Nominee: Trish Gramajo – FNPS Green Palmetto Service Award
Nominated by the Ixia Chapter
The Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society is pleased to nominate Trish Gramajo-St.John for the 2010 Green Palmetto Award for her service and education efforts in the three county regions served by the Ixia Chapter.
Trish has been an active FNPS and Ixia Chapter member since 2005. As the Ixia Board’s Conservation Chair, she helps build support for Florida’s land buying program, Florida Forever, by encouraging advocacy by Ixia members and other large grassroots groups and working with the FNPS Executive Director to secure legislative support from Florida Representatives and Senators for continued funding of the program.
Also as Conservation Chair, she led the efforts to secure a FNPS Conservation Grant which enable the Chapter to create and publish an AlterNatives poster featuring 15 Florida exotic Plant Council Class I and II invasive species recommended for removal and more than 35 Florida friendly natives recommended to use in their place. The $1000 grant was augmented by a donation of $1500 of graphic design services, enabling the Chapter to print 2,000 copies of the poster. The poster has been widely distributed to gardeners, nursery and garden centers and is available through the FNPS website.
Trish founded the First Coast Invasive Working Group in 2006 and chaired it since 2006. The Group was established to work across federal, state, local and private lands for invasive species prevention and management efforts. The Group represents partnerships with over 40 formal partners, including all the large public land managers, extension programs, universities, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Florida Native Plant Society, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Student Conservation Association, many private landowners and others.
The Group has developed a 5-Year Strategic Plan which includes the goal of establishing the Green Thumb Nursery Plan by 2011 and has submitted a proposal for funding. The Plan would certify nurseries in five Northeast Florida counties that adhere to practices that prevent the introduction and spread of invasive plants and help raise awareness of the environmental and financial advantages of using native plants.
In 2006, Trish launched the first local National Invasive Species Awareness Week and the inaugural Great Air Potato Roundup. The Great Air Potato Roundup in Northeast Florida has been followed by three succeeding events to date. An estimated 10 tons of tubers have been removed from the region’s natural areas with almost 1,000 volunteers participating over the three year period.
Trish is also a Board member of the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens, whose mission is to educate Northeast Florida and its regional communities about native and cultivated plants, improve its beauty and atmosphere, engage in and promote the conservation and preservation of our natural resources, and provide public service.
Trish has nine years of conservation experience with The Nature Conservancy and is responsible for implementing The Conservancy’s freshwater and land management projects in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia and has assisted with statewide and local conservation campaigns to fund land management and willing seller acquisition programs in Florida. Trish’s academic credentials include a political science and public administration degree from the University of North Florida.
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The attached file has descriptions of ALL Green Palmetto award nominees.
