Volunteers needed to restore habitat at Salinas Park
The Salinas Park Reforestation and Habitat Restoration effort, readying to plant native trees and shrubs at Salinas Park this month, needs volunteers to help.
The planting effort is slated for Thursday, Oct. 17 from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET.
Before Hurricane Michael devastated it, the east end of Salinas Park was a wonderful habitat for birds and small critters. Trees and foliage helped with water retention which strengthened the coastal resilience of the area until Michael destroyed it.
The Coastal Community Association of Gulf County is excited about working in partnership with the St. Joe Garden Club with a project to bring these native trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcover back to Salinas Park. This will restore habitat for birds and wildlife, which makes this area unique, and help with water retention and lessen erosion.
This planting is the result of the garden club obtaining a grant from the National Garden Club and working with Sand Hills Native Nursery, which has designed a landscape plan with over 750 plants ordered for planting. The Coastal Community Association has gotten the area cleared and ready to plant with volunteers.
On Thursday morning, Oct. 17, the nursery will deliver the plants and set them where they need to be planted. At 12:30 p.m., The effort needs planters – whoever can handle a shovel or trowel – to meet at Salinas Park and help to plant.
Volunteers need to bring shovels, trowels, closed-toe shoes and gloves. Drinking water and snacks will be provided. Please come help us restore the beauty and natural habitat of Salinas for future generations to enjoy.
Call or text Robyn Rennick, 850 527-4671, for more information.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.