In recent times, it seems more and more difficult for humans to avoid negatively impacting nature. But that does not mean that we can’t make a positive impact. The Museum’s eco-art Reclamation Project works to help restore our coastal environments. You can see these efforts every day, on an exterior wall by the Museum’s Wildlife Center. More than 1,100 mangrove seedlings are lined up in biodegradable cups, waiting to be replanted at several restoration sites scattered throughout Miami. Each year, when all the seedlings are taken to be planted, 1,100 more seedlings are brought in to replace the ones that were taken out. This year, as part of a grant from State Farm Youth Advisory Board, students from the Miami Science Museum’s Upward Bound Math and Science program replaced the 1,100 red mangrove seedlings on the wall with new ones they had collected in September from Bear Cut Preserve on Key Biscayne and Matheson Hammock County Park. The seedlings taken down off the wall will be replanted by the Upward Bound students over the next couple weeks at R. Hardy Matheson Preserve, a Miami-Dade County Park, and on Virginia Key. As part of the same grant, students also visited a restoration site at Oleta River State Park that is currently covered in invasive species. In the spring, students will help restore the site by replanting 1.5 acres. Through these activities, students begin to have a first-hand understand of the importance of nature – because humans and animals need nature in order to survive, and nature certainly needs our help to survive as well.
