SEBASTIAN — Saturday was the sort of day people talk about when explaining why they love living in Sebastian: perfect temperature, cloudless sky, bit of a breeze. A good day for Life Scout John Giordano and some 35 friends, neighbors, family and fellow Troop 500 Boy Scouts to bag, stack and place oyster shells in the Indian River Lagoon waters just off Riverview Park.
Giordano was two years younger and about 6 inches shorter when he began working on his Eagle Scout project. That was in 2014, and Giordano, who had just turned 14, had received the go-ahead from the Sebastian City Council to undertake an oyster mat project that would help regenerate the Indian River Lagoon by growing water-cleansing oysters.
Working with the city’s Natural Resources Board, Giordano planned what at that time was to be the assembly of hundreds of oyster “mats,” as many other communities have done to help clean their polluted waterways.
But the wheels of government often grind slowly, and one obstacle after another delayed the project over months, then a year, then another. During that time, the FDEP had determined that oyster mats would not be as efficient and productive as oyster bags, so Giordano adapted his project to fit the new format.
Bags it was.
The young man remained undeterred. He did what he could on his own, and went out into the lagoon several times with NRB vice-chair Gil Gordian and others, seeking a location that would be oyster friendly and approved by the various agencies charged with protecting and monitoring the endangered waterway. He drew up lists and diagrams and work plans – and waited.
By 8:30 on Saturday morning, Giordano, his parents – Paul and Patty Giordano – and the 35 stalwart volunteers, including several Girl Scouts from Patty’s troop, were hard at work under the pavilion at Roseland’s Boy Scout Camp Oklawaha carefully filling 80 cylindrical poly net bags with 225 clean oyster shells each, which had been collected and stored in a city facility, awaiting their Big Day.
By 10 a.m., the bags were loaded into a trailer and everyone headed for the lagoon. There, the bags were unloaded and zip-tied in stacks of two. They were then loaded into a canoe, and several watershoe-clad volunteers walked the canoe out to the carefully plotted location, using PVC piping to measure accurately. The double-stacked bags were placed in rows according to a grid, 5 feet apart.
The total area of the project will be 100 feet by 12 feet, explained John Giordano’s uncle, Mitchell Freeman. Saturday’s segment covers 400 square feet.
Patty Giordano is, of course, beyond proud of her son’s accomplishment.
“At one point,” she admits, “it was taking so long and I suggested he might want to choose another Eagle project.”
But he didn’t want to give up something that can help the lagoon, and, although he has already done enough for his Eagle project, he plans to stick with this one until the entire 1,200 square feet of bags have been placed.
Then he hopes to continue working to help protect the lagoon any way he can.
“After two years of perseverance, he has gotten so much leadership experience,” Patty says.
The very likable young man was busy all morning guiding the volunteers and making sure everything went smoothly. The wind had kicked up a bit by the time Giordano and his friends began wading out into the water, pushing/pulling the oyster-laden canoe, but they got the job done.
“This is a good milestone for John and the City of Sebastian,” said the NRB’s Gordian.