Restoring mangroves to protect coastal communities.

Project Highlights

Jensen Beach Impoundment (JBI) is a 170-acre mangrove wetland area that lies within the Jensen Beach to Jupiter Inlet Aquatic Preserve. It serves to control black salt marsh mosquitoes (Aedes taeniorhynchus) while providing critical mangrove habitat in the Indian River Lagoon that offers shoreline protection and reduces flooding in low-lying, vulnerable coastal areas.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, over 50-acres of primarily red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) habitat was lost in the JBI due to high water levels and poor water circulation. In response, the county has secured funding from the State Wildlife Grant and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve water flow in and out of the impoundment by installing four (4) new culvert connections (drain pipes) to the Indian River Lagoon, and dredging the existing channels.

New mangrove plantings will be added to the restored impoundment to jumpstart growth, thereby improving JBI’s mangrove ecosystem and flood protection capacity.

Hurricane Irma destroyed about a third of the red mangroves in the Jensen Beach Impoundment, an area roughly equivalent to 50 football fields. Parts of Martin County saw wind gusts of 100 mph during Hurricane Irma.

Mangrove systems serve as important buffers to storm impacts for coastal areas.