The Institute for Regional Conservation
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

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We are sad to announce that Donald Gann, IRC supporter and father of IRC Executive Director and Chief Conservation Strategist George Gann, passed away on December 11th, 2020. From George Gann, "Raised in the then near wilderness agricultural frontier of extreme southern Florida, they evolved from destroyers of nature to restorers of nature, ultimately transitioning from plowing up native ecosystems and growing tomatoes (which we need!) to growing native plants and helping to figure out how to restore their habitats. My mother passed away earlier this year, and my father earlier this month. They taught me that people can change, but also that we must take into account where people are coming from."

Michelle recently co-authored the paper Small herbaria contribute unique biogeographic records to the county, locality, and temporal scales, published in the American Journal of Botany. Abstract: With digitization and data sharing initiatives underway over the last 15 years, an important need has been prioritizing specimens to digitize. Because duplicate specimens are shared among herbaria in exchange and gift programs, we investigated the extent to which unique biogeographic data are held in small herbaria vs. these data being redundant with those held by larger institutions. We evaluated the unique specimen contributions that small herbaria make to biogeographic understanding at the county, locality, and temporal scales.

IRC's Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, was the recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Treasure Coast Chapter of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals (TCC FAEP).

Congratulations, Cara! And thank you for the recognition, TCC FAEP!

What an honor for George Gann to be part of an incredible group of people nominated for Hometown Hero awards by the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to everyone who supported his nomination for the Crystal Palm Award for Community Service. None of his work at IRC and SER is possible without his family, friends, colleagues, and support of the community.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

In case you missed our "Seagrapes and Biodiversity" workshop this month, here is a recording of the workshop.

IRC would like to thank our amazing panelists (George Gann, Rob Barron, Niki Desjardin, Jimmy Lange and Mike Zimmerman) and 40 participants for making this workshop a great success!

If you have any feedback or follow up questions, please direct them to Cara Abbott at abbott@regionalconservation.org.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who joined IRC's Michelle Smith and Samantha Gabriel to continue our restoration at Atlantic Dunes Park as part of our Restoring the Gold Coast program.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who joined IRC's Cara Abbott and Keith Buttry of Neglected Plants on this chilly morning at Oceanfront Park. We built upon our last planting at this park by adding an additional 125 native plants to the dunes.

Special thank you to City of Boynton Beach, Government for coordinating this event with us!

It's that time of year again, Give Miami Day! This event is important for us to keep our Pine Rockland Initiative Program moving forward. This year, our goal is to hit $3,000 in donations from at least 20 donors.

Give Miami Day 2020 will take place on Thursday, November 19th. All donations made through this site earn a percentage of extra donations provided by the Miami Foundation. This is a great opportunity to maximize your impact through a tax-deductible donation!

The PRI is centered in Miami-Dade County and managed by IRC and collaborators with the goal to restore and manage pine rockland fragments on private lands. Less than 2% of pine rockland remains in urban Miami-Dade County outside of Everglades National Park.

Dine with Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in Delray Beach on Thursday, November 19th from 11am - 9pm to support IRC! Simply mention "The Institute for Regional Conservation" when you order at the store, call in an order or order through a delivery app. We will receive a portion of the proceeds all day long. Money raised will go towards our Restoring the Gold Coast program.

It seemed like bad news to the Institute for Regional Conservation's (IRC) research associate Mike Barry when the newly appointed governing board for South Florida Water Management District cut all funding for exotic control in Picayune Strand State Restoration Project. Mike had been a key specialist for exotics identification and mapping for the past 15 years in this part of south Florida. Never one to be idle, Mike used his free time well by saying "yes" to interesting and rewarding volunteer work with a collaborative project between Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) in south Puerto Rico and Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (RBNERR) in southwest Florida. Both reserves were heavily impacted in the 2017 hurricane season, when Irma hit RBNERR and Mar�a damaged JBNERR. The reserves share important ecological similarities, such as dominance of mangroves along the coast; but there are also differences in resource use needs and land use within the watersheds. Since Mike has been a close partner with RBNERR for the past decade and an expert in sub-tropical landscapes, research coordinator Brita Jessen reached out to see if he would be interested in a 10-day trip to scout the post-Maria landscape of south Puerto Rico and compare it with southwest Florida post-Irma.

The scoping work Mike participated in indirectly led into a collaborative three-year proposal made by scientists and coastal managers at RBNERR and JBNERR, Florida International University, the University of South Florida, and Duke University's Nicholas School for the Environment entitled "Resilience of the Mangrove Coast: Understanding Links between Degradation, Recovery, and Community Benefits". The purpose of this project is to better understand how the combined effects of hurricane disturbance, prior land-use legacies (e.g., freshwater hydrological alteration), and climate change in general (changes in precipitation, sea level rise) can lead to irreversible regime shifts, resulting in the loss of mangrove ecosystem functions and the services they provide to the wider community. Mike's contribution to the project team was to help identify similar impacts of acute events (like hurricanes) and long-term stress (like sea level rise) in both reserves.

To read the full article about this collaborative project, click here.

This month IRC began restoration work at Red Reef Park in Boca Raton, as part of our Restoring the Gold Coast program. After removing patches of invasive Beach naupaka (Scaevola taccada), we added more than 75 plants including Horizontal coco-plum (Chrysobalanus icaco), Yellow neclacepod (Sophora tomentosa var. truncata), Baycedar (Suriana maritima), and Sea-lavender (Tournefortia gnaphalodes).

Special thanks to Keith Buttry and his daughter, Zamia, from Neglected Plants, Inc., Mike Cangey from Coastal Growers Inc., and Ian Wilkinson for helping with the work. We thank Coastal Growers and Silent Native Nursery for many donated or discounted plants; Michael Kohner for watering newly added plants; and Lindsey Nieratka and Singletary Kinlaw from the City of Boca Raton, for help coordinating this event

IRC had the pleasure of working with Under Blue Waters at a planting event in Delray Beach. Led by IRC Education & Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, campers learned about coastal conservation first hand! They helped plant Sea-lavender and Baycedar plants before spending the rest of their day out on the water.

Special thanks to Bob Cawood of Outdoor Youth Adventures for helping us coordinate this event. Also thank you to Coastal Growers Inc. for donating plants and helping with installation and watering, and to George Gann and his daughter Maya for helping with logistics.

Over the weekend, IRC had the pleasure of delivering the first batch of purchased biodiversity starter plant kits! We distributed 35 plants from 9 species to 5 sites, which will attract up to 26 species of butterflies or more, including 15 larval host plants and 18 nectar plants.

These were assembled from our partner native plant nurseries: Amelia's Smarty Plants, Indian Trail Native Nursery, Meadow Beauty Nursery, Silent Native Nursery, and George Gann's private stock.

Each kit helps build on the biodiversity hotspots we are creating in our Restoring the Gold Coast program. For more information including how to purchase your own kit, click here.

IRC recently completed a significant planting on a private dune in Ocean Ridge owned by Kimberlee Pompeo. Kimberlee is the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs District X Vice Chair for the Barrier Islands and is a wonderful advocate and supporter of both IRC and Restoring the Gold Coast. She purchased several Biodiversity Starter Plant Kits (available here) and made an additional donation so that our crew could do the planting on her property. Thanks to Chris Quadrel from Coastal Growers for assisting!

A total of 21 species were added to her dune, 14 of them being new to the site. You can easily see which species were added and already present by visiting the "Pompeo Private Dune Parcel" conservation area in the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) available here.

This planting compliments the biodiversity hotspots we are creating throughout south Palm Beach County through our Restoring the Gold Coast Program. To learn more about this program, check out our recently recorded webinar all about Restoring the Gold Coast!

Additionally, there is a fantastic article on page 10 of The Florida Gardener Summer 2020 edition written by Kimberlee and George. This article talks about Restoring the Gold Coast, the importance of conserving coastal plants and the need to be a crusader for the environment!

June has been a busy month for our Pine Rockland Initiative program! Over the last month, IRC's Restoration Crew has worked on restoring seven different privately-owned pine rocklands in Miami-Dade County.

They initiated new restoration work at the Tropical Audubon Society's pineland (photo by Ana Lima from TAS), which was planted by IRC's Cheif Conservation Strategist George Gann more than a decade ago. For additional photos, click here.

Our crew also conducted restoration work at the Girl Scout Little House site. This is a unique site as its the only designated Natural Forest Community in the City of South Miami. By treating and removing invasive species like the common airpotato (Dioscorea bulbifera), native species like the pine fern (Anemia adiantifolia) are able to thrive.

IRC's Green Delray program seeks to conserve and restore the green spaces in Delray Beach. One of the key sites for this program is the Lake Ida Parcel located just north of Lake Ida Park. In 2017 and 2018 we planted a wide variety of native species throughout the parcel, often in areas where we removed invasive plant species.

Since then, we have continued to visit the site to do weeding and check on the status of the plants we've added.

Earlier this month, IRC's restoration crew went out with John and Luke Miller and Ian Wilkinson. They loaded up John Miller's boat with supplies including a billygoat brush cutter which was used to mow back invasive grasses that were threatening to take over the parcel. Nine different invasive species were treated, hand-pulled and mowed back thanks to this group effort!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this webinar on our Pine Rockland Initiative (PRI) program. Check out more information about PRI here.

If you missed this webinar but are still interested in learning about the ways we are working to restore imperiled pike rockland habitat, click here.

Thank you to those who joined us via Zoom on Tuesday for our Weekly Conservation Conversation all about our new Biodiversity Starter Plant Kits! Check out more information about Restoring the Gold Coast here and Biodiversity Starter Plant Kits here.

If you missed it or would simply like to share with others who may be interested in learning more about how they can purchase a Biodiversity Starter Kit and how it works, click here.

Thank you to those who joined us via Zoom on Tuesday for our Weekly Conservation Conversation all about the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF)! Check out this free web resource here.

If you missed it or would simply like to share with others who may be interested in learning more about how FISF was designed and works, click here.

Thank you to the 70+ people who joined us via Zoom on Tuesday for our first Weekly Conservation Conversation all about Native For Your Neighborhood (NFYN)!

If you missed it or would simply like to share with others who may be interested in learning more about how NFYN was designed and works, click here.

Starting on Tuesday, May 5th, IRC will be launching our Weekly Conservation Conversations with George Gann via Zoom from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm every Tuesday. Each week we will have a different topic or theme related to our programs, free online resources and current conservation issues. Click on the links below for a full description of each topic and also the zoom meeting information. Here is the list of our upcoming Weekly Conservation Conversations:

• Natives For Your Neighborhood on May 5th hosted by George Gann. For more information, visit the Facebook event and/or our website calendar event.
• Floristic Inventory of South Florida on May 12th hosted by George Gann. For more information, visit the Facebook event and/or our website calendar event.
• Biodiversity Starter Plant Kits on May 19th hosted by George Gann. For more information, visit the Facebook event and/or our website calendar event.
• Restoring the Gold Coast on May 26th hosted by George Gann and Cara Abbott. For more information, visit the Facebook event and/or our website calendar event.
• Pine Rockland Initiative on June 2nd hosted by George Gann. For more information, visit the Facebook event and/or our website calendar event.

If you have any questions about attending any of these sessions, feel free to reach out to Cara Abbott at abbott@regionalconservation.org

As many of you were probably aware, we had a full schedule of activities including public volunteer days, talks at libraries, table displays at festivals and fundraisers planned for this spring. However, in light of recent recommendations related to the corona virus, all events are currently postponed or cancelled.

Specifically, we have postponed the public volunteer days coming up at Oceanfront Park in Boynton Beach on April 4th and at Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach on April 18th. As soon as we have new dates selected for these events, we will let everyone know.

We hope you all stay healthy and safe during this time and that you will join us when these get rescheduled! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

IRC's crew leader, Alex Seasholtz, and field biologist, Michelle Smith, along with Kirk Linaje, Biologist II, of Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (EEL), hosted a pine rockland restoration event as part of our Pine Rockland Initiative Program this month.

Thank you to all of our volunteers for coming out for this event. And a special thank you to Miami-Dade EEL staff and Natural Areas Management (NAM) staff for their collaboration. For more photos, click here.

IRC had the privilege of working with Sea Turtle Adventure's iCare Nature Club and students from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School at Gulfstream Park! Participants got to enjoy a beautiful morning on the beach while helping us restore native coastal biodiversity and doing a beach clean up. For more photos, click here.

iCare Nature Club is a unique membership club for adults (18+) with special needs. Through this welcoming, inclusive environment, members build confidence, have fun, and expand upon their social life and develop new interests.

Thank you Jackie Kingston of Sea Turtle Adventures for coordinating this event with us! We really enjoyed working with your wonderful nature club. Thank you PBC Parks and Recreation for your help in preparing the site for this planting event, for Steve's amazing help during the event and for letting us work in your beautiful park! And thank you to Impact 100 Palm Beach County for being our primary sponsor for the event!

We are sad to announce that Joyce Gann, IRC supporter and mother of IRC Executive Director and Chief Conservation Strategist George Gann, passed away on February 21st, 2020, in her home nestled in a South Miami-Dade rockland hammock. Joyce and Don Gann were important supporters and promoters of IRC from its founding. Their extensive experience in growing native plants in the commercial nursery they operated for many years can be seen throughout the IRC's Natives For Your Neighborhood online resource. In providing opportunities for their children to be immersed in nature and among botanists, Joyce and Don also contributed to the birth of the IRC. You can read more about Joyce here. The Board of Directors and staff of IRC extend condolences to Don, George, and family. We will remember her supportive words and smiles at the recent 35th-anniversary celebrations of IRC.

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Florida Native Plant Society's Conservation Grants in honor of Joyce and Don Gann. The grants fund conservation projects for Florida's rare and imperiled native plants and plant communities. For more information, click here.

IRC is excited to announce that we have recently received a grant from the State of Florida and Florida Wildflower Foundation (FWF) for the Viva Florida Award Agreement in support of our Natives For Your Neighborhood (NFYN) website. Check out the FWF website and our NFYN website!

With this funding, IRC will be able to continue expanding this free resource throughout Florida, to develop additional wildlife pages, and link wildlife to plant pages and ZIP codes. To learn more, click here

IRC's Cara Abbott and Samantha Gabriel held an exhibitor booth at the 21st Annual Everglades Day Festival in Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. They shared with visitors about our Pine Rockland Initiative Program, our Restoring the Gold Coast Program, and Natives for Your Neighborhood.

It was so great to see old friends and make new friends who are all passionate about our Earth and Florida's biodiversity. We look forward to attending again next year!

IRC's George Gann spoke at Delray Beach Chamber's Nonprofit Luncheon on The Institute for Regional Conservation Conservation in a Changing World. George talked about IRC's history, current projects like Restoring the Gold Coast and urged attendees to personally get involved with restoring biodiversity.

IRC's crew leader, Alex Seasholtz, and Kirk Linaje, Biologist II, of Miami-Dade EEL, hosted a pine rockland restoration event as part of our Pine Rockland Initiative Program this month. Volunteers helped remove thickets of bracken fern and non-native sword fern, where they were shading out other native plants. Another group of volunteers helped remove royal palm fronds from the pineland. Two dump trucks were filled with vegetation debris from the event!

Thank you to all of our volunteers for coming out for this event. And a special thank you to Miami-Dade EEL staff and NAM staff for their help in this event with us.

IRC took students from Atlantic Community High School on a coastal restoration field trip to Delray Beach! Students learned about restoring coastal biodiversity first hand by helping IRC add 25 Saw palmetto, 2 Myrsine, 2 Florida privet and 1 Spanish stopper into the dunes. Students also worked hard to remove asparagus fern and picked up trash off of the beach. This event was co-sponsored by New York Life Foundation. For more photos, click here.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered with us on at Atlantic Dunes Park. You helped us restore native coastal biodiversity through this Restoring the Gold Coast Event. We would like to give a HUGE thank you to Erin Deady Law for sponsoring this event! And as always, thank you to Impact 100 Palm Beach County and Delray Beach Parks & Recreation for their support for Restoring the Gold Coast. We would also like to thank our wonderful volunteer crew leaders, John Miller, Ian Wilkinson, and Yelka Mikolji, for their help with running work stations throughout the morning. For more photos, click here.

At this particular event, volunteers helped plant native species including: 26 Serenoa repens (saw palmetto), 3 Flaveria linearis (narrowleaf yellowtop), 2 Tournefortia gnaphalodes (sea-lavender), 1 Dodonaea viscosa var. viscosa (varnishleaf) and 1 Chamaecrista fasciculata (partridge pea); removing invasive species like Scaevola taccada (beach naupaka), Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian-pepper), Asystasia gangetica (Chinese-violet), and Sansevieria hyacinthoides (Bowstring-hemp); and picking up 16.73 kg of trash and microplastics and 11.81 kg of recyclables off of the beach.

IRC's Education & Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, presented at The Milagro Center in Delray Beach as part of our Restoring the Gold Coast Program. Cara spoke with 10 middle/high school students about coastal conservation efforts happening in their area and discussed ways they could each get involved with the program.

IRC's Field Crew Leader, Alex Seasholtz, attended the 2019 Butterfly and Bird Day at Castellow Hammock Preserve and Nature Center hosted by Miami Blue Chapter, North American Butterfly Association and Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces. There were great speakers, including Sandy Koi, one of IRC's Conservation Associates, and information to help keep Florida flourishing.

Join IRC and our friends of IBWG for their Annual Meeting full of presentations from experts across Florida on Tuesday, January 28th, 2020 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. It is open to the public but they require RSVPs no later than January 1st, 2020. This meeting will be at the UF/IFAS Extension in Miami-Dade County.

For more details or to RSVP or to present, contact Mary Truglio Fesmire at ImperiledButterfliesOfFlorida@outlook.com.

We are excited to announce that our very own Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, had her first baby boy on Thursday, November 21st!

Congratulations to Michelle and Andrius!

As #GiveMiamiDay comes to end, everyone at The Institute for Regional Conservation would like to thank all of our donors today!

We greatly appreciate the support from each and every one of you in helping us raise $2,372!

Your contributions enable us to carry out our mission through restoring pine rockland habitat, holding educational events, and providing free online resources.

IRC held a workshop on Restoring the Gold Coast in Ocean Ridge at the Ocean Ridge Town Hall. Residents who attended the workshop listened to a presentation from IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, participated in an open forum, and helped plant several native species along the town of Ocean Ridge's easement south of Oceanfront Park

IRC's Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, spoke to 150 Earth Science students at Atlantic Community High School about the history and management of coastal habitat, the importance of biodiversity, and how to become an advocate for Florida's coastline.

IRC then had the pleasure of taking some of these students on a coastal restoration field trip in Delray Beach! Students learned about restoring coastal biodiversity first hand by helping IRC add native plants to the coastal strand, removing invasive species and picking up trash.

Thank you Chelsea Cantwell for letting us work with your students and for all you did to make this field trip happen!

And thank you to our primary sponsors, Impact 100 PBC and New York Life Insurance Company, for sponsoring this event and giving these students the opportunity to make a positive impact on the world around them. Click here for more photos.

Our 35th Celebrations in both Miami-Dade and Delray Beach were amazing events filled with IRC staff, colleagues, associates, and friends new and old.

We would like to thank each and every one of you who came out to our events to show your support of IRC's work and mission. IRC could not have enjoyed 35 years of regional conservation work without collaborating with such committed individuals.

We were able to raise over $3,500 and we could not be more grateful! Thank you to all that donated and/or participated in our raffles.

Left - 35th in Miami. A very special thank you to our sponsors: the City of Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation, Broward Chapter of FNPS, Dade Chapter of FNPS, Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, Steve Pearson, Joy Klein, John Lawson, and Patty Phares. We could not have done this without you!

Thank you to those who volunteered or helped make the Miami event happen: Gloria Antia, Richard Brownscombe, Amy Creekmur, Lydia Cuni, Steve Green, Joy Klein, Sandy Koi, Kiki Mutis, Christina Stocking, Carlos Villegas, Steve Woodmansee, and Maya Gann. And a special thanks to Patty Phares for organizing the event! Click here for more photos.

Right - 35th in Delray. A very special thank you to our sponsors: John Campanola, agent of New York Life, BCoSF Media, Erin Deady Law, Central Park Taekwondo, Martin Nathan LMHC, and Valentina's Pizza and Pasta. We could not have done this without you!

Thank you to those who volunteered or helped make this event happen: Allison Turner, Jack Schulman, Donna Shore, Patty Phares, Emiliano Brooks at Studio B2, and Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia. Click here for more photos.

Cheers to 35 more years!!

IRC will be participating in this year's Give Miami Day all day on Thursday, November 21st!

Help support IRC's restorative work on pine rockland habitats in Miami-Dade county on this day. IRC has worked on 73.6 acres of pine rockland in Miami-Dade County this past year. IRC is committed to restoring 35 acres of pine rockland in Miami-Dade County through Winter 2020 thanks to funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By supporting IRC on Give Miami Day, you will help us expand our impact through restoring additional acres and implementing more pine rockland educational programs.

We will be posting a reminder on Give Miami Day! Donations for this particular event can only be made on the day, November 21st. Be a part of a great way to support and acknowledge your favorite non-profit organizations! Click here for more info on Give Miami Day 2019.

