Our Mission

We want to restore the five Cedar Keys with local cedar trees and several species of shoreline plants that are also native to the islands. We have developed a pipeline of plants necessary to continually produce the diversity of plants necessary for proper conservation and restoration. We have also developed a pipeline of local community leaders and volunteers who will get these plants out to the islands and into the shorelines.

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In Spring 2025, 1,500 two-year-old cedar trees and 500 live oaks grown from locally collected seeds were planted on North Key and Seahorse Key in clustered arrangements and rows on elevated sand ridges. Native shoreline companion plant seeds collected from around the islands in Fall 2024 were grown to produce 6,000 additional plants, which were inter-planted around the newly planted cedar and oak trees between March and June 2025.

 

All planting locations are GPS-marked, and aerial imagery has been captured to develop a full restoration map.

 

All of our plants are transported by boat with help from local volunteers, and trees are planted during cooler months (November-March) for better root establishment. Herbaceous plants are installed in spring (March-June) for fast initial growth. No irrigation is possible after planting, so we hope for good summer rainfall and NO HURRICANES! All plants are monitored regularly for survival and for their ability to stabilize the shorelines of the Cedar Keys. As hard as we try, we expect losses of plants each year at 50% due to challenging environmental changes.