New SCCF Marine Lab making progress
The $1.6 million Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s new marine laboratory began to take shape last week as the final pilings were placed approximately two feet below the ground near the bay before the Tarpon Bay Explorers facility.
A test for four pilings were done on Valentine’s Day, providing information on what pilings were needed for the project. On Friday, Feb. 17 about a third of the pilings had been driven into the ground. As of Monday, Feb. 20, the pilings were expected to be completed the following day.
“They were driving the last two piles yesterday morning,” J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Deputy Refuge Manager Nate Caswell said Wednesday afternoon. “We are glad that part of the process is complete. We are hopeful we will start seeing a lot of quick progress going in the upward direction now it is done.”
SCCF Marine Laboratory Director Eric Milbrandt said the next step was poured concrete footings to go around the outside of the pilings. A slab will also be poured, as well as the columns to go up for the first floor.
“The first level is a cement floor and above that is all wood,” he said.
J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge is a huge part of the new laboratory.
“They are very important partners on this island, but also they have worked with us and allowed us to comment on the design of the building. It’s an amazing partnership,” Milbrandt said.
Due to the construction, the boat ramp at Tarpon Bay Explorers is closed, and will remain closed until the laboratory is completed.
Throughout the construction, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland said Tarpon Bay Explorers will operate as usual.
“We want to get as many people down to the concession and get out on the water and make the experience as positive as possible,” she said.
With the construction, limited parking is available for those visiting the concession. To help alleviate the pressure, Tarpon Bay Explorers is offering a free gift for anyone who rides their bike to the establishment.
“That is going to be the best way to go,” Westland said. “We have over 22 miles of shared use paths on the island. We need to get people on their bike as much as possible.”
Beginning last Monday, Feb. 20, a shuttle service became available for those taking part in one of the tours of Tarpon Bay Explorers. A greeter is currently stationed at the front of the property providing laminated maps of where to park. The maps will be reused throughout the service.
“It’s less than two miles away,” Westland said of the tram parking lot – the old island water site. “The shuttle happens continuous throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.”
The shuttle will run for 10 weeks. For more information about the shuttle service, call Tarpon Bay Explorers at (239) 472-8900, or the refuge at (239) 472-1100.
Throughout the construction process the SCCF marine lab is able to continue its daily functions.
“The important thing is we are able to operate in this building while that construction is happening. It will be a somewhat seamless transition as we move over,” Milbrandt said. “We are still able to do the work that we have been doing, the variety of sampling around the island, both the stuff that is in real time, the hourly water quality, and also monthly water samples in the refuge and a couple of other projects. Following up on the oyster restoration project. We are still collecting those metrics.”
With the construction SCCF’s boats have been moved to a new location. He said they are now located at the Gavin site, which he said the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge has arranged for them. There is also a fire hydrant, so when they go out in the field, they load up the trucks, pick up the boats and head to the specific location.
“When we come back at night, we have a fire hydrant there that we are able to rinse everything down and throw everything in the truck and come back here,” Milbrandt said.
The new 2,800 square foot building will have many new enhancements from the current building SCCF occupies on the land.
The new facility will include an experimental area that is screened in for tanks on the side of the facility.
Milbrandt said 10, or so tanks, can be set up, so they can set up different treatments. He said for example say they have a high, low and medium nitrogen exposed to submerged plants.
“You assume everything is the same, except for nitrogen for example. Then you look at the response. That is really important part of the way that we figure out what is going on in the environment. It is using these experimental units,” he said.
Once upon a time there was a facility that had to be torn down when it became apparent that parking was going to be an issue. The facility was a shed with tanks.
Under the new facility, an indoor workshop space and a large screened in area is among the design. Milbrandt said a lot of times they have to spray down what they bring back to separate the animals from such elements as mud.
“We will have a nice concrete pad and a screened in area to work,” he said.
In addition, a bay for the boats will be located under the building.
“The middle bay is our boats bay and then the two sides – one storage and a screened in area,” Milbrandt said. “We will be able to unload and load and have less of a footprint here.”
The new facility will also have a rain, water capture design in the building. Any time it rains, it will go into a large below ground cement tank that will fill up.
“It will be used to hose off the boats and gear. We are not going to be using drinkable water to hose off our equipment. It will all be coming from the air,” he said. “In the real dry period we are going to drain it down and we will have to fill it with city water, but during the summer it is an endless supply of water.”
A solar system will be placed on the roof that will power the lights.
“The refuge and us are both in an agreement that has to be the way for construction,” Milbrandt said.
The tentative date for completion is the end of the year. Milbrandt said they lost a little bit of time because there were some things underground that the site plan did not reflect what was there.
“The contractor wants to finish as soon as possible, where they can make up time they will,” he said.
Milbrandt said he is excited about moving into the facility because they will be able to increase their capacity for research.
SCCF is currently raising money for equipment for the lab. Although a lot of existing equipment will be moved to the new facility, he said they saw this as an opportunity to be able to expand their capacity for research.
“We are adding several large pieces of equipment to do nutrient analysis for example, which is a big part of water quality is knowing how many nutrients are in the water, where and when. The equipment will also afford them the ability to analyze nutrients from tissue samples – grinding it up, burning it and then measuring nitrogen and phosphorus,” Milbrandt said.
Richard Shipley offered a $100,000 challenge grant, which he said they are on their way to achieving the goal.
The attraction of visiting scientist is another factor Milbrandt is excited about. So far, in the last year, SCCF has had about 10 scientist that worked with them.