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| Submitter's Name |
BobbiJo Jarvis |
| Session Name |
Posters - Social, Behavioral, and Economic Aspects of Nutrient Management |
| Category |
Social, behavioral, and economic aspects of nutrient Management |
| Poster Number |
50 |
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| Author(s) |
B.J. Jarvis, UF/IFAS Pasco County Extension (Presenting Author) |
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Chris Dewey,
UF/IFAS Pasco County Extension |
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Educating certified property managers of landscape management practices that influence water quality |
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Millions of acres of residential landscapes may impact the quality of Florida’s watersheds. Agriculture operators have long been a focus for education about the effects that various land management practices have can allow nutrients to enter watersheds. Residents, and the companies that direct the management of residential properties, frequently apply more fertilizers and pesticides per acre than agricultural operations, and can employ landscape management practices that can cause unacceptable social and economic impacts to area waterways. Education of this nutrient-loading population segment has been overlooked.
Recently this group has been the focus of education to raise awareness of the potential impacts and to change maintenance behaviors to balance the perceived goals of landscape aesthetics and water quality. To address this educational gap, Pasco Extension began educating certified property managers (CPM) about the many landscape best management practices which affect landscape quality. Training was created for certified property management professional organizations who primarily manage large acreages in homeowner associations. This training included the perception of property aesthetics and the resulting competitiveness of an individual contract’s sales/rental potential while implementing Florida-Friendly Landscape practices. The perception prior to attending the training was that employing Florida-Friendly Landscapes could decrease the value or salability of units, or that the CPM firm was not doing a “quality job”. Following the training, participants exhibited a significant increase in the belief that FFL practice implementation would save water (and therefore money), and would protect watersheds, while having no negative influence on rental/sales potential of managed properties. Initial program outcomes also indicate that CPM-managed communities recommend development of FFL-based guidelines for their architectural review committees, that resident should be encouraged to employ FFL landscape practices to reduce stormwater run-off, and that stormwater pond management practices were modified resulting in improved water quality. |
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