Flamingo Gardens
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FLAMINGO GARDENS Help Us Preserve This Beauty Spot HELP US Preserve This Beauty Spot From the beginning the Wrays welcomed visitors by Hurricane Irma has exacerbated the situation. to their garden. Daily tours of the citrus groves and Our visitor, staff, and technological needs have the botanical gardens were given to the public, outgrown the current facilities and infrastructure. extolling the virtues of citrus, tropical plants, and the Our facilities no longer meet the needs of the Everglades. The beauty of the area and the need to 150,000 guests that visit Flamingo Gardens each preserve that beauty was paramount to the Wrays. year as attendance has surpassed current parking and restroom capacities. The Meeting Room is Through the years Flamingo Gardens has inadequate to accommodate the requests WELCOME TO brought forth the vision of Mr. & Mrs. from the community and the ravages Wray, preserving this beautiful and of time, storms, and Hurricane Irma historical place, protecting native plants have rendered the space unfit for and wildlife, and educating the public public use. FLAMINGO GARDENS about the significance of the Everglades. More than nine decades ago, after the devastating You are welcome to Flamingo [Gardens] and are invited to Hurricane of 1926, Davie pioneers, Floyd L. and spend as much time as you desire, my only request being... Jane Wray, planted summer oranges in the rich muck that you help us preserve this beauty spot for others. soil of reclaimed Everglades land. This simple act FLOYD L. WRAY, 1939 founded one of the earliest tourist attractions and botanical gardens in Florida. With the help of a U.S. What started as a modest citrus grove in 1927 is Though facing daunting challenges, Flamingo today a respected botanical collection and wildlife Gardens has forged boldly ahead. Flamingo Gardens Department of Agriculture program, the gardens sanctuary visited by more than 150,000 guests every Board of Trustees and staff have taken steps to received foreign plants and trees from around year. Flamingo Gardens is a designated Cultural create a ten-year Master Plan to secure the future Landmark and the Wrays’ weekend residence is a of the gardens. Near term plans to implement the the world in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, establishing an museum giving a glimpse of South Florida life in the Master Plan include successfully reaching a $4.8 impressive collection of botanical specimens. 30s and 40s. The Gardens boast some of the largest million fundraising goal to design and build a new trees of their species in the state and the wildlife Welcome Center and a new Education Center. Plans sanctuary houses the largest collection of Florida for the Welcome Center include first class visitor native birds and animals, most of them permanently facilities, exhibition space, gift shop, café and dining, injured or non-releasable. The ecological field trips at 3,000 sq. ft. of multi-purpose education and meeting the gardens are attended by approximately 30,000 space, updated technology, and expanded parking students each year and have become a tradition for to see it to its one-hundred-year anniversary and generations of South Floridians. beyond. Due to the impacts of Hurricane Irma, the critical need for a new Education Center to replace So, all would be well at the Gardens — were it not the closed Meeting Room must be addressed as well. for the fact that decades of wear and tear have taken a toll on the buildings. The Visitor Center is in great disrepair and additional damage caused 2 3 FLAMINGO GARDENS Our Vision and Mission With support from existing contributors and the investment of new supporters who are inspired by VISION CORE VALUES To be the premier Everglades garden sanctuary. Advocacy – We encourage environmental our vision, Flamingo Gardens is poised to rise to a responsibility, conservation, and sustainable new level of prominence and effectiveness in South MISSION practices through education, personal discovery, Flamingo Gardens mission is to depict, preserve, and transformative experiences. Florida. Together we can preserve this “beauty and provide education about the natural and spot” and assure the continuation of Flamingo cultural heritage of South Florida and the Stewardship – We will maintain, nurture, and Everglades in our botanical gardens and wildlife protect the legacy of Floyd L. & Jane Wray and Gardens historical, ecological, and educational history of this land for future generations. sanctuary. programming for years to come. CORE MISSION OBJECTIVES Compassion - We believe in the inherent worth, diversity, and dignity of all living things. We value Provide a repository for endangered plant and the lives of all people, plants, and animals, that wildlife species and a