ENVIRONMENT

Liza Jackson Park getting innovative 'reef prisms' to reduce erosion, attract sea creatures

Devon Ravine
Northwest Florida Daily News

FORT WALTON BEACH — A project to protect and restore the shoreline at Liza Jackson Park will feature a unique composite structure never before used in Northwest Florida waterways.

Called “reef prisms,” the 4-foot-long, 120-pound prism-shaped tubes are constructed of a wood frame covered in jute fiber. The fiber structure is reinforced with a special mixture of cement and then filled with oyster shells and sealed.

Dr. Mark Clark, associate professor specializing in wetland ecology at the University of Florida, said the composite structure was developed at the university around 2017 and has been used at five locations around the state.

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“It’s been deployed in Cedar Key and it’s been successful,” Clark said of the reef prism. “It’s easy to construct and it’s more compatible with the environment.”

On Tuesday about 30 people — including Clark, Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance members, AmeriCorps workers and other volunteers — lugged 41 prisms from a trailer to a johnboat, where they were ferried to their destination on the shoreline to build three separate reefs.

Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance members, a crew from AmeriCorps and volunteers from other agencies install reef prisms along the shore of Liza Jackson Park on Tuesday. The prisms, made from jute fiber reinforced with concrete and filled with oyster shells, will help reduce shoreline erosion, promote the growth of oysters and provide habitat for variety of plant and animal species.

The prism reefs joined a series of limestone rock breakers that the CBA and partners installed at Liza Jackson last month. When completed, the limestone and prism reef will cover most of the park’s shoreline, with the exception of the boat launch, the dog park and the swimming beach and kayak launch on the east side of the pier.

Rachel Gwin, restoration coordinator with the CBA who is overseeing the project, said the reef structures will not only reduce the wave erosion of the park’s shoreline, but also help attract marine life such as oysters, shrimp, crab and smaller fish.

Rachel Gwin and Brennan Wehrhahn (left) with the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance and Mark Clark with the University of Florida load reef prisms onto a johnboat at Liza Jackson Park on Tuesday. The 4-foot -long prisms are made from jute fiber reinforced with a concrete mixture and filled with oyster shells. The prisms and already installed limestone rock are part of a project to reduce shoreline erosion, promote the growth of oysters and provide habitat for variety of plant and animal species.

“We’ve come back (to previous reefs) and found we had herons standing on our reef, picking off fish," Gwin said.

The final part of the project will begin near the end of March, when Okaloosa County elementary school students who participated in the CBA’s Grasses in Classes program will begin making field trips Liza Jackson to plant marsh grass between the reefs and the shoreline.

“The kids grow the grasses all year, so they’re really invested in it,” Gwin said.

The breakwater project was made possible with a $25,000 grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with additional funding from Islanders Coastal Outfitters on Okaloosa Island and support from the city of Fort Walton Beach.

“We’re hoping to have all the reefs and all the planting done by the end of May,” Gwin said.