CRP Project Page

Project Summary

The Newman Branch Creek Habitat Restoration Project, located in southeast Hillsborough County, Florida, will be undertaken in an effort to restore estuarine and freshwater habitat in the Tampa Bay area. The project will involve the removal of invasive exotic species, primarily Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) and the re-creation of a variety of native estuarine, freshwater, and upland habitats. Historically Tampa Bay has lost up to 40% of its original marsh/mangrove habitat, with the oligohaline environs having the greatest proportion of these impacts. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP) and the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (SWFWMD) Surface Water Improvement and Management Program (SWIM) have both identified that these habitats are critical in the restoration of Tampa Bay. This
project will further those objectives by resulting in at least 6 acres of estuarine habitat restoration/creation for fisheries habitat, which addresses the priorities identified by the TBEP.

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Project Name
Newman Branch Creek Phase II – Habitat Restoration Project

Project Location
Hillsborough County, Florida

Latitude/Longitude of the project site
27.78137 -82.404148

Land Ownership
Private -Tampa Electric Company (TECO) with a perpetual Conservation Easement

Anticipated NOAA Trust Resource(s) to benefit from restoration
Snook (Centropomus undecimalis), redfish (Scicenops ocellatus), spotted sea trout (Cunoscion nebulosus), and perhaps the Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus)

Project Start Date: December 2010
Project End Date: December 2011

Contact Info
Thomas F. Ries, Board President
Ecosphere Restoration Institute, Inc.
5886 E. Fowler Ave.
Tampa, Fl. 33716
www.ecosphererestoration.org