The St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension Office's Natural Resources Program is the recipient of multiple awards of excellence for local conservation efforts.

Florida State Horticulture Award

On Sunday, June 1, Natural Resources Extension Agent Ken Gioeli will be presented with the Florida State Horticulture Society's Best Paper Award. This award will be presented at the FSHS Annual Awards Ceremony in Fort Lauderdale. Gioeli served as lead author of the FSHS Journal Article titled "Saint Lucie County Pond Appeal Series: What's Buggin' Your Pond?" Contributing authors include St. Lucie County Extension Agents Leroy Creswell, JP Gellermann and Ed Skvarch. This paper details an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan developed by the Extension office to manage pestiferous aquatic midges. These mosquito-like insects do not bite, suck blood, or carry diseases; however, they emerge from ponds in large numbers, primarily in the warm summer months. This IPM features multiple strategies to manage these emergences.

University of Florida / IFAS Image Awards

The University of Florida / IFAS bestowed two Image Awards to the St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension Office. The Image Awards Program encourages and recognizes excellence in the events, products, services, and projects developed by UF/IFAS faculty and staff. Ninety six award entries were reviewed from throughout Florida. The TAME Invasives Portal received a Silver Image Award for website design and the Rain Barrel Workshops received a Silver Image Award for educational campaigns. Both programs were developed through the county's Natural Resources Extension Program.

The TAME Invasives Portal was developed to provide public access to educational coursework, multimedia products and Extension and Research products to help the public manage four high-priority invasive pest plants: Melaleuca, Brazilian Pepper-tree, Old World Climbing Fern, and Tropical Soda Apple. The portal was developed at http://pesticide.ifas.ufl.edu. St. Lucie County Natural Resources Extension Agent Ken Gioeli received grant funding for product development and served as project coordinator. Project contributors include: Extension Specialists Ken Langeland, Bill Overholt, Julio Medal, Paul Pratt and Jim Cuda as well as Extension Agent Fred Burkey and Website Development Specialist Jennifer Hugus.

The purpose of the Rain Barrel Alternative Water Supply Campaign was to help the public harvest and store hundreds of gallons of non-potable water for gardening and other uses during a severe drought. Natural Resources Extension Agent Ken Gioeli served as overall program coordinator in St. Lucie County and worked alongside Extension Agent Janet Bargar, Master Gardener Dale Galiano, and Senior Artist Laura Marie Adams.

For additional information about these awards, please contact the St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension office at (772) 462-1660.

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