Support your favorite nonprofit that restores the link between people and nature! To see our Give Miami Day page, click here.

IRC's RGC Kick-Off event at Delray Municipal Beach was a success! With about 40 volunteers, we planted over a dozen different native species, removed invasive species, and picked up trash/recycling off of the beach and dunes.

Thank you to our crew leaders Danica Sanborn of Sandoway Discovery Center, Isabella Marzullo, and Ian Wilkinson for leading our volunteers. Thank you, Rob Barron, at Coastal Growers, Inc. and Keith Buttry at Neglected Native Nursery for providing the plants for this event.

A HUGE thank you to the women of Impact 100 PBC for awarding us this grant to jumpstart our program!

We would also like to thank our friends at Beach Property Owner's Association, commissioner Bill Bathurst, and Sam Metott of City of Delray Beach Parks and Recreation who came out. Click here for more photos.

Join IRC as we all celebrate 35 years of working together on behalf of South Florida's biodiversity. This event will be held in Miami-Dade County on Sunday, October 27th at the City of Miami's historic Simpson Park from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

This event is sponsored by Patty Phares, the City of Miami Parks and Recreation, Steve Pearson, Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, Broward Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, and Joy Klein.

3:00 pm - "Biota Scavenger Hunt" or a leisurely stroll in the remnant of Brickell Hammock preserved in the park. (It's not a dense jungle and unpaved paths are smooth but dress to be in the warm outdoors).

4:00 pm - Presentations and Reception with a look back on IRC's history and to its future, and socializing over refreshments.

Parking - Space at the park is limited, on-street parking is for residents. Please try to carpool. Drive to the park (5 SW 17th Road, Miami 33129 - off South Miami Ave.) for parking assistance. Overflow parking will be with Pay-by-Phone north of 15th Road.

RSVPs are greatly appreciated. You can RSVP by clicking here.

Sponsor this event or donate to IRC! You can help IRC's conservation mission by co-sponsoring our 35th Anniversary event at any level or by donating to IRC. Please click on the 'Donate Now' button and leave a comment that your donation is to sponsor the 35th Anniversary Miami-Dade event or contact IRC (Call 305-247-6547 or email admin@regionalconservation.org).

Details are also on the IRC Facebook page, calendar, and E-Newsletter. Please share the word!

Join IRC as we all celebrate 35 years of working together on behalf of South Florida's biodiversity. This event will be held in Palm Beach County on Thursday, November 7th at the offices of BCoSF Media in Delray Beach from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

This event is sponsored by John Campanola, agent of New York Life, Erin Deady Law, Central Park Taekwondo, and Valentina's Pizza and Pasta.

6:00 pm - Presentations and Awards with a look back on IRC's history and to its future, and socializing over refreshments.

Parking - Stay tuned for parking information.

RSVPs are greatly appreciated. You can RSVP by clicking here.

Sponsor this event or donate to IRC! You can help IRC's conservation mission by co-sponsoring our 35th Anniversary event at any level or by donating to IRC. Please click on the 'Donate Now' button and leave a comment that your donation is to sponsor the 35th Anniversary Palm Beach event or contact IRC (Call 305-247-6547 or email admin@regionalconservation.org).

Details are also on the IRC Facebook page, calendar, and E-Newsletter. Please share the word!

As part of our Restoring the Gold Coast program, IRC led Dr. Rachel Wellman's AICE Environmental Management class on a field trip to South Inlet Park in Boca Raton! These Boca Community High School students got hands-on experience restoring coastal biodiversity by planting a fun variety of natives in the maritime hammock. They also picked up trash off the beach and brainstormed solutions to current issues coastal habitats face.

Thank you Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation for your support in this event! Thank you, Rob Barron, for delivering the plants and lending us Chris and Tom for the morning! And lastly, thank you Impact 100 PBC for funding our Restoring the Gold Coast Program!

Join IRC, the City of Delray Beach, Sandoway Discovery Center, and Beach Property Owners' Association for a Restoring the Gold Coast Kick-off event at the Municipal Beach in Delray Beach on Saturday, October 19th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. We will meet at the gazebo located across from Nassau Street. We will have a brief ceremony and ribbon cutting at 9:00 am, and then work in the dunes to the east of the gazebo.

Participants will learn about the value of restoring coastal biodiversity while planting a variety of native coastal plants, removing invasive plants, and picking up trash. We will provide all tools, gloves, and materials necessary as well as light refreshments. We ask that volunteers wear closed-toed shoes, sunscreen, and a hat. All participants will receive a free t-shirt at check-in!

For parking, come to the check-in table to receive free parking passes for volunteers and park along the beach or at the Sandoway Discovery Center.

If you have any questions or would like to send in your RSVP, please contact our Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, at 305-304-6610 or abbott@regionalconservation.org.

Check out our webpage to learn more about our RGC Program!

Our International Coastal Clean-Up event at Atlantic Dunes Park was a HUGE success, despite the wind and rain. With almost 100 volunteers, we worked together to remove 64.98 kg of trash (which was mostly comprised of microplastics) and 27.75 kg of recyclables off the beach. Some of the weirdest trash items people found were: a shoe sole, a tent, a Juul pod, a barrette, and wire!

Since this event was also part of our Restoring the Gold Coast Program, participants helped us increase coastal biodiversity by planting native Saw palmetto and Spanish stopper and removing invasive Bowstring hemp (Snake plant), Brazilian pepper, and Beach naupaka.

Thank you to Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc. and the City of Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department for all of your support for this event. And thank you to Impact 100 PBC for funding our Restoring the Gold Coast Program which makes events like this possible!

We would also like to thank our IRC Volunteer Crew Leaders/Members, John Miller & the boys and Isabel Marzullo for their hard work and help with the event!

If you'd like to see more photos, check out our Facebook page. If you took any photos that you would like added to this post, feel free to drop them in the comments of the post or email us and we will get them added!

IRC's Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, talked with the students of Dr. Rachel Wellman's AICE Environmental Management class at Boca Community High School about the history and management of coastal habitat, the importance of biodiversity, and how to become an advocate for Florida's coastline.

Next week, IRC will ne taking these students on a field trip to South Inlet Park in Boca Raton to add plants to the maritime hammock to increase coastal biodiversity. We are so excited to be working with Dr. Wellman and her students on our Restoring the Gold Coast program!

Thanks to the collaboration of IRC, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Miami-Dade County's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, the critically endangered pine rockland habitat at Ned Glenn Nature Preserve is being restored. IRC has worked at Ned Glenn throughout 2018 and 2019 conducting invasive species removal and hardwood reduction treatments to increase native biodiversity and conserve threatened and endangered species found within the pineland.

We recently installed an educational sign with the help of IRC field biologist Michelle Smith, EEL site manager Kirk Linaje, and Miami-Dade County's Natural Areas Management program to inform visitors about the restoration activities at Ned Glenn.

On Saturday, we held a small volunteer event to continue the up-keep at our restoration project at the Lake Ida parcel in Delray Beach. We hand-pulled Rose natalgrass (Melinis repens), Lima (Sida cordifolia), and Caesarweed (Urena lobata). As always, thanks to all who have helped with this project! Stay tuned for a larger event at Lake Ida later this fall, sponsored by Erin Deady Law.

We are in need of more sponsorships to hold much-needed workdays at Lake Ida. Please consider donating to The Institute for Regional Conservation's Green Delray Program, and help connect people with nature!

An important part of our Restoring the Gold Coast (RGC) program is working with a wide range of collaborators and partners including local schools.

We will be working with Atlantic Community High School students (77% of which are Title 1 students) to restore portions of the municipal beach in Delray Beach. We would like to run three field trips for these students where they spend a morning on the beach getting their hands dirty while they learn about conservation through exotic removal, native planting, and data collection.

We will also be working with Boca Community High School's AICE Environmental Management class to restore portions of coastal habitat in Boca Raton. We plan on running two field trips focused on native planting and data collection.

In order to run each field trip, we need to raise $600 per field trip to cover the cost of transporting the students by bus from the school to the beach and back. Please consider donating towards this transportation cost! Simply donate online or mail us a check and make a note that the donation for student transportation!

Field Biologist Michelle Smith attended the 2019 Everglades Invasive Species Summit hosted by Friends of Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (ECISMA). A consortium of agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions, ECISMA works to conduct research on, monitor, trap, and treat invasive animals and plants in and around the Greater Everglades. Presentations at the Summit included topics on nonnative fish, python removal, green iguana control, tegu trapping, biological control, postfire Melaleuca challenges, invasive plant management, and a review of nonnative plant species in Broward County.

University of Miami student, Leila Thompson, who is studying Ecosystem Science & Policy and Anthropology, recently came to IRC Headquarters in Delray Beach to interview IRC Executive Director, George Gann. Leila is making a documentary about pine rocklands and is interviewing many friends and colleagues involved with pine rockland conservation and restoration. Screenings are expected later this summer.

In June, George Gann participated in two important meetings of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The first was the annual meeting of the IUCN United States National Committee, which brought together representatives from many of the more than 100 nonprofit and government members across the country. The second comprised the North American Regional Consultation for the IUCN 2021-2024 Programme in anticipation of the next World Conservation Congress in 2020 in Marseille, France. The IUCN Programme is a critical centerpiece of the international conservation agenda.

From left: George Gann; Angela Andrade, Chair, IUCN Commission on Ecosystem M anagement; Jim Hallett, Chair of the Board, Society for Ecological Restoration. George represented both the Society for Ecological Restoration and IRC at two recent IUCN meetings.

While we have been communicating with many partners about our Restoring the Gold Coast Program, we wanted to take this opportunity to give a special shout out to the Town of Ocean Ridge community. On June 3rd, we conducted a rapid assessment of the dunesupported by the Town and resident Kimberlee Duke Pompeo, followed by a luncheon with community leaders on June 20th. In attendance were representatives of the Town, Florida Coalition for Preservation, Biodiverse beach managed by the Ocean Ridge Ocean Ridge Garden Club, and Surfrider Foundation. On Monday, July 1st, George Gann presented a project overview and results of the rapid assessment to the Town Commission and residents.

Join us in welcoming our new Pine Rocklands Initiative Program intern, Isabel Marzullo, to the IRC team this summer!

Isabel is currently enrolled as a senior at Florida International University, pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies with emphasis on the natural resources component. She has volunteered in Costa Rica with La Tortuga Feliz, a sea turtle conservation program, and was a student in Dr. Hong Liu's restoration ecology class which completed a pine rockland workday with IRC in the spring.

We are excited to have her work with our field crew this summer to restore imperiled pine rockland habitat in Miami-Dade County!

IRC Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, and volunteer, Kim Gabel, are monitoring Croton linearis for signs of herbivory from Bartram's scrub-hairstreak butterflies on Big Pine Key!

Our crew member, Louis Castillo (Left), has moved onto a new opportunity with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - Division of Plant Industry and our crew member, Benjamin Durrington (Right), is returning home to Fort Worth, Texas.

Everyone at IRC is grateful for their hard work and dedication and wish them both the best in all future endeavors.

At the May 16th ceremony, The Institute for Regional Conservation signed an agreement with Impact 100 Palm Beach County to fund our Restoring the Gold Coast program. We can't wait to put this $100,000 to good use restoring native coastal biodiversity while building a community of environmental advocates! Impact 100 PBC is a women's charitable organization funding local nonprofit initiatives in southern Palm Beach County.

To learn about Restoring the Gold Coast, check out our new webpage for the program.

IRC's Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, participated in the volunteer workday at Rockdale Pineland Preserve in southern Miami-Dade County. Staff from the Miami-Dade Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) program and Natural Areas Management (NAM), and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden led several groups to plant endangered and common pine rockland species throughout the preserve.

One of the key assets of IRC are our many Associates, many who have worked as staff for IRC in the past. These Research and Conservation Associates possess tremendous skill sets, experience, dedication, and enthusiasm for conservation and ecological restoration. We are excited to announce that butterfly and wildlife expert Mary Truglio Fesmire has joined our team as a Research and Conservation Associate.

In April, George Gann represented the Society for Ecological Restoration and IRC at a meeting convened by the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management. The purpose of this meeting was to conduct a North American regional review of the concept of Rewilding, an idea with origins in North America but now receiving significant support in Europe and elsewhere as a conservation strategy. This meeting contributes to a larger effort to develop a set of principles and guidelines for rewilding that can be applied at the global scale. An important topic being addressed is the relationship of rewilding to ecological restoration and other restorative practices.

Participants at rewilding meeting at White Oak conservation center outside of Jacksonville, Florida. Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States were represented.

IRC was honored to participate in the Great American Cleanup by holding a restoration event sponsored by Erin Deady Law and New York Life at Atlantic Dunes Park. Volunteers helped IRC restore this beautiful park through several activities including removing invasive species, planting sea oats and picking up trash. Some of the invasive species removed included Brazilian pepper, Beach naupaka, Bowstring-hemp, Oysterplant, Australian umbrellatree, Carrotwood, Tropical-almond and Chineseviolet.

We'd like to thank The City of Delray Beach, Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, and Comcast Cares for supporting this event. We would also like to thank JetBlue, Clarkson Alumni and Beach Property Owners Association for volunteering! IRC has been working at Atlantic Dunes Park for four years now and we can really see the difference these events are having! For more pictures from the event, click here.

IRC recently held a restoration volunteer day at QuailRoost Pineland Preserve, which is a Miami-Dade Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) site. IRC Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, and Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott started the morning with a tour of the pine rockland. Everyone from the group was able to share fun facts on pine rocklands plant species and insects we encountered! As a team, we cleared a patch of Tuberous sword fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia), Shrubverbena (Lantana camara), Brazilian-pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), and Rose natalgrass (Melinis repens) on the site!

We'd like to give a special thank you to Tiffany Melvin from Miami-Dade EEL, IRC's board member, Patty Phares, and the excellent group of volunteers for coming out and being part of IRC's event! For more pictures from the event, click here.

George presented at a meeting of the to Naples Chapter of Florida Native Plant Societ on March 26th. The topic was The Future of Native Plant Conservation in South Florida: History and Adaptation in the Age of Rapid Change.

George discussed native plant conservation from both global and local perspectives, including examples from Collier County. Focusing on the entire native flora of nearly 1,500 species, he also went on to describe what we know, what we have accomplished over the last 50 years, and how we might move forward into the future with native plant conservation in South Florida. For link to powerpoint, click here.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist George Gann was an instructor at two 1-day workshops at the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve in Staatsburg, New York. The workshop was provided by our partner, the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) and introduced ecological restoration practitioners and managers to a consistent and comprehensive approach to ecologicalrestoration based on SER's International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration, of which George is second author.

IRC is honored to announce that we have been chosen as the winner for an Impact 100 Palm Beach County $100,000 grant for our Restoring the Gold Coast program in the Environment category! We would like to thank the influential women of Impact 100 PBC for giving us this opportunity to present our program and aiding us in spearheading this exciting project.

What is Restoring the Gold Coast? This two-pronged project will mobilize our partnerships within the community to teach children and adults about environmental advocacy as they also learn about the importance of protecting our coastal dunes and work toward restoring the damage done. Our project will help correct the current lack of biodiversity, providing participants with rich opportunities to learn how biodiversity keeps our Earth healthy and ultimately keeps us healthy too. Participants will enjoy hands-on restoration activities throughout southern Palm Beach County as we help restore native coastal ecosystems from Boca Raton to Lake Worth.

We can't wait to get started and hope everyone is excited as we are! Be on the lookout for Restoring the Gold Coast events as we work with our amazing sponsors, collaborators, and the community to set them up.

We would also like to spotlight Wisetribe's Junior Wisetribers program, which was awarded $8,600 in the Environment category. Jacqueline Botting and her team are making positive, sustainable changes in our community with their innovative programs. If you haven't heard of Wisetribe, check them out and get involved!

IRC would like to thank all who have supported us throughout this process of applying for and winning this amazing award!

In particular, we would like to acknowledge those organizations who gave us official endorsements or wrote letters of support for our grant proposal: Beach Property Owners' Association, City of Boca Raton, City of Delray Beach, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Gulf Stream School, Florida Coalition for Preservation, Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Ocean Ridge Garden Club, Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, and Town of Briny Breezes. We also look forward to partnering with Bound for College, Florida Atlantic University's Environmental Sciences Program, and many others. We send a special thanks to Jerry Lower of The Coastal Star, and IRC volunteer and supporter Bill Petry, for helping us with outreach in the community. Thank you to IRC board members John Campanola, Robert Heinzman, and Allison Turner, and our public relations specialist Tina Pugliese, for invaluable assistance. Finally, we can't say enough about Kirsten Stevens and Ann Paton of Kannico Agency, whose wisdom kept us on track. We couldn't have done this without you all!

We are thrilled to announce that IRC is one of two finalists in the Environment category for a $100,000 grant from Impact 100 Palm Beach County! If we are awarded this grant, the funds will go towards our "Restoring the Gold Coast" program to restore native biodiversity in coastal habitats in southern Palm Beach County and to cultivate a community of environmental advocates. This dynamic program provides forward- thinking education with on-the-ground restoration and conservation advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. It is rare that these elements can be combined in a positive, productive fashion. Similar to earlier efforts that protected species such as sea oats and sea turtles, the outcomes will forge positive change in the way the community views coastal biodiversity.

Impact 100 PBC is a women's charitable organization funding local nonprofit initiatives in Southern Palm Beach County. On April 17th, the members of Impact 100 PBC will hold their 8th Annual Grand Awards Celebration where they will vote to select the recipients of five high impact $100,000 grants in arts and culture, education, environment, family, and health and wellness categories.

IRC is honored to be a finalist alongside our friends at WiseTribe in the Environment category. We would also like to give a shout-out to the other environment semi-finalists, Fishing for Families in Need and JARC (Jewish Association for Residential Care), who are also doing some amazing work in this area.

IRC is excited to be participating in this years' Great Give Palm Beach & Martin Counties giving event on Wednesday, April 24th! This is a 24 hour online giving event led by the United Way of Palm Beach County and United Way of Martin County. For more information, click here.

Take part in this community-wide event by supporting IRC's mission to the protect and restore the biodiversity of our beautiful beaches and green spaces with a tax-deductible donation. All donations will go towards our Restoring the Gold Coast Program and Green Delray Program. Follow us on Facebook to see more information and how to donate for this event when the day comes!

IRC will be hosting a few volunteer events this spring and will need volunteers to come out and help!

April 20th: IRC is hosting a volunteer day at Quail Roost Pineland Preserve in Miami-Dade County, one of our pine rockland sites we have been working on, from 9:00am to 12:00pm. For more information, click here.

April 27th: IRC is taking part in the Great American Cleanup day by hosting a volunteer day at Atlantic Dunes Park as part of our Green Delray Program! We will be hosting this day in partnership with Erin L. Deady, P.A., Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc., and the City of Delray Beach. For more information, click here.

May 4th: IRC is hosting a volunteer day at Pine Shore Pineland in Miami-Dade County, another one of our pine rockland sites we have been working on, from 9:00am to 12:00pm. For more information, click here.

IRC's field biologist, Michelle Smith, and crew leader, Hans van der Heiden, recently led a group of FIU students on a tour and workday at Sunny Palms Pineland Preserves. Students learned about pine rocklands, conservation issues, habitat restoration, rare plants, and invasive plants and helped remove Lacy bracken fern (Pteridium caudatum).

IRC's Samantha Gabriel attended the 14th Annual Lake Worth Festival of Trees and discussed our Green Delray and Restoring the Gold Coast programs, as well as our Natives for Your Neighborhood website.

Restoring the Gold Coast program is a two-pronged project that mobilizes partnerships in theSouth Florida community to teach children and adults about environmental advocacy and the importance of biodiverse coastal uplands, while participating in hands-on restoration activities. By then end of the 1970s almost the entire dune from Key Biscayne to West Palm Beach had eroded into the sea, and along with it most of the coastal biodiversity of southeastern Florida. While sandy beaches have been re-nourished, sea-oats have been planted and turtle nests protected, the vast diversity of coastal uplands has remained in a depleted state. Restoring theGold Coast seeks to restore much of that lost diversity, through a cooperative effort with stakeholders, volunteers, and restoration experts. Ultimately, this project will take place in the historic Gold Coast barrier islands in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Over the past few months, IRC has worked to develop the conceptual framework for this initiative and prepare a $100,000 proposal to Palm Beach County Impact 100, in hopes of gaining critical financial support for this project in southern Palm Beach County. We are grateful for the interest and letters of support from the community, including the Beach Property Owners' Association, City of Boca Raton, City of Delray Beach, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Gulfstream School, Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, and Town of Briny Breezes. We also thank Jerry Lower of the Coastal Star, Bill Petry, and Kimberlee Duke Marshall of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club for helping us drum up interest and support. Please consider making a contribution to support this important effort, and wish us luck with our proposal to Impact 100!

IRC's field biologist, Michelle Smith, and crew member, Louis Castillo, attended the 20th Annual Everglades Day at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and discussed our work on pine rockland habitats and the importance of restoration of upland habitats in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.

