Snook Islands

 

 

In the early 1920s, dredging and filling along the western edge of Lake Worth Lagoon adjacent to what is now the City of Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course left a series of oxygen-poor deep holes which accumulated many feet of silt and muck, contributing to poor water quality and providing minimal habitat value.

The area where the holes were has very poor water quality, with sludge in the bottom from years of discharges from the Palm Beach Canal (C-51) which drains the sugar fields to the west and urban development along the way. While engineers try to sort out ways to fix the problem, Palm Beach County, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), the City of Lake Worth, and the Federal Inland Navigation District (FIND) have figured out a way to increase wildlife habitat and clean up the water.

The solution was complicated by permitting standards, but simple and inclusive in practice. The county has a spoil island park called Peanut Island near Riviera Beach in the Intracoastal Waterway that people liked to visit to boat, snorkel, camp, picnic, and enjoy but it was infested with invasive exotic vegetation. FIND had used the island to place sand dredged from the inlet on the island, making it very high and a prime place for invasive plants to take root. It was covered in Australian pines, with very little native plants.

The county looked for ways to reduce the height of the island, get rid of the exotic trees, make the park better for its visitors and restore native habitat. Coordination with all the other agencies paid off.

Over the last five years, Palm Beach County has worked with the City of Lake Worth and other partners to eliminate erosion and create a natural shoreline in this area now known as the Snook Islands Natural Area. First, all the exotic plant species – Australian pine, Brazilian pepper and seaside mahoe were removed from five acres of shoreline.

Approximately 1.2 million cubic yards of spoil material from Peanut Island was placed in the inter- and sub-tidal zones and graded to wetland elevations to create mangrove islands and seagrass habitat. Later, the county planted mangroves and native maritime hammock species on Peanut Island and created a new snorkeling area by placing artificial reefs in the shallows.

Eve though a few citizens waged some rather well organized door-to door opposition, the project went ahead. It was an amazing feat of engineering, cooperation and vision. I remember watching the barges moving huge amounts of sand from Peanut Island and heading south to its destination near my home in Lake Worth, one after another after another for months. They moved sand 24 hours a day with an operation that was amazingly efficient.

I went to the golf course nights to watch as the giant machinery moved and shaped what was to be one of the most dramatic restoration projects we’ve seen in this area. The barges would come, shoved along by a tugboat to align themselves near the site while an enormous crane unloaded its payload in the glaring lights, to be sifted and placed in the restoration islands. It took a little over a year and completed ahead of schedule. For a look at the enormity of the project go to http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/erm/enhancement/snook.asp for an aerial view.

We see all kinds of birds now in greater numbers than before the work. Fish are coming in to spawn and the mangroves are growing fast. The hurricanes didn’t hurt them and seagrasses are beginning to colonize the site. The oyster beds will surely improve the water quality, and already the clarity of the shoreline water has improved. Over time, we are hopeful the birds will roost in the mangroves to raise their young, one part of completing a vision shared by the local governments, citizens and the agencies that made the project possible.