Tampa Bay Estuary Program

The map to the right allows viewing of the TBEP Restoration Sites.  The Red sites are Habitat sites and the Orange sites are Oyster Reef sites.  The site name appears when you mouse over its position.  By clicking the site you and then selecting "MapIt" can navigate to the TBEP Mapping Component where you can use the Identify tool to view specific site data and where you can download the project database using the download tool.

Please note that the TBEP habitat database is in the process of being updated and current data is provisional.

Tampa Bay was designated as an "estuary of national significance" by Congress in 1990, paving the way for development of a long-term blueprint for bay restoration through the Tampa Bay National Estuary Program. Tampa Bay is one of 28 estuaries in the National Estuary Program; others in Florida are Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor and Indian River Lagoon.

The Tampa Bay Program is a partnership of Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties; the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater; the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Program is governed by a Policy Board composed of elected officials and a Management Board of top-level bay managers and administrators -- working with both technical and citizens advisory groups.

Since its inception, the Program has sponsored groundbreaking scientific research into the bay's most pressing problems and secured more than $1 million in grants to assist in the repair and restoration of the bay.

Water quality improvements are aiding the return of seagrasses to the bay, but other habitats - particularly tidal streams and marshes critical to fish and wildlife -will require a concerted, long-term restoration effort. Goals for improving bay habitats include:

1. "Restoring the balance" of habitat types in the bay to 1950 ratios by creating roughly 100 acres of low-salinity tidal marsh every five years, while protecting existing mangroves and salt marshes;

2. Preserving adequate freshwater flows to Tampa Bay and its tributaries;

3. Reducing propeller scarring of seagrasses ;

4. Implementing the TBEP master plan for habitat restoration that identifies priority restoration areas and presents various financing and land acquisition options; and

5. Protecting often-overlooked habitats such as sponge and coral communities, oyster reefs, and salt barrens.

The purpose of this element of the Tampa Bay Estuary Water Atlas is to provide access to data collected and being collected by the TBEP partners that are engaged in the important task of restoring bay shoreline habitats.  The sites currently managed for restoration or under active restoration are shown on the map to the right.  These sites and data about the sites can be found on the Tampa Bay Estuary Water Altas maping applciation (MapIT).  To use this application first click MapIt and then select the Map Theme titled Estuary Habitat.  This will give you a view of all the existing TBEP Partner habitat sites in Tampa Bay.  You can then use the Map Zoom Tool  (Pan and Zoom tools) to zoom to a project site and the  Information Tool  to see some of the data about the site. 

You can also use the Advanced Map Tools (Download Data Tool) to download the total project database and search it for information about the restoration project.  If you want to explore the full database, go to the Data Download.