An ongoing Deer Island restoration project is in need of volunteers to help build 8,000 wire bags, fill them with oyster shells and deploy them along the island's shoreline. Volunteers also are needed to place logs made of coconut fiber along the shoreline.
If you are interested in learning more about these alternative shoreline protection strategies (known as living shorelines), the restoration project or becoming a volunteer, you can join Marty Jones, of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Shellfish Bureau, and Chris Boyd, of Mississippi State University and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, for an informational meeting from 9-11 a.m., Tuesday, March 5, at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center, 1815 Popps Ferry Road, in Biloxi.
Space is limited. RSVP by March 4 to Chris Boyd, cboyd@ext.msstate.edu or 228-546-1025.
This shoreline stabilization effort is part of a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources project to reduce erosion of the island and is being funded through the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. Hands On Mississippi and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium are partners in the project.