FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 18, 2017
GTM Research Reserve Receives Northrop Grumman Volunteer Grant
~Northrop Grumman's environmental initiative brings volunteers to GTM Research Reserve~
 Northrop Grumman volunteers help with oyster bagging and gabion building.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The Friends of the GTM Reserve has been awarded a $5,000 grant
from the 2017 Northrop Grumman Excellence in Volunteerism Award. This award is part of
a program recognizing Northrop Grumman employees who have demonstrated a
dedication to volunteerism at nonprofit organizations or to educational outreach.
The recipient’s chosen organization receives the grant.
“Because of the Northrop Grumman volunteers, the
GTM Research Reserve can build more oyster restoration projects, and with more
projects, we will have more data regarding their effectiveness,” said Dr. Michael
Shirley, director of the GTM Research Reserve.
Northrop Grumman’s environmental initiative, called GreeNG, is an internal program that
connects employees to community volunteer opportunities and
allows them to log their volunteer hours.
In March 2017, the Northrop Grumman
volunteers led a gabion build at GTM Research Reserve. A gabion is a wire basket used for restoration and enhancement projects such
as oyster reef building. Volunteers cut, molded,
clipped and filled gabions with hundreds of pounds of recycled shell. As they
learned about the science of experimental gabions, they began offering
suggestions and devised a better way to build gabions using their FabLab, a fabrication laboratory with 3D printers and laser cutters. Working with 375 yards of GTM wire, they built 200-plus gabions in a fraction of the time.
A month later, volunteers participated in a shoreline restoration project, loading and unloading tons of recycled shell as well as planting seagrasses, installing signage and building oyster habitat. Additionally, for Earth Day, GreeNG organized a program for their fellow employees about the importance of the
estuarine ecosystem and their oyster project.
“What's incredible is how proactive they
are in reaching out to us about how they can help,” said Ellen Leroy-Reed,
executive director of Friends of the GTM Reserve. “It is not unusual to receive
a call from someone on the GreeNG team asking how a reef is coming along or
that they have an idea on how to improve a gabion's construction to make it
more effective.”
The Friends supports the GTM Research Reserve and Northeast
Florida Aquatic Preserve’s Oyster Recycling and Restoration program by
providing needed materials, equipment, transportation and supplies.
For more information
on volunteering at GTM Research Reserve, email Volunteer Coordinator Shannon
Rininger at Shannon.rininger@FloridaDEP.gov
or call 904-823-4500.
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