2015 – The Apollo Beach Waterways Improvement Group (ABWIG) is on a mission to dredge the waterways and restore the beach in Apollo Beach. Over time, the channels leading from the Bay into this South Hillsborough County waterfront community have become shallow and the beach at the Nature Preserve has eroded away.
The Apollo Beach Nature Preserve is a coastal wildlife habitat and premier site for fishing and watching the birds, manatees, dolphins and sunsets. ABWIG and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation, and Conservation are cooperating to recreate the beach at the park with sand dredged from the channels.
ABWIG is an all-volunteer, non-profit corporation. Pat Austin, a paralegal at Saxon Gilmore & Carraway, P.A., is Vice President and Secretary of ABWIG. She is a former Commodore of the Sailing Squadron and current President of TSS Youth Sailing. She says, “Apollo Beach has been my piece of paradise since 1986. I’m proud that our community is lending a hand to keep it that way.”
Donors to ABWIG include Hillsborough County, Mosaic, Tampa Electric Company, Symphony Isles HOA, Newland Development, and Mira Bay HOA, as well as many other corporate and individual donors.
At the April 15 Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners meeting, the Commissioners approved a $50,000 funding agreement between the County and ABWIG. Pat and the Board of Directors of ABWIG thank Bernice Saxon and Frazier Carraway of Saxon Gilmore for their legal assistance in this dredging and beach renourishment project.
For more information about ABWIG’s grass-roots project, visit www.abwig.org or Apollo Beach Waterway Improvement Group on Facebook and Twitter.