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Health & Fitness

Marine Meadows Workshop Sunday at Napeague Harbor 10AM!!

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (CCE) will be offering a Marine Meadows Program Workshop to the public on Sunday May 18, 2014 from 10 am to noon. The event will take place in partnership with East Hampton Trustees at the Napeague Harbor launch ramp! This event will be the THIRD Marine Meadows workshop held in East Hampton!

We are looking for donations of food and beverages to help feed the tireless volunteers- and also gifts to raffle off to those who weave the most eelgrass shoots!

The Marine Meadows Program is the collaborative, community-based component of CCE's overall eelgrass restoration effort. By offering Marine Meadows Workshops throughout Long Island, CCE is providing an opportunity for community members to learn about the importance of eelgrass to our marine ecosystem while participating in hands-on activities that help further restoration efforts in our region.

CCE and various partners have facilitated dozens of workshops in which hundreds of volunteers have come together to assemble shoots of eelgrass into planting discs for use in CCE's restoration efforts in area waters.

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This first Marine Meadows event took place in the Town of East Hampton in September of 2012- we invite you to join us again for a fun and beneficial event.

The East Hampton Trustees have shown their support for CCE's eelgrass restoration efforts by recently approving a proposal to conduct monitoring and restoration of eelgrass within East Hampton's waters, including Hog Creek, Northwest Harbor and also continuing efforts in Napeague. This will help ensure ample habitat is continually available for East Hampton's wide variety of commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species.

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The Trustees welcome Cornell into East Hampton as a way to help restore eelgrass beds and to improve marine habitat as well as the ecological health of Napeague Harbor and other waterbodies.

We ask you to please join us on May 18th  so we can work together on this very important project.

To kick off efforts to restore eelgrass populations to East Hampton's waters at the upcoming workshop, participants will work with CCE staff to weave eelgrass shoots (harvested from healthy donor meadows in local waters) into specially designed, biodegradable burlap planting discs. Once assembled, these discs will temporarily be stored and then planted by SCUBA certified CCE Marine Program staff at carefully selected restoration sites.


 These newly created marine meadows will serve as important marine habitat for many species of finfish and shellfish. These habitats help enhance the health and productivity of our local bays and serve as important habitat for shellfish such as bay scallops and fin fish such as striped bass.

All ages are welcome to participate, although this activity is best suited for ages 7 and up. Registration is free, but suggested in advance as space is limited. For more information on the Marine Meadows Program, or to register for this event, please contact Kimberly Barbour, Habitat Restoration Outreach Specialist at kp237@cornell.edu or 631-852-8660 ext. 27.

To donate food, beverages, or prizes, please contact Trustee Deb Klughers; dklughers@optonline.net

To learn more about CCE's Marine Meadows Program, find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marine-Meadows-Program/210110862383997

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