Florida Yards &
Neighborhoods (FYN) ...

FYN Principle #9 -
Protect the Waterfront

Florida has over 800 miles of coastline, in addition to countless rivers, streams, canals, lakes and ponds. No matter where we live, we are always very close to water. For this reason, it is vital that we all adopt environmentally sound landscape practices to preserve the quality of our water. Be sure to adopt these landscape practices if you live on the water:

• Designate a 10’-30’ “maintenance-free” zone from the water. Do not use fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals in this area.

• Do not allow vegetative waste such as grass clippings or leaves to enter the water.

• It is especially important to use slow-release or timed-release fertilizers near water bodies.

• When immovable seawalls are not present, shoreline native plants should be planted to provide habitat and food, to reduce erosion and for natural water filtration.

• Decrease wave action and increase habitat by placing clean native limestone rock in front of your seawall.