What are those orange drift cards floating in the Indian River Lagoon? Science, not trash
Tyler Treadway
That orange piece of plywood you see stuck up in the mangroves along the Indian River Lagoon may not be litter.
It may be part of a lagoon research project; and you can help.
At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, about 160 orange pieces of plywood will be dropped into the water at several sites along the lagoon in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties.
The hope is the "drift cards" will be found hours or days later, and their locations reported to the folks at the Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves, the ones responsible for releasing them.
The locations will be plotted into a GIS map, so scientists at the preserve office can determine how far the cards drifted, helping them learn about currents in the lagoon and how things — pieces of trash, for example — travel when they're dumped into the lagoon.
More: Seagrass slowly reviving along Indian River Lagoon; but for how long?
Helping with the project are the:
- Barrier Island Sanctuary in Brevard County
- Environmental Learning Center in Indian River County
- Ocean Research & Conservation Association in St. Lucie County
- Florida Oceanographic Society in Martin County
If you find a card, follow the instructions on it:
- Take a photo of it
- Report the time and date when you found it and the site where you found it
- Email all the information to IRLAP@FloridaDEP.gov
The cards are roughly 4-by-6 inches and cut from untreated 3/16-inch plywood. They're painted with non-toxic paint in bright colors to make them easier to spot and stamped and decorated, some with children's artwork, with non-toxic ink and markers.
More: Low levels of potentially deadly toxin found in Indian River Lagoon
They're designed to float on the surface and be carried by currents, but be small enough to avoid posing a threat to waterway navigation.
To allay any concerns the cards might actually becoming trash if they're not found, they were designed to water-log, sink and begin to degrade after two weeks. They should not have any ill effects on the marine environment, according to the Angari Foundation, a partner in the effort.