Near The Village at Gainesville retirement community in Gainesville Florida, there are several neighborhood natural areas that are maintained by The Village at Gainesville and have conservation easements with the Environmental Protection Department of Alachua County. These areas are forested and one has a walking trail for the residents. The Village managers and residents in the area collaborated with University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Environmental Protection Department of Alachua County and IFAS Extension to install two educational signs that have 5 educational panels that discuss wildlife around a pond, invasive exotics, landscaping with native plants, pollinators, and bird habitat. These panels are rotated throughout the year by managers at The Village at Gainesville.

iNaturalist: Residents in The Village at Gainesville 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: After learning about the invasive plant Coral Ardisia, residents self-organized into a dedicated group to remove the invasive plant from the natural area that has a walking trail. More than 10 large trash bags of Coral Ardisia were removed in December of 2020! If you are interested in joining this effort – please contact The Village at Gainesville resident Susan Nassif (sl.nassif@gmail.com ) or manager Josh Fuller (jfuller@nfrv.org) and Dr. Mark Hostetler (hostetm@ufl.edu).