The first installation of the ORBs in June created the horizontal barrier to block boat wake.
By Lisa D. Mickey
Riverside Conservancy attempts to showcase different options for shoreline restoration at its headquarters in Edgewater, Fla. Those options range from living shorelines (with mangrove trees, grasses and oysters), Mangrove Reef Walls to Oyster Reef Breaks, also known as ORBs.
Constructed of a specialized mix of concrete, various sizes and consistencies of oyster shell, and natural palm fibers, the ORBs are a creation of shoreline restoration specialist Danny Young. Young and his crew from Young Bear Environmental Consulting, along with the assistance of Riverside Conservancy staff and Stetson University students, installed ORBs on Riverside’s shoreline in early June.
The inaugural installation was followed by an extension of the ORBs in late August to add an additional 20 feet along RCC’s existing seawall to create 75 feet of the reef breaks. A perpendicular section of ORBs extending 10 feet out into the lagoon from mean high water was also added in an effort to help minimize boat-wake shoreline impact.
ORBs are designed to have a sloping fronts of different angles to redirect wave energy. The gaps in ORBS allow for water to fall through when a wave passes over, breaking and dispersing the energy away from the shoreline.
“This is something I’ve been drawing on paper for a couple of years,” said Young, who designed the ORB shoreline restoration structures. “Our test modules show that the oysters will recruit all over the reef.”
The idea for ORBs came when Young considered how oysters in Central Florida grow and reproduce around red mangrove trees and on red mangrove roots. In fact, by late July this year, oyster spat had already formed on RCC’s installed ORBs, which serve as a substrate (landing surface) for larval oysters.
“It morphed into this other thing, with ORBs becoming both a wave break to protect the shoreline and an oyster reef, with oysters growing all over the front and back of the structure,” added Young. “My hope is that we come back in 15 years and growing behind the wave break is a healthy oyster reef and a healthy propagation of mangrove trees. The long-term goal is that shoreline protection increases over time with the growth of oysters and mangroves.”
Alicia Dyer (Riverside Conservancy) and Shelley Nielsen (Young Bear Environmental volunteer) during the 2nd phase. After guiding the ORBs to the water, the backhoe is lowered and the ORBs are detached to be placed in a row.
The ORBs are fabricated for Young Bear Environmental by a local company in New Smyrna Beach. The company pours the materials into molds to form the ORBs. Each ORB measures around 3 feet wide and 17 inches tall. There are two modules per foot that weigh around 100 pounds per foot.
Riverside Conservancy’s shoreline has about two feet of tide on the Indian River Lagoon, so Young designed his ORBs to capture that tide level specifically for the center’s geographic location.
“If we were to take these to Brevard County, it probably would not be the right application because they have a very small tide,” added Young. “If we used these at Fernandina Beach with six feet of tide, they would need to be a whole lot bigger or used in a series of rows based on tidal elevations. This size is pretty much ready to go for the Ponce Inlet area.”
Amber Stevenson (Young Bear Environmental) and Alicia (Riverside Conservancy) help load and guide the ORBs on the backhoe to be placed along the shoreline during the 1st installation phase.
Young also noted that modules can be adjusted or applied in different configurations to accommodate the various tides encountered along the east coast.
Young Bear Environmental used a mini-excavator to lift the ORBs over Riverside’s existing seawall for placement into the lagoon. The inaugural installation at Riverside Conservancy involved the placement of ORBs with a required five-foot gap for marine-life safety. Workers used a fitted 50-gallon drum underneath the module to carefully lift up the ORBs with a strap by excavator and place them in the water, adjusting the ORBs by a few inches on the floor of the lagoon.
The perpendicular section of ORBs was installed to break waves moving from the north and the south on the lagoon – waves, being defined as passing boat wake. A total of 85 linear feet of ORBs are positioned on RCC’s shoreline, which will undergo a renovation this fall when the center’s old seawall will be replaced by a living shoreline.
Sarah (Riverside Conservancy) and Danny (Young Bear Environmental) install the last portion of the horizontal seawall during the 2nd phase. Installation is done at high tide so the ORBs are easier to maneuver.
Riverside Conservancy got interested in ORBs when Young placed one of his modules into the lagoon off the center’s shoreline as a test less than a year ago.
“Within weeks, it had oyster spat [baby oysters] on it and within a few months, it was covered,” said Young. “Kelli [McGee] at Riverside got excited because she is looking at multiple alternatives for shorelines and every shoreline is a little different.”
McGee asked Young to put Riverside Conservancy on its list for ORBs installation. In fact, the first several hundred ORBs that were poured came to Riverside.
“My hope is it’s going to do well,” added Young. “We will be out here monitoring and maintaining, as needed, and apply whatever lessons we learn.”
Young Bear Environmental also has ORBs scheduled for installation on private shoreline. The group is discussing restoration projects at North Peninsula State Park, where the shoreline elevation is too high for oyster bags to be effective.
“Up to this point, most of the oyster modules and different techniques used are very small-scale based on something an individual can lift – weighing maybe 15 to 35 pounds,” said McGee, Riverside Conservancy’s Executive Director.
“The problem with them is that they can get moved around with high wave energy,” she added. “This Oyster Reef Break system is really exciting because it is intended to break that wave energy to increase habitat inshore, landward of those structures, as well as to provide fantastic substrate for oyster reefs to grow.”
McGee says it is the hope of Riverside Conservancy that mangrove trees, salt-marsh grasses and even potentially seagrass will propagate landward of the reefs. It is also the nonprofit’s intent that the partnership with Young Bear Environmental and Stetson University can provide research opportunities to produce shoreline success in the Indian River Lagoon.
“We are on the cutting edge and we’re very excited to be working with creative and entrepreneurial companies and schools that are truly dedicated to clean water and healthy habitats,” McGee added.
“With every single shoreline that we restore, we learn lessons and it makes it easier for the next property owner to restore their shoreline,” said McGee. “We’re finding new ways to restore the habitat, protect the upland, become more proficient at permit processing and establishing conservation easements.”
McGee hopes shoreline residents will learn by word of mouth what is working at Riverside Conservancy. Or perhaps they will see less shoreline erosion from passing boat wakes and more mangrove trees or grasses successfully growing where ORBs have been implemented.
“If this project is really successful,” added McGee, “we’re hoping that the shoreline residents in this neighborhood will want to do the same things on their property.”
