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Grafton Middle Helps With Oyster Restoration

The focus of the Grafton Middle School’s (GMS) Oyster Restoration Club is to instill environmental awareness and stewardship in students of our Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The club gives members an opportunity to participate in meaningful activities which promote authentic scientific investigation and data collection, mixed with messy, wet, cold, dirty fun! In September, we "adopt" thousands of baby oysters. They are kept in Taylor Floats on Chisman Creek, where we monitor water quality and their growth rate monthly, while keeping them clean and protected from predators (primarily blue fin crab and rays). In May, the club takes a trip to Felgate Creek, on the Colonial Parkway, where we plant the oysters in a historic sanctuary reef.