 – St. Petersburg Times

Clam Bayou Is Making A Comeback, published May 3, 2007 – Tampa Tribune

Hero of the Week, published March 30, 2007 – Field & Stream Magazine

Photo by Scott Keeler - St Petersburg Times

Photo by Marth Rial - St Petersburg Times

Photo by Martha Rials - St Petersburg Times

Photo by Marth Rials - St Petersburg Times

Bayou Betty - Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com

Photo from www.kayaknature.com