Volunteers with the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) donated 3,306 labor hours in 2013 to help preserve Palm Beach County’s environment.
More than 1,000 volunteers worked on 85 habitat restoration projects in county-owned natural areas and restoration areas. They removed 41,931 pounds of trash and invasive exotic vegetation from wooded areas, scrublands, and along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Worth Lagoon. The trash varied from beer bottles and soda cans to a small metal replica of the Liberty Bell and a bathroom sink.
Volunteers also planted 4,440 native trees, shrubs and grasses at restoration projects and collected 1,400 red mangrove seeds for 2014 wetland restoration projects, cleared 1,000 feet of hiking trail at Cypress Creek Natural Area, and built six mini kiosks to house information posters about habitat restoration projects.
ERM’s volunteer program is a valuable tool that offers land managers a large supply of energetic workers who help protect the county’s natural treasures. For more info., visit www.pbcgov.com/erm.
