Is there anything you can do to help protect your watershed? Sure there is — and one of the best places to start is in your own yard. Not allowed? Perhaps you and your friends could work on your school’s yard, with permission of course. Small changes in yards can help protect Florida’s environment and keep your local water cycle healthy.
Hundreds of people move to Florida every day, which means that a lot of natural habitat is taken over by new housing developments. Most of these houses still have traditional grass lawns, which have been around since the olden days (1870) and became especially popular in the 1950’s. But as you might have noticed, lawn landscapes can take a lot of work and money to maintain. Not only that, they:
- Use up space that Florida’s native plants and animals need.
- Use FERTILIZERS and even poisons like PESTICIDES and HERBICIDES that can run off into ponds and streams, or seep down into the GROUNDWATER.
Lawns also use fresh water — lots of it. Most Florida households use about half of their valuable water outside the house. That’s a lot of watering!
Florida-Friendly Landscaping Principles
There’s more to a yard than just grass. Click on these nine principles to learn what makes some yards more Florida-friendly than others. Does your yard measure up?