Florida Native Plant Society Blog

The mission of the Florida Native Plant Society is to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. April 12, 2015 Robert Beltran, Executive Director Southwest Florida Water Management District 2379 Broad Street Brooksville, Florida 34604-6899 Subject:  Comments on Proposal to Surplus District-held Conservation Lands Dear Mr. Beltran: The Florida Native Plant Society (Society) recognizes that the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) is a critically important participant in Florida’s land conservation efforts. We hope you recognize the Society to be an especially supportive and engaged stakeholder given our regular participation on land management review teams, the assistance several of our local chapters have provided by conducting plant surveys on District lands, and the various other forms of support we have provided over the years. We have evaluated the lands proposed for...

By Audrey Peterman, with an introduction by Laurie Sheldon I have to give credit to Aimee Leteux, FNPS Naples Chapter Rep, for sending me this article. As soon as I read it I knew that it needed to be shared with the members of FNPS. I believe that it highlights one of the most critical elements involved in keeping an organization relevant - creating partnerships with a diverse group of stakeholders and fostering a sense of organizational stewardship in our communities' young people, as they will take the baton into the future. I applaud Audrey Peterman for the outstanding example she has provided, and thank her for emphatically granting me permission to relay her words... A beautiful vision of the 21st Century National Park System is unfolding in South Florida. When Department Of Interior Secretary Jewell, a member of President Obama's Cabinet, arrived in Miami on the first day of spring to announce a federal initiative to get millions of young people into their national ...

By the F.N.P.S. Policy and Legislation Committee Conservation research on the recovery of Florida Ziziphus ( Ziziphus celata ) is one of the projects that this grant previously funded Native Plant Conservation Funds In drafting the Senate legislation to restructure trust funds to implement Amendment 1 ( SB 584 ), the termination of the CARL Program Trust Fund within Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) has created the unintended consequence of eliminating the $250,000 annual transfer from the DEP CARL Trust Fund to the DACS Plant Industry Trust Fund for the Endangered or Threatened Native Flora Conservation Grants program. FNPS lobbyist Sue Mullins met with DACS and DEP officials about the unfortunate by-product of this bill, and will meet with House Budget Chair Albritton to rectify the situation. We originally had $300,000 in our budget line item for the program, of which we expect to restore at least $250,000. The bill restructures the trust funds to implemen...

Webpage of big-box store selling Lantana camara Lantana camara , commonly known as lantana and/or shrub verbena, can (unfortunately) be found throughout the state of Florida. It is a Category 1 invasive species , according to the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Category 1 species are defined as: "Invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives. This definition does not rely on the economic severity or geographic range of the problem, but on the documented ecological damage caused." These plants are being marketed as "Flowers for Florida" and sold at many big-box home improvement stores. DO NOT BE FOOLED by this rather deceptive advertising. Although they do GROW in Florida, they are in no way FOR Florida. Photo by Rich Fuller ( CCO ) Lantana montevidensis (left), sometimes referred to as "trailing shrubverbena,...

Russ Hoffman by Laurie Sheldon On November 15, 2014, the FNPS Board of Directors and Council of Chapters met at Disney Wilderness preserve. We had Russ Hoffman, a former psychologist and the owner of Beautiful Ponds (a Venice, Florida firm focused on lake, wetland and preserve management) as our guest speaker prior to launching into "business." He delivered a presentation on the subject of Ecopsychology in which he introduced a handful of  topical theories in a relatively short period of time. I have elaborated on these in this blog. I believe that you will find them to be both enlightening and useful in all of your communication endeavors, environmental and otherwise. Ecopsych: Definition and Applications What is Ecopsychology and why does it matter to FNPS? The term Ecopsychology, coined by Theodore Roszak in his 1992 text entitled The Voice of the Earth , can be vaguely defined as a study of the interrelationship between humans and nature. Essentially, Eco...

By Scott Davis It is a wide known fact that the attention span of today's youth is short—and getting shorter. Twenty years ago, it would have taken hours (or days) of research to acquire the same amount of knowledge that can be obtained in just a few seconds of keyboard finger tapping today! Though the future of FNPS depends upon the successful recruitment of members from all age groups and cultures, it is obviously paramount to the society's future to adapt for the ever-changing interests of young people. The Magnolia Chapter's outreach has included local universities and the USFWS. If your chapter hasn't forged partnerships with like-minded organizations, now is a great time to start. Recently, the Magnolia Chapter developed some ideas that have proven to be very effective in "hooking" local youth. Magnolia chapter officers voted recently to establish three chapter leadership positions for student board members. These three positions reflect Tall...