Lido Beach restoration project goes native with more than 2,000 plants

A group of 60 adult and youth volunteers planted 2,065 native plants on the dunes and along the tributary Saturday, July 9, at North Lido Beach Park. The major restoration project is sponsored by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program in cooperation with Around the Bend Nature Tours and Sarasota County. The project has helped to improve 30 acres on the 70-acre site. More than 10,000 plants have been added since the spring, and the park is already attracting a significant amount of new wildlife and marine life. Some of the plants that were used were grown at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Mote Aquaculture Park. Florida Native Plant Society provided lunch for the volunteers.