This is one of 15 sanctuaries in the sanctuary system.
These are our coastal and underwater national parks.
And you know what the National Park system does for recreation,
for the appreciation of preserving our natural resources.
That's all reflected in the National Marine Sanctuaries.
You have history and heritage, pristine, natural postal resources.
Let's build a similar legacy for these national marine actuaries
At the iconic feature that everybody knows about. Malice Bay is the ghost fleet,
the remains of 100 World War I era of wooden steam ships that were built as
part of our entry into World War I.
But the sanctuary itself encompasses 18 square miles.
So there's so much more here all the way back to thousands of years in the
Peoples of the Piscataway.
What we have is aerial surveys to support the global
Chesapeake Bay program and what we know about sea grasses either increasing,
decreasing, staying the same, but we only know where the grasses are,
where light penetrates.
So we think we have an incomplete story that you guys are gonna help to fill in
for us.
Right? Here's the edge. We got some,
a lot of different species down here fix celery and some of that cotton,
whatever it is,
They are serving sav uh,
submerge aquatic vegetation to get an idea of what species are present along
this bed. So with the aerial imagery, we get the acreage and the density,
but we don't get the species compositions.
The more species that are present in a bed, the more diverse it is,
the better off it is. When environmental conditions shift and fluctuate,
some species handle that change better than others.
Whenever you've got good diversity, you've got options when things change.
So you got wild celery naad, and
So seagrass is important for numerous reasons.
So it's a really vital habitat for juvenile fish species, for blue crabs.
Sav is also, um, important for carbon sequestration,
and it's a really important indicator of water quality.
So when water quality is poor due to pollution or impacts of climate change,
the sav may disappear or die off more.
So it's important to study these long-term trends.
This is under the water here. Oh, this is on top of the water here.
Got it.
Coral reefs, kelp beds, marine mammals, fisheries,
our nation's history is all right here in National Marine sanctuaries where
people don't know getting other people to know and appreciate what is possible
in a National Marine sanctuary. That's what Forest Blue does.
We've been operational now for five years,
but now because the sheer breadth of the National Marine Sanctuary system,
we're gonna get to put every single one of those skills into play for something
as amazing as our United States National Marine Sanctuary system.
And for veterans who have served this country to now be put back into service
with a mission that is that special. Frankly, it's, it's life changing.
I'm excited to go to these different places,
help out the researchers raising that awareness is good, that, you know,
this stuff is in people's backyards. As a nation, it's in our backyard,
so we should know about it. We should understand it, and we should treasure it.
Having this initiative to get to every National Marine sanctuary was a
perfect opportunity to showcase all that the sanctuary system has to offer in
terms of science and education and engagement with local communities,
but also the incredibly powerful work that Forest Blue does to restore
veterans and their health and give them opportunities to contribute.
All these ships are here. Nature is taking 'em back. You know,
trees are growing on 'em, plants are growing around them.
They're providing structure for fish. It's just the continuation of service.
You know, working with the veterans today, having them out here with us,
it's just amazing that they wanna do something like this. I hope they love it,
you know, like it seemed like they had a good time today.
So we're nothing without our environment.
We need Eco warriors and people to give back. I love that they're part of that.
Now.
This is a tour of duty,
a commitment on the part of forced blue veterans to perform conservation
missions and community engagement events in every National Marine sanctuary
across the United States. From Hawaii to Florida, Michigan, to Texas.
If you have a company, a corporation,
or a just an individual interested in supporting this historic effort,
please visit www.forceblueteam.org/tour of
duty to learn how you can get involved.