IRC Research Associate and entomologist, Sandy Koi, attended the "Doing Good Together" program at Miami Lakes Elementary School. "Doing Good Together" is a Minnesota-based program that brings children together to do fun projects that help the local community. This is the second year IRC has participated; this year Sandy (who also does art work) provided two paper projects about conservation for the children to take home. One project depicted a tree and the animals who use the tree for food and shelter, and the other entailed the children drawing "Blessing Flags" for the things that the Earth provides for us. Similar to Tibetan "prayer flags", these biodegradable paper flags are meant to be hung in one's back yard to let the wind carry the blessings around the world.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, presented to the Silver Palm Garden Club and the Royal Poinciana Garden Club on January 23rd about 'Going Native'.

George discussed the history of IRC's work on the Floristic Inventory of South Florida, Natives For Your Neighborhood, and our other free resources available on our website! He also went on to describe what is considered native and how anyone can 'Go Native'. To see the full powerpoint presentation, click here.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, presented to the Seranoa Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and the Marie Shelby Botanical Garden on January 21st about 'The Promise (and some perils) of Ecological Restoration.

George discussed the history of efforts towards restoration, what ecological restoration really is and how it effects biodiversity and ecosystems both globally and within Florida. To see the full powerpoint presentation, click here.

Recently, IRC has brought on three new field crew members onto the team, Louis Castillo (Left), Sarah Solomon (Center), and Benjamin Durrington (Right)!

Louis has a degree in Environmental Science from FSU and has experience with restoration work, native plants, and managing gardens. Sarah has a degree in Environmental Engineering from FIU, has experience with native plants, and has participated in past volunteer days with IRC. Benjamin has a Master's degree in Ecology from Sorbonne Universite in Paris, France, has a love for plant macrophotography, and has experience with plant identification.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, participated in the UN Biodiversity Conference in Egypt in mid-November as part of a delegation from our partner, the Society for Ecological Restoration. George presented on the Convention on Biological Diversity's Short Term Action Plan on Ecosystem Restoration, used by countries around the world.

We recently had our last scheduled volunteer day at Lake Ida Parcel! Even with our small group, we were able to remove a large amount of invasive Richardia, take down some Earleaf, and plant about 300 native grasses. For more pictures, check out our Facebook!

A special thanks to Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties for funding this project, Delray Beach Parks & Recreation for coming out to work with us, and to our boating chauffeurs Iain Patterson, John Miller, & the boys. We would like to thank every volunteer that has come out to one or more of our events! We couldn't have done this without your hard work and support. A special thank you to our recurring volunteers who came to every event and provided us with their boats!

IRC held this event to give private landowners the opportunity to share their successes and the challenges of owning a pine rockland. Our goal is to work as a community to help get the funding and technical support needed to restore and manage these forests. This event was funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program, and was organized in conjunction with the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's Connect to Protect Network.

Our Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, was the keynote speaker at the Pine Rockland Working Group Conference at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. George talked about Expanding the Pine Rockland Footprint: To Protect We Must Restore. This presentation explored the idea that, in order to save pine rocklands, we have to restore pine rocklands: from fire suppressed "transitional" forests to bulldozed sites and even farm fields. George wanted to raise awareness that we not only need to restore these damaged habitats, but work with the community to gain the support and resources needed to do this properly! Pine rocklands are a globally imperiled ecosystem known only from South Florida, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos.

IRC has several exciting new restoration projects in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys areas starting within the next few months! We are looking to hire some great part-time and potentially full-time technicians to help on these restoration projects. If you or someone you know is a fan of our work and would like to be involved, please send a copy of your CV, resume, or letter of interest to Michelle Smith at msmith@regionalconservation.org! Please share with anyone who might be interested!

IRC will be participating in this year's Give Miami Day all day on Thursday, November 15th! Help support IRC's restorative work on pine rockland habitats in Miami-Dade county on this day. We will be posting reminders closer to the day and on Give Miami Day! You can either donate through the Give Miami website or use the 'Donate Give Miami Day' button that will be available on our website. Donations for this particular event can only be made on the day, November 15th.

Be a part of a great way to support and acknolwedge your favorite non-profit organizations! Click here for more info on Give Miami Day 2018.

Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday to continue our work for the 5th volunteer day on Lake Ida Parcel! We planted about 80 native plants, removed some invasive Earleaf acacia, and picked up some trash on the site. For more pictures, check out our Facebook!

A special thanks to Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties for funding this project, Delray Beach Parks & Recreation for coming out to work with us, Indian Trails Nursery for providing the beautiful native plants, and to our boating chauffeurs Iain Patterson, John Miller, & the boys.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray this weekend to help IRC continue our restoration efforts at this beautiful park! Volunteers removed a large patch of Beach naupaka (Scaevola taccada), some Brazilian-pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) and some Bowstring-hemp (Sansevieria hyacinthoides). In the area where Scaevola taccada was removed, volunteers planted 200 Sea-oats (Uniola paniculata), a few Tropical sage (Salvia coccinea) and Beach clustervine (Jacquemontia reclinata).

We would like to thank the Conduent Foundation for awarding IRC a mini-grant which allowed us to organize this restoration event! For more pictures, check out our Facebook!

Thank you to everyone involved in last week's restoration volunteer day at Lummus Park! Volunteers helped IRC plant 700 native plants in the dunes of Lummus Park in areas where we removed invasive Beach naupaka (Scaevola taccada).

We would like to give a huge shout out to our sponsors, the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and TreeMendous Miami. If you haven't already done so, sign up for their email lists to receive information on the wonderful work these organizations are doing!

We would also like to thank the City of Miami Beach for their help in organizing and funding this event. For more pictures, go to our Facebook here!

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, gave a talk during the NatureScape Broward Meeting about climate change on Tuesday, September 18th. George discussed the issue of climate change and the effect it has on native plants and ecosystems. To see the full powerpoint presentation, click here.

Thank you to our 30+ volunteers that came out to the Lake Ida Parcel Saturday morning! Our biggest turnout at Lake Ida yet! Volunteers helped us by planting almost 300 native plants, removing some invasives, and opening up some areas for the planting. We are thrilled with the progress made so far at the site and are looking forward to our next two volunteer days coming up this year!

Once again, we'd like to give a special thank you to the Delray Beach Parks & Recreation for all of their help organizing and running the events, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin counties for funding this project, Patty Caballero from The Natives Inc. for providing the plants, and to John Miller and Iain Paterson for being our wonderful boating chauffeurs!

A volunteer day at Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida's Camp Choee site was led by IRC's Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, and Crew Leader, Ruben Sola. They gave a short presentation on pine rockland ecosystems, restoration and conservation issues, invasive plants in pine rocklands, and native butterflies and moths of pine rocklands.

The Girl Scouts reviewed the invasive plants that were displayed and conducted a scavenger hunt at the Camp Choee pine rockland site. They also kept an eye out for the butterflies and moths. For the Girl Scouts to earn the "Clean Jeans" patch, we had them remove invasive plants from the pine rockland. They removed 20 trash bags worth of Oysterplant from the pine rockland (Tradescantia spathacea)!

Allison Turner, owner and CEO of BCoSF Media and Business Consultants of South Florida (BCoSF), is a resident of Delray Beach, Florida and brings over 25 years of experience in a variety of industries where she honed her skills in management, customer service, event planning, marketing, and communications. At BCoSF, she brings her passion for creativity, finance and management to the company. Using her drive for perfection and time management skills that she learned as a Division I College Athlete, she brings consistency, focus and passion to her work with businesses. She oversees two divisions of BCoSF, Business Consultants of South Florida and BCoSF Media, which houses the branding, website design, online marketing services and video production.

Allison stated, "I'm excited to be joining the board for The Institute for Regional Conservation. Their research and work is definitely something I am passionate about and I look forward to helping the organization grow and build its resources and name." Welcome to IRC, Allison!

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, presents a talk as a featured speaker during the 2018 FNPS Conference titled "The Promise (and some perils) of Ecological Restoration" on Friday, May 18th. The talk was well attended and resulted in a great discussion with the attendees about ecological restoration, global restoration initiatives, restoration targets, novel ecosystems, mitigation, reforestation, and more. To view the presentation, click here.

IRC's Field Biologist, Michelle Smith, presents a poster at the 2018 FNPS Conference titled ‘Restoring Pine Rocklands' on Friday, May 18th. Michelle discussed with attendees about IRC's work with other agencies to restore and manage Pine Rockland habitats in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Pine Rocklands are globally imperiled habitats that are being restored by treating and removing non-native, invasive plants and native hardwood plants using herbicide and mechanical treatment. To view the poster, click here.

IRC's Field Biologist, Alexander Blochel, presents a poster at the 2018 FNPS Conference titled "Pineland Croton, Croton linearis" on Friday, May 18th. Alex discussed with attendees about IRC's work with the USFWS Cooperative Recovery Initiative to prevent the extinction of Bartram's scrub-hairstreak (Strymon acis bartrami) and Florida leafwing (Anaea troglodyta floridalis) butterflies in the lower Florida Keys. With the help of volunteers, IRC has been planting 6,000 Crotons throughout the refuge to benefit both the plant species itself and the wildlife it supports.To view the poster, click here.

Thank you to those who came out to our private pine rockland volunteer day last Friday! Hosted by the private pine rockland owners, our two field biologists, Alex Blochel & Michelle Smith, worked with the volunteers to pull and bag oyster plant, cut Gold Goast jasmine, and cut large oak trees to open up the area.

We bagged approximately 10 bags of oyster plant! Thank you to the owners for allowing us to host this volunteer day and a special thanks to our board member Patty Phares for joining us! For more pictures from the volunteer day, click here.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Lake Ida Parcel Saturday morning! Volunteers helped us by planting over 20 different species of native plants on the site. For a full plant list, check out our post on Facebook!

We are thrilled with the progress made so far at the site and are looking forward to how much more we can accomplish in the next year! Click here for more photos from the event.

Once again, we'd like to give a special thank you to the Delray Beach Parks & Recreation for all of their help organizing and running the events, Jane Thompson from Indian Trails Native Nursery for providing the plants, and to John Miller and Iain Paterson for being our wonderful boating chauffeurs!

Our Restoration Volunteer Day at Lummus Park on April 20th was a huge success! Volunteers from 20 countries and 4 continents helped IRC remove several large patches of Scaevola taccada, plant over 250 sea oats, and remove dozens of garbage bags worth of trash and microplastics from the beach.

We would like to thank the City of Miami Beach for all of their help and funding for this event. We would also like to thank Starbucks and Global Ties Miami for bringing such wonderful groups of volunteers!

Kick off Earth Day Weekend with IRC on Friday April 20th from 9am - 12pm by restoring a portion of Lummus Park, a beach front park in South Beach. Volunteers will help IRC plant native species and pick up trash at the park. For more information, click here.

Volunteers needed at George N. Avery Pineland for a restoration day! This site is one of many that IRC is currently working on restoring. Volunteers will help IRC restore this site by removing invasive ferns and other restoration work. For more information, click here.

IRC would love to have you join us at these restoration events! Please remember that we advise all volunteers to wear close-toed shoes and long pants! You can RSVP with us at or call the number provided in the links!

Back at it again! IRC will be holding our second Lake Ida Parcel volunteer day at the end of this month, on March 31st at 9:00am-12:00pm. Volunteers will help IRC to continue to restore this important greenspace by removing invasive plant species and picking up trash and debris. We will also be prepping the site for planting natives at upcoming events by raking up dense leaf litter dropped by invasive plants. Please remember to wear long pants and closed shoes!

Volunteers of all ages are welcome! We will meet at the Lake Ida Boat Ramp before shuttling participants to the site. All volunteers receive a free t-shirt! We will also have waters and light refreshments for the volunteers. Come join us!

IRC would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the volunteers who made our first restoration event at the Lake Ida Parcelsuch a success on Saturday morning! Participants helped remove invasive plants like Acacia auriculiformis (Ear-leaf acacia), Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar-periwinkle), Melinis repens (Natalgrass), Panicum repens (Torpedo grass), Richardia grandiflora (Largeflower Mexican clover), Sansevieria hyacinthoides (Snake plant), Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian-pepper), Sida cordifolia (Lima), and Urena lobata (Caesarweed) from throughout this important passive greenspace. It's amazing to see how much can be accomplished when the community works together! Future events are scheduled for March 31st and May 5th.

Thank you to the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties for funding this project and to Suzanne Fisher, Gerard Smith and Matt Reynolds from the Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department for all of their help in organizing and coordinating these events. We would also like to thank Jim Chard for all of his support in bringing this project to life. Special thanks also go out to John Miller, Bill Bathurst and Ian Paterson for the use of their boats forshuttling supplies and volunteers at the event. For more pictures from the event, click here.

The Institute for Regional Conservation has had the pleasure of meeting Uli Nagel with Citizen's Climate Lobby, who is peddling a Pebl tricycle for "Pebling for a Carbon Free Future" along the coast of Florida and Judy Fox who is attending and documenting all events with her! She will have traveled over 300 miles by tricycle from Miami to Jacksonville by the end of the month of February with the hopes of perhaps making it to Georgia!

Uli's goal is to communicate with as many people as possible about what exactly is happening with our oceans. From her blog to her Facebook page, Uli is constantly posting about her travels, meetings, and experiences from this trip. They are meeting people as they travel by attending environmental events at schools and walking along popular areas like Hollywood Boulevard and Lincoln Street Mall. Their goal is to talk to people who are environmentally aware as well as the public. Uli and Judy are hoping to get as many people as possible to write a simple letter to their representatives in Congress about their concerns about climate change and sea level rise.

Check out Uli's travels through her blog and Facebook page here! Pebling for a Carbon Free Future Blog and Facebook.

IRC observes the effects of climate change on a daily basis as we work to conserve rare plants, animals and ecosystems. Therefore, we encourage you to join a local Citizen's Climate Lobby chapter today. You can also sign up to receive their monthly newsletter to learn more about what CCL does! If you're interested in writing a letter to Congress about your concerns on climate change, you can use this form from the CCL website.

Citizen's Climate Lobby website and Facebook page.

The Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) seeks a Chief Executive (CE) to implement policies and programs and provide critical leadership to advance IRC's mission and long-term vision. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with the Board of Directors, staff members, volunteers and partners to design, implement and curate innovative science-based conservation programs in Florida, the Caribbean and beyond. Based at IRC's office in Delray Beach, FL, the CE will oversee a staff of 10-15 and an annual budget of more than $500,000 derived from agency contracts, grants and other fundraising. A passion for biodiversity conservation, familiarity with technical aspects of ecological restoration, and the ability to develop collaborative relationships with government agencies, conservation groups and academia are desirable characteristics for the successful applicant.

To request a copy of the entire job description and application instructions, send an email to admin@regionalconservation.org.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, is a coauthor on a paper recently published in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas by Alan S. Weakly et al. titled "New Combinations, Rank Changes, and Nomenclatural and Taxonomic Comments in the Vascular Flora of the Southeastern United States. II"� In this paper, Gann and Weakley rename the Florida bristle fern Didymoglossum punctatum subsp. floridanum. This species, formerly known as Trichomanes punctatum subsp. floridanum, was listed as federally Endangered in 2015 and is a species of high conservation concern. To read the paper, click here.

IRC is excited to say that our volunteer days at Lake Ida Parcel in Delray Beach will be back on starting Saturday, February 24th from 9:00am-12:00pm! So please RSVP once again with us for the new starting date!

Volunteers will help hand-pull invasive plants and remove debris/trash from the site. Participants are REQUIRED to wear close-toed shoes (NO FLIP-FLOPS!) and long pants.

All volunteers will get a free t-shirt when you check-in! We will provide all necessary tools, gloves, and refreshments. The meeting point will be at the Lake Ida boat ramp, so please check in before being taken to the site. See the flyer below for more info and contact admin@regionalconservation.org with questions and RSVPs.

IRC staff members spent the day planting 90 Croton linearis plants at the National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge! We would like to give a huge thank you to the volunteers at the native nursery at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for helping us propagate these plants. And another thank you to Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge for storing the plants until they are ready for planting.

Although Hurricane Irma destroyed most of the Croton linearis IRC has planted at NKDR throughout the last year, our staff members observed signs of regrowth while installing the new plants.

We are excited to participate in #GiveMiamiDay this Thursday, November 16! To donate, simply go to our homepage and click on the "Give Miami Day" icon. You can also search for IRC on the Give Miami Day website.

By supporting IRC on Give Miami Day, you will help us restore more acres of critically imperiled pine rockland habitat while conserving the endangered organisms that call this habitat home.

Why donate on Give Miami Day? IRC will receive a bonus gift from the Miami Foundation for each donation of $25 - $10,000 received during the 24 hour period.

***UPDATE*** This event has been postponed. There is now going to be Hurricane Irma SNAP Event at Lake Ida Park on Saturday, October 21. Due to this event, the park is closed and we will not be able to hold our previously scheduled restoration volunteer day.

We apologize for any inconvenience and hope that those of you who RVSPed will be able to join us at the next event! We are working with the City of Delray Beach to reschedule this volunteer day and will let everyone know once we have a new date.

________________________________

IRC is excited to announce our first of six volunteer days at the Lake Ida Parcel in Delray Beach on Saturday, October 21st from 9am-12pm! Volunteers will help hand-pull invasive plants and remove debris/trash from the site.

Participants are REQUIRED to wear close-toed shoes (NO FLIP-FLOPS!) and long pants. All volunteers will get a free t-shirt when you check-in! We will provide all necessary tools, gloves, and refreshments. The meeting point is still being determined, so check back soon for info on where to park.

See the flyer below for more info and contact admin@regionalconservation.org with questions and RSVPs.

IRC is excited to announce new job opportunities in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys! See the flyer below for more information on where to submit your information. Please share with anyone who might be interested!

IRC's Acting Director, George Gann, has been invited to join the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) North American Plant Red List Authority. This will make him an official member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), the largest of six commissions in the IUCN.

The SSC undertakes assessments of the status of species, develops species conservation action plans and strategies, prepares technical guidelines and formulates IUCN policy statements. The Commission delivers and promotes this technical knowledge, advice and policy guidance to those who can influence the implementation of conservation actions across the world. The major role of the SSC Red List Authority is to contribute status assessments of species to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, in collaboration with Global Species Programme (GSP) staff in the IUCN Secretariat and the Red List Partner institutions.

IRC Pine Rockland Initiative Program Coordinator, Maha Nusrat, and IRC Entomologist, Sandy Koi, recently installed a Bioacoustics Recorder at the USCG offices where the instrument will record wavelength data for the next month. IRC will then view the recorded wavelengths to look for bonneted bats echolocation calls at their specific high or low frequencies (19-20 kHz). The goal is to map the areas near and within boundaries of the Richmond tract to verify scientifically that bonneted bats (and probably others) are indeed on this property. If observed in this study, then bonneted bats are likely to be located within the Coral Reef Commons property as well which has not been adequately addressed by RAM developers in their Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP).

IRC is excited to announce that we have been awarded a $5,000 Environmental and Sustainability Grant from the City of Miami Beach to promote environmental stewardship through a Beach Restoration program. We plan on using volunteers to help us remove invasive plant species and replace them with plants native Miami's dune ecosystem. IRC has a long history of restoring Miami Beach and we are thrilled to continue that work this year.

Stay tuned throughout the next year to find out how you can participate in our volunteer days!

Mark your calendars! IRC will be holding our next restoration volunteer day at Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach on Saturday, April 8 from 9 am to 12 pm. This event, sponsored by Tina Pugliese of Pugliese Public Relations, will help continue to restore the park by removing invasives, planting natives, and picking up trash/recyclables.

See the flyer below for additional information. Questions and RSVPs can be sent to Cara Abbott (abbott@regionalconservation.org and 305-304-6610).

Thank you to the 25 volunteers who came out to IRC's Pine Rockland Resoration Event on Saturday! Volunteers of all backgrounds came from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade County to help restore the beautiful private pine rockland located on the Medloks, participants helped remove invasive plants such as Jasminum fluminense (brazilian jasmine), Schefflera actinophylla (umbrellatree), and Tradescantia spathaceaoyster (Oysterplant). Volunteers also provided maintenance on the trails throughout the 5 acre pineland by trimming back palms. IRC was able to donate approximately 20 pine rockland native plants to the Medloks, thanks to the Connect to Protect Netowork!

For additional photos from the volunteer day, check out the facebook album here.

IRC is pleased to announce the release of �"A Gardening Guide to Living on the Barrier Island”. IRC’s Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, authored this brochure with Rob Barron of Coastal Management and Consulting thanks to Kimberlee Duke Marshall of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club and Jerry Lower of the Coastal Star. This brochure, which was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club, discusses landscaping best practices for living on the barrier island. Specifically, the brochure details how to create a resilient, native dune, which common invasive plants should be removed, how to keep your lighting safe for sea turtles, and more! If interested, you can purchase a copy for $2 at the Ocean Ridge town hall.

IRC's Senior Botanist, Jorge Carlos Trejo, recently presented a talk at the IX Caribbean Biodiversity Congress, a triennial meeting organized by the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Trejo presented on the Puerto Rican web page and data base Plants of the Islands of Puerto Rico and also discussed our Yucatán and South Florida projects.

