Some days, only a half-dozen children and their parents show up for Bushnell's talks and demonstrations. Other times, as many as 60 people - from toddlers in bathing suits and flip-flops to grandmothers in their 80s - cram into a meeting room or onto a gazebo.
When the volunteers head to the water for their 45-minute programs, they may encounter 90-degree heat, a fog of insects brought in by the west wind, or a rainy ocean breeze so cold it envelops the group like a wet beach blanket, as it did on a recent morning.
"Once I began to understand the intricacies of this estuary, I was hooked," said Bushnell, 62, a retired computer-company vice president, who moved from Philadelphia to live full-time in Surf City several years ago.
"I know that once other people learn about it, they're hooked, too. Maybe working together we can make a positive impact on the watershed and the bay."
But there's fun involved, too.
"It's three years from birth to slurp, slurp," Bushnell told a group in Bay View Park on Thursday, explaining the shellfish's life cycle.
ReClam the Bay is a synthesis of scientific research and public education. Working closely with the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program established by the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, the nonprofit group offers the public a hands-on lesson in preserving the environment.
Its primary focus is the actual "re-clamming" of the bay. Nearly three million clam "seeds" - fertilized larvae around which the shell has just begun to develop - have been planted by the group in the past three years.
Biologists contend that while seeding a few million clams is barely a start in reversing pollution - it takes an estimated one million clams to filter nitrogen runoff in the bay for one day - the awareness it generates is invaluable.
