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Fleming/Jost Report on Cost estimates and funding sources
The last time I attended a LMA board meeting it was to join with Jack Jost in requesting funding to remove noxious vegetation in the Eagles Nest area and replace it with Live Oak trees and Florida Pines. Jack and I were really pleased that the board agree to transfer $1,500 from the Eagles Nest Area grass cutting budget for that purpose.
Tonight, we have better information concerning what it would cost to environmentally upgrade the Eagles Nest Area. Merle Raber has quoted about $9,000 to remove most of the exotic vegetation and about $5,100 to plant a mixture of 27 ten-foot tall Live Oaks, Southern Pines and Italien Cypress. So the total cost of getting a really good start on upgrading the area would be $15,000 … and that includes first year watering of the new trees.
Happily, we can get the job done for only $7,500 by tapping into Sarasota County’s Community Improvement Grant Program. This is a program that matches community investments in certain areas … especially investments in replacing exotic plants with native species. The $1,500 we already have available to us will grow to $3,000 under the matching grants program. So for an additional investment of $6,000 by LMA we can obtain the full $15,000 we need to complete the work.
Ralph Ricapito and I attended a three hour Community Grant Workshop in October. We came away from the workshop convinced that what we want to do in the Eagles Nest Area will qualify for a grant of up to $12,000. For example, we learned that getting rid of Pepper Trees and other exotics is close to the top of the list of County Environmental Priorities. Just last year 21 grant requests similar to ours were approved (show documentation).
I talked to the program coordinator after the workshop. She told me that environmental projects like ours are so vitally important to the County that the fact the general public would have no access to the Eagles Nest Area will definitely not preclude a grant.
So, to get to the bottom line, we are here tonight to request that $6,000 be allocated from LMA’s Budgetary Reserves to fund removal of exotics from the Eagles Nest Area and to immediately replace them with native Florida trees. If this request is approved, we are confident that the county will match LMA’s $6,000, as well as the $1,500 already transferred from the grass cutting budget.
An opportunity like this seems almost too good to be true. But it IS true, and it is our hope that you enable us to take advantage of the opportunity.