Invasive Plants and Animals At Audubon Oct 17

LABELLE, FL. -- The presentation “Combating Invasive Plants and Animals in Southwest Florida: an Introduction to Our Regional Efforts and Reporting Options” by Florida Forest Service Biologist, Dexter Sowell will be Monday October  17 at 7pm. This free program hosted by Hendry-Glades Audubon will be held at the Hendry County Extension Dallas Townsend Building at 1085 Pratt Blvd. In LaBelle. 

Dexter Sowell is a native of Florida, growing up in the Bay County/Panama City area in the panhandle of Florida.  He has a BS in Biology from Florida State University, a MS in Biology from Georgia Southern University, and a PhD in Biology from the University of Virginia, where an invasive plant species was the focus of his doctoral work.  Since finishing graduate school in 2010, he has been a biologist with the Florida Forest Service in southwest Florida.  

With the FFS, he documents rare plant and animal occurrences in the two local state forests, and provides broad oversight in to the management of invasive plants.  As an active member in the Southwest Florida Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (SWFL CISMA), he verifies new reports of invasive plant species occurrences in southwest Florida, and participates in numerous public outreach events to educate and inform the public of the harm that invasive plant and animal species can yield on our already stressed native species and ecosystems.