Events Calendar
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 9th
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 21
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 23
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 25
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Stewardship Session: Shell Bag Assembly
Help our Aquaculture Coordinator create bags of oyster shells for our spat-on-shell oyster reef restoration projects!
This volunteer opportunity will entail: cutting and tying mesh to create bags; shoveling cured shell into the bags; neatly stacking bags off to the side. Gloves can be provided, but we encourage you to bring your own. Expect to get mildly wet and/or dirty, depending on conditions.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 4
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 6
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 8
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 19
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 21
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, June 23
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 7
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Tiana Tuesdays Garden Club
Join us for Tiana Tuesday Garden Club, where we gather to work on our coastal garden. This is a great community service opportunity!
Horseshoe Crab Monitoring @ Tiana Bayside, May 5
Become a citizen scientist and participate in island-wide data collection to help count and tag horseshoe crabs.
Stewardship Session: Shell Bag Assembly
Help our Aquaculture Coordinator create bags of oyster shells for our spat-on-shell oyster reef restoration projects!
This volunteer opportunity will entail: cutting and tying mesh to create bags; shoveling cured shell into the bags; neatly stacking bags off to the side. Gloves can be provided, but we encourage you to bring your own. Expect to get mildly wet and/or dirty, depending on conditions.
Spring Cleaning- Tiana Bayside Clean Up
Help us clean the marshlands of man made debris and learn about the biology and importance of marsh grasses as we discuss decreases in marshlands and the ways that CCE is working to restore them.
Earth Day - Blue Carbon Habitat Restoration
Join us this Earth Day to learn about Blue Carbon Habitats and the role of coastal plants in mitigating climate change. Help create SEAd bombs, which help to repopulate coastal plants that support pollinators, sequester carbon, and prevent erosion.
Beachgrass Planting in Hampton Bays
Help us plant 4000 culms of beachgrass along Dune Rd in Hampton Bays. This area needs a good healthy planting of native beachgrass to protect and preserve our shorelines from erosion and runoff.
*Please bring work gloves to protect your hands!
Marine Meadows Workshop, Nov 4, Shelter Island
*Date Change: This event was originally scheduled for October 14th. The new date is November 4th.
Shelter Island Town has provided Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program with funds through a CPF Water Quality Improvement grant to conduct extensive shellfish and eelgrass restoration in Town waters and we need your help!
Join us at our upcoming Marine Meadows Workshop on 10/14/23 at Sylvester Manor where we will be bringing adult eelgrass shoots to shore for processing into our biodegradable burlap planting units. Once stocked, these eelgrass "tortillas" will be planted at our restoration sites by CCE Marine's Dive Team where they will provide essential habitat for finfish and shellfish, help improve water quality and coastal resiliency of our shorelines.
About CCE's Marine Meadows Program: The main purpose of the CCE Eelgrass Program is to restore and monitor eelgrass, our dominant local seagrass species. Eelgrass meadows provide essential habitat for many species of finfish and shellfish during part or all stages of life. Due to the structure and protection they provide, eelgrass meadows are the most biodiverse marine habitats in our region. These meadows also help to prevent or lesson erosion from storm events and help control turbidity by slowing currents and settling particulates from the water column. Eelgrass meadows also capture exess nutrients such as nitrogen and sequester carbon to combat acidification of our waters caused by climate change. Unfortunately, eelgrass populations have declined dramatically over the past 75 years due to many reasons, and without our help, will not likely make a comeback in the near future as there are no ready sources of propagules (seeds or adult shoots) to naturally vegetate these areas. This situation is called propagule limitation and it is the basis for our restoration work. The more seeding and planting we can can do, the better the outcome for our local marine meadows so we encourage you to get involved by participating in our workshops, and contributing to these important efforts.
Learn more about our Shelter Island Stewardship Fund here: https://backtothebays.org/shelterisland
Oyster Shell Bagging on Shelter Island
Help our Aquaculture Coordinator create bags of oyster shells for our spat-on-shell oyster reef restoration projects!