York River State Park Oyster Garden
Project funded in part by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.
First of 2 educational trifolds provided to the park. Click on the image for all 6 panels.
In spring 2022 John Gresham, York River State Park Education Support Specialist, asked TOGA to help start an oyster garden at the park. TOGA provided an educational display, equipment (2 tidal tumblers each with a spat tube) and 1000 low salinity diploid spat for the park's first Oyster Garden. John plans to plant the grown oysters along the York River adjacent to the park. Lou Castagnola, Carl Zulick, Sue Borra, Eric Hentges and Vic Spain represented TOGA on Oyster Day. Photographs mostly by Sue Borra.
The park declared April 2, 2022 as Oyster Day with this announcement.
Discover the ecological and economic importance of Virginia's favorite bivalve. Oysters once existed in reefs so large that ships ran aground on them. Today's harvest is 1% of what it was 100 years ago. We will have interactive displays from organizations and businesses striving to increase their numbers. The Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association, Capahosic Oyster Company, Virginia Institute of Marine Science and others will have displays about the work they do and information about this keystone creature of a healthy Chesapeake region.
Carl Zulick chats with interested park visitors.
John Gresham and Vic Spain put in the first tidal tumbler, spat tube and 1000 low salinity fertile spat. The dock is on Taskinas Creek, just off the upper York River.
