River Oaks Preserve is our latest and greatest project. In 2022, we moved from Cutting Horse Eco Center (Bonita Springs) to this exciting project in partnership with the Village of Estero. The Cutting Horse facility is closed. 
Do you want to understand what is in your yard and how to add more native plants? Learn more about our Site Visit Program and how to add more native plants to your yard or community.
The best way to learn is through hands-on experience. Join us at River Oaks to do just that. 
VOLUNTEERS MAKE EVERYTHING HAPPEN! 
The Coccoloba Chapter has no payroll. Everything happens with volunteers. 
​Come out and make a difference! 
Our mission is to preserve, conserve and restore native plants and native plant communities of Florida. 
To accomplish our mission, we will: 
  1. Make native plants readily accessible
  2. Make native plants identifiable
  3. Provide assistance for getting native plants in the ground
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  • Coccoloba Chapter hosts periodic member meetings with informative speakers.  These meetings are open to the public and generally advertised.  Top-notch speakers provide information to members and the public to fulfill our mission.
  • Coccoloba Chapter participates in classes to educate the public of the benefits of native plants and, on the other hand, the need to remove invasive exotic plants. These classes are mostly held at Cutting Horse Eco-Center.
  • Coccoloba Chapter also performs SITE VISITS to individual homes, communities or businesses providing hands-on assistance to meet their native plant goals.
  • Coccoloba Chapter manages a native plant nursery. They promote and sell native plants EVERY TUESDAY AND SUNDAY 9 to 1 at River Oaks Preserve in Estero. They also provide concierge service to make sure each customer has the native plants they want. These special orders have grown in popularity.
  • Additionally, they are monitoring an endangered native milkweed at Koreshan. Asclepias curtissii was discovered on the property and volunteers are hoping to learn propagation techniques to increase this important food for monarch butterflies. In Estero Bay Preserve, Coccoloba volunteers monitor a population of Asclepias feayi. Although not listed as endangered, many consider this plant even more rare than A. curtissii. Finally, Coccoloba volunteers monitor and treat Tillandsia utriculata and T. fasciculata. They propagate these air plants to assure a population survives the invasive exotic weevil decimating the population. Coccoloba volunteers are always working on plantings around the park including propagating some of the park's rare plants for additional areas on the property. 
  • Coccoloba Chapter also makes native plants available at all possible events.  For instance, members bring propagated plants from their yards to monthly meetings.  These plants are described and auctioned off during the meeting.  
  • By making native plants more readily available, we can close the gap (and potential lapse) between when people learn of the benefits of native plants and when they actually plant on in their yard. (Refer to Prochaska's Model to the right.)
  • Coccoloba Chapter provides other support to schools by hosting teachers' workshops and conducting site visits. The chapter also monitors and assists with previous planting projects like at Fort Myers Middle Academy. 
  • Coccoloba Chapter coordinates field trips that are generally open to the public to see native plants in their natural environment. 
  • Coccoloba Chapter members also participate in land management reviews of public lands to evaluate how the land is being managed.  These reviews are in conjunction with various like-minded partners such as Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and others.
  • Coccoloba Chapter hosts workdays at various publicly-owned properties to pull weeds and spruce up the natural space. This hands-on activity helps us learn what to pull out and what to keep, while providing a little extra assistance to the park.
The bottom line is that Coccoloba Chapter and their fantastic members work well with others and successfully get more native plants in the ground!