Students establish experimental salt marsh on Biloxi beach

A Mississippi State University student group has teamed up with the Biloxi Bay Chamber of Commerce to give overflow rain water a natural--and attractive--way to drain into the Gulf of Mexico.

Students in landscape architecture and biological engineering made a recent field trip to the coast city to establish a pocket salt marsh to replace one of the large and unsightly overflow drains that line the coast.

The students planted more than 1,500 plants on a site prepared by the city's Sand Beach Authority. They hope that their effort will be the first of several pocket marshes on the coast.

"The public's perception of these drains is that they carry wastewater, even though that's not the case," said Mississippi State landscape architecture professor Pete Melby. "Our prototype salt marsh will establish a natural area that is both scenic and environmentally sound," he said.

Students proposed the project nearly two years ago, said Judy Steckler, vice president of beautification and environment for the Biloxi Bay Chamber. "They suggested some activities to improve the scenic quality of the beach, and we went to work on their suggestions. A lot of engineering planning went into this project, but we're excited about its potential."

Melby and engineering professor Tom Cathcart worked to coordinate the project, with support from biological sciences professor Jerry Jackson. It is funded by the Department of Marine Resources, with additional assistance from Brown Engineering and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab.

The project will enhance the coast's attractiveness to tourists, and it will provide natural filtering for runoff, said Steckler. "Our ultimate goal is to remove the exposed part of a number of drains along the beach and to develop natural estuary areas."

Professors and students will return to the site 12 times during the yearlong project to monitor the pocket marsh's impact on wildlife, its contribution to the visual interest of the area, and its resistance to the effects of weather and storms. "We'll learn from this effort, and we'll be able to apply our knowledge to successfully completing another salt marsh," Melby said.

Another feature of the project is that it will involve local secondary school students. Steckler said that a marine biology class from a local high school will help monitor plants and will check for salinity and other features.