Brevard Zoo, Parks & Recreation Dept Work to Restore Our Shores
April 23, 2025 – Recently, The Brevard Zoo’s Restore Our Shores team, along with volunteers and the Brevard County Parks & Recreation Department, worked to plant a “buffer zone” along the shoreline of Kelly Park East, located on the Banana River near SR 528. They have already completed plantings at Fisherman’s Landing and Geiger Point. The team manages a variety of habitat restoration projects in the Indian River Lagoon including oysters, seagrasses, clams, and native plantings.
Buffer zones utilize native plants to create a barrier between the lagoon and adjacent land. This reduces pollutants and excess nutrients from entering the lagoon, along with preventing shoreline erosion.
It’s been more than a decade since Brevard Zoo jumped into action with programs aimed at balancing the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) ecosystem. With the IRL in our backyard the zoo recognized the importance of taking a leadership position in restoration and protection of this regional resource.
Home to more than 4,000 species of plants and animals, 50 of which are listed as endangered or threatened, the work has been focused on finding environmentally friendly solutions for water quality improvement, habitat protection and restoration, biodiversity expansion, and increased resilience to storm damage and erosion.
Staff and thousands of volunteers from the community work steadily on living shoreline solutions that restore populations of native, filter-feeding oysters to the lagoon, grow protective mangroves, seed restorative clam beds, replace nutrient-rich seagrasses, restore and build new reefs, and create buffer zones to stem pollution and algae blooms.
The Brevard Zoo haa established a solid foundation for current and future initiatives focused on best practices, streamlined processes, data collection and analysis that allows the zoo to constantly evolve in the mission to combat factors affecting lagoon health.
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