Keep Sarasota County Beautiful (KSCB) is a county-wide beautification program that initiates community cleanup projects to help keep our community free of litter. KSCB hosts several county-wide cleanup events throughout the year including the Great American Cleanup (spring), Liberty Litter Cleanup (summer), and the International Coastal Cleanup (fall). KCSB also hosts cleanups of area waterways.

Seagrass is vital to maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems, stabilizing shorelines and providing food and shelter for a variety of wildlife including scallops. The bi-annual Eyes on Seagrass Survey Event assigns trained volunteers to sites in Sarasota County where they record the amount and types of seagrass and macroalgae that they observe. This information is used by scientists to better assess and manage these important ecosystems.

The Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) concept is based on the idea of promoting neighborhood involvement in environmentally-friendly projects to protect and restore our water resources. The NEST program projects focus on providing watershed education and getting neighbors involved in activities that improve their neighborhoods and enhance their watershed. The program goal is to help citizens and neighborhoods become advocates and champions for the watersheds in which they live.

The NEST Neighborhood Cleanup Kit includes information for residents and HOAs in Sarasota County that are interested in learning what they can do to improve water quality in their area. Available as printed brochures/materials or in PDF format. Please send your request to NEST@scgov.net with requested material and approximate number. Or, you can download the kit here. Topics included:

• Florida-friendly lawn and garden maintenance
• Fertilizer application BMPs/Fertilizer restricted season
• Shoreline Plantings/Living Shorelines
• Rain gardens/Rain barrels/Bioswales
• Low Impact Design
• Pet waste management strategies/Sponsoring a pet waste bag station

NEST WaterGoat Program. Sarasota County has installed several WaterGoats as a county-wide floatable pollution prevention program that initiates community cleanup projects for litter removal to help maintain Sarasota County local waterways free of floating trash.

• View a map of all installed WaterGoat locations
• Learn more about the WaterGoat program

This volunteer program is administered by the Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) Program and is proud to partner with the Keep Sarasota County Beautiful Program and Volunteer Sarasota County. To inquire about participating in a WaterGoat cleanup, please complete the volunteer signup form and indicate which WaterGoat location you are interested in.

Additional Forms:

• Liability Release
• Training Brochure
• Clean Up Report Form