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Earth Day Coastal Clean-up with
the
City of Destin
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With Earth Day fast approaching, CBA and the City of Destin would like to cordially invite you to join us in Destin, FL for our annual Earth Day Coastal Clean-Up. We will be picking up debris to help keep Mother Earth healthy. We look forward to spending our Saturday morning with our dedicated CBA and City of Destin volunteers!
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Proceeds Benefit CBA
Buy Your YP Crawfish Boil Tickets Today!
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On Sunday, April 23, 2017, Young Professionals at The Beach will be hosting their 3rd Annual Crawfish Boil benefiting CBA at The Lawn at the Market Shops. With live music from Chris Alvarado, bring your summer concert gear and pull up a lawn chair to feast on some delicious all you can eat crawfish. Bring your own coolers, chairs and blankets to make an afternoon of supporting local businesses and non-profits.
Tickets are on sale now!
Before 4/16 - $30 per ticket
After 4/16 - $35 per ticket
We only have a limited amount of tickets so click the photo below to purchase yours today!
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Join the Alliance! Donate to CBA, Today!
Become a steward of local waterways by supporting CBA's mission in the Choctawhatchee watershed.
All monetary donations to CBA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
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How Does CBA Monitor the Bay?
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Why is Nitrogen Monitoring Important?
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CBA measures water quality parameters by using ambient monitoring, which involves repeated sampling at the same stations over a long period of time. One important nutrient that is found in our waterways is nitrogen. Often found in commercial and residential fertilizers, some portion is washed away into the sewage system. In Florida, some of those drains run directly to Choctawhatchee River and Choctawhatchee Bay.
Nitrogen is used to accelerate plant growth and is a major component of chlorophyll, the compound by which plants use sunlight to synthesize sugars from water and carbon dioxide. Do you know what else uses sunlight for photosynthesis? You guessed it, algae!
Although a crucial nutrient, too much nitrogen can have devastating effects on natural bodies of water. High concentrations in waterways is a main cause of algal blooms, that, in turn, cause massive marine life die-offs.
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Volunteer filling Florida LAKEWATCH bottle with Bay water from one of our Freeport sampling sites.
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CBA needs Citizen Scientists!
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Do you have an inner scientist waiting to shine through? Join CBA in monitoring our watershed and help our scientists by gathering data in the Choctawhatchee Bay and coastal dune lakes. With over 130 sampling stations, there is plenty of "sciencing" to go around.
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- Needed -
Someone with their own boat or access to a boat to take over:
- 6 sites in Fort Walton Beach/Santa Rosa Sound
- 3 sites near Destin Harbor and Crab Island
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Click on the link to the left to find out more about our program!
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April 8, 2017
- MKEI Estuary Festival 11-4
Rocky Bayou State Park, Niceville, FL
April 22, 2017
- CBA Coastal Clean-Up 8-10
Norriego Point, Destin FL
- Seaside Earth Day Farmer's Market 8-2
Seaside Commons, Seaside, FL
April 23, 2017
- Young Professionals Crawfish Boil 12-5
The Market Shops, Miramar Beach, FL
April 29, 2017
- Topsail Earth Day 10-2
Topsail Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, FL
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Fifth grade students will be learning about oysters and why they are important to the Bay. CBA and AmeriCorps will be bringing in a tank filled with oysters to demonstrate the filtration power of these sessile creatures!
Third grade students will have an observation tank brought into their classroom with marine life seined from the bay. They will have an identification class where they look at all the different creatures that call the Choctawhatchee marshes home.
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Time-lapsed video of oysters actively cleaning water compared to a tank with no oysters. Video provided by Brittany Tate.
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Video of a juvenile sea horse, silver side and hermit crab in our touch tank for the Fort Walton Beach Marine Science field trip at Liza Jackson Park.
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Spat On! Youth Outreach Program
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Following in the footsteps of our third and fifth grade students these past few months, Fort Walton Beach High School students completed a seining expedition at Liza Jackson Park on March 30th. With about five classes of students participating, we were able to gather many marine critters in our nets and examine what lives on our shores. From juvenile pinfish to blue crabs, many species found are integral parts of our Bay's ecosystem. The students received a lesson on fish identification and estimated population sizes using a model for the capture-recapture method.
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- The scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, means "savory beautiful swimmer".
- Their common name is derived from their sapphire-tinted claws.
- Callinectes sapidus are found in brackish coastal lagoons and estuaries ranging from Nova Scotia to Uruguay.
- Blue crabs are omnivores that feed on almost anything they can find from snails and small crabs to dead animals, called carrion.
- Females have red highlights on the tips of their pincers.
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We Want to Hear From You!
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As a fellow environmental steward, CBA wants to see Choctawhatchee Bay through your eyes! Do you have photos of Choctawhatchee River, Choctawhatchee Bay or the Coastal Dune Lakes? Upload them to Instagram or Facebook and be sure to tag:
#BasinAlliance
or
#CBAfortheBay
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