Making Gadsden County Beautiful One Landscape Collaboration Effort At A Time
Horticulture & Turfgrass
Robbie Jones
County Extension Director
UF/IFAS Extension
Quincy
Abstract
Situation: Since Hurricane Michael, Gadsden County has struggled with repairs to local government buildings. The County has been making efforts to get building remodeled or rehabilitated to a point they can be used again. Many of these repairs are done through FEMA funds. Little to no money is left over to address landscaping needs for the buildings.
Objectives: To address the need to improve landscaping, the Gadsden County Administrator and Gadsden County Facilities Director solicited help from the Gadsden County Master Gardeners. The county asked the master gardeners to assist in landscape planning and planting of the landscape plants. The first building the master gardeners were asked to assist with was the Massey Building in Chattahoochee, FL. Master Gardeners made plans for the landscaping, and assisted with the implementation of the landscaping at the Massey building.
Methods: Four of the Gadsden County Master Gardeners work through site visits and the local Extension office to create a landscape plan. From the success of the first project at the Massey building, more remodel sites are being discussed for the master gardener involvement.
Conclusion: The Massey building was complete in 2022, and in the spring of 2022 landscape plants were planted at the building. The work on the master gardeners part saved the county lots of money by not having to pay someone to create the plans and execute the planting. The work the master gardeners did afforded them more interest from the county to implement this at other county building, as they are remodeled.
Value of Session for NACAA AM/PIC Attendees: Working with counties to provide services that help imrpove the community are a essential part of Extension. This session will help members understand the value of this work in their communties they serve. This project also built policial calpitol with community leaders that has correlated in direct support increase in county budget and community engagement in the local Extension program. This program aslo helped educate county employees on best practices for landscape care, which results in lower costs for the county, by way of not having to hire contractors. The hope of this session is for participants to see how they can collaborate with their communtiies for projects that can help them not only reach their objective as aducators but also build community and polical support to strengthen their local Extension programs.
Authors: Donna Arnold, Robbie Jones
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Donna Arnold County Extension Agent, FAMU Extension, Florida, 32351
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Robbie Jones County Extension Director, UF/IFAS Extension, Florida, 32351