living library of specific taxa enter our care and vow to treat them humanely and available for research and education. with respect. Inspire an appreciation for the beauty and diversity Excellence - We demand greatness, relevance, and of tropical and subtropical plants from around the merit in all we do and hold ourselves and others world that can be grown in our area. accountable to the highest standards of personal and professional standards. Guide the public in environmentally responsible and aesthetic horticultural practices. Teamwork – We will work together to embrace opportunities and challenges, and encourage Encourage environmental awareness and creativity, innovation, and action, while respecting Everglades preservation to visiting tourists, individual points of view. residents, and school children. 4 5 THIS HISTORICAL SPOT A Unique and Significant Garden Flamingo Gardens is one of the last natural jungle more recently by the Seminoles. The Gardens serve growths in South Florida and one of the oldest as an important habitat and biological corridor for botanical gardens and attractions in the State. The wildlife and is one of the last remaining stands of property is part of Long Key, a native oak hammock upland hardwood forest in Broward County. which was once part of a series of islands surrounded by Everglades marshes as recently as a century ago. Flamingo Gardens predates Fairchild Tropical Long Key encompasses some of the most significant Botanical Garden and McKee Jungle Gardens and archaeological, historical, and ecological resources is one of the few botanical gardens to focus on in the County. Parts of the hammock at Flamingo the ecological significance of the United Nation’s Gardens remain untouched much as it was when designated World Heritage Everglades habitat. the area was inhabited by the ancient Tequesta and Flamingo Gardens is often called “a hidden gem” and a “valuable cultural asset.” This assessment is easily quantified by several factors that make Flamingo Gardens unique: FLAMINGO FLAMINGO FLAMINGO GARDENS GARDENS GARDENS I’m passionate about volunteering with the Orchidteers, Is one of the only botanical Holds the distinction of Was for ten years the mounting, caring for and sharing my knowledge and love of orchids. gardens sited within the having the largest collection national repository for the Everglades boundary. It is (18 in total) of Florida International Heliconia Flamingo Gardens’ commitment to saving endangered native one of the few botanical Champion Trees, the largest Society which resulted in orchids and plant species is an inspiration to me. gardens dedicated to tree of its species in Florida an astounding array of preserving Florida native as certified by the Florida heliconia and ginger species LUCY LODATO plants and animals, while Forestry Service. represented throughout FLAMINGO GARDENS ORCHIDTEER VOLUNTEER educating the public about the gardens. the Everglade’s ecosystems. 6 7 THIS ECOLOGICAL SPOT species. The Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary uses the program is one of the most successful in the nation experiences and insights gained through caring for with 37 otter pups born since 1990 in the sanctuary these birds and animals to educate the public about and released to the wild or to other otter breeding A Biologically Rich Sanctuary the environment, loss of habitat, and other problems programs. affecting wildlife resources. Many of these rescued animals serve as Wildlife Ambassadors in our daily Each year, Flamingo Gardens receives hundreds Wildlife Encounter presented at Flamingo Gardens. of injured birds and animals, the vast majority of which are rehabilitated and released back to the As part of its mission, Flamingo Gardens Everglades wild. In 2017 more than 400 birds and animals were Wildlife Sanctuary returns offspring born in the rehabilitated at Flamingo Gardens and returned to sanctuary to the wild, helping to re-establish native the wild. wildlife populations. Its Breed and Release Program annually releases more than 200 birds born in the sanctuary back to the wild, and its Otter Breeding The Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary at Flamingo flamingos. The sanctuary houses several Federally or Gardens opened in 1990. The Sanctuary was one State-designated Threatened or Endangered of the first of its kind in South Florida to give species such as the American alligator, EVERGLADES FLAMINGO residence to permanently injured or non- American snapping turtle, Florida WILDLIFE SANCTUARY GARDENS releasable Florida native wildlife. Today burrowing owl, Florida sandhill crane, Home to one of the largest One of a very few botanical it has the distinction of being the largest wood stork, bald eagle, and Florida collection of Florida native wildlife in the panther. collections of Florida native gardens