Preserve Buffer Zone Grant Project
The community of Calusa Lakes located in Nokomis off Mission Valley Blvd. is in the Dona and Roberts Bay watershed. In 2005-2008 they have applied for grants from the Sarasota County Neighborhood Grant program to remove exotic and invasive plants from their wetlands and preserve areas and replant with native vegetation. The preserve areas had been neglected over the years and many invasive/exotic trees and vegetation had over taken the native vegetation. The project consisted of numerous work sessions in which the volunteer homeowners cut, removed and chipped Brazillian pepper trees working in conjunction with a professional. If necessary the volunteers watered the new native plantings until they were established. The reason for doing this community project was to provide homeowners with a better understanding of the need for watershed management, and the positive impact an individual homeowner can have on the environment by following the principals of Florida-friendly landscaping, low impact design and the Sarasota County Fertilizer and Landscape management Code.
NEST Leader – Julie Whitney
