East County Water Control District (ECWCD) and Keep Lehigh Acres Beautiful (KLAB) will host an Earth Day Beautification Project on Wednesday, April 20 from 9 until 11:30 a.m. at Harns Marsh – a 578-acre preserve owned by ECWCD. Community members are invited to join in the project and help plant native vegetation along a littoral zone – an area that routinely floods during rainy season– in the south marsh.

Harns Marsh is one… of Lehigh Acres’ major retention/ detention areas and is also a lush wildlife habitat. Its purpose is to eliminate, or at very least, reduce flooding to the District’s downstream neighbors and along the Orange River during a major storm. The Native plants in littoral zones provide a natural filtration of nutrients and/or pollutants and can also reduce erosion during these high-water flow periods.

To help improve water quality and maximize the potential of the littoral zones, volunteers will be planting native pond cypress, red maple and laurel oak trees. This is the second community project that ECWCD and KLAB have collaborated on in Harns Marsh. In January, more than 80 volunteers assisted in removing 4,000 pounds of trash and debris from the marsh.

“Harns Marsh is one of the most beautiful places in Lehigh Acres. The marsh provides a vital water management role for our community and is a very diverse ecological system that more people should appreciate,” Damon Shelor, president of KLAB.

“This beautification project is just one step in what will hopefully be a long-term partnership in improving our local environment.”

KLAB is forming a “Friends of Harns Marsh” volunteer group to provide support for educational programming and host recreational experiences at the marsh.

“Programs such as this allow community members to connect with nature, helps ECWCD raise awareness about pressing environmental issues, and aims to create future stewards of our environment,” said Dave Lindsay, ECWCD District manager.

For more information about volunteering with the Harns Marsh Beautification Process or in participating with the “Friends of Harns Marsh” group, contact Damon Shelor at lehighcleansweep@yahoo.com or ECWCD at 239-368-0044.