Our chapter has been awarded a $2500 grant by Florida Power & Light, and administered by Audubon Florida, to partner with Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed Land and Water Trust (CREW) in restoration efforts led by the Fairchild Botanical Garden’s Million Orchids Project. The project will repopulate a suitable area of the 70,000-acre CREW property with native orchids. Nearly half of the 200 species of orchids native to the U.S. live in South Florida, and 60% are at risk or already endangered.
Board member and secretary Robin Serne will coordinate the chapter's participation.
Audubon SWFL and CREW Trust staff and volunteers will collaborate with Lee County Conservation 20/20 and Collier County’s Conservation Collier, as well as staff and key volunteers from partner organizations, such as Florida Gulf Coast University, Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Six Mile Cypress Slough, and Cypress Cove Landkeepers. In addition, the South Florida Water Management District CREW Senior Land Manager and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission CREW Biologists will participate in the site selection and orchid planting.
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