Engineers, volunteers restore Piper’s Landing mangrove island
Piper’s Landing Yacht & Country Club has launched a community-led restoration of a mangrove island that protects its deep-water yacht basin on the St. Lucie River. The island, which has experienced decades of erosion, is being rebuilt with long-term shoreline protection and thousands of new mangrove plants. While a marine services company is handling the reconstruction work, residents have taken on a central role by growing and preparing more than 5,000 mangroves for planting.
The Island
Mangroves are natural shoreline stabilizers, but Piper’s Landing’s island had been steadily collapsing into the marina channel for years. The erosion reduced water depths, complicated navigation for boat owners and threatened the marina’s docks and vessels. Increased boat traffic, larger vessels, king tides, nearby marine testing and Lake Okeechobee discharges contributed to stronger wakes, accelerating soil loss and sediment buildup.
Concerned about the potential loss of the island, the community began restoration planning in 2018. The original goal was to dredge the marina and install barriers to slow erosion, but the project expanded as state regulators emphasized the importance of restoring the mangrove habitat itself.
Project engineer Roger Baber of M C R Engineers developed a plan that addressed both the marina and environmental needs. Instead of sending dredged material offshore for disposal, the project reuses it in engineered Dredged Material Management Areas, or DMMAs, designed to stabilize the material before it is planted with mangroves.
The concept required nearly four years of collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, Martin County, marine biologists and environmental scientists before permits were issued. The result combines marina dredging, beneficial reuse of dredged material, shoreline stabilization and large-scale mangrove restoration in a project being watched as a potential model for future coastal improvement efforts.
Over the past 13 months, Coston Marine Services has worked on the Mangrove Island Restoration project, building the DMMAs and filling them with dredged mud and sand that can support up to 8,000 mangroves.
Container construction is complete, and the restored areas are ready for planting. The plants are coming from a community nursery created and maintained by Piper’s Landing residents.
The Nursery
After residents learned about the project, several offered to help restore the island. The Piper’s Landing Garden Club became involved, donations were made and commercial mangrove nurseries were identified, but residents ultimately developed the idea for a community nursery. Volunteers collected mangrove seeds that had fallen onto the docks from existing island plants, consistent with Florida regulations, and planted them in pots. An aquatic nursery was then built near the community maintenance area.
Aquatic pools and drainage systems were installed to maintain ideal water levels for the seedlings.
The goal was to grow enough seedlings to fill the island. Anticipating an average plant loss of about 10%, coordinators estimated that 5,500 seeds would produce enough plants for the project.
More than 50 volunteers attended a “Potting Party” in December 2024 to plant the seeds.
Volunteers checked the river’s salinity at the marina every two to three weeks to ensure the nursery environment was similar to the south fork of the St. Lucie River. Planter pools were treated with salt monthly to mimic river conditions and prepare the plants for transplanting.
The nursery and seedlings continued to grow. Lori Vogt, PMT, founder and CEO of Mighty Mangroves, a consulting firm specializing in mangrove and environmental services, said the community nursery is unusual. “What impressed me most was the seed collection,” Vogt said. “Not only that volunteers collected seeds, but what to collect, the creation of the water bath that is the same salinity as the river, all of it — true science.”
After 18 months and the creation of 10 aquatic planter pools, the community grew more than 5,400 mangrove seedlings.
The nursery has been maintained by Piper’s Landing volunteers. Residents Pat Standing and Lisa Standing helped launch the project and oversee the volunteer effort.
“Saving the island and the environment was very important to us,” said Lisa Standing, who leads the nursery volunteer team. “We wanted the project to be very successful, so we did a lot of research over the last five years. This group of helpers has been amazing in working together to share the importance of mangroves.”
With island reconstruction complete, volunteers are preparing the seedlings for planting.
Piper’s Landing has teamed with MANG Consulting Services, a coastal restoration and marine consulting company, to begin installing the seedlings.
Once established, the mangroves are expected to reinforce the river structures and restore the protected yacht basin environment for years to come.
Piper’s Landing residents said they are proud to have played a role in restoring Mangrove Island and protecting environmentally sensitive areas of Martin County for the future.
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