Below: J.C. Trejo with Jorge Mancebo, Coordinator of the School of Agronomy, posing with the fist tree planted at the Arboretum of the Instituto Politécnico Loyola in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic. The arboretum was funded in 1968 by the highly respected priest Julio Cícero, a Yucatecan that lived and contributed to botany for 44 years in the Dominican Republic. Trejo is currently preparing a essay on Cicero's life and botanical contribution in the DR, which is totally unknown in the Yucatán.

We are excited to announce that IRC will be holding a Pine Rockland Restoration Volunteer Day on Saturday, March 4 from 9 am to 12 pm on a private pine rockland in Homestead during National Invasive Species Awareness Week.

This event is unique because we are helping private pine rockland owners who are enthusiastic and passionate about preserving this endangered ecosystem in their own backyard. Unfortunately, they do not have the resources, time, or energy to restore their land. This will be a great opportunity for everyone at the event, including already educated pine rockland enthusiasts, to learn some personal stories about these owner's history with their pine rockland, before, during, and after Hurricane Andrew, which was a significant event that unfortunately impacted the Homestead area significantly.

Check out the flyer below for more info!

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, moderated a breakout session titled "Plant and Animal Biodiversity: Including a Critical Element of Everglades Restoration" on Friday, January 6 in Ft. Myers. Panelists included Todd Hopkins of Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Sandy Koi of Tropical Audubon Society, and Jennifer Rehage of Florida International University.

The session was well attended and resulted in great dialogue between panelists and attendees about making biodiversity a priority in Everglades Restoration as the water is sent south. To see additional pictures, click here. To read more about the Everglades Coalition, click here.

The topic of "Rare Plants and Everglades Restoration" was also presented by George Gann at the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society January meeting.

Only 2% of the original Pine Rockland ecosystem remains in Miami-Dade's urban corridor and the enduring fragments stand vulnerable to habitat destruction, invasive pest plants and lack of fire. IRC continues its dedication to long-term habitat restoration of this imperiled ecosystem by actively working to minimizing these threats. We implement the Pine Rockland Initiative Program and own and manage two pinelands in southern Miami-Dade County. In December, Craig van der Heiden, through a partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service completed a prescribed burn on our John Kunkel Small pineland in Homestead. Fire is a fundamental management tool in Pine Rockland restoration. We look forward to monitoring the vegetation regrowth after the fire.

To see additional photos from the burn, click here.

IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, helped author a new document titled "International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration" along with IRC board member Kingsley Dixon through the Society for Ecological Restoration. Following the launch, Gann gave a talk titled "Report on Global Launch of International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration" to the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration. This meeting was part of the UN Biodiversity Conference held in Cancun, Mexico earlier this month. To read the international standards, click here.

As 2016 comes to a close, we begin preparing for the upcoming year and all we want to accomplish as we fulfill our mission of conserving rare plants, animals and ecosystems. Specifically, we are raising funds to hold a beach restoration event in Delray Beach in February of 2017 and a pine rockland restoration event in Miami in March 2017. We are seeking sponsors at the following levels to make these events a reality. To contribute, either click on the link to our Paypal account below or mail a check to 100 E. Linton Blvd. Ste. 302B Delray Beach, FL 33483.

Spider Orchid Level - $100
Longclaw Orchid Level - $50
Butterfly Orchid Level - $25

IRC's Senior Biologist, Michael Barry, will be featured in an episode of "Years of Living Dangerously" on the National Geogrphaic Channel on Wednesday December 7th at 10:00 pm. Mike will be sharing his passion for climate change issues with episode host, Bradley Whitford. For more information on the episode, click here.

Behind the Scenes with Bradley Whitford from YEARS of LIVING DANGEROUSLY on Vimeo.

IRC will kick off our end of year fundraiser with #GivingTuesday on November 29th. As a non-profit organization, we rely on your support to make our community outreach efforts possible. By supporting IRC with a tax-deductible donation, you will directly have an impact on conservation in 2017. The money we raise will be used to fund our community based restoration events throughout South Florida, enable us to provide innovative presentations and programs that are free to the public, and help us keep our databases up to date with the latest information. Help us continue our mission of conserving rare plants, animals and ecosystems by clicking here.

To kick off IRC’s Pine Rockland Initiative Program, IRC completed a restoration project at Coral Pines Park this November. The IRC restoration team worked on the three-acre site to remove twenty exotic species which included FLEPP Category I and II invasive plants such as Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), Woman’s Tongue (Albizia lebbeck), and Shoebutton Ardisia (Ardisia elliptica). To see additional before and after pictures from the project, click here. The team also held a volunteer restoration day for passionate and curious community members, who were eager to learn more about an endangered ecosystem and lend their helping hands to remove the oyster plant (Tradescantia spathacea) infestation that was taking over the complete north side of the plot. By clearing out the area of the hundreds of oyster plants, we were able to discover some native understory such as coontie (Zamia integrifolia) and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) from under the limestone rock outcropping, as well as finding pineland fern (Anemia adiantifolia) after removing all the invasive Burmareed (Neyraudia reynaudiana).

The Coral Pine Park pine rockland is also habitat for two threatened plant species, Crenulate leadplant (Amorpha herbacea var. crenulata) and Florida southern sandmat (Euphorbia pergamena). Also known as the Miami lead-plant, A. crenulata is endemic to Miami-Dade County, Florida. Crenulate lead-plant was listed as endangered on July 18, 1985. It has been almost entirely eliminated by agriculture, urban, and commercial development in it’s pine rockland habitats (USFWS 1997). In addition, fire suppression, invasion by exotic plant species, and drainage threaten the survival of the plant species thus possibly disrupting the flowering and seed production of the species (Roncal 1996). Today, threatened species like the Crenulate lead-plant and others continue to be in danger of extinction unfortunately due to development and urbanization, the primary causes for the imperilment of the threatened pine rocklands. IRC will continue to monitor Coral Pine Park as a means to maintain the beautiful pine rockland site and keep abreast of the presence of the threatened species at Coral Pines Park. To find the complete plant list for Coral Pine Park, please click here.

Photos © Maha Nusrat.

Volunteers are needed to help IRC on a Restoration Event at Coral Pine Park in Pinecrest, Florida on Saturday, October 22nd from 10 am to 12 pm. Volunteers will help hand-remove and bag Oyster Plant (Tradescantia spathacea) throughout the park. This is a great opportunity to make a difference at a beautiful park! Interested volunteers can contact Maha Nusrat at mnusrat@regionalconservation.org or 305-505-9192.

IRC’s Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, will be giving an invited presentation at the University of Miami on October 12th at 7:00 pm. The talk titled "Everglades Restoration and Rare Plants - Including a Critical Element of Biodiversity" will explore the abundance of rare plant species potentially affected by Everglades restoration and the need to include rare plants in Everglades restoration planning and monitoring – currently South Florida’s rare native plants receive little if any attention within the restoration process. This talk is for the Friends of Gifford Arboretum October meeting and is free to the public.

IRC will be holding a Beach Restoration/ International Coastal Clean-Up Event on Saturday, October 1st from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Delray Beach municipal beach across from the Delray Beach Marriott. Volunteers of all ages are needed to help with planting native species and picking up trash along the beach. RSVPs are appreciated and can be sent to IRC’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, at 305-304-6610 or abbott@regionalconservation.org for additional information.

This event is funded and supported by Waste Management and Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc.

IRC is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a �"Think Green” Grant in partnership with Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc. from Waste Management. Part of the awarded �"Green Delray” program includes a Beach Restoration/ International Coastal Clean-Up Event that will be held on Saturday, October 1st from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Delray Beach municipal beach across from the Delray Beach Marriott. Volunteers of all ages are needed to help with planting native species and picking up trash along the beach. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact IRC’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, at 305-304-6610 or abbott@regionalconservation.org for additional information.

The grant will also support IRC as we implement a Think Green school program with Delray Students First and provide a free native gardening workshop later this fall. Stay tuned for more information on all three components of this exciting grant!

Photo © Cara Abbott.

IRC’s Senior Botanist, Jorge Carlos Trejo Torres, helped author a new article published in Phytotaxa earlier this week. The article reports on the identification and conservation status of the critically endangered, endemic vine, Marsdenia calichicola, in the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. To access the abstract of this publication, click here.

Photos © Germán Carnevali.

IRC’s newest field biologist, Trevor Watts, has been conducting rare species surveys by foot and kayak in the lower Florida Keys. Despite the intense heat recently, he has documented the presence of several rare birds including the Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), the Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) and the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum). For additional pictures taken by Trevor during the surveys, click here.

TOP: Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) MIDDLE: Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) BOTTOM: Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) Photos

© Trevor Watts.

IRC’s Ecological Restoration Management program is making great progress on an Invasive Plant Management project at FAU Pine Jog Environmental Center in West Palm Beach. IRC staff members are working to remove a variety of Category I and Category II invasive plants including Nephrolepis falcata and Sansevieria hyacinthoides. To see before and after pictures of the fishtail fern and snake plant, click here.

The complete manuscript of IRC’s landmark publication "Rare Plants of South Florida : Their History, Conservation, and Restoration" is now available in a free electronic book. This critically acclaimed document, which includes data on all of the regionally extinct and imperiled plant species in South Florida, was originally published as a printed book in 2002. Not only is this manuscript now available for free, but also all 1081 pages of the electronic pdf are fully searchable.

For nearly 15 years, "Rare Plants of South Florida : Their History, Conservation, and Restoration" has been a tool for conserving, restoring and understanding the history of rare native plants and their habitats in South Florida. As always, we hope that you will consider supporting our work as we continue expanding our conservation efforts.

"Rare Plants of South Florida : Their History, Conservation and Restoration" authors, Steve Woodmansee (left), George Gann (middle) and Keith Bradley (right) in the premier issue of Orion Afield in 1997.

IRC’s Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, recently attended Biodiversity Without Borders: The NatureServe Network Conservation Conference held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. NatureServe is a network of over 1,000 conservation professionals that have collaboratively assessed over 70,000 species and mapped over 1,600 ecosystems. The conference hosted a select group of leading conservationists for a week of plenaries, symposiums, workshops, panels, presentations, and field sessions focused on conservation and biodiversity trends in the western hemisphere.

Gann was an active speaker at the conference and gave presentations titled �"Improving species selection for restoration: global context, resources and tools” and �"Plants of the island of Puerto Rico: an innovative web-based conservation tool for scientists and enthusiasts”. Additionally, Gann served as a panelist on �"Developing a protocol for assessing the regional conservation status of species” and �"Present and future priorities for plant conservation in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands,” the latter at a one day workshop held at the Doña Inés botanical garden.

IRC’s participation in this conference helped fortify our international presence and relationships with scientists at the forefront of global biodiversity conservation.

Participants of the Biodiversity Without Boundaries Workshop including George Gann, past IRC board member Joyce Maschinski, and Director the Doña Inés Botanical Garden Christian Torres Santana.

Each year, the Rare Plant Task Force of Florida provides an opportunity for Florida's professional plant conservation community to share research and to prioritize and coordinate ongoing plant conservation efforts around the state. This year's meeting was held at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida and IRC's Chief Executive Officer, Craig van der Heiden, was asked to provide the keynote address for the meeting which focused on challenges facing rare plants.

IRC's Florida Keys Restoration Team recently completed a series of invasive plant management projects in Marathon Conservation Lands including the Marathon Community Park and Coco Plum Beach. They will now begin similar work at the National Key Deer Refuge and at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. To see before and after pictures of portions of their completed work, click here.

IRC's Florida Mainland Restoration Team is currently wrapping up an invasive plant management project in Hobe Sound, Florida located in Martin County. They will now begin working at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area in Vero Beach, Florida.

Photos © Adriana Olavarria.

The Institute for Regional Conservation will be holding a second restoration volunteer day at Atlantic Dunes Park (1605 S. Ocean Blvd. Delray Beach, FL 33483) on Saturday, April 30th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. This volunteer day will be part of the Great American Clean Up and will focus on further restoring biodiversity within this beautiful public park by removing invasive plant species like snake plant (Sansevieria hyacinthoides) and planting native species that are currently missing but historically found within the park. The supplies for this Great American Clean Up event are made possible by a mini-grant awarded by Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc (KPBCB).

A lot of great work was accomplished at our volunteer day on January 30th but there is still plenty more to be done in restoring biodiversity at the park. At this event, volunteers will assist IRC in removing and bagging invasive plant species, planting native plants in the hammock and dune areas, and removing trash throughout the park. Families, school groups, local organizations and local residents of all ages are welcome to attend! Because this is a Great American Clean Up event, participants will be given a commemorative t-shirt for volunteering their time. Questions and RSVP's can be sent to Cara Abbott 305-304-6610 or abbott@regionalconservation.org.

Photo © Cara Abbott

IRC has been subcontracted through the Center for Integrated Research on the Environment (CIRE) to work with scientists from the University of Montana and Tufts University to survey for endangered species in Homestead, Florida. The four species that are the focus of this work are the Strymon acis bartrami (Bartam's Hairstreak), Anaea troglodyta (Florida Leafwing), Linum carteri (Carter's Small Flax) and Brickellia mosieri (Florida brickell-bush). These species are all considered federally endangered and occur within pine rockland habitat. Surveys will be completed throughout the 2016 year.

To kick off the beginning of this project, IRC held a meeting at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden where local experts and the visitors from the University of Montana and Tufts University were able to share ideas and present on their areas of expertise. We look forward to a great year of working together!

Participants at the kick-off meeting including IRC, University of Montana, Tufts University and local butterfly experts from Zoo Miami, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Homestead Air Reserve Base.

Photos © Cara Abbott

Nearly 40 people showed up bright and early on January 30th at Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach to help IRC restore and increase the biodiversity of the park. Several invasive plant species were targeted including Sansevieria hyacinthoides (snake plant) and Schinus terebinthibolius (Brazilian-pepper). Additionally, 18 native plant species that were currently missing but historically found within the park were planted in the hammock and dune areas of the park. These plants, including Amyris elemifera (Common torchwood) and Tournefortia gnaphalodes (Sea lavender), were selected after IRC completed floristic surveys along the public beaches of Delray Beach in fall 2015. A complete list of all native and non-native plants found within Atlantic Dunes Park can be accessed here. A similar page for the Delray Beach Municipal Beach can be found here.

IRC would like to not only thank each volunteer who helped out on Saturday, but also give a special thank you to Robert Barron for providing his expertise on beach restoration and for donating plants. We would also like to thank IRC board member John Campanola for providing us with the funds for this project through an Individual Grant from the New York Life Foundation Volunteers for Good that recognizes his volunteer service with IRC.

Check out the entire album of pictures from the event on our Facebook page here!

Photos © Cara Abbott, John Campanola and George Gann.

IRC's Education and Outreach Coordinator, Cara Abbott, will be a speaker for "Learn from the Experts" at the 2016 Invasive Species Awareness Festival. This festival is part of the FWC 2016 Python Challenge and will be held at FIU's Modesto Maidique campus in Miami on January 16th from 10am until 4pm. The festival is free to the public and includes presentations, exhibitors, vendors, interpretive walks and live capture demonstrations. Abbott will be presenting on Invasive Plant Species of South Florida at 3:30 in classroom 119. See the flyer below for more information or click here to visit the event page!

The Institute for Regional Conservation will hold a volunteer day at Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach on Saturday, January 30th from 9 am to 12 pm. Volunteers will assist in removing invasive plant species throughout the park and establish populations of native plants that are currently missing from the park. IRC will provide the tools and plants thanks in part to an Individual Grant from the New York Life Foundation Volunteers for Good. All volunteers need to do is show up with sunscreen, long sleeves/pants, a hat and a helping hand; gloves are also recommended. Additionally, volunteers are welcome to bring a lunch and join IRC afterwards for a picnic.

So come join IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist George Gann, IRC's Education and Outreach Coordinator Cara Abbott, John Campanola, Agent with New York Life and IRC board member, members of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and volunteers from throughout the community who will all be working together at this event!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Cara Abbott at 305-304-6610 or abbott@regionalconservation.org.

*Atlantic Dunes Park is located at 1605 South Ocean Blvd. (One block north of Linton Blvd. on A1A) Delray Beach, Florida with meter parking available just west of A1A.

IRC's newest research associate recently published an article focused on the life history and conservation of the Florida Hairstreak, Eumaeus atala. This coontie-loving butterfly was once thought to be extinct in South Florida before making a remarkable come back over the last 30 years. However, the Florida Hairstreak is still considered imperiled due to many factors including fragmented habitats and isolated populations. To read more about Koi's research and the recovery of this beautiful and unique butterfly, click here or visit our publications page.

Photo © Beryn Harty.

IRC is proud to announce the official launch of the new Plantas de la Isla de Puerto Rico/Plants of the Island of Puerto Rico Website. This bilingual website authored by IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, Senior Botanist, Carlos Trejos, and Research Associate, Christina Stocking, is the first of its kind in creating a plant list specific to the island of Puerto Rico. The website was created with two main functions in mind: 1) to help people learn about the unique plants of the island of Puerto Rico and 2) to contribute to the conservation of these plants. To help people learn about the plants, this website includes a user-friendly format with language that botanists and amateurs alike can understand, a universal quick search feature, a powerful advanced search tool and a comprehensive floristic list of the over 3,500 native and introduced plant species including endemic species.

The website also provides a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of the entire native flora of the island and floristic lists broken down by conservation areas throughout the island. To further contribute to the conservation of the native plants of Puerto Rico, three directories, a Green Guide, a Green Agro-Guide, and Info-Botany, are provided. The many components of the Plants of the Island of Puerto Rico Website make it a one of a kind resource for both enthusiasts and researchers to contribute to the conservation of plants found within the island of Puerto Rico.

The formal launching event was hosted by the Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín at the botanical garden Parque Doña Iñez on December 15th in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a very fitting venue given that the Park has the largest ex-situ collection of Puerto Rican native plants on the island. During the event, Gann spoke about the functionality and importance of the website while Trejos discussed how Plants of the Island of Puerto Rico assists users in exploring and understanding the world of plants in Puerto Rico. IRC's Chief Executive Officer, Craig van der Heiden, and his wife Sheryl were among the 40 esteemed guests present at the launch. The other attendees were community members from across the island including academic botanists, representatives of the Puerto Rican Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, philosophers and educators, professional arborists, sustainable farmers, and university students.

To access the Plantas de la Isla de Puerto Rico/Plants of the Island of Puerto Rico Website, simply click on the icon found in the left hand bar of this website underneath the Natives For Your Neighborhood icon.

From left to right: George Gann, Carlos Trejo and Vicente Quevedo (Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources) at the launch of Plants of the Island of Puerto Rico.

From left to right: George Gann, Christian Torres (Director, Doña Inés botanical garden), Marcos Caraballo (Pennsylvania State University), Carlos Trejo.

Photos © Thrity Vakil.

On December 15th, the Institute for Regional Conservation will be launching a new bilingual website 15 years in the making that features both the native and introduced plants of the island of Puerto Rico. This innovative website titled “Plantas de Borikén” provides detailed information on 3,500 plant species found on the island with a focus on the hundreds of rare and endemic species. Plantas de Borikén contains the most recent taxonomic research and has valuable data pertaining to the conservation status of Puerto Rico's native plants and ecosystems. The website contains other pertinent material like a Green Guide to plant and conservation based activities on the island, a section on unique botanical literature, and a list of local sustainable agricultural producers.

The website will be officially launched in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Tuesday, December 15th at 2:00 at the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation. IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist, George Gann, will present on how the website functions, the importance of regional plant conservation efforts like those already ongoing in Puerto Rico, and how individuals can tribute to plant conservation efforts. IRC's Senior Botanist, Carlos Trejo, will speak on how Plantas de Borikén will allow the general public to explore, discover, and understand the world of Puerto Rican plants through the website and its many resources like the Green Guide and through connected social media.

Once the website is officially released, a link to Plantas de Borikén will be provided on the left hand toolbar of IRC's website underneath links to Natives for Your Neighborhood, the Floristic Inventory of South Florida, and Plantas del Mayab.

In an effort to get local homeowners involved in long-term conservation in the Florida Keys, IRC will be holding a workshop focused on the identification and removal of invasive exotic plant species found within the Florida Keys. The event is open to the public and is completely free to attend. Participants will even receive free herbicide to take home and use on exotic species found within their own backyards. IRC staff will also be providing hands on demonstrations with exotic identification and removal techniques, informational hand outs regarding plant identification and herbicide application steps.

The workshop will be held at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden ( 5210 College Rd, Key West, FL 33040) on Saturday, December 5th from 8 am to 12 pm. Feel free to come for any length of time during the workshop. IRC staff will be providing hands on demonstrations with exotic identification and removal techniques, informational hand outs regarding plant identification and herbicide application steps. If you have any questions please contact Adriana Olavarria (aolavarria@regionalconservation.org; 305-504-1690) or Cara Abbott (abbott@regionalconservation.org; 305-304-6610). We hope to see you there!

Each month, IRC sends out an informative newsletter highlighting the work we're doing, conservation news throughout Florida and upcoming events you don't want to miss. If you are interested in receiving these newsletters, join our mailing list here! You can also access the entire October Newsletter here.

