On Saturday, July 23, volunteers will descend upon Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park to commence the planting of several species of native transition zone trees during “Planting
On Saturday, July 23, volunteers will descend upon Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park to commence the planting of several species of native transition zone trees during “Planting
After being forced to hold last yearâs Earth Day events remotely at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the Key Largo area state park citizen support organization will be able to gather this year to hold a poster contest, mangrove walk and announce upcoming improvements to the parks this Saturday, April 24.
Ann Helmers, president of the Friends of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, said this Earth Day, which is Thursday, April 22, will be the first public outreach event her group has been able to hold since the pandemic began. Local students will be able to create a poster related to nature or the planet and enter it into the poster contest. This yearâs winner will be selected by popular vote of everyone at the park on Earth Day.
Dagny Johnson at the Grouper Pavilion at the park.
Dagny Johnson moved permanently to Key Largo in 1967 and was concerned about how much development was happening in the Florida Keys.
She founded the Upper Keys Citizens Association in 1971 and, with this group and other concerned citizens, she worked to raise awareness of development plans that would have destroyed the largest contiguous tropical hardwood hammock in the United States.
They went to Monroe County Commission meetings, made a film and presented it to the Florida Legislature, and were covered by Miami Herald writer Carl Hiaasen. Through their efforts, the Port Bougainville development was stopped and the state of Florida bought the land that is now Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, along with other parcels.