CERP Picayune Strand - Monitoring and Assessing Effects of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project on the Florida Manatee: Hydrological Monitoring and Analysis

The Picayune Strand Restoration Project will attempt to restore sheetflow hydrologic conditions across a broad area by reducing and diverting flow from the four large canals north of US41 that drain into the Faka Union Canal. The abundance and distribution of manatees likely will change as the availability and distribution of overland water flow changes after the PSRP is enacted. As such, the manatees may serve as a barometer for gauging habitat restoration success. This study will monitor and analyze changes to specific habitat locations that serve as thermal refuges and freshwater access points important to manatees within the study area that may be affected by PSRP activities. Most of the work for this study will focus on water in or near the Port of the Islands (POI) basin. Manatees rely on this area for warm water refuge in the winter and as a source of fresh water throughout the year. This study will monitor the changes in temperature, extent of the fresh water lense at POI, and upstream salinity, as well as interpret the monitoring results to identify current habitat and variability. This monitoring effort was funded by PSRP pre-construction. RECOVER took over a portion of the hydrologic monitoring in FY10. Additional information can be found in RECOVER MAP 3.3.1.3 Hydrodynamic and Salinity characteristics of Rivers and Estuaries of the Ten Thousand Islands.