While surveying the variety of wildlife living within Delray's public beach dunes in accordance with a project initiated by the City of Delray Beach on Friday October 30th, IRC staff members Cara Abbott and Sandy Koi happened upon a butterfly migration fly way directly over the dune vegetation. Both Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla) and Monarch (Danaus plexippus) were observed in this migration. In a 15 minute period, 13 Gulf Fritillary and 20 Monarch were sighted in the fly way near lifeguard station “South 5.”

Gulf Fritillary butterflies in particular belong to a group of straight line migrants that undertake defined seasonal movement on an annual basis. Monarch butterflies are the only butterflies to make such a long, two-way migration, flying up to 3000 miles in the fall to reach their winter destination before flying back north again in the spring. During this incredible migration, these butterflies rely on food sources provided by dune vegetation. This is one of many reasons that proper dune conservation is so vital to biodiversity. The data from this amazing migration will be presented along with the rest of the survey data to the City of Delray Beach who is funding this project.

Left: Gulf Fritillary. Right: Monarch.

Photos by Archie Edwards and Erin Backus, respectively, from NFYN.

In an effort to establish long-term conservation in the Florida Keys, IRC will be hosting a volunteer day at the Boy Scout Camp located on West Summerland Key on Saturday, October 24 at 8:00 am. The goal of this event is to work on private land restoration to complement public land conservation throughout the Keys. By making both public land and private land a priority in conservation, biodiversity is greatly benefited. Volunteers will learn simple restoration techniques that can then be used in their own backyards. If you have any questions, contact Adriana Olavarria at 305-504-1690 or aolavarria@regionalconservation.org. We hope to see you there!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is listing the Florida bristle fern (Trichomanes punctatum subsp. floridanum) as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. The fern has been a candidate for federal listing as endangered since November 2009. The official announcement was published in the Federal Register on October 6, 2015 and can be accessed on the species profile page here.

IRC's Craig van der Heiden and George Gann have played a critical role in providing the ranking materials including the historic distribution and specific habitat requirements that contributed to this listing. In the Final Ruling released by FWS, IRC's work is acknowledged and Craig van der Heiden's reports are repeatedly referenced and cited throughout. IRC has spent more than a decade looking for this endemic fern in Everglades National Park and more recently in the Withalochoochee State Forest. For additional pictures and information on the Florida bristle fern, check out the plant page in our FISF website here.

Photo © James Johnson.

On Friday, September 11th, Craig presented along side Professor Carlos Gonzales on the history and current status of Florida's pine rocklands to a full room of Miami Dade College faculty. Craig also used this time to highlight the long standing role IRC has played in the conservation of this imperiled habitat. The workshop included both a lecture and a hands on tour of the pine rocklands located directly on the college campus. This workshop was one of a series of upcoming workshops that will be hosted by the Environmental Center.

Photos © Jeanette Albert MDC Photographer.

IRC's Ecological Restoration Management program completed a project at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. IRC staff members worked to remove Brazilian pepper, umbrella tree, snake plant, Brazilian jasmine, coral vine, and other invasive plants from this native sanctuary. To see before and after pictures of the snake plant and brazilian jasmine removal, click here.

Photos © Adriana Olavarria.

Over 30 volunteers and members of the Tropical Audubon Society attended the events and helped IRC plant native plants throughout the site, install two screech owl nest boxes and one woodpecker/bluebird nest box, remove exotic seedlings, and set up educational signs along the trail.

Photos © Cara Abbott.

To read the story, click here. Watch the video below.

On Thursday, July 23rd, George was asked to speak before the Green Implementation Advancement Board (GIAB) at their monthly meeting to discuss specific ways that the city could increase its role in biodiversity conservation including the use of native plants in landscaping and gardening. The “Green Board” offers recommendations to the City Commission on issues of environmental sustainability in addition to providing strategies and projects designed to achieve the city-wide sustainability goals. After reviewing the critical work IRC conducts to conserve the native flora and fauna of South Florida, George proposed collaboration between IRC and the city. This collaboration would, in part, work towards capitalizing on Delray Beach's beautiful restored beach dunes by not only cataloguing the current dune species, but also reintroducing regionally rare species still missing from the system.

Photo © Tina Pugliese.

Michael Barry, a Senior Biologist with IRC since 2007, profiled in the Naples Herald.

Monday, July 20, 2015

While at the Institute for Regional Conservation, Barry has led conservation projects in Southwest Florida. Read more about his work through IRC and the current issue of sea level rise along Florida's Gulf Coast by clicking on the picture below!

Photo © Jack Lowenstein.

Major taxonomic changes coming: the genus Chamaesyce to be merged with Euphorbia and more.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Many of you who use the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) have probably noticed a raft of taxonomic changes that we have made over the last few months, from the movement of plants from one genus to another to the realignment of genera in plant families. More major changes are coming, including the merger of Chamaesyce into the genus Euphorbia, a change already adopted by most authorities, but not yet accepted by the Florida Atlas and USDA PLANTS. Another is the movement of the tree lancewood (Ocotea coriacea), from Ocotea back to the genus Nectandra, where many of us remember it from the Long & Lakela days. For those of you with links to the FISF or Natives For Your Neighborhood, please check from time to time as some links (like lancewood) may have changed. If you have questions about these changes or see any errors, please let us know! George Gann �" Chief Conservation Strategist, IRC.

The federal candidate Chamaesyce deltoidea subsp. pinetorum to be changed to Euphorbia deltoidea subsp. pinetorum. Photo © George Gann.

The Institute for Regional Conservation contributed to the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve project “Restoring the Rookery Bay Estuary” which aims to connect people and science for long term community benefit.

Thursday, June 8, 2015

Senior Biologist, Mike Barry, was part of the final meeting where he presented “Habitat Mapping and Trend Analysis: Rookery Bay Watershed Discharge Locations”. The IRC mapping documented changes in vegetation from 1940 to 2010. The largest shifts were open marsh to mangroves. The causes of the shifts can be attributed to sea level rise and fresh water hydrological changes.

IRC participated in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) conference held in Coral Springs Florida.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

  GEER is a great place to network and show the research community the great work we at IRC are doing. The presentation by IRC Research Associate, Maureen Bonness, on our work in the Picayune was well received and generated a lot of discussion. The talk highlighted the magnitude of exotic plant species associated with the restoration and the work IRC plays in the restoration process. Great job!  We also had two posters; one highlighting IRC's role in floristic data availability and use and the other highlighting the plight of the pine rocklands.

Thank you to everyone who turned out for the event at Fairchild!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Monday night's event at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden to introduce the new report "Vascular Plant Species of Management Concern in Everglades National Park" was a huge success with over 150 people attending, standing room only! George Gann, chief conservation strategist, gave a presentation about the history of plant conservation in the park and major findings of the report. After, Dr. Joyce Maschinski of Fairchild and Jimi Sadle of Everglades National Park joined George for a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Craig van der Heiden. Thank you to everyone who turned out and made the event a success.

For a copy of the report, visit our publications page or get the PDF here.

For some media coverage of the report, click here.

BioTech Students use President's Day for Service Learning at the Coastal Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay Habitat Restoration.

Monday, February 23, 2015

January 16th wasn't a day off for all South Florida high schoolers. The Key Club from BioTech High and their teacher Mr. David Ardelean took the opportunity to come out to the Coastal Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay Habitat Restoration project to learn about the habitats being restored, the management challenges being conquered, and the management techniques used to do so! In addition to getting to spend the day learning from Sarah Martin and Rasheed Bradley, the students:

• treated invasive species (hand-pulling Brazilian-pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), lead tree (Leucaena leucocephala), and napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) seedlings and bagging seeds)
• Planted native seedlings of muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), royal flatsedge (Cyperus elegans), and swamp flatsedge (Cyperus ligularis) in experimental plots (planted in places where large Brazilian-pepper were cut-down and shredded and nothing is currently growing)
• And collected mature seeds of select native plants from the site and dispersing them in an area recently cleared of napier grass seedlings

To learn more about the project or to volunteer visit our website and contact Sarah Martin at martin@regionalconservation.org

For more pictures of the day check out our Facebook page!

EVENT! March 2! Rare plants of Everglades National Park: their history, conservation, and restoration.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Critical Habitat is proposed for two South Florida cacti.

Wednesday. February 5, 2015

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife is proposing the listing of critical habitat for the Florida semaphore cactus (Consolea corallicola) and the Aboriginal prickly-apple (Harrisia aboriginum). Both species were listed as endangered in 2013. According to the USFWS,  4,411 acres are proposed for the Florida semaphore cactus in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, and 3,444 acres are proposed for the aboriginal prickly-apple in Manatee, Charlotte, Sarasota, and Lee Counties. The Florida semaphore cactus is known in seven populations, two naturally occurring and five reintroduced, representing fewer than 1,500 individuals and all on existing conservation lands. The population for the aboriginal prickly-apple is known in 12 populations spread across conservation areas, public land not managed for conservation, and several unprotected private parcels. The population is thought to be between 300 and 500 individuals.

Critical habitat designations identify habitats and geographic areas essential for the conservation of the endangered species. Species cannot be protected in isolation but must be protected within the context of their habitat requirements. The Institute for Regional Conservation often consults with the USFWS in determining species listings and critical habitat designations. One way in which IRC contributed in this case was in the discovery of a population of the Florida semaphore cactus in Biscayne National Park in 2001.
 
Learn more about the listing here and make sure to submit your comments. The Service will accept comments concerning the proposed critical habitat designations for these two cacti and/or the draft economic analysis that are received or postmarked on or before March 23, 2015.  To submit comments electronically, please go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal.  In the Search box, enter FWS–R4–ES-2014–0057, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. Then, in the Search panel on the left side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, click on the Proposed Rules link to locate this document. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment Now!” 

Photos by George D Gann and Keith Bradley from the FISF

Join IRC on February 7th at Green Cay Nature Center & Wetlands!

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

George Gann, IRC's Chief Conservation Strategist and Board President, profiled in the Delray and Boynton Forums of the Sun Sentinel.

Monday, January 26, 2015

George Gann has dedicated the last 30 years of his life to IRC and his vision of regional conservation. Read more of the details in the Delray or Boynton forums of the Sun Sentinel. Click the image below to read the story online!

Join IRC on February 7th at Green Cay Nature Center & Wetlands!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

IRC will be presenting an event celebrating the re-greening of South Florida on February 7th at Green Cay wetlands in Boynton Beach. The focus of the event will be using Natives for Your Neighborhood to attract birds to your landscapes. Presenting along side of IRC are Authors James A. Kuslan and Kirsten Hines who will be discussing their book "Attracting Birds to South Florida Gardens." After the talk, IRC biologists and the authors will hold a panel discussion and there will be a book signing. All proceeds of the book sales from the event will be donated to IRC. Watch out for more details as they emerge, including the native nurseries which will be attending and details about purchasing plants! Doors open at 1:30 with the talk beginning at 2pm. Come early or stay after to enjoy the beautiful wetlands!

Thank you to IRC’s most recent Sponsor – The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Thank you to The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens for becoming a sponsor of Natives for Your Neighborhood! Check out their website and monthly plant sales.

IRC is on a mission to connect NFYN users with the plants they want! Check out our “find native plants” page and let us know about your plant business and if you would like to become a sponsor!

Natives for Your Neighborhood cited as a resources in the American Horticultural Therapy Association news magazine.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Natives for Your Neighborhood is a great resource for many uses of native plants, including pairing host and nectar plants with butterflies for the purpose of creating a horticultural therapy garden. Erin Backus, horticulturalist, horticulture therapist, owner of Plant Happiness, LLC, and former South Floridian, writes about how to use plants to attract wildlife to gardens for the purpose of theraputic benefits. She specifically mentions the importance of considering native diversity and the use of native species and cites NFYN and our wildlife pages as an example of a tool to do so. Horticultural therapy uses the benefits of natural and garden environments to treat mental illness, facilitate rehabilitation, and many other therapy needs. Learn more about horticultural therapy at AHTA.ORG.

Check out the article at the AHTA Magazine!

Photos by Erin Backus, from NFYN Danaus plexippus page.

Kirsten Hines, IRC research associate, discusses nature and Miami in the Miami Herald.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

IRC alum and Research Associate Kirsten Hines wrote a beautiful piece in the Miami Herald, published on Sunday. In it she writes a love letter, of sorts, to the natural side of Miami (and name -drops IRC and Natives for Your Neighborhood a few times) and how she found her niche. Check out her new publications on February 7th at Green Cay Nature Center when she, co-author James Kushlan, and partner IRC discuss Attracting Birds to South Florida Gardens and using Natives for Your Neighborhood to do it. More details to come. 

Check out the article at the Miami Herald!

Photo from the Miami Herald

Thank you to everyone who came to the Nov 11th Wine Tasting!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

We had a great turn out and lots of interest in IRC and upcoming events. Keep an eye out on our news page, facebook page, and by joining our email list for upcoming opportunities and events!

For more photos from the event check out the photo album on our Facebook page from photographer Emiliano Brooks!

All photos by Emiliano Brooks

Come volunteer on the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay Coastal Wetland Restoration Project!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Volunteer day at the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay wetland restoration project! Together, we will be planting thousands of Gulf cordgrass (Spartina spartinae), Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), Silver sea-oxeye-daisy (Borrichia frutescens), Giant leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium) and other select native species as part of the work we are doing in an effort to restore critical coastal wetland habitat along Biscayne Bay for over 100 different migratory birds This project is supported by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

Contact: Sarah Martin at 305-505-9192 or martin@regionalconservation.org for more information.

Why should you come?

• Free Massages by Loosen Up Massage
• Tasting of wines chosen by the sommeliers at the Wine Wave
• Photography by Emiliano Brooks, go-to photographer of many local publications and businesses!
• Accoustic Music by local artists Steaven Nieratka and Nate Largent (of the Resolvers)
• Learn about Natives for Your Neighborhood
• Learn about our research and restoration efforts
• Meet and converse with C.E.O. Dr. Craig van der Heiden and Chief Conservation Officer George Gann
• Ask us for advice, learn more about us, learn how you can help!

November 7-9: The Fairchild Tropic Botanic Gardens hold their Fall Festival featuring the 74th annual Ramble. Come enjoy the gardens and visit IRC at our booth shared with the Connect to Protect program. Event Page.

November 11th: Celebrate South Florida Biodiversity: 30 years with IRC. Come to the Wine Wave, Delray Beach, for a wine tasting, live music, and conversation with IRC and other like minded individuals who care about conservation in South Florida. Generously sponsored by John Campanola of New York Life.Flyer.

November 22nd: Volunteer day at the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay wetland restoration project! Together, we will be planting thousands of Gulf cordgrass (Spartina spartinae), Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), Silver sea-oxeye-daisy (Borrichia frutescens), Giant leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium) and other select native species as part of the work we are doing in an effort to restore critical coastal wetland habitat along Biscayne Bay for over 100 different migratory birds This project is supported by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

The Florida Bristle Fern (Trichomanes punctatum ssp. floridanum), proposed for listing as federally endangered, is only known to have 12 occurances, 10 in Miami Dade County and two in Sumter County. IRC CEO Craig van der Heiden is currently conducting research into the fern's habitat in Sumter County. He and field biologist Jimmy Lange are mapping suitable habitat in Sumter County to inform decisions by the USFWS about designating critical habitat once the fern is officially listed.

The University of South FLorida has added a new tool to its resources, a mobile guide to FLorida Invasive Plant species (FLIP). Browse by common name, scientific name, or search by characteristic. This is a great tool for land managers, home owners, and interested people to easily identify invasive plant species and to learn about ecological impacts and management strategies. Check it out at http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/flip/.

  The U.S. Fish and WIlflife service announced yesterday that they are proposing to list the Florida Bristle Fern (Trichomanes punctatum ssp. floridanum) as an endangered species.  Biologists from IRC work with USFWS often on such listing and have contributed research and historical data to support the listing of this subspecies.  T. punctatum is native to Florida and South and Central America but the subspecies is endemic to Florida and is currently found only in Miami Dade and Sumter Counties.  The fern grows in high humidity conditions on limestone and is found in solution holes along the Miami Rock Ridge and, in Sumter County, is found on exposed limestone in dense hammocks.  IRC currently has a project with the USFWS to delineate suitable habitat for the Florida Bristle Fern in Sumter County to aid in conservation efforts.  The public comment period for this listing is open until December 8th.  To learn more about the proposed listing and how to submit comments, go to the USFWS news release.   To learn more about the species, check out IRC’s species account in the FISF. 

 In an article in the Diario de Yucatan (see article here) Dr. Jorge Carlos Trejo Torres is featured based on statements he made in a public lecture where he describes Mérida as a community who craves  “Trees,more trees!”  Carlos, whose work and motivations perfectly embody the values of IRC, advocates for more green space in Mérida, Yucatán.  He promotes not only the utilization of large parks but also smaller wooded areas and the use of trees and native plants by land owners.  His website created in partnership with IRC, Plantas del Mayab, aims to accomplish this by providing information which is useful to land managers, city planners, botanists, homeowners, and casual plant enthusiasts alike living up to its tagline “plantas para todos” or “plants for all” in English.  Great work, Carlos!

photo by yucatan.com.mx

Come out to see native landscaping in action. Get ideas for your own yard and learn from those who have had success! For details and directions check out the Fall Yard Tour website. This Sunday, October 5, 2014 begining at 10:00 am.

Both books focus on how landscaped areas can be used as bird habitat. Attracting Birds to South Florida speaks specifically to how you, as an individual, can landscape your home so that it is inviting to migratory and native bird species. Come see Kirsten Hines and Dr. Kushlan speak at one of the events listed on the flyer (click image for pdf). The first event will be in conjunction with the Fairchild's Bird Festival with an exhibition of Kirsten's photos happening Oct 3-5 and a talk at 3pm on October 4th.

After several years of review, including input from IRC and, in particular, Chief Conservation Strategist George D. Gann. The new designation will give greater protection to these two species and their habitat.

For more information about the designation, see the news release on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website. 

When: Saturday, September 13th from 9am-3pm
Where: Just South of Palmetto Bay Villiage on 184th Street and Old Cutler Road (there will be signs day-of, parking on the street.

IRC’s collaborative project with the South Florida Water Management District and the National Park Service (and other partners) has been improving habitat for migratory and coastal bird species as part of a small grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the North American Wetland Conservation Act.  The property, owned by SFWMD, was burned in March and exotic species, including Brazilian-pepper, Leadtree, and Burmareed, were removed and native wetland species reintroduced.  Volunteers have had a major impact on this project.  Dozens of volunteers gave up their weekends in July and August to help plant hundreds of seedlings of Gulf Cordgrass (Spartina spartinae), Saw-grass (Cladium jamaicense) and Muhlygrass (Muhlenbergia capillaris). Even as volunteers were replanting native species, we witness recruitment of native species from the seed bank and surrounding habitats. Simply removing the exotic species has allowed these natives to come back in. Read more about the project on our website.

Before and After. (Above) Laying fire in the Burmareed to clear the way for future restoration. (Below) The restoration site after exotics removal and native planting. Seedlings of Gulf Cordgrass, Saw-grass, and Muhlygrass, were planted by hand by dedicated volunteers over several weekend work days over the summer.

IRC recently presented a talk on Pine Rockland Ecology to the Miami Sierra Club. Craig van der Heiden discussed the importance of the pine rocklands, the animals and plants that live there and the potential fate of the remaining habitat.

Sarah Martin, program coordinator of the Pine Rockland Institute, has a passion for the Pine Rocklands and that includes educating the public on their uniqueness and importance. To learn more about our pine rockland initiative, visit the program page here and check out Sarah's powerpoint presentation here. To learn more about all the work IRC does for the Pine Rocklands, you can see Sarah's presentation to the 2014 Pine Rockland Working Group Symposium here.

For more information about the Pine Rockland Initiative or to schedule someone to speak to your group about the Pine Rocklands, contact Sarah Martin at 305-505-9192 or martin@regionalconservation.org

Now is your chance to take your native plant knowledge one step further and do so with the expertise of George Rodgers and John Bradford behind you. Take their FREE online course starting September 1st.

For more information check out the blog post on Treasure Coast Natives. 
Click here to order the text book, Guide to the Native Plants of Florida’s Treasure Coast.

The Florida Keys team has had two years' worth of contracts at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, first to determine best practices for removing invasive Leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala) and the second to conduct the removal. At the end of two months of work removing Leadtree, the crew removed more than 51,560 lbs (25.82 tonnes) dry weight of Leadtree from many areas of the base, including sensitive coastal habitats home to many rare and endemic species.  The project generated a great deal of interest on the base and the crew was able to work with several military personnel as volunteers on the project.

Like with all of our restoration projects, IRC does not simply remove exotic species but we are deeply concerned with the conservation of rare and endemic species. Guantanamo Bay Cuba is a unique habitat which contains many rare and endemic species. On the base there is a nursery run by volunteer enthusiasts. IRC crew and biologists helped to grow the native plant collection in the nursery through seed collection of over a dozen native species and Propagation of three rare species of endemic cactus-Opuntia militaris, Consolea moniliformis subsp guantanamana, and Dendrocereus nudiflorus- from cuttings, as well as successful germination of over 25 Dendrocereus seedlings, a species of tree cactus of which all extant individuals are several centuries old.

