Representatives of local architectural, engineering and contracting firms gathered last week along the Susquehanna River in Columbia to do what they do best: Build.
But instead of erecting new warehouses and retail shopping centers, nearly 100 volunteers assembled concrete reef balls, each weighing 200 to 300 pounds. Built from fiberglass molds, the three-dimensional hollow balls are used to expand a man-made oyster reef in the Chesapeake Bay.
After they are dropped into the bay, the balls host thousands of tiny baby oysters who attach to the structures and grow into adult oysters. One reef ball can help grow 3,000 to 4,000 baby oysters.
Oysters help filter algae, sediment and other pollutants in the bay while the reef balls also provide habitats for small fish, crabs and other organisms. An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.
The Lancaster County event was organized by the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services and held at the Susquehanna Heritage Columbia Crossing River Trails Center.
Society President Shawn Barron, of Manor Township-based Rettew Associates Inc., said he hopes to see the first-time event become an annual community service project for the organization.
So does the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which drops hundreds of reef balls into the bay each year.
“This is about the health of the bay,” Barron said.
Reef-ball building projects have become common in other states, including Maryland and Florida. Society member Rick Elyar, who lives in Maryland and has worked on these projects, helped spawn the idea in Lancaster County.
“This is a first for Pennsylvania,” he said, as he worked with 19 teams of volunteers in Columbia to build the balls.
Kinsley Construction delivered the reef balls to the Maryland Oyster Restoration Center on Friday. Other companies involved in the SMPS project were:
Photos by Amy Spangler
Additional Photos
Kinsley Construction Inc.'s team uses an air compressor to inflate a rubber bladder to form the hollow center of a reef ball. The team, from left, is Chelsea Trabert, employee development coordinator; Debbie Casale, marketing coordinator; Brian Wilt, preconstruction specialist; and Jasmine Bryan, senior marketing coordinator.
Kinsley Construction Inc.'s team uses an air compressor to inflate a rubber bladder to form the hollow center of a reef ball. The team, from left, is Chelsea Trabert, employee development coordinator; Debbie Casale, marketing coordinator; Brian Wilt, preconstruction specialist; and Jasmine Bryan, senior marketing coordinator.
Michael Brennan, business development manager with Berks County-based Entech Engineering Inc., hammers a pin to secure a reef-ball mold in place before pouring concrete.
Members of a team from York-based Buchart Horn Inc. pour concrete into a reef-ball mold. They are Ismeta Jovicevic, left, an electrical designer, and W. Scott Loercher, vice president of architecture.
Rick Elyar, business manager with Hansen-Rice Construction, and Brooke Wenger, business development leader with Triad Engineering Inc., remove the fiberglass molds and rubber balls from a reef ball on Friday morning after the concrete set overnight. Elyar and Wenger, Society for Marketing Professional Services Central Pennsylvania chapter members, helped organize the build-a-reef event.
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