In the Madera Neighborhood in Gainesville Florida, there are several neighborhood natural areas that are maintained by the homeowner association. These forested areas provide habitat for a variety of wildlife. Also, west of the neighborhood is an agriculture field that typically has sandhill cranes in the winter. The Madera homeowner association and residents collaborated with University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and IFAS Extension to install two educational signs that have 6 educational panels that discuss sandhill cranes, gopher tortoises, invasive exotics, landscaping with native plants, pollinators, bird habitat and water quality. These panels are rotated throughout the year by several Madera residents. Please contact Gary Kaufman for more information (gdkudu@icloud.com).

iNaturalist: Residents in the Madera neighborhood and nearby areas are monitoring plants and animals in the area with the iNaturalist program and their iNaturalist project can be found here. If interested in participating in the iNaturalist project, contact Dr. Mark Hostetler (hostetm@ufl.edu).

Restoration Activities: Several residents within the community are landscaping with native plants and utilizing water saving techniques to reduce irrigation. Also, the forested areas are in need of removing invasives, particularly the invasive plant Coral Ardisia. The Madera community has formed a coral ardisia group and are actively removing coral ardisia each month in the conservation areas. If interested in learning more, contact Dr. Mark Hostetler (hostetm@ufl.edu).