BayWalk Park

Overview

The Sarasota BayWalk was the first habitat restoration project sponsored by the National Estuary program. The 4.5-acre restored island habitat is located on City Island in Sarasota. Like many other areas around Sarasota Bay, Sarasota BayWalk was a wetland area that was used to place spoil material from dredging the intracoastal waterway in the 1960s. The spoil material created higher, dry land where non-native, invasive plants thrived.

At the Sarasota BayWalk, invasive plant species were removed and the elevation of the shoreline was restored to natural levels Tidal lagoons were excavated and created as nurseries for young fish. More than 20,000 plants and trees native to Florida's tidal ecosystem were planted at the site.

Three types of mangroves grow at Sarasota BayWalk. Mangroves filter pollutants and slow erosion by holding the shoreline in place. They also provide a nursery for fish and shellfish, and a nesting place for birds and other wildlife.

Visit Green Sarasota
updated 06/2016 by SCGM Transition Team Member