CLIMA 2016 | Reclamation Project

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“The Reclamation Project explores our ability to coexist with the natural world.
It reminds us of what our community looked like before all the concrete was poured.”

— Xavier Cortada

Reclamation Project (South Beach), 2006.

This participatory eco-art project was launched by Miami artist Xavier Cortada on Earth Day 2006, during the opening of a month-long installation at the Bass Museum of Art (see archives). In this inaugural year, 2,500 red mangrove seedlings were adopted by retail businesses across South Beach. In subsequent years, volunteers have collected seedlings from various Miami-Dade County locations where they would otherwise have perished and distributed them to retail and commercial businesses in South Beach, schools and the science museum.

Annually, the Reclamation Project plants thousands of mangroves on our bay, rebuilding ecosystems above and below the water line.

Since 2007, the coastal reforestation component of the Reclamation Project has been based at the Miami Science Museum, now the Frost Science Museum.

Annually, Frost Science Museum volunteers collect mangrove propagules in coastal areas. The propagules are then exhibited in clear, water-filled cups (see: Gallery of Installations) where they are nurtured into seedlings and eventually planted along coastal areas. This coastal reforestation creates new habitats above and below the water line.

To participate visit http://www.frostscience.org/volunteer/

Videos

The Reclamation Project explores our
ability to coexist with the natural world.
It reminds us of what our community
looked like before all the concrete was
poured.
For a few months, mangrove seedlings
will “reclaim” the island where they thrived
just a few decades ago.
Afterwards, the seedlings will be planted
along Biscayne Bay.
This new mangrove
colony will eventually rebuild ecosystems
above and below the water line.
Xavier Cortada
2006

Mangrove Installations

Mangrove “Reclamation” and Reforestation
Every year, Reclamation Project volunteers collect mangrove seedlings from nature preserves and distribute them across the community, symbolically “reclaiming” urban areas that once flourished with mangrove forests.

Mangroves are important for they create the interface between land and water where marine life takes hold. Small fish find refuge from predators in their intricate roots, which also serve to protect the shoreline from erosion during hurricanes. Biscayne Bay was once lined with mangroves. Today, there are few places where mangrove seedlings can take root on Biscayne Bay because it has been barricaded by man-made barriers such as sea walls and development.

The Reclamation Project installation at the Miami Science Museum displayed over 1,100 mangrove seedlings in clear, water-filled cups. They grew there for a year until they were ready to be reforested. At that time, another 1,100 seedlings would be nurtured in this re-permanent nursery.

These Red Mangrove seedlings, as well as those displayed in retail locations across South Beach, were planted by volunteers along Biscayne Bay.

** CLICK HERE to download Coastal Reforestation PDF

Bass Museum of Art Miami Beach, FL 2006	Lincoln Road retail Miami Beach, FL 2006	Flamingo/Scope Art Fair Sculpture Garden, Miami Beach 2006
Miami Science Museum Miami, FL 2007	Lincoln Theatre Miami Beach, FL 2007	Colony Theatre Miami Beach, FL 2007
St. Thomas School Miami, FL 2008	Tampa Preparatory School Tampa, FL 2008	Florida Botanical Gardens Largo, FL 2008