Posted on July 26, 2020
The St. Johns River Water Management District is diving right in with a pilot project to restore the DeBary Bayou, also known as the Gemini Springs Run, by using mechanical harvesters to remove exotic and nuisance vegetation.
An ambitious plan to rid DeBary Bayou of invasive and excess vegetation has begun.
If successful, St. Johns River Water Management District pilot project could return the bayou to something like its original form, when it was teeming with fish and other wildlife.
The plan is to restore the DeBary Bayou, also known as the Gemini Springs Run, by using mechanical harvesters to remove exotic and nuisance vegetation. To do that, the water level in the bayou needs to rise.
The project was announced a month ago. The bayou also connects to Gemini Springs, which was added to the state’s formal list of impaired bodies of water in April 2016.
Saundra Gray, a member of the Gemini Springs Alliance and former member of the district water board, said there’s been extensive data collection on the bayou’s behavior and how it can be repaired.
It’s a part of the reason the alliance was formed. Among other things, the alliance hopes to use data gathered from the bayou project to convince the Florida Department of Transportation to add longer bridge spans over the DeBary Bayou when Interstate 4 is redesigned and widened.
“It’s not the active ecosystem that it once was. The fishing used to be legendary, with bass, brim, shell crackers, and that has died,” Gray said. “We’re looking at trying to restore and improve what’s there with what we have to work with. The district people said one thing we can do is harvest the invasive species.”
Gray, who used to own Gemini Springs with her husband, Charles, said much of what caused the invasive species to become the problem it is today was the urge to spray the vegetation.
“We’ve got this huge accumulation of flocculent, dead vegetation on the bottom (of the bayou),” she said. “Instead of spraying and killing the stuff and letting it sink, we can harvest it and remove it.”
Erich Marzolf, director of Water and Land Resources for the water management district, said the project will begin in earnest as soon as the water level rises enough for the mechanical harvesters to get through.
“Our bayou project is really a pilot one in terms of using this type of mechanical harvesting,” he said. “We’re waiting on rainfall, really.”
Marzolf said the water levels will have to raise by about a foot and a half before the majority of the work can be completed. Since the beginning of the project, he said workers have improved an access road for trucks to haul away vegetation.
Although he wasn’t sure of the exact invasive species that would be removed, Marzolf was confident that the water levels will rise, and said the district should be able to bring in the mechanical harvesters by summer’s end.
Gray said despite the effort that the project will take, the results will be worth it. The money for the project has been set aside for this year, and Marzolf said everything is lined up for the project to continue next year.
“This is going to require a lot of cooperation. It’s going to require the state, the county, the city, the residents, possibly even federal agencies, but I think on the whole, people really love the place,” Gray said. “It’s magical.”
Gray said in order to restore the bayou as close to its original state as possible, dredging and septic-to-sewer projects will also be needed in the future.
Septic-to-sewer projects have been contentiously debated across Volusia County. Some residents disputed science that indicates septic tanks cause pollution in areas around bodies of water, such as the DeBary Bayou. Gray said it’s important to come together on such issues for the greater good.
“There’s so much that we can do to improve and augment this marvelous asset that we have in this area,” Gray said. “It’s a great spawning ground for fish, it’s a great birding area, it’s good for kayaking, canoeing. I would live to see people be able to swim in Gemini Springs again.”
Source: palmbeachpost
