The Reclamation Project is an exceptional participatory mangrove restoration project  launched by Miami artist Xavier Cortada in 2006.  At its most basic level, according to the artist, "it explores our ability to coexist with the natural world.” With these modest ambitions as its starting point, the project succeeds by making reforestation so compellingly beautiful, fun, and engaging that people want to see it continue. The artwork involves the annual collection of mangrove propagules in coastal areas with the help of volunteers. The plant material is then exhibited in long rows of clear waterfilled cups suction-cupped to windows and walls in local museums, schools, businesses, and other public spaces. The propagules are nurtured into seedlings and then planted along coastal areas with the help of additional volunteers as part of an ongoing reforestation program. The Reclamation Project proved so popular that the Miami Science Museum committed to managing the coastal reforestation component and hosting a permanent ongoing exhibit of 1,100 mangrove seedlings in their facility. A Foundation was also formed to support additional installations in neighboring counties and communities.  

Xavier Cortada’s "The Reclamation Project: Installation at the Verge Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL," 2009 (curated by Amy Lipton, ecoartspace).   Annually, Reclamation Project volunteers collect mangrove propagules in coastal areas and distribute them across the community, symbolically "reclaiming” urban areas that once flourished with mangrove forests. The propagules are then exhibited in clear, water-filled cups, nurtured into seedlings, and eventually planted along coastal areas to create new habitats above and below the water line.