Monthly Meeting & Native Plant Drawing - Saving Florida's Plant Biodiversity

# Saving Florida's Plant Biodiversity

Across the state of Florida, quality of life is jeopardized by continuous, unchecked development – and there are no signs it’s slowing. In an attempt to counter, or mitigate, the loss of natural habitats, a group of FNPS volunteers and others regularly gather on pre-development sites (with proper permissions) to salvage native plants and their seeds before the bulldozers arrive. Laura Bennett-Kimble is one of those volunteers, and she’ll share information on the experience, including not only the nuts and bolts how-to information, but also the more personal perspective of why she believes it is essential to do this kind of work.

About the Presenter
Laura Bennett-Kimble is a Florida Native Plant Society volunteer who, with a group of other dedicated volunteers, supports the society’s mission by rescuing native plants at sites slated for development, primarily in the scrub and sandhills of Lake County. In 2023, she and the other core members of the plant rescue group received the FNPS Green Palmetto Award for Service. Laura, who is a certified Florida Master Naturalist, has previously presented information about plant rescue work at meetings including FNPS’s online Lunch ’n’ Learn programs. She’s also written about native plants for the Florida Native Plant Society, Florida Wildflower Foundation and other organizations. She’s served as vice president and treasurer for a couple FNPS chapters, too. Laura also makes jewelry featuring her photos of Florida’s native plants and wildlife as a way to share – and raise awareness of – the beauty and importance of the natural world surrounding us. Laura and her husband, Glenn, live in Clermont on the side of a sandhill that was once a citrus grove – and where they’re steadily replacing sod and invasives with native vegetation.