{"id":408484,"date":"2026-09-23T18:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408484\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:26:11","slug":"madeira-beach-to-host-vertical-oyster-garden-workshop-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408484\/","title":{"rendered":"Madeira Beach to host vertical oyster garden workshop Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Tampa Bay Watch, Tampa Bay has 217 acres <\/a>of oyster reefs. In the 1940s, the habitat was about 2,000 acres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters is joining forces with the City of Madeira Beach and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF\/IFAS) Extension to educate residents about the impact of oysters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cHelp the Bay: Vertical Oyster Garden Workshop & Giveaway\u201d event will be held Saturday at Patriot Park, at 424 150th Avenue, from 9 to 11 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Peters, supporting the gathering was an easy decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring that we have good water quality is critical,\u201d she told the Catalyst. \u201cOysters filter out pollutants, improve the water quality, the clarity of the water and they help create a habitat for fish, crabs, shrimp and other wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters<\/p>\n

Peters explained that vertical oyster gardens are created out of recycled oyster shells. These shells are placed on a rope or wire and then are suspended from docks or piers. Eventually, young oysters attach to the shells and grow into their adult forms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hosting the event largely because of the significant decline of oysters that we\u2019ve seen in the Tampa Bay area,\u201d said Lara Milligan, UF\/IFAS Extension natural resources agent for Pinellas County. \u201cTypically restoration is kind of these larger scale projects that require permitting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Participants will learn more about vertical oyster gardens and have the opportunity to build one to take home. Additionally, attendees can receive a pre-made VOG if they do not want to create one from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The UF\/IFAS Extension<\/a> has offices throughout Florida. According to the Extension\u2019s website, the initiative is \u201ca partnership between state, federal and county governments to provide scientific knowledge and expertise to the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, with events, I feel like it\u2019s a really good way to build a sense of community and show that by bringing people together, we can really make a difference and impact,\u201d Milligan said. \u201cI feel that there is a defeated mindset when it comes to different environmental issues.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She argued that by proactively working on restoring the oyster population, residents can help create a legacy in the Tampa Bay area. The results can be generational.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peters echoed the sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly easy way for every resident that lives on the water to help project our water quality,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope they take away that it doesn\u2019t take a lot of effort to help the environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To learn more and register for the event, visit this link.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to Tampa Bay Watch, Tampa Bay has 217 acres of oyster reefs. In the 1940s, the habitat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-408484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}