Brevard County Living Shoreline Demonstration Site

General Project Information

Project footprint:

525 l.ft. (2,210 sq.ft)

Location:

505 5th Ave., Indialantic, FL 32903

Can it be visited by the public?

Yes

Coordinating organization:

Restore Our Shores, a conservation program of Brevard Zoo. https://restoreourshores.org/

Timeline

Start date and completion date:

July 2016 – June 2017

Other relevant timeline information:

Project was built across three roughly adjacent properties in Indialantic, FL at the eastern terminus of the US-192 Causeway. Project has educational signage to highlight important features and help the visitor navigate the three properties. Four different designs were highlighted at these properties. Riverside Park – narrow oyster breakwater in front of riprap, Eastminster Presbyterian Church – living shoreline with large oyster breakwater, Douglas Park – oyster revetment/oyster revetment and oyster breakwater both in front of a seawall.

The project was funded by the State of Florida, Department of Economic Opportunity and was supported by the following partners: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, Brevard Zoo’s Restore Our Shores program, Florida Institute of Technology, Town of Indialantic FL, Eastminster Presbyterian Church of Indialantic, St. Johns River Water Management District, and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. Project pursued three Individual Environmental Resource Permits with FDEP (including an easement at Eastminster to allow us greater working depth at 30 feet from the Mean High Water Line), and three Nationwide 54 Permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Project Components

Type of project:

Sills, Breakwater, and Revetment

Materials:

Mangroves, Other native plants, Oyster mats/bags, Redeemed seawall, and Rip-rap

Energy level:

MEDIUM 

Optional information

Plant species included:

Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)

Source of materials:

Aquatic Plants of Florida, Brevard Zoo’s Adopt-A-Mangrove project, and FWC’s donor marsh at the Marine Discovery Center for the vegetation.

Brevard’s regional Shuck and Share program provided the oyster shell cultch, and Brevard Zoo’s Oyster Gardening project provided the live oysters.

Cultch material used:

Oyster shell collected and recycled by the Shuck and Share program, coordinated in the county by Brevard Zoo.

Cost per linear foot:  

~$775/l.ft but grant funded a variety of components not just the design, permitting, and construction of the project. The grant funded design and fabrication of a Shell Bagging Machine, the Brevard’s regional Shuck and Share program, an ex situ living shoreline demonstration exhibit at the Zoo, a published wave energy modelling experiment conducted by Florida Tech, and other components that makes this cost estimate unhelpful to those planning their own projects.

Contact for more information:

Jake Zehnder, jzehnder@brevardzoo.org