East County Water Control District (ECWCD) and Keep Lehigh Acres Beautiful (KLAB) are seeking volunteers for an Earth Day Beautification Project on Wednesday, April 20 from 9 a.m. 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– just outside of the main inlet of Harns Marsh. Volunteers will be planting native pond cypress, red maple and laurel oak trees to help improve water quality and maximize the potential of the littoral zones.

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.

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.