Seashore Restoration Project

Yesterday I worked on the sound shore behind the CMAST building on the campus of Carteret Community College (CCC) for a seashore restoration project. We planted two types of sea grass on the shoreline behind the building. I know for a fact that I helped plant over three hundred of the little buggers. My sister needed community service to add to her resume, and so my Mom (who works at CCC) heard about this restoration project, headed by Meg Rawls, and volunteered my sister. I went because I didn't want to go to the aquarium again and because I wanted some time away from my niece and nephew and most particularly my younger brother. By the way, the big blue catfish in one of the tanks was in the bottom right corner again - it must either like that area a whole bunch or it's a machine that is tethered to that spot. Anyway, back to the project. I had a good time, even though I still hurt and I still have dirt under my fingernails. People who worked at the labs headed up teams of ten people, who gathered up the plant trays of both grasses and went to our assigned area of shoreline. Other lab personnel were drawing grids of one by one foot squares into the sand/dirt/sludge substrate. We divided up into teams of three and set to work, with one person using a funny-looking shovel (it looked more like a big, flat knife on a stick, with a bar just to the side of the blade for you to put your foot for added leverage), one person to put some fertilizer pellets into the hole, and one person to put the selected plant into the hole and close the soil in around it. I worked with the plants, getting my hands dirty and straining my quads by squatting up and down, up and down. Then we switched jobs after an hour or two and I got to work with the funky shovel in the rocky, clay substrate. It wasn't easy. I stood on the shovel to try and get it into the soil, and it didn't budge. If you know me or have ever seen me, you would know that I am quite heavy, so I was reasonably impressed with this hard soil. Nevertheless, I toiled on, adding strains in my shoulders and back to my list. There were a lot of other people there, so I no one had to work too hard. After another hour, almost all of the shore had been planted, and my, did it look beautiful! I feel so proud to have been a part of it! If you are ever in that area, take a look, it really is a sight. Well, if you want to know the truth, I think it looks like a large-scale hair transplant, but hopefully nature will take its course.