All in all the trip and the work was an incredible success!  IRC would like to say thank you to the crew Geoffrey Geier, Jacob Pulfer, and Nathan Reyor and wish them the best as they move on from IRC and thanks to biologist Jimmy Lange as we look forward to his future here with IRC!   

Top row from left:  (1) Area of removal of Leadtree, Leucaena leucocephala.   (2) IRC crew member Jacob Pulfer with a cutting of the endemic Consolea moniliformis(3)  Biologist Jimmy Lange with seedlings and cuttings in the Guantanamo Bay native plant nursery
Bottom Row from left: Endemic species Opuntia militaris, Jacquina brevifolia, Spirotecoma spiralis, and Macrocatalpa punctata

Comments will be taken from now until August 14th on both the critical habitat designation and the recently released economic report.  Both plants are found along the Miami Rock Ridge and have 2,723 acres of overlapping habitat and both are threatened by development, fire suppression, invasive species, and sea level rise.  The critical habitat designation under the Endangered Species Act provides protection for habitat where the species are likely to be found and which are deemed important to the species itself.  The draft  economic analysis released show that costs of this designation would be low; no more than $120,000 per year in mostly administrative costs. 

For more information about the designation and report and for instructions on how to comment, see the news release on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website. 

When: July 26th and August 2nd 9am - 3pm
Where: meet at the Palmetto Bay Village Center at SW 184th Street and Old Cutler Road, and will have a sign up directing people where to park the day of the event. 

We will provide drinking water, snacks, etc., but be sure to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, long pants, closed-toed shoes and anything else you may need for the day. 

We will be planting native grasses and seedlings in a coastal prairie ecosystem we are working to restore, as well as other habitat restoration activities.

We need all the help we can get and would love to see you out there!

Contact: Sarah Martin at 305-505-9192 or martin@regionalconservation.org for more information.

Download our volunteer waiver here.

On July 1st Simpson Park received a unanimous vote to obtain a Final Designation as a Local Individual Historic Resource from the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board.  This new assurance of protection comes in a very large part to the hard work and effort of Juan G. Fernandez and Adriana Dominguez-Tio from Miami Dade County.  Simpson Park, located in Downtown Brickell, is about 8 acres of tropical hardwood hammock, one of the last remnants of the Brickell Hammock.  The Brickell Hammock was the largest and most diverse rockland hammock in South Florida.  By the end of the 20th century all of the hammock had been developed save approximately 50 acres now located at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Alice C Wainwright Park, and, of course, Simpson Park.  In addition to the great historical value of the park as a window onto pre-development Miami, it is also an incredible ecological resource.  The Brickell Hammock was originally home to many species now extirpated, such as Balsam Torchwood (Amyris balsamifera), Hammock Groundsel (Baccharis dioica), and Spoonleaf Peperomia (Peperomia magnoliifolia).  Management of these species could include reintroduction to Simpson Park.  Simpson Park is the home to several critically imperiled species including Marsh’s Dutchman’s-Pipe (Aristolochia pentandra), Young Palm Orchid (Tropidia polystachya), Black Calabash (Amphitecna latifolia) and Bitterbush (Picramnia pentandra) some of which are found at only a handful of other protected areas.  The critically imperiled Gulf Licaria (Licaria triandra) is only known to occur at Simpson Park.  If we were to lose Simpson Park the region would also suffer the loss of some of these species and lower the overall biodiversity of the region as well as loosing one of the last places where extirpated species could be restored.

You can read more about Simpson Park (p. 868), Brickell Hammock (p. 940), and the rare plants found there in IRC’s book Rare Plants of South Florida.  Check out the Floristic Inventory of South Florida database for a list of species found at Simpson Park. 

The Rockland Hammock, though mostly lost to development, is vitally important for environmental services such as carbon sequestration and the filtration of urban runoff.  It is also possible to restore this habitat in dense urban areas with success.  For information on how to restore this habitat you can use our guidelines available through IRC’s program Natives for Your Neighborhood. 

From left:  (1) Balsam Torchwood (Amyris balsamifera), (2)Black Calabash (Amphitecna latifolia) and (3) Hammock Groundsel (Baccharis dioica)

Come learn about all the great work being done in Miami and the Bahamas in and around the Pine Rocklands. Sarah Martin, head of IRC's Pine Rockland Initiative, will be there to discuss IRC's work and lead a field trip to some of our work sites.

Where: UF-IFAS Cooperative Extension Services Office - 18710 SW 288th Street, Homestead, FL 33030
When: Thursday, June 26-28, 2014

For more information: Check out the General Announcement and Itinerary or the Pine Rockland Working Group website at fl.biology.usgs.gov/pineland.

When: July 26th and August 2nd 9am - 3pm
Where: meet at the Palmetto Bay Village Center at SW 184th Street and Old Cutler Road, and will have a sign up directing people where to park the day of the event. 

We will provide drinking water, snacks, etc., but be sure to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, long pants, closed-toed shoes and anything else you may need for the day. 

We will be planting native grasses and seedlings in a coastal prairie ecosystem we are working to restore, as well as other habitat restoration activities.

We need all the help we can get and would love to see you out there!

Contact: Sarah Martin at 305-505-9192 or martin@regionalconservation.org for more information.

Download our volunteer waiver here.

On July 1st Simpson Park received a unanimous vote to obtain a Final Designation as a Local Individual Historic Resource from the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board.  This new assurance of protection comes in a very large part to the hard work and effort of Juan G. Fernandez and Adriana Dominguez-Tio from Miami Dade County.  Simpson Park, located in Downtown Brickell, is about 8 acres of tropical hardwood hammock, one of the last remnants of the Brickell Hammock.  The Brickell Hammock was the largest and most diverse rockland hammock in South Florida.  By the end of the 20th century all of the hammock had been developed save approximately 50 acres now located at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Alice C Wainwright Park, and, of course, Simpson Park.  In addition to the great historical value of the park as a window onto pre-development Miami, it is also an incredible ecological resource.  The Brickell Hammock was originally home to many species now extirpated, such as Balsam Torchwood (Amyris balsamifera), Hammock Groundsel (Baccharis dioica), and Spoonleaf Peperomia (Peperomia magnoliifolia).  Management of these species could include reintroduction to Simpson Park.  Simpson Park is the home to several critically imperiled species including Marsh’s Dutchman’s-Pipe (Aristolochia pentandra), Young Palm Orchid (Tropidia polystachya), Black Calabash (Amphitecna latifolia) and Bitterbush (Picramnia pentandra) some of which are found at only a handful of other protected areas.  The critically imperiled Gulf Licaria (Licaria triandra) is only known to occur at Simpson Park.  If we were to lose Simpson Park the region would also suffer the loss of some of these species and lower the overall biodiversity of the region as well as loosing one of the last places where extirpated species could be restored.

You can read more about Simpson Park (p. 868), Brickell Hammock (p. 940), and the rare plants found there in IRC’s book Rare Plants of South Florida.  Check out the Floristic Inventory of South Florida database for a list of species found at Simpson Park. 

The Rockland Hammock, though mostly lost to development, is vitally important for environmental services such as carbon sequestration and the filtration of urban runoff.  It is also possible to restore this habitat in dense urban areas with success.  For information on how to restore this habitat you can use our guidelines available through IRC’s program Natives for Your Neighborhood. 

Come learn about all the great work being done in Miami and the Bahamas in and around the Pine Rocklands. Sarah Martin, head of IRC's Pine Rockland Initiative, will be there to discuss IRC's work and lead a field trip to some of our work sites.

Where: UF-IFAS Cooperative Extension Services Office - 18710 SW 288th Street, Homestead, FL 33030
When: Thursday, June 26-28, 2014

For more information: Check out the General Announcement and Itinerary or the Pine Rockland Working Group website at fl.biology.usgs.gov/pineland.

IRC biologists recently returned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to follow up on experimental treatments of the invasive Leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala) that were established last summer to determine the best method of herbicide management for this troublesome exotic.  Experimental treatments were seen to have been successful.  In the coming months IRC crewmembers will be returning to Cuba to treat and remove large infestations of leadtree that threaten natural areas throughout the naval base based on the methodology tested on the previous study trip.  In order to best aid restoration of these unique habitats, IRC biologists will also be propagating and outplanting native species in the areas where the exotic Leadtree has been removed.  The IRC biologists have already identified individuals and populations of native species which may provide reliable sources of propagules for the restoration effort. 

Clockwise from top left:  (1) Control and cut-stump herbicide treated plots of leadtree, Leucaena leucocephala.   (2) IRC biologists James Johnson and Cody Miller with a population of Sgt Harlow’s barrel cactus (Melocactus harlowii), an ancient species of cactus endemic to the region. (3)  An endemic tree cactus, Dendrocereus nudiflora specimen estimated to be near a century old. (4) James Johnson examining an orchid rarely encountered on the base, Broughtonia lindenii.

Enduring the spring flush of mosquitoes in Everglades National Park, IRC biologist, James Johnson and Jimmy Lange, have been conducting a thorough census of the federally endangered Cape Sable Thoroughwort (Chromolaena frustrata).  This plant, and many others, exist in low-lying habitat particularly susceptible to environmental issues such as sea level rise and salinization of ground water.  IRC has been methodically sampling and mapping known and newly discovered populations of this sensitive Chromolaena species.  These data will be used to inform conservation efforts in the interest of preventing the extinction of this endemic species. 

Sarah Martin will have information about IRC and our programs and specifically be available to discuss the habitat restoration at Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay. Check out information about the project here.

What: Information about the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay restoration project
Where: Free Tree Giveaway - Ludovici Park, Palmetto Bay
When: Saturday, April 26, 2014 9am-12pm

Click Here for more information about the Earth Week events.

IRC has been working in Everglades National Park to assess the impacts of Sea Level Rise on coastal upland species. Some of our results have been accepted for publication in the journal Ecohydrology. The report finds that plant communities differ significatly ing roundwater salinity. The authors, which include IRC's Dr. Sonali Saha and Dr. Craig van der Heiden, hope that the results cna be used in planning for adaptation to Sea Level Rise. Read the abstract here.

After the publication of a new tree species in the Yucatán reporters from the Merida based publication Por Esto! featured IRC research associate Jorge Carlos Trejo Torres and the online database Plantas del Mayab. The site, tagline "Plants for all," packages information about the botanical diversity in the Yucatán in a format usable by all levels of people interested in learning about and using plants. One of the main features are the "listas para usarse," lists of plants by use and importance. The first list posted was the list of trees of the Mayab. The next planned list will be a list of protected species in the region. A site compiling and presenting this information about the diversity of plants in the Yucatán draws attention to the extreme diversity of the region. For example, there are more tree species in the Yucatán than in the United States and Canada! Read the whole article here and then keep up to date with the additions to the site by visiting www.PlantasdelMayab.com regularly.

. Remember to sign up for IRC's photo contest. Prizes will be announced soon. Enter for a chance to have your photos displayed and auctioned at our 30th anniversary celebration and help contribute to the growing bank of images in our databases and Natives for Your Neighborhood. For more information visit the 30th anniversary webpage.

. IRC field biologist and Keys program leader, Cody Miller, presented information about exotic plant species and their control on Saturday as part of the 5th annual Florida Keys Ocean Festival. For more information about the event visit the website. For more information about the IRC's Florida Keys program visit our Ecological Restoration and Management page

Fire is an important management tool in fire-adapted South Florida ecosystems.  IRC used fire recently as part of the reestablishment and restoration bird habitat at Coastal Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay Habitat Restoration Project Site.  The burn was carried out through a cooperative effort by the Florida Forestry Service and Everglades National Park Fire Crew.  The fire reduced the biomass of exotic invasive plant species making it easier to efficiently treat and eradicate these troublesome plants. Reintroduction of the fire cycle will greatly assist in the restoration of the fire adapted native marsh communities that are utilized by native and migratory birds. Click here to read more about the Coastal Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay habitat restoration funded through the North American Wetland Conservation Act.

The Miami restoration team, Sarah Martin, Rasheed Bradley, and Patty Amador, have been working hard to restore a pine rockland owned by East Ridge Retirement Community in Cutler Bay. Resident Nancy Fehr has championed the effort within her community, making the restoration possible. Read more about the project and the passion behind making it happen in the Miami Herald. Click on the image below for more information about the Pine Rockland Initiative or visit our Pine Rockland Initiative page.

The first activity for IRC's 30th anniversary celebration has been announced! Enter your photos of native plants and Florida ecosystems in IRC's first ever photo contest!

Finalists will have the opportunity to display their photos at IRC's anniversary celebration reception (date TBD) and sell their work in a silent auction. Winners in each category will win a variety of prizes (sponsors and prizes to be announced at a later date). All entries will have the opportunity to be used to enhance the visual resources in the Floristic Inventory of South Florida and Natives for Your Neighborhood.

For entry forms and more information visit IRC's 30th anniversary announcement page.

Entries due June 1st.

Come see IRC at ETTRA allery during LEEWORKS' opening week. A portion of the proceeds from the event is being donated to IRC. Program administrator Lindsey Nieratka will be giving a talk about Natives for Your Neighborhood on Friday March 21 at 5:30. Visit LEEWORKS website for more about the art.

schedule of
“GET TOGETHERS”
during the week long exhibition of

QUEST
presented by
LEEWORKS
at
ETTRA
149 NE 2ND Avenue
Pineapple Grove District
Delray Beach, FL
(561) 234-0978

Open Monday March 17 - Sunday March 23 11:30am - 9:30pm

Tuesday, March 18 --- 5:00pm arrive – 5:30pm interview
FLORIDA SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER
CLIENT SUCCESS STORY
an interview with the artist

Wednesday, March 19 --- 5:00pm arrive – 5:30pm speaker
in depth talk by Lee about
QUEST

Thursday, March 20 --- 5:00pm arrive – 5:30pm ceremony
GREATER DELRAY BEACH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ribbon cutting ceremony with distinguished guests

Friday, March 21 --- 5:00pm arrive – 5:30pm speaker
THE INSTITUTE FOR REGIONAL CONSERVATION
introduction to
“NATIVES FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD”
CREATING URBAN HABITAT IN YOUR YARD

Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23
stop by the gallery for a glass of wine  before/after  brunch or dinner
at one of the fabulous local area restaurants (dine at your own expense)

Support IRC and LEEWORKS by buying one of four pieces created by Lee for IRC. Buy notecard directly from IRC or get the images as framed prints from Giclee printing. 100% of the proceeds from these four pieces will go towards supporting IRC's mission.

Come Join IRC at Native Plant Day in Dade County. It is a great opportunity to learn more about IRC and all the other great resources in South Florida for native plants! To learn more go to the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society's webpage.

Artist Lee Hutton of LEEWORKS has created four original paintings inspired by his love for the South Florida environment and the mission of IRC. LEEWORKS has generously donated notecards printed with the original art to IRC. You can support IRC and get a set of these cards by donating $15 or more to IRC. For more information check out the IRC-LEEWORKS page for payment options or order through the "pay now" button below. You can see more of Lee's work and buy larger art prints from Giclee Printing. All of the proceeds from the sales of these four prints will be donated to IRC.

Cards (no additional donation) $15.00 USD Cards (Plus $10 donation) $25.00 USD Cards (Plus $20 donation) $35.00 USD Cards (Plus $30 donation) $45.00 USD

Purchase Options:

Recently, George Gann, IRC’s Chief Conservation Strategist, led a group from Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens and colleagues into Everglades National Park to look for rare plants.  Although many fascinating species were found during the day, two species were of particular interest for the members of this excursion. One was Peperomia humilis and the group was able to collect data on the habitat in which it was found.  The group also found stations of Chromolaena frustrata, a recent addition to the Federally Endangered Species List. A great day indeed!

Eagled eyed Rasheed Bradley,Team Leader for the Pine Rockland Initiative, is as good finding rare plants as he is yielding a chainsaw.  He recently found two rare plants; Microgramma heterophylla and Eltroplectris calcarata. The find of Eltroplectris calcarata is a new location for this ground orchid.  Great Job, Rasheed!

Join IRC's Pine Rockland Initiative program leader, Sarah Martin, to learn more about restoring and managing pine rocklands.

What: Pine Rockland Landowner Free Workshop
When: February 22, 2014
Where: 21100 SW 300th St, Homestead, FL 33030

RSVP to Sarah Martin at martin@regionalconservation.org

Program leaders and biologists Sarah Martin and Cody Miller brought their crews together, led by crew leaders Rasheed Bradley and Brian Pavlina, in the Florida Keys along with IRC's conservation biologists Craig van der Heiden, James Johnson, and Jimmie Lange for a collaborative work day. IRC strives to have the best trained staff and these days spent crossing programs to work in different habitats and learn from one another is a big part of that effort.

Artist Lee Hutton, inspired by the natural beauty of South Florida, has chosen to work towards protecting South Florida Ecosystems by partnering with the Institute for Regional Conservation. Lee's Grand Opening as a Delray based artist will showcase his amazing QUEST series at the ETTRA gallery in downtown Delray Beach. A portion of the proceeds of any of the art sold will be donated to the Institute for Regional Conservation. This is just the begining of IRC and LEEWORK's collaborations. So come support IRC by supporting local art!

What: LEEWORKS presents "QUEST: a story of triumph over hardship."
Where: ETTRA: 149 NE 2nd Avenue, Pineapple Grove Arts District,Delray Beach, FL 33444
When: March 17 - March 24th with the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, March 20th from 5pm - 7pm.

Learn more about LEEWORKS at http://www.leeworks-art-florida.com

. Jorge Carlos Trejo Torres, Ph.D., IRC’s newest research associate, launched the website “Las Plantas del Mayab” this week.  Mayab is a region of the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico.  The website provides information about native and naturalized plants in the region, provides lists of plants for specific uses, and links to native plant nurseries and other informational sites.  Sound familiar?  If so it is because the site is based off of the concept of Natives for Your Neighborhood.  Keep up with Las Plantas del Mayab as information is added.  (Use google chrome as your browser and it can be translated to English).

Natives for Your Neighborhood (NFYN) and the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) database are accessed by thousands of users each week. These services are based on almost two decades of research and collaboration between multiple agencies, organizations, and researchers. These free services are not free to provide, maintain, and improve. In fact, it costs IRC close to $20,000 a year to simply keep the lights on for our website and databases! Help IRC continue to provide the FISF and NFYN to the public for free while also being able to make valuable improvements and updates. Think about the value NFYN or the FISF database have to you and make your tax deductible donation today!

Natives for Your Neighborhood (NFYN) and the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) database are accessed by thousands of users each week. These services are based on almost two decades of research and collaboration between multiple agencies, organizations, and researchers. These free services are not free to provide, maintain, and improve. In fact, it costs IRC close to $20,000 a year to simply keep the lights on for our website and databases! Help IRC continue to provide the FISF and NFYN to the public for free while also being able to make valuable improvements and updates. Think about the value NFYN or the FISF database have to you and make your tax deductible donation today!

Whether you are gifting plants you learned about from NFYN or simply interested in making sure Florida's natural diversity is conserved, donating to IRC is a great way to show your support for our mission. With more than half the month gone, we have a long way to go in order to meet our goal and support Natives for Your Neighborhood and the Floristic Inventory of South Florida for one more year. Make your tax deductible donation today!

. Cody Miller, project leader for IRC's Florida Keys office, has a full crew again and they are getting prepared for an excellent seasonconducting restoration in the Keys. From left to right: Cody Miller, Geoff Geier, Nathan Reyor, Jacob Pulfer, and team leader Brian Pavlina.

For three years IRC has been working with landowners in the Florida Keys to help them control Brazilian-pepper, also known as "Florida Holly" on private land. Come to IRC's office in the Florida Keys to learn more about how to control Brazilian-pepper. Experts in exotics removal will instruct on identification, herbicide application, safety, and other relevant topics.

When: December 14, 10am - 3pm
Where: 30933 Ave A, Big Pine Key, FL 33043

For questions contact biologist Cody Miller at 305-304-6610 or email at miller@regionalconservation.org.

IRC teams with the National Park Service to complete a restoration project funded by the North American Wetland Conservation Act U.S. Small Grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Bird Habitat Conservation. This award launches a significant coastal habitat restoration project of 350 acres in Cutler Bay, Florida, that will benefit more than 100 species of migratory birds and a long list of other rare animals and plants along Biscayne Bay. Other collaborators on the project are Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, Palmetto Bay Village Center, South Florida Water Management District and Tropical Audubon Society.

Check out our progress and learn more on the Coastal Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay Habitat Restoration homepage.

Natives for Your Neighborhood (NFYN) and the Floristic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) database are accessed by thousands of users each week. These services are based on almost two decades of research and collaboration between multiple agencies, organizations, and researchers. These free services are not free to provide, maintain, and improve. In fact, it costs IRC close to $20,000 a year to simply keep the lights on for our website and databases! Help IRC continue to provide the FISF and NFYN to the public for free while also being able to make valuable improvements and updates. Think about the value NFYN or the FISF database have to you and make your tax deductible donation today!

