Tidal Stream Assessment Project

For West Central Florida

The Tidal Stream Assessment information presented here was compiled by the University of South Florida's Water Atlas Lake and Stream Assessment program, work which was performed as part of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) Tidal Creeks Study project. Phase I of the project was led by the SBEP in collaboration with the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, with funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency in support of US EPA Wetland Development Grant No. 00D01212a. Phase II assessments were conducted in Manatee and Sarasota counties and were funded by SBEP. For questions and/or comments concerning the Tidal Stream Assessment Project please contact Dr. Jay Leverone (jay@sarasotabay.org, (941) 955-8085). For comments or questions about this page please contact the USF Water Atlas program.

In the summer of 2013 the USF Water Institute was selected by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program to conduct preliminary assessments of sixteen tidal streams along the west coast of Florida from the northern extent of Tampa Bay to the southern extent of Charlotte Harbor. (Two additional streams were later added.) The study was part of a larger effort that was funded by a grant from the US EPA Wetland Development Program. Also participating in the study was Janicki Environmental Inc. (primary contractor), Mote Marine Laboratory, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program and associated county governments. The primary focus of the project was to characterize the nutrient regimes along the tidal portion of coastal creeks. In 2014, SBEP directed the Water Institute to conduct Phase II assessments, collecting data on nine additional tidal streams within Sarasota Bay's watershed.

The Water Institute tasks included bathymetric mapping, vegetation surveys and habitat assessment. These tasks will serve as a foundation for the remaining sampling tasks involved in the study including: fish sampling, benthic chlorophyll sampling, macroinvertebrate sampling and water quality sampling. The interactive map provides spatial information for the 27 creeks selected by the partnership group for assessment. The 27 creeks are listed below. For each, there is a link to an assessment report (PDF), and a link to a zip file that contains supporting information (maps, vegetation list, shape files, etc.) The full report may also be downloaded at the link below.

2014 Update
Nine new reports added
EPA logo Sarasota Bay Estuary Program logo
Coastal & Heartland Estuary Partnership logo Tampa Bay Estuary Program logo

Reports & Data

Use the links below to read and/or download the individual reports.

Summary Reports

These reports collect the results of the Water Institute's portion of the assessment project. Each full report has maps and condition summaries describing bathymetry, vegetation, habitat assessment and bottom hardness for all of the tidal creeks surveyed.

West-Central Florida Tidal Stream Assessments

Related Documents

Individual Assessments

Click on a "Report" link to view the assessment report for an individual tidal stream. If you're interested in the higher quality versions of the maps and the raw data collected during the assessment, click the "Data" link to download a ZIP file of all supporting data.

Partners

Contact any of the individuals at our partner organizations for additional information about the project.

Tidal Stream Locations

Tidal streams assessed during this project are shown on the map below. Hover over a location to view brief metadata (tidal stream name and assessment date). Click the Open the Interactive Map button below for a fullscreen, interactive map.

  • 2014 Assessment Locations
  • 2013 Assessment Locations

Interactive Map

An advanced, interactive map application allows you to view all the spatial data collected during each tidal stream assessment. The tool displays bathymetric contours, stream bottom hardness, vegetation assessments, and spatial analysis tools.