Monday, November 30, 2009

Greening of the Greens at the St. Johns Golf Club





Hi! My name is Amy Gilboy Meide and I was honored enough to be selected as part of the first class of Fellows for TogetherGreen (and the first official post to our Fellows blog!). I am the Land Resource Coordinator for St. Johns County, Florida so my job deals with all aspects of land management such as invasive species removal and prescribed burning. My Conservation Action Project (CAP) involved upland restoration at the County-owned St. Johns Golf Club. Over the past year, we have now returned over an acre of former sod to a more natural habitat by planting only native species like red maple, beautyberry, bald cypress, St. Johns Wort, and gallberry. The project has also garnered several partners since its inception including the First Tee, the local Audubon chapter and the Florida Native Plant Society.

Even though the fellowship year is now over, the project is still in full force. We are planning another planting day before Christmas and are planning on setting up a website showcasing the restoration. Several golfers have even asked if they can donate monetarily to the project!

3 comments:

Anne UF said...

These are great pictures, Amy! Can't wait to see the restoration website!

Anonymous said...

Amy, I wonder if you could take your project and share it with other golf courses in Florida. Maybe through the Cooperative Extension Service. Or does the golf community have an annual meeting or conference where you could share your successes with partnerships and volunteers!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenny, That idea was actually presented when I applied for the Fellowship! Great minds think alike. Of course, I'd love to get more of your feed back. We can chat on our drive to see Penelope!