Join us in congratulating Rasheed Bradley on the birth of his daughter, Paige Janet Bradley, earlier this week! Rasheed has been with IRC since 2009 as the crew leader for the Pine Rockland Initiative. Paige is his and his wife's second child. Everyone is at home and doing well. Congratulations Rasheed and welcome Paige!

A great way to support IRC's mission and to make the people you serve aware of IRC's valuable resources is to link to IRC directly from your website. Grab the code for one or all of the buttons below and place it on your own site.

Who should grab our button?

• Cities and municipalities which encourage native landscaping and "green" certifications.
• Teachers and educational institutions using IRC's wealth of information.
• Research organizations and agencies using IRC's databases.
• Organizations devoted to native plants and native landscaping.
• Native nurseries.
• Environmental organizations.
• Anyone who supports and wishes to promote IRC's mission!

Depending on you and your mission, choose the link that will take your website users directly to the resource from which they will benefit the most. Get the code on our buttons page.

Here are some examples of what the button will look like on your page:

Join crew member Patty Amador and the Tropical Audubon Society restore the Porter-Russell Pine Rockland as part of our Together Green project.  Spend some time outdoors, get to know a few of Florida’s native and invasive species, earn service hours, and do good for the environment!

Where: Porter-Russell Pine Rockland Preserve; 22100 SW 124th Ave; Miami, FL 33170  

When: Saturday November 9, 2013 @ 8:30 am-12 pm

What: We are seeking volunteers to help out with ongoing habitat restoration.

Volunteers should wear long pants and sleeves, closed-toed shoes, and bring hat and sunglasses, sunscreen, and whatever else they might require.  We will provide drinking water and snacks.

RSVP: outreach@tropicalaudubon.org, say you are with IRC.  

. Cody Miller, IRC’s Florida Keys field biologist, recently helped update the FKIETF plant list by identifying new species of concern, evaluating current listed species, and identifying new Early Detection Rapid Response species. The FKIETF plant list is based on the State wide Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC), but specialized and tailored to be specific to the Keys. For more information on the work of the FKIETF visit their website at http://www.floridainvasives.org/keys/.

Join Sarah Martin and crew as they tackle a few of Florida’s invasive exotic pest plants at FAU’s environmental education center.  Spend some time outdoors, get to know a few of Florida’s native and invasive species, earn service hours, and do good for the environment!

Where: Pine Jog Environmental Education Center (Meet at Building Entrance)
              6301 Summit Blvd
              West Palm Beach, FL 33415

When: Saturday November 2, 2013 @ 9 am-3 pm

What: We are seeking volunteers to help out with the land manager's ongoing habitat restoration project out at Pine Jog.  The dominant natural community found at Pine Jog is pine flatwoods with remnant marsh and mesic hammock.  We are treating FLEPPC Category I and II Invasive Species and are seeking volunteers to join us with our effort.  The volunteer day is being coordinated with the Pine Jog Land Manager, Kristi Martin Moyer, who will bring her FAU student volunteers out to work along with us.  

Volunteers should wear long pants and sleeves, closed-toed shoes, and bring hat and sunglasses, sunscreen, and whatever else they might require.  We will provide drinking water and snacks.

Contact: Sarah Martin, Field Biologist.  martin@regionalconservation.org 

. CEO and biologist Craig van der Heiden and Senior Biologist Mike Barry present IRC's work on vegetation changes in south west Florida. 1940 - present at Rookery Bay 2013 GIS Symposium: Exploring and Exchanging Spatial Knowledge. You can read more about Mike's work in South West Florida on our publications page.

IRC became a new member of the Everglades Coalition, an alliance of national, state, and local conservation and environmental organizations dedicated to the full restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.  The member organizations develop a consensus on Everglades Restoration, advocate for restoration, support research, provide education, and inform decision makers.  IRC joins other member organizations such as Tropical Audubon Society and The Florida Native Plant Society.   Read more about the Everglades Coalition at their website. 

IRC Biologists, James Johson and Craig van der Heiden, are working in Sumter County, FL, with Colleen Werner (Withlacoochee State Forest Biologist) to determine the habitat requirements for the endangered bristle fern (Trichomanes punctatum subsp. floridanum).  Bristle ferns grow on the walls of sink holes in Miami-Dade County and on small rocky outcrops in mesic hammocks in Sumter County.

Continuing our efforts to reach out to our new Delray Beach community, IRC will host a table at the Volunteer Delray event on Friday, October 25, 2013. Come learn about IRC's work and sign up to receive updates and volunteer.

In addition to our dedicated full time staff, IRC utilized the skills and expertise of a group of research associates. Steven Green, one of our associates, will be conducting grass ID workshops in Central Florida during the month of October. Grass ID challenging and recognizing native and invasive species is essential to good management. These workshops are sponsored by regional CISMA - Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area - groups. Click on the pictures below to view the full announcement.

Last week, IRC was visited by Mexican botanist J. Carlos Trejo Torres from Merida, Mexico.  Carlos is a longtime collaborator with IRC, who recently completed his Ph.D. at the Center for Scientific Research of the Yucatan (CICY).  Carlos and George Gann, IRC’s Chief Conservation Strategist, will head up a team of collaborators to launch a website inspired by Natives for Your Neighborhood for the Mexican Yucatan by year’s end.  Carlos is an expert on both Yucatan and Puerto Rican native plants and joins IRC as a Research Associate for this and upcoming projects.

While continuing our work in Miame Dade county, Collier County, and the Florida Keys, IRC is always striving to expand the reach of our work. Our main office moved to Delray Beach recently and our new community has given us a very warm welcome. The grand opening event last night at DIG drew around 50 guests including fellow Chamber of Commerce members and IRC board members, staff, and families.

Today is the official first day of Craig van der Heiden, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer of IRC. Help celebrate Craig's new position and George Gann's new role as Chief Conservation Strategist by attending our Grand Opening on Wednesday, September 11th hosted by the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce.

What: IRC's grand opening
When: September 11, 5:00pm
Where: DIG Delray, 777 East Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach 33483

Over the last several months, IRC has been putting a lot of effort into updating and upgrading our web resources, including both the Floristic Inventory of South Florida and Natives For Your Neighborhood.  And that’s a good thing - since the fall of 2012, our website has been averaging more than 100,000 page views per month and we will record well over 1 million page views in 2013.  What does that mean?  It means that hundreds of people are using IRC’s free online resources every day. The users of our website include students, native plant enthusiasts, land managers, and researchers.  Our resources are often cited in academic journal articles, such as this one from April of this year.   Even though our resources are free to the public, it is not free for us to run our website and native plant databases and we need support.  For more information on what’s happening with IRC’s web resources and how you can help, contact us at irc@regionalconservation.org.  You can also donate now through Network for Good.

IRC strives to have as many ways as possible to reach out to the public and share our mission and our resources. From here on out, in addition to visiting our website you can follow us on LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook. We will be using these social networking sites to share updates from the field, post pictures and video of us at work, and provide the opportunity for conversations with our supporters.

In culmination of a two year strategic planning process, the IRC Board of Directors is proud to announce that current Assistant Director, Craig van der Heiden, will become IRC’s Chief Executive Officer on September 9th, 2013.  Craig joined IRC in the summer of 2012 and has rapidly become a key member of IRC’s management team.  After 18 years as Executive Director, George Gann will step down from that position to concentrate on strategic governance and popular IRC initiatives such as the FISF Online and Natives For Your Neighborhood.  “The IRC Board and I have the upmost confidence in Craig as IRC’s chief executive.  We needed someone we could count on to run IRC’s program, from both a conservation science and a non-profit business perspective.  Craig has proven that he can do just that” George stated.  “With Craig in place, we use can our baseline of nearly 30 years of conservation work and really grow our program.”  A brief ceremony will be held in conjunction with IRC’s Grand Opening in Delray Beach on September 11th (see news item below).

DIG Delray, known for its “Big Flavors…Small Footprint” has graciously agreed to host IRC's Grand Opening, being held in conjunction with the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and its Non-Profit Council.

When: 5:00-6:00pm on Wednesday, September 11th, 2013
Where: DIG restaurant in downtown Delray Beach (map)

Because of space limitations we request that you RSVP by September 9th to Lindsey Nieratka at lnieratka@regionalconservation.org if you plan on attending. There will be delicious appetizers prepared by DIG and a cash bar. Please join us for this awesome event! If you cannot attend, please consider making a donation to IRC through Network for Good to help sponsor this event or any of our conservation programs in South Florida. Thank you!

Before developing Natives For Your Neighborhood , IRC’s George Gann used to run around southern Miami-Dade County helping homeowners plant their own rockland hammocks.  One family recently reached out and made contact, 20 years after George helped them with their project. 

Bob Troy and his wife Sherrye had this to say:

“We appreciate your visit today to inspect the rockland hammock in our yard, the result of your careful recommendation 20 years ago.  We are extremely proud of it and have found it requires practically no maintenance since it consists exclusively of all native plants.  The only problem we have had with it was it was so successful that it began to encroach on our neighbor's yard!  But it looked so beautiful and natural that we were not aware it was expanding.  Today we have a squirrel's nest, a cardinal's nest, and a family of blue jays.  The cardinals and blue jays are both raising families in our hammock.

We can't begin to tell you what a joy it has been, and the satisfaction we feel knowing we are conserving our region's precious water, and not depositing insecticides or grass fertilizers in our soil.  We want to thank you for your original recommendations, which have worked out so well for us.  We would be please to let anyone who is interested in cultivating their own native hammock come by and experience it for themselves."

To learn more about how you can create a native habitat in your yard, visit Natives For Your Neighborhood and our publications page. If you, like Mr. and Mrs. Troy, are interested in rockland hammocks, the document Guidelines for planting a rockland hammock in South Florida will provide you all the information you need to get started.

The Troy Residence in central Kendall, Miami-Dade County, Florida

Have you seen the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s report The State of the Birds 2013: Report of Private Lands?   The report highlights the importance of bird conservation on private lands and specifically praises the North American Wetland Conservation Act.  IRC was recently rewarded funds through this Act in order to restore important bird habitat in Palmetto Bay. Birds are highly mobile species and do not restrict their movements to public protected areas.  Habitat on private lands is vitally important for providing food, nest sites, stopping points on migration routes, and other vital services.   In addition to IRC’s work specifically targeting bird conservation, such as the Palmetto Bay project, IRC’s “Partners” programs, Pine Rockland Initiative, and online resource Natives for your Neighborhood help private landowners maintain native habitat on their land and have the added benefit of creating habitat for bird species.   To do your part to help the birds, contact IRC to help you restore your land to native habitat or visit Natives for your Neighborhood to learn about how you can use native landscaping in your yard. 

We at IRC are excited to announce the addition of a new little scientist to our family. Sarah Martin, Miami Dade field biologist and head of our Pine Rockland Initiative, welcomed her daughter into the world last week. Fiona Summer Julietta Flanner and her parents are home and doing well.

IRC is successful restorating habitat for Galactia smallii in pine rocklands.  At the restoration site in Miami- Dade county, large areas of the pine rockland are heavily infested with dense mats of the exotic turf grass Zyosia tenuifolia.  After restoration treatments G. smallii  and native plants are returning with vigor.

G. smallii growing on dead Z. tenuifolia.

Through an agreement with the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and subcontracted through Environmental Resources Management - Southeast, INC, IRC conducted mapping of exotic plants and coordinated exotics control efforts within a 3,000 acre area of Picayune Strand State Forest. Read the most recent annual report here. IRC will continue this project through a second agreement directly with the SFWMD.

Have you heard all the buzz about climate change, sea level rise, and South Florida recently? President Obama mentioned Everglades Restoration in his landmark speech on climate change last week (read the full text here). The current issue of Rolling Stone magazine features an article titled “Goodbye, Miami” which discusses the impacts of Sea Level rise on the state. IRC has been busy at work assessing sea level rise impacts on rare species in South Florida in order to help the National Park Service design management plans to deal with the impacts of sea level rise. You can read more about this on the projects page. In addition, IRC's work restoring native habitat, partnering with local land owners to protect remaining habitat fragments, and promoting urban habitat through our Natives For Your Neighborhood program will help increase the resiliency of our region to the changes we will face in the future. To do your part, plant natives in your own yard! Go to Natives For Your Neighborhood to find a list of plants for your area.

The Institute for Regional Conservation received a small grant from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation for the purchase of a new MobileMapper 10 GPS unit with ArcPad. The new unit will assist IRC in completing our mission by giving us the tools necessary to map areas treated for exotic species and monitor our success, map occurrences of rare and endangered species, and improve our databases. For a list of our ongoing projects for which the new unit will be used, visit our projects page.

IRC's Florida Key's Ecological Restoration and Management team conducted exotic species removal on Snipes Key. Several large areas of Brazilian-pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) and Colubrina asiatica were treated. Mainland biologists James Johnson and Craig van der Heiden joined the crew and now have a new appreciation for the Keys Team as they experienced the battle through the mangroves.

Commelina erecta is one of the many native species benefiting from IRC's treatment and removal of exotic plant species in the Florida Keys.

Assistant Director Craig van der Heiden and Field Biologist James Johnson recently returned from Big Cypress National Preserve where they spent several days conducting surveys for Everglades bully (Sideroxylon reclinatum subsp. Austrofloridense) and Everglades crabgrass, sometimes called Florida pineland crabgrass, (Digitaria pauciflora). Blurring the lines between work and leisure, Craig and James were able to camp and backpack through the National Preserve in pursuit of these imperiled endemic species and even had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with one of the local black bears (Ursus americanus). This field work is part of the project “Big Cypress Candidate Plant Survey” which you can read more about on our projects page .

The North American Wetland Conservation Act U.S. Small Grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Bird Habitat Conservation has awarded money throughout the Southeast for bird habitat restoration. Through this grant, IRC is launching a significant coastal habitat restoration project in Palmetto Bay, Florida benefitting more than 100 species of migratory birds and a long list of other rare animals and plants along Biscayne Bay is one of several funded projects. Other collaborators on the project are Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, Palmetto Bay Village Center, South Florida Water Management District and Tropical Audubon Society. Read this article from The Chattanoogan for more information about the program and examples of funded projects including IRC's.

IRC's Florida Key's Ecological Restoration and Management team is working diligently to remove exotic White leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala). The team, recently returned from removing Leadtree in Guantamo Bay, Cuba, is currently working on exotic plant species removal at Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge and will soon be moving on to some of the backcountry islands in the lower Keys.

Through a USFWS grant, the IRC Florida Keys team is offering assistance to homeowners in removing the exotic Brazilian-pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) from their properties. If you are a homeowner in need of assistance in the form of information and materials for the removal of Brazilian-pepper, please contact Cody Miller at 305-304-6610 or miller@regionalconservation.org.

IRC Biologist Sarah Martin will give a presentation to the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society on Tuesday, April 23rd at 7:30 PM at Pinecrest Gardens (the old Parrot Jungle). Sarah will provide an update on IRC's current applied conservation science and habitat restoration projects taking place across south Florida and the Caribbean.

IRC teams with the National Park Service and is awarded a North American Wetland Conservation Act U.S. Small Grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Bird Habitat Conservation. This award will launch a significant coastal habitat restoration project in Palmetto Bay, Florida that will benefit more than 100 species of migratory birds and a long list of other rare animals and plants along Biscayne Bay. Other collaborators on the project are Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, Palmetto Bay Village Center, South Florida Water Management District and Tropical Audubon Society.

The Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society is hosting their 18th annual Native Plant Day at Bill Sadowski Park at Old Cutler Hammock. The Institute for Regional Conservation will be there hosting an informational booth. Please come by to support IRC and Native Plant conservation. To learn more visit the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society website.

The Florida Keys team will be hosting their second annual Holiday Holly Roundup.  This festive and seasonal event solicits landowner participation in the removal of the invasive exotic Brazilian Pepper – sometimes called “Florida Holly” – from their private property.  Last year’s event was a huge success with over 72 private landowners participating.

If you are a landowner and are interested in removing exotic invasive plants from your property come to the Holiday Holly Roundup for herbicide safety and application training from our restoration specialists as well as a free 700ml of premium herbicide.

Where:  IRC Key’s Regional Office,  30933 Ave A, Big Pine Key, Fl 33043
When: Saturday, January 5, 2013 from 10am – 3pm

For more information please contact Cody Miller at 305-304-6610 or miller@regionalconservation.org.

IRC was recently awarded a contract by the Department of Defense to conduct conservation work at the SOCSOUTH headquarters in Miami-Dade County. IRC will utilize its broad experience with invasive plant control, applied botanical research and rare plant conservation to manage conservation areas designed to protect rare plants. Specifically, we will conduct habitat restoration and enhancement for the federally endangered Small's milkpea (Galactia smallii), fedederal candidate sand flax (Linum arenicola) and many other rare plants.

The Institute for Regional Conservation is pleased to announce that Craig van der Heiden has joined IRC as Assistant Director. Originally from Zimbabwe, southern Africa, Craig will be given a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from Florida Atlantic University this August. “We were looking for someone with robust entrepreneurial experience coupled with strong science skills and Craig was a perfect fit,” states IRC Executive Director George Gann. “We have been working hard to build our program and we look forward to moving our mission forward with Craig's help.” With a background that ranges from running his family's safari business, to the rigorous study of creatures as varied as rhinos and crayfish, Craig possesses the same out-of-the-box perspective on conservation science that lies at the heart of IRC's strengths.

The Institute for Regional Conservation seeks a dedicated, entrepreneurial leader to steward its mission and to oversee daily business operations. This entails leading staff to restore ecological communities and protect endangered species; fostering public awareness of IRC's programs; and deepening and extending collaboration, research, and networking among government, academic and private land-owner partners. Please see our full announcement.

IRC's first full time employee (1996), Assistant Director Keith Bradley will be relocating in the coming months to the Carolinas. "Keith has been at the heart and soul of IRC since we started working in South Florida in the mid-1990s. While Keith will be physically relocating, he will remain associated with IRC and will continue to collaborate with us on local and global conservation issues," states IRC President and Executive Director George Gann. "Keith's contributions to IRC have been unqualified and we wish him the best in all his endeavors."

The Institute for Regional Conservation is proud to announce that Patty Phares and Joyce Maschinski will join its Board of Directors this September. IRC is well known for its cutting edge work on regional conservation issues, especially involving rare plants and ecological restoration, and the addition of Phares and Maschinski will boost its efforts to protect species at both the global and local levels. Ms. Phares is a long time conservation activist in South Florida, especially known for her work with the local chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society where she has volunteered for 30 years. Dr. Maschinski is the conservation ecologist leading the South Florida conservation program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. She has significant expertise on conservation corridors and is co-editor of the forthcoming book, Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils (Island Press). Bringing Maschinski and Phares onto the IRC board represents just the first phase of planned leadership expansion at the well-respected institution. “IRC has accomplished an incredible amount in its first 25 years,” states IRC President and Executive Director George Gann. “But we cannot rest on our laurels. Global change demands ever more action and IRC must evolve to meet this challenge. We need leaders to step forward at this critical juncture and we are both honored and grateful to have Patty and Joyce join us this fall.”

Long-time IRC staffer and reseach associate Steve Woodmansee has become the new President of the Florida Native Plant Society. Visit the FNPS blog (June 12) for an interview with Steve. IRC has had an excellent and long-running relationship with the Florida Native Plant Society, which was one of the founding sponsors of our Natives For Your Neighborhood Program.

IRC now has two restoration crews up and running! Our GreenSweep Team in the Florida Keys is working under the guidance of Cody-Marie Miller and our Miami-Dade County Exotic Plant Control Crew is being directed by James Duquesnel and John James. Our 6-person teams are feverishly removing invasive exotic plant species and excess hardwoods in order to restore and maintain pine rockland habitat on private lands. Both teams are funded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the Miami-Dade County grant coming from Stimulus funds. Restoration of these properties will greatly increase the connectivity between remaining pine rockland fragments, ensuring healthier populations of native plants and animals, particularly pine rockland habitat specialists.

We're pleased to announce that our stimulus package proposal to the USFWS was not only funded, but was ranked top funding priority for our region! The funds will enable us to hire a restoration crew to expand our pinerockland restoration project in Miami-Dade County. 200 acres of private and 300 acres of public pine rocklands will be restored to enhance and expand critical habitat for 17 species of Federally-listed and candidate plant and animal species.

IRC received Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative (CESI) funding to study the effects of sea level rise on coastal upland plants in the Everglades National Park. A combination of field and experimental methods will be utilized to, a) determine depth of water uptake and salinity of water utilized by coastal upland plants, b) monitor the effects of differential salinity levels on plant growth, survival and stomatal conductance in a shadehouse. Needless to say, we are excited!

