Be a part of oyster restoration efforts in Virginia!

The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with UVA, is building functional oyster habitat in Virginia’s coastal bays that will be capable of keeping up with sea level rise.

Despite bad weather and high tides, we were able to assemble hundreds of oyster castles at Short Prong Marsh last week – but there’s still work to be done!

Volunteers are needed to move 30 lb. oyster castles pieces for 3-5 hours each day. This is labor intensive work that requires volunteers to spend most of the day outside, on the water, in varying depths, with a firm bottom composed of loose shell. Most importantly, volunteers must be able to repeatedly move 30-pound oyster castle pieces. Wearing swimsuits and/or chest/hip waders is recommended.

The work will take place at Short Prong Marsh with the boat departing from the Brownsville Preserve dock in Nassawadox, VA.

14 volunteers are needed each day for the following dates:

– Oct. 2 – meet at Brownsville Preserve (Nassawadox) at 11 a.m.
– Oct. 3 – meet at Brownsville Preserve (Nassawadox) 11:45 a.m.
– Oct. 4 – meet at Brownsville Preserve (Nassawadox) 12:30 p.m.

Please note: volunteers may not be needed on Oct. 4 if we have good weather the first two build days.

To sign up, or for more information, please contact Jen Dalke, volunteer program manager, at jdalke@tnc.org or 434-951-0572 (w) or 540-335-1302 (c).

See oyster castle building in action in Passport to Nature: Building Castles Underwater: https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/virginia/blog/passport-to-nature-building-castles-underwater.xml