The Southwest Florida Water Management District is proud to announce the recipients of the 2006 Community Education Grant Program. The grants, which are up to $5,000 each, will help fund projects that provide communities the opportunity to learn about water resources.
This year the District awarded 34 grants Districtwide for a total of $151,278. Of 34 grants awarded, 11 were given to groups in Hillsborough County.
The overall goal of the Community Education Grant Program is to actively engage adults in water-related issues pertaining to conservation, protection and preservation. Funded by the District’s Basin Boards, the program is intended to motivate communities to get involved in water protection through various activities and educational formats.
This is the ninth year community education grants have been available.
The Hillsborough County recipients are grouped according to funding by basin.
Funding for the following project comes from the Alafia River Basin Board. The Alafia River Basin includes the southern half of Hillsborough County and a southwestern portion of Polk County.
The Ruskin Community Development Foundation will receive $5,000 for the “Welcome to Your Watershed Tour.” This two-day festival, which will be held May 6-7, is designed to inform more than 6,000 Tampa Bay-area residents on the issues within the watershed. By taking a “watershed tour,” participants will learn about water quality, conservation, flood protection, natural systems and habitat preservation. The tour will consist of visiting interactive booths that will have hands-on water-related activities. The watershed tour will be held in conjunction with the annual Ruskin Tomato and heritage Festival to encourage a wide range of people to attend, not just people already interested in the environment.
Funding for the following two projects comes from the Alafia River Basin Board and the Hillsborough River Basin Board. The Hillsborough River Basin includes portions of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties.
Hillsborough Community College will receive $5,000 for the Gateway Beautification Service Learning Plan. Service learning students and faculty will restore a stormwater ditch system that drains into Tampa Bay from the college and the Drew Park neighborhood.
A newsletter will be mailed to homeowners and businesses in Drew Park and to HCC students at the other campus locations. The newsletter will solicit volunteers to assist with installing native plants and feature best management practices for stormwater systems.
In addition to the neighborhood activities, students will install a native plant garden on campus that utilizes rain barrels and features educational signage and watershed education will be incorporated into student curriculum.
The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) will receive $5,000 for the Stormwater Story. This exhibit will consist of a series of educational signage that leads museum visitors through the stormwater system from the parking lot, through weirs, then into the natural wetlands associated with a large sinkhole on the south side of the property. The signs will introduce the basic concepts of stormwater management, natural filtration systems and personal actions to improve water quality. The project will reach approximately 15,000 visitors each year.
Funding for the following five projects comes from the Hillsborough River Basin Board.
The Hillsborough River Greenways Task Force will receive $4,131 for the “A River Runs Through It” community event. This event will be held at the Hillsborough River State Park and will reach approximately 1,000 residents. The event, which features workshops, nature hikes and canoe rides, will educate attendees on how to protect their watershed. Educational booths will include information about Florida-Friendly landscaping practices, recycling automobile fluids, picking up pet waste, not dumping into stormwater drains and conserving water.
The Audubon Resource Center will receive $5,000 for the Water Sources conservation display, which will feature information about potable and non-potable water sources in Hillsborough County. The display will also explain about population pressures, the role of water suppliers and managers and the political structure that shapes water planning and decisions in Florida. More than 15,000 people visit the Audubon Resource Center each year.
The Lowry Park Zoo’s Boy Scouts of America Zoo Troop 47 and Zoo Crew will receive $3,691 for the “River Clean Up II” project. The Boy Scouts and the Zoo’s youth volunteers and their family members will conduct a cleanup of the Hillsborough River in April using the Zoo’s “Sirenia” pontoon boat. Participants will catalog trash and submit the results to Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful as part of their coastal cleanup efforts. A brochure will be developed and distributed to residents along the river to notify them of the cleanup and inform them about watershed issues. Approximately 500 people will be reached through this project.
The Bayshore Christian School will receive $1,000 for the Lake Joanne Restoration Project. This project will potentially reach 1,500 students, parents and members of the Lake Joanne community. Curriculum will be developed for grades K-12 and a brochure will be developed and distributed to area residents explaining the benefits of the restoration and ways to keep the water clean. Educational signage installed around the pond will feature the importance of water quality and habitat restoration and preservation.
The Hillsborough County Extension Service Office will receive $5,000 for the Discovery Garden Water-Wise Garden Management program. This project expands upon the cooperator’s previous efforts. The garden will demonstrate how water can be conserved through Florida-friendly landscape principles. The project will be seen by approximately 3,300 Hillsborough County residents when they attend workshops focusing on composting, rain barrels and landscape design. Workshop participants will also receive a docent-led tour of the gardens. Follow-up surveys will identify barriers to participants creating their own Florida-friendly landscapes.
Funding for the following three projects comes from the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board. The Northwest Hillsborough Basin includes the northwest portion of Hillsborough County.
Wildrose Lawncare, Inc. will receive $500 for the Florida Yard Fandango. This Florida-friendly landscaping event will be held May 6 at the University of South Florida and will target 500 residents who live in northwest Hillsborough County. The primary educational goal of this project is to dispel the myth that responsible, Florida-friendly landscaping and lawn maintenance is boring and difficult. Participants will tour the botanical gardens on campus and attend workshops on the nine principles of Florida-friendly landscaping and organic pest control.
The Logan Gate Village Special Dependent Tax District will receive $4,500 for the Logan Gate Village Watershed Program. This water quality program will inform approximately 4,000 homeowners about the potential harm of pesticides and fertilizer runoff from their property. There will be planned workdays to remove Brazilian pepper trees and other invasive plants from the seven ponds in the village. Two specific ponds have been impacted by stormwater runoff. In addition, residents will learn about marking all basins with a sign telling them which pond the basin services. Florida-friendly landscaping will be promoted as a solution to excessive pesticide and fertilizer use.
Hillsborough County Adopt-A-Pond will receive $5,000 for the Pond ecology Education and Training Workshop. This watershed education project will target approximately 5,000 Hillsborough County residents by sending them a full-color information brochure containing information about watershed education, stormwater pollution prevention, best management practices and Florida-friendly landscaping techniques. In addition, two pond ecology workshops will be held to certify 25 sampling volunteers and provide an advanced curriculum based on the information in the brochure. These 25 sampling volunteers will test their ponds on a monthly basis and report their findings to measure the effectiveness of their adopted pond.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s 2007 Community Education Grant Program will begin its application process in August of this year if funding is approved by the Basin Boards. The deadline for applications is tentatively scheduled for September. To be added to the mailing list to receive the 2007 application, call the District’s Communications Department at 800-423-1476 or 352-796-7211, ext. 4757.