Microforest Planned At Sarasota's Nathan Benderson Park

SARASOTA, FL — Twenty student volunteers from the Suncoast Science Center’s Student Community Innovation Program are partnering with a trio of civic and environmental organizations to design, implement and promote a microforest to be planted at Nathan Benderson Park, according to a news release from Suncoast.

The three organizations coming together as Sarasota Urban ReForesters (SURF) are Florida Veterans for Common Sense Fund, Rotary Club of Sarasota Bay and Solutions to Avoid Red Tide. The park’s nonprofit operator, Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, is also a partner on the project.

Microforests are low maintenance, small-scale forests that transfer carbon from the atmosphere into the soil and filter water pollutants, Suncoast said. As a result, microforests have the potential to combat climate change and foster a habitat that is great for wildlife and welcoming for humans.

Like what you're reading? Invite a friend to subscribe to free Sarasota newsletters and real-time email alerts.

Once the microforest is planted, volunteers will post updates on its progress and provide an educational tool to encourage environmentally conscious practices.

“The microforest project at Nathan Benderson Park is especially exciting because it harnesses the expertise and leadership of several of Sarasota's important non-profits and combines it with the creative energies of college and high school interns in a program offered by the Suncoast Science Center,” Charles Reith, a member of SURF serving as a mentor for the Suncoast student volunteers, said.

The project, which continues through the summer of 2021, will involve volunteers at Nathan Benderson Park. The first volunteer event will take place Saturday. Volunteers can register for the event here.

The idea for the microforest originated from the Florida Veterans for Common Sense Fund, Suncoast said. Since then, SURF created its first microforest at Celery Fields. The Nathan Benderson Park microforest will be the partnership’s second.