Photos by Mike Solum
John Sarkozy and Littoral Society volunteers showed up with ~250 plants (1-3 gallon). Lynda Eppinger, Parks Naturalist, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation, and a number of volunteers also came out to work. Mike Solum recruited his buddy Larry, who donated the use of his barge for the day. Also present for the first part of the day were two FNAI staff, there to document nuisance invasive plants. We kept telling them they should have seen it a year ago!
John Sarkozy and Littoral Society volunteers showed up with ~250 plants (1-3 gallon). Lynda Eppinger, Parks Naturalist, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation, and a number of volunteers also came out to work. Mike Solum recruited his buddy Larry, who donated the use of his barge for the day. Also present for the first part of the day were two FNAI staff, there to document nuisance invasive plants. We kept telling them they should have seen it a year ago! We got every one of the 250 =/- plants in the ground. We killed about three times that many (at least!) peppers, periwinkle, and A-pine seedlings by spraying or hand pulling. No one asked to go home early, even though we went for almost two hours beyond the scheduled time for the workday. It was fantastic that the weather cooperated by giving us the first warm day in wwaaaayyy too long, and by providing a good dousing of rain over the weekend. It will be great to get out there again soon to see how the new plants are doing!
Thanks to all who contributed to the ongoing and very successful (so far) restoration of this island! We'll go again soon!
Lynda Eppinger, Parks Naturalist, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation, Parks and Trails
