New SCCF Marine Lab construction to begin soon
A working partnership with J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge has afforded SCCF with the opportunity to build a state-of-the-art marine laboratory on Sanibel. The ground breaking for the facility has tentatively been set within the next two weeks when the pilings for the base structure begin.
Florida Fish and Wildlife is working directly with the contractor, Hollon Contracting, from Alabama, for SCCF’s marine lab.
“The refuge has provided this space at no cost,” Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory Director Eric Milbrandt said of the Tarpon Bay Road building they currently occupy. “We share the parking lot with Tarpon Bay Explorers that has allowed us to launch boats. With grant money we have had the opportunity to do a lot of sampling in the refuge for water quality, habitat quality, over the years.”
One of the special projects SCCF has conducted at the refuge is placing high frequency sampling instruments on Wildlife Drive, so they can understand water levels, salinities and how it is affected by the discharges and runoff from the Caloosahatchee River.
“Out of that sprung this wonderful offer from the federal government to help us with a new facility. They were the primary funding partner. They are contributing about a million dollars to build the base building. They offered it to us as a marine lab if we would supply enough money to make it a lab,” Milbrandt said. “We agreed and raised $400,000 and gave it to the federal government.”
Milbrandt worked with J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Manager Paul Tritaik and a regional team member, which made the process transparent and provided SCCF with opportunities to comment on the plans and help design the facility from the very beginning.
“It has been a really great partnership,” he said.
J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland said she thinks the partnership is amazing because they provide the facility, and SCCF provides the expertise.
“That partnership is long standing,” she said. “It’s so great that the partnership exists. They provide the expertise and staffing. They do amazing work in the building we have given them. They will be doing even more amazing work in the state-of-the-art building.”
Westland said the partnership is especially nice because the refuge’s staffing has been decreasing over the years.
“You have to think outside of the box and you have to establish partnerships. It’s a longstanding productive partnership,” she said of SCCF.
Westland said the water quality partnership with SCCF and the City of Sanibel has been amazing. With the new laboratory, it adds another level to the good science that can happen with partnerships.
The process for the marine lab began after receiving a planning grant from the National Science Foundation in 2009. That process brought in other marine lab directors from all over the United States to look at what SCCF had, as well as examine their scientific programs.
“It was obvious that we needed a new facility because this place is very inefficient as far as a lab because it was retail space. It has lots of problems,” Milbrandt said, including a leaky roof that the refuge fixed.
In 2012, the planning began of what the building would look like and this past year the plans were finalized, staying within the initial cost estimate of the laboratory.
The laboratory will be built on the bayside of Tarpon Bay Road near Tarpon Bay Explorers. The location is ideal, Milbrandt said because they can pull seawater right from the front door for experiments.
The robust building will be elevated 12 feet high with 2,800 square feet. The new building will have an additional 500 square feet. Boats will be stored underneath the building, providing places to work on them. A screened in area will also be apart of the floor plans, allowing them to set up experimental tanks to check such things as salinity.
The first level will have a dry and wet lab for sea water. Although a lot of the work is done in the field, the samples are brought back to the lab. The wet lab is used to sort, sieve, and filter the water and the dry lab has analytical equipment.
The third floor will have a deck. Milbrandt said it will be finished in the future to include an office, or conference room.
The building is expected to take a year to complete.
“The goal is next Halloween,” Westland said of the completion date. “I know government contracts don’t always go on time and stay on track. Next October is the 50th anniversary of SCCF. It would be perfect to be able to say ‘wow, we completed this and it is done.'”
The new state-of-the-art facility will help SCCF in tremendous ways.
Milbrandt said right now there are certain analytical tools they do not have because of the facility they have.
“We will have new research capability,” he said. “That mainly is in nutrient chemistry. Right now we take all of our water samples, we collect them and filter them and then the water part actually goes to another lab and they do an analytical test to determine how much oxygen phosphorus (there is), which is important here.”
With the new facility they will have the capability to test the water on site.
Milbrandt said they will also have the opportunity to take tissues from plants, animals and algae and determine the nitrogen and carbon content in them.
The facility will also attract additional visiting scientist that have expertise that the small group of scientists at SCCF does not have.
“Attracting high quality visitors to collaborate with us is a second benefit because right now we don’t have the space or equipment,” he said. “We still collaborate and still have visitors, but I think it will open up other avenues.”
The final benefit will provide a safer place for staff to work.
Throughout the construction of the new lab, SCCF will continue to work out of the building they occupy. Tarpon Bay Explorers will also operate during its normal business hours.
“We are still going to be open,” Westland said. “We are open for business at Tarpon Bay Explorers and the recreation area. There is going to be dust and a lot of heavy equipment and noise, but that comes with what will eventually happen.”
Milbrandt said following the opening of the lab in 2002, he spent many years sharing information with people of why it was so important to understand the greater Everglades and where the water was going because the island is kind of in the “catcher mitt of the problem.” He said the lab helped because a lot of people contributed to a comprehension of the problem.
“It is really amazing to see the progress, ‘no it’s not my problem,’ to the current approach with Mayor Ruane and our partners at the refuge who are actively trying to get policies passed and get projects funded to improve the situation,” Milbrandt said of having everyone rallying and pushing in the same direction.
Milbrandt was hired after an important fundraising effort of five years took place in an effort to try to keep the lights on and people paid at the lab. After those five years, the SCCF Marine Laboratory had become proficient and the staff became efficient in writing grants.
“We got a lot of programs funded through state, federal and local sources. We also still rely on our members and our supporters to operate, but it’s not as much burden on them anymore,” Milbrandt said. “In this field the reputation of scientists and the work that is being produced leads to more opportunities funding wise. So, establishing that reputation early on was kind of the priority. We are an established state recognized, regionally recognized lab.”
SCCF is members of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, which he said includes all of the universities in the state of Florida. Milbrandt said they have a seat at the table to discuss coastal issues.