Franklin Lock Flower Planting Day June 24

ALVA, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District invites the public to participate in a day of service at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam South Recreation Area near Alva during National Pollinator Week, on Saturday, June 24, from 7:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. The Corps is looking for 100 or more volunteers of all ages, for any amount of time, to plant nearly 9,000 Florida native pollinator wildflowers and grasses.

“We’d like to extend a warm welcome to volunteers of all ages to help us plant Florida native wildflowers and pollinator grasses at the W.P. Franklin South Recreation Area as part of our Engineering with Nature Program, which is in its second year at this location. It’s an important effort to reforest roughly 8.5 - acres of open land to create a natural habitat.” said Greg Jones, Chief of the South Florida Operations Office in Clewiston, Florida. 

“We had a great turn out during our first planting day in September and are looking forward to another great turnout for this second and final phase of this reforestation project! The canopy trees that our volunteers planted last year have been established, and now we are working on filling in the understory with native pollinator plants,” said Parsons. “Everyone who comes out will be delighted to see butterflies and other pollinators already using some of the wildflowers that our volunteers have already planted. We will need a lot of volunteers to get nearly 9,000 plants into the ground in one day, so we hope you will join us. We will be planting native wildflowers such as Tropical Sage, Black-eyed Susan, Coreopsis, Eastern Purple Coneflower, Butterfly Milkweed, Blanket Flower, Sunshine Mimosa, and grasses like Wiregrass, Muhly Grass, and Sand Cordgrass, and many more.”

The event will be held at during National Pollinators Week, on Saturday, June 24, from 7:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. at the W.P. Franklin South Recreation Area, at 1661 S. Franklin Lock Road, Alva, Florida 33920.

Please RSVP to Natural Resources Specialist Megan Meyer Parsons at 863-840-8598, or Megan.L.Meyer@usace.army.mil.

From LaBelle, travel west on Highway 80, 5.5 miles past the intersection with Highway 884. Turn right onto Old Olga Road, travel 0.3 miles to the W.P. Franklin Lock Recreation Area entrance road, turn right and follow to recreation area at 1661 S. Franklin Lock Road, Alva, Florida 33920.

“Last year on, on September 24, National Public Lands Day, 90 volunteers came out and planted nearly 3,000 native trees in the first phase of an effort to reforest a large open grassy field at the W.P. Franklin Recreation Area as part of our Engineering with Nature Project,” said Robert Hill, Natural Resources Specialist.