Outdoor Discovery Club
DeLand Middle School
1800 S. Aquarius Ave.
DeLand, Fl. 32724
Visitors,
Funded by the Futures Foundation and aided by Mr. Dulac's FFA chapter, the Outdoor Discovery Club is conducting research on retention ponds. Our main objective is to determine what species of native flora and fauna can strive in these environments. The knowledge that we gather will be used to augment beautification of retention areas in our community, enhance water quality, and possibly provide economic venues for our community.
At the present, we are working on the fauna: Procamborus supp. (crayfish) and Pomecea paludosa (apple snail). The flora we are testing is
Saururus cernuus (lizard tail)
Sagittaia latifolia (arrowhead)
Canna flaccida (yellow canna)
Hibiscus coccineus (scarlet hibiscus)
Cephallanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
Tripsacum floridanum (fakahatchee grass)
Gelsemium sepmerviens (carolina jessamine)
Passiflora semperviens (coral honeysuckle)
Helianthus debilis (beach/dune sunflowers)
Coreopsis spp. (tickseed)
The retention pond we are working on is located at the DeLand Middle School Agriculture Center and will serve as our resource lab and nursery to grow the most resistant and eye appealing flora possible to be donated or sold very economically to Volusia County and private individuals/organizations. We are presently applying for a license to sell our snails to aquarium stores. We have sent our fauna specimens to the University of Florida Invertebrate Zoology Department to check our taxonomy so we will not introduce any exotics into our community.
Al Evans