Project: Haya Linear Park | Explore and Conserve Now

Haya Linear Park Phases 1 & 2

Cost: $276,000
Partners: Tampa Bay Estuary Program (Tampa Bay Environmental Restoration Fund), City of Tampa, South Seminole Heights Civic Association, with in-kind services provided by the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County, Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County

A lakeside scene with a large tree arching over the water, and a line of rocks extending into the lake. The shoreline is grassy with some trees in the background.

Phase 1

Haya Linear Park is a public greenspace bordering the eastern shore of the Hillsborough River just north of downtown Tampa. The river shoreline is badly eroding in this area because of boat wakes. Ecosphere and the City of Tampa partnered to restore all 2,200 linear feet of the greenway shoreline through a phased approach incorporating a Living Shoreline, restoration of a small stream and adjacent wetlands, and recreational amenities.

The first phase of the project, completed in 2020, removed nuisance and invasive plants and installed a breakwater made of boulders to immediately deflect wave energy and provide shoreline stabilization. Ecosphere helped the City secure a $76,000 Tampa Bay Environmental Restoration Fund for the work; the total cost of this phase was $123,000.

Watch this news report about the Tampa founding father for whom Ignacio Haya Linear Park is named.

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In 2021, Ecosphere assisted the City of Tampa in securing a $50,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County to complete a Living Shoreline along this public greenway on the Hillsborough River. Soil was brought in to fill eroded sections of the riverbank along 2,200 linear feet of shoreline, creating a natural slope extending to the boulder breakwater installed in 2020. Residents of the South Seminole Heights Civic Association assisted with planting native shoreline plants to absorb storm surges and provide habitat for fish and wildlife. Residents also convinced the City to contribute $150,000 to finish the entire wetland restoration, including resculpting a weed-choked drainage ditch as a meandering creek, and building a kayak launch and foot bridge for the southern area. In all, the project provides more than one acre of wetland habitat within Tampa's urban corridor.

This project received a 2023 Future of the Region Award from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.