After years of dreaming, planning and working through logistics, we finally burned both our George N. Avery and John Kunkel Small Pinelands last week. Neither were burned for at least 15 years prior to this and were being overgrown by hardwoods. Healthy fire regimes follow nature's cycle of a burn every three to seven years to maintain optimal conditions for a variety of pineland specialist plants and animals. These burns were particularly important because both were relatively small parcels and the Avery Pineland is surrounded by residential homes. Many of the remaining pinelands in Miami-Dade County are in a similar situation so having successful burns may set a precedence to do the same on many other properties that are in dire need of a burn. These burns were conducted under the direction of IRC Senior Biologist Mike Barry and his partners from "Land Restoration and Management Services", Steve Thurlow and Nate Lehmkuhl.We would also like to thank the following volunteers, donors and logistical supporters who made these burns possible: Dennis Giardina (FWC), Tony Pernas (NPS), Don Stringer (MDC Fire), Gary Lewis (DOF), John Whelan, Patty Phares, Terry & Barbara Glancy, John Greenleaf III, Pat Kelly, Alan Cressler, Manuel Beers, Katha Sheehan, James Fobb, participants in IRC's last two restoration BBQs, the Ross Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Famed grass expert, Keith Bradley, will be teaching at least one South Florida Grass Identification Workshop this fall. The workshop covers grass terminology; general differences between grasses (Poaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae) and rushes (Juncaceae); grass identification resources; and an overview of grass species in South Florida. By the end of the workshop, participants will be familiar with diagnostic characters, how to use diagnostic keys and will be prepared to recognize species in the field. Traditionally this course has been offered as a one-day classroom experience, but if there is enough interest, it will be expanded to a more extensive course that includes field components. The one day workshop is being offered at $175 and the two-day class would cost $350. If you would be interested in taking one of these courses from Keith in September or October, please contact him at (305) 247-6547 or at bradley@regionalconservation.org so he can plan accordingly.

In response to popular demand, we created a webpage dedicated to our native plant nursery. Not only can you access our most current plant inventory list there, but you can also read about the purpose of our nursery and find out how you can help. Please take the time to visit our newest webpage and let us know what you think. Better yet, maybe it's time to buy a new plant for your yard! The Florida ironweed are flowering beautifully at the moment...

Earth Day came with an extra boost for IRC this year! Power Financial Credit Union CEO Allan Prindle and associates visited the IRC headquarters today and awarded us Grand Prize in their Small Business Makeover Contest. The prize included a $1,000 gift card to Staples and free, private consulting in financial planning, marketing and public relations. This is a great opportunity for us to improve our infrastructure in order to connect our conservation efforts with new communities and to ensure our security through this economic slump. For more information, please check out their press release. We would like to thank Power Financial Credit Union for giving us this great opportunity!

We'll be at Ft Lauderdale's 2009 Green Expo this weekend so come visit our booth and buy some hard-to-find native plants! The event is being held on Saturday, April 25 at Stranahan Park in downtown Ft. Lauderdale and runs from 9am to 3pm. The focus this year is water conservation and energy efficiency... We definitely have the right plants for that! For more information, please visit the Green Ft. Lauderdale webpage.

Many thanks to everyone who joined our restoration picnic this year! We spent the morning clearing Burmareed, hardwoods and debris along the edge of our firebreak at IRC's George N. Avery Pineland before stopping for lunch back at the IRC headquarters. We really appreciate your company and efforts. The difference is impressive and we are well on our way to having it ready for a burn later this year. An extra special thanks to John Whelan who advanced our efforts considerably by using his tractor to clear the firebreak before we even started.

It's time for IRC's annual restoration celebration! Put on your work gloves and join us at 8:30am on April 18 at IRC's George N. Avery Pineland for our 3rd Annual Restoration Barbeque. We'll spend the morning maintaining globally imperiled pine rockland habitat, then, at 11:30am, will enjoy a picnic on the property to appreciate the fruits of our labor. IRC will provide drinks, sandwiches, some fruits and veggies, but please feel free to bring a salad or dessert to share. The George N. Avery Pineland is located on S.W. 125th Avenue, just north of S.W. 240th Street. There's plenty of work for all ages and fitness levels, and we'll even take you late if you can't quite get up on time for the 8:30am start. We're looking forward to a fun and productive time with you! Click here for more information and a map.

Limited time and funds make it challenging to keep our website current, but we think it's important and have recently invested some time in the cause. Check out our newly added Pine Rockland Initiative page with information for private pine rockland landowners. Keep your eyes open for additional improvements in the near future!
If you'd like to support this work, please contact Patty at (305) 247-6547 or castillo@regionalconservation.org to make a donation.

A dedicated webpage for our native plant nursery is next on our list of planned web updates (see above), but until then... we thought you might like to see what we've got available at the moment! Here's our current plant list. Our nursery is open to the public Monday through Friday during normal business hours, but please call ahead (305-247-6547) to ensure staff assistance.
In addition to plants, we just discovered 10 last copies of IRC's 2002 book, "Rare Plants of South Florida: Their History, Conservation and Restoration", that we're offering for sale. This book is part of IRC's "Restoring South Florida's Native Plant Heritage" program and excerpts are available online for viewing. Please contact Patty (305-247-6547 or castillo@regionalconservation.org) for more information or to make a purchase.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just released a document entitled “Coefficients of conservatism values and the Floristic Quality Index for the vascular plants of south Florida.” IRC Senior Biologist Michael Barry and IRC Executive Director George Gann are both co-authors on the document and helped to develop this important conservation tool. The premise of the coefficient of conservatism is that plants have varying degrees of fidelity to specific habitats and quality of that habitat. All plants native to an area can be assigned a number on a scale from one to ten by local experts that reflects their tolerance to habitat disturbance. Once assigned, these values can be combined to create an objective and repeatable method for comparing the floristic conditions of geographically separated habitats, though comparisons cannot be made between differing habitat types. At this juncture of rapid habitat loss and deterioration, this tool may prove crucial for making informed management decisions.

IRC director George Gann started 2009 off strong with a presentation at the Great Lakes Urban Habitat Restoration Symposium in Chicago, IL last month. In his role as chair of the SER International board of directors, George presented a global overview of ecological restoration and the role SER International plays in its facilitation. The conference itself was focused on protecting and improving riverine and nearshore habitats within the urban zones of the Great Lakes area. As part of his talk, George discussed projects specific to the area, but also emphasized the magnitude of projects around the world, the resources available to learn from, and the importance of collaboration. He specifically mentioned some of the special concerns associated with projects in urban areas and used examples from IRC's projects within South Florida, demonstrating the utility of global interchange on restoration techniques.

The Nature Conservancy's Florida Keys office recently transferred their GreenSweep project to IRC for continuation. Initiated in 2001, the program is designed to eradicate invasive exotic plants from public conservation lands and priority private lands in the Florida Keys. Primarily funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Florida, the project expands the geographic scope of our restoration work from Miami-Dade County, where we have conducted a similar project for the last 4 years, to Monroe County.

George continues to take local conservation tactics, the very concepts that built IRC, to the global community through his work with SER. He attended a meeting in Montreal, Canada with the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat at the end of September and just returned from the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain. At this juncture of global environmental concern, it is increasingly important to create and maintain widespread dialogue about the state of our planet and how to ensure positive futures. SER recently released a policy position statement on the role of ecological restoration in reversing ecosystem fragmentation. While George is formally representing SER as Chair of the Board, this is very much a conversation about IRC and our grassroots efforts to return nature to Miami's metropolitan areas through our Natives for Your Neighborhood and Restoring the Link programs. We're very excited to be part of this global movement and are sure that our model will prove effective in other parts of the world as well!

Artist Ana Bikic's painting Red Flag proved such a hit, that she's now offering it for sale as a print with 40% of the proceeds coming to IRC! Ana specially created this work for the 5th Annual Friends of IRC Fundraising Party and it served us well as the front of our invitation and as the highest bidding item in our auction. You can now decorate your walls at home with Red Flag by buying it online and again, it will support IRC. Ana (pictured at the IRC event below with Red Flag), thanks for your generosity!

Many thanks to everyone who helped make our 5th Annual Friends of IRC Fundraising Party a great success despite a rather wet ending. We would especially like to thank Tropical Audubon Society for inviting us back to Doc Thomas House; Elane Neuhring of the Miami Blue Butterfly Chapter for facilitating the first ever butterfly count at Doc Thomas House; Citizens for a Better South Florida for providing learning fun for the kids; and Valerie Wisecracker for providing music and entertainment for all. We're pleased to report that despite the economic uncertainties of the moment, we raised over $4,000 amidst the fun! Many thanks to each and every one of you that contributed to this total. For those of you that missed the party, you can still make a donation by contacting Patty at castillo@regionalconservation.org or (305) 247-6547. For those of you that were there, we truly hope that you had as much fun as we did!

The Institute for Regional Conservation & Tropical Audubon Society invite you to gather with past, present and future Friends of IRC members for a day of festivities! Join us as we celebrate landscaping for wildlife through butterfly explorations with Elane Neuhring of the Miami Blue Butterfly Chapter, kid's activities by Citizens for a Better South Florida, live music by Valerie Wisecracker, food and great company. We'll provide the barbeque, but please bring a dessert or salad to share and don't forget your cash for the bar, silent auction and raffle tickets (we also accept checks, but no credit cards please).
When: Saturday, October 25, 2008 from 11am to 3pm
Where: Doc Thomas House, 5530 Sunset Drive, South Miami
Who: YOU and all your friends and family...

Your support is vital to our continued progress in restoring the link between people and nature!
We hope to see you there.

Please contact Patty (castillo@regionalconservation.org; (305) 247-6547) for more information or to make a donation.

Founder of the Ecosymbolism Art movement, artist Ana Bikic has dedicated her work to inspiring environmental conservation. She views art as a catalyst for joining science, nature and the public in a dialogue toward creative solutions to our environmental challenges. In support of our attempts to link people and nature, Ana has designed Red Flag, the painting featured on this year's invitation, for our auction. The red flags allude to the coontie's troubled past in times of overharvesting and the ensuing plight of both this species and the dependent Atala butterfly �" tagged for quick sale or alarm? As these species walk the tightrope to recovery, we're forced to think about other pineland residents and beyond.

IRC has been working in the Big Pine Key area of the Florida Keys recently, doing rare plant monitoring for the National Key Deer Refuge. As part of these surveys, Biologist Steven Green has made a couple of interesting discoveries. He found Garber's sandmat (Chamaesyce garberi), a Federally-listed Threatened and State-listed Endangered species, in pine rockland habitat. This may not sound that exciting to those of you that have seen the species in Miami-Dade County, but in the Keys the species hasn't been observed in this habitat type for 100 years or so! Steve also discovered myrtle-of-the-river (Calyptranthes zuzygium) on No Name Key. Up to now this State-listed Endangered species only extended as far as Key Largo from Miami-Dade County, but had not been recorded in the Lower Keys.

Once again, IRC Executive Director George Gann just returned from abroad in the name of restoration. He most recently served on an internal review panel at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, U.K. The panel assessed the ways in which botanical gardens in general, and the Royal Botanic Gardens in particular, can better contribute to the science supporting ecological restoration around the world.

IRC Assistant Director Keith Bradley recently received a “Leader in Recovery” award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Every year the USFWS recognizes selected employees and partners that have made exceptional contributions toward the recovery of threatened and endangered species. Keith has worked closely with the USFWS for many years to protect and restore populations of rare and endangered plants, particularly pine rockland species. They clearly appreciate his efforts and we're proud of the recognition. Way to go Keith!

IRC Executive Director George Gann recently traveled to Bonn, Germany to participate in the 9th Convention on Biological Diversity. Representing the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER), George was there to tout an integrated, ecosystem level approach to protecting biodiversity and the health of our planet. This approach to conservation was one of George's inspirations for founding IRC. To learn more about this concept, read SER's briefing note, “Opportunities for Integrating Ecological Restoration & Biological Diversity within the Ecosystem Approach”.

IRC Executive Director George Gann recently returned from a trip to Seoul, South Korea where he was invited to be a judge on a panel to determine the design of Gangbuk Park. The site of an abandoned amusement park, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to convert the 100 hectare area into an environmental oasis where people and nature can connect. George was the point person for environmental assessments and was instrumental in the selection of a design that will not only provide space for people to enjoy recreational activities, including sports and the arts, but will also reconnect fragmented natural areas and integrate wildlife habitat throughout the park. While in Seoul, George also met with Kwi-Gon Kim, a professor at the Seoul National University who also directs the Korea Eco-City Network. In his role as chair of the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER), George is working with Professor Kim to establish SER's first international ecological restoration resource center.

IRC Biologists Keith Bradley and Michael Barry found a population of Bahamas cat's claw (Pithecellobium bahamense) in a pine rockland on Big Pine Key last fall. The population had also been observed the previous year by local naturalist and photographer Paula Cannon. While this population is the first discovered in Florida, it is considered native to the area because of its close proximity to natural populations in the Caribbean and the fact that it is not currently being cultivated in Florida.

We join forces with Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) to bring you Wind Across The Everglades. This classic 1958 movie, never released in the U.S. on DVD or video, stars Burl Ives, Chris Plummer and Gypsy Rose Lee. Get a glimpse of Miami in its pioneer days as you're transported to a conservation battlefield where the Audubon Society takes on the Cottonmouth Gang to protect wading birds from plume hunters. The battle gets nasty as elements of the Everglades become weapons... beware death by manchineel!

When: Thursday, May 8. Doors open at 7pm.
Where: Doc Thomas House (5530 Sunset Drive)
Tickets: $20 at the door - Proceeds from this fundraiser will be split between IRC and TAS to support underfunded conservation projects.

Many thanks to everyone who helped make Native Plant Day a big success for IRC! We sold 2/3 of our plants and met many new people. We got great feedback from everyone who stopped to chat and really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with old and new friends. Thanks again! We hope to see you at our next event.

It's time for the Dade Chapter of Florida Native Plant Society's Native Plant Day! Join us Saturday, March 15 from 9am to 4pm at the Enchanted Forest Elaine Gordon Park (1725 N.E. 135th St.) for a day of fun and learning. IRC will be hosting a plant sales and information booth where you can learn about and buy lesser known native plants. Be sure to visit us as you make your way around all the different activities! For more information on the event, as well as a schedule of talks, visit the official event webpage.

The day started with dismal piles of trash along one edge of our George N. Avery Pineland, including everything from fresh, dirty diapers to 5-gallon containers filled with motor oil. Fortunately, our Friends are a tough crew and, after seven truckloads taken to the dump and a site visitation by a DERM inspector, the day ended with laughter, good food and a cleared fenceline. Illegal dumping is just one of the ongoing threats to natural areas in South Florida. Many thanks to everyone who donated their Sunday morning to helping us combat this problem!

We recently received an unsolicited grant from the Pacific Foundation for general operating costs based on a recommendation by one of our Friends of IRC Members. The Pacific Foundation supports "new and innovative technology, ideas and global communication" relevant to social justice, the environment and the arts. IRC strives toward a holisitic approach to ecological conservation that depends upon participation of local residents, particularly in urban areas. It is often difficult to find funding for the less familiar, but still essential, components of our approach. Grants such as this one are crucial to our success. Many thanks to the Pacific Foundation for enabling our work and to the Friends of IRC member that recommended us for this funding! If anyone else has connections with foundations or corporations with giving programs, please keep us in mind. Our vision is big, but our resources are limited.

Join us on Sunday, February 24 for a morning of fun and fulfillment at this year's Restoration Barbeque. Contribute to the planet by helping us restore critically imperiled pine rockland habitat at the IRC George N. Avery Pineland. There is limited parking at the pineland so please meet at the IRC office (22601 S.W. 152 Ave.) between 8:30-9:00am to carpool. If you arrive after 9:00am, please head directly to IRC's pineland on S.W. 125th Avenue, just north of SW 240th Street. We'll work from 9-noon, then, after admiring our work, we'll head back to the IRC office for festivities. We'll be serving one of Keith's now famous meat dishes (don't worry, there will be vegetarian options as well) so please bring a side, salad or dessert to share. We hope you will all be able to join us! There will be plenty of work for every age and fitness level and more than anything, it is a chance to hang out. For more information, call Patty at 305-247-6547.

Have you ever found that perfect plant on our Natives for Your Neighborhood website, but not been able to find it on the market? Frustrating, isn't it? IRC has been working to solve that problem by creating a nursery focused on hard to find native species. We have limited inventory at the moment, but we have stock available for sale. Check out our current native plant price list. Help save South Florida's unique plant diversity by bringing the wilderness to your backyard and support IRC's conservation efforts at the same time! Please contact Patty at 305-247-6547 for more information or to make a purchase.

Ever wanted to arrange your visits to state parks in the Florida Keys around the plants you love most? Now you can! IRC's newest database, the State Parks of the Florida Keys Database, is designed to do just that. This is IRC's second internal replicate of the conservation methodology first developed with the Florisitic Inventory of South Florida (FISF). We are currently working on other replicates in Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. For more information on our methodology, please see the Executive Summary and Chapter 1 of IRC's Book Rare Plants of South Florida: Their History, Conservation, and Restoration (Gann, Bradley & Woodmansee, 2002).

IRC and the Broward County Water Resources Division have been working together to promote native plant landscaping through the Naturescape program. The Sun-Sentinel just created a new venue for the program through their newly announced Native Plant of the Week article. This will be a biweekly article in the New Homes section by author Debby LaFogg-Dochtery. The article announcement, " Go 'native' with our exciting new column", ran on November 24, 2007.

IRC's work gained mention in the fall issues of the Florida Parks and South Florida Caribbean (SFC) CESU newsletters. The Florida Parks newsletter, Park Scene, highlighted Biologist Kirsten Hines' new finding of an endangered rimrock crowned snake (Tantilla oolitica) at the Barnacle Historic Site (see page 15) and Director George Gann's involvement in identifying a population of Mahogany mistletoe (Phoradendron rubrum) in north Key Largo, a site where it was thought to be extirpated (see page 16). IRC was introduced as a new partner in the SFC CESU newsletter, South Florida Caribbean CESU News and Updates, and a brief summary was given of various IRC vegetation mapping projects pertaining to this partnership (see page 2).

You can now do a detailed search for plants in the Florida Keys! Get a general plant list, or search by Conservation Area or Habitat on the Florisitic Inventory of the Florida Keys (FIFK) Database. Data collection began for this project as part of the Florisitic Inventory of South Florida (FISF) in 1995 and assessment began in 2006. This is IRC's first internal replicate of the conservation methodology first developed with the FISF. We are currently working on other replicates in Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. For more information on our methodology, please see the Executive Summary and Chapter 1 of IRC's Book Rare Plants of South Florida: Their History, Conservation, and Restoration (Gann, Bradley & Woodmansee, 2002).

Many thanks to everyone who helped make this event our most successful yet! We're pleased to announce that we more than doubled both the number of attendees and the amount of money raised from last year's event. Over 100 people, including founding FOIRC members and many new faces, shared in the fun throughout the day; we also hit the $5,000 mark! We could not have done this without your help. We would especially like to thank Tropical Audubon Society for co-hosting this event, Suzanne Koptur for an enlightening talk, and Citizens for a Better South Florida for keeping the children happy and learning. This was a collaborative effort, and IRC Director George Gann summarized it best in his closing remarks when he reminded us that we are essential to solving today's environmental challenges and that we can achieve this by working together.

When: Saturday, October 13 from 11am-3pm
Where: Doc Thomas House, 5530 Sunset Drive
It's time for another reunion of past, present and future Friends of IRC members! Tropical Audubon Society is opening their doors for this year's event so that you can get a first-hand look at IRC's pine rockland restoration. In addition to a walk featuring this work, Suzanne Koptur is giving a talk on pinelands and their pollinators. Other highlights include kids' activities hosted by Citizens for a Better South Florida, barbeque, beer by Peroni, music, plant raffle & sales, a silent auction and great company.
We hope you can join us!
Nonmembers are welcome with a donation. Please RSVP to Patty at castillo@regionalconservation.org (email preferred) or 305-247-6547.

A global climate change statement was released by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) at their recent joint "Ecological Restoration in a Changing World" meeting with Ecological Society of America (ESA). According to IRC Executive Director George Gann, now acting chair of SER, “Unless checked, global climate change will destroy people, places, and life as we know it. Ecological restoration offers hope in two key areas: by reconnecting fragmented ecosystems allowing animals and plants to migrate in response to such change; and, by capturing carbon through the restoration of forests, peat-forming wetlands, and other ecosystems that act as carbon sinks.” For more details, go to SER's Global Restoration Network Website.

IRC just received great news! We are now official members of the South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU). CESU's are a national network of cooperating agencies and organizations which work together to provide research, technical assistance, and education to land managers. The South Florida and Caribbean CESU consists of several large government agencies including the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and most regional universities. IRC is only the second not-for-profit organization accepted into the local CESU.

IRC Executive Director George Gann recently received a Board Appreciation Award from the Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) for over 20 years of restoration work on their Doc Thomas House property. His dedication to restoration is also being recognized by the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER) as they have nominated him to be Chair of their board for a second time starting in August 2007.

Two IRC wall posters featuring trees & shrubs and wildflowers are now available for $10 each, including tax and shipping. Please send a check to: Attention Patty, IRC, 22601 SW 152 Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33170 (USA only or contact us for special handling). Below are preview images of the posters designed by our 2006 intern Anja Skroblin with photos by Keith Bradley, Steve Woodmansee, and George Gann.