What is FFL?
Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ (FFL) is the state of Florida’s premier Extension program that promotes sustainable alternatives to “conventional” landscaping, providing guidance on low-impact, environmentally friendly, science-based landscape practices that use less water and reduce pollutant loading to Florida waters.
Since 1993, FFL has served Florida as a partnership between the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension (UF/IFAS Extension) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The FFL approach is based on the 9 FFL Principles: 1) Right Plant, Right Place; 2) Water Efficiently; 3) Fertilize Appropriately; 4) Mulch; 5) Attract Wildlife; 6) Manage Yard Pests Responsibly; 7) Recycle; 8) Reduce Storm Water Runoff; and 9) Protect the Waterfront.
The overall goal is to reduce nonpoint source pollution through proper fertilization, irrigation, and pesticide use on residential and commercial landscapes.
FFL promotes its nine principles through three main programs that target diverse audiences.
Most FFL public outreach is conducted through county Extension offices and there are FFL Extension agents and program coordinators in 51 counties statewide. FFL is also closely aligned with the UF/IFAS-funded Florida Master Gardener (MG) program, which has a statewide network of MG coordinators distributed across 60 counties and over 4,000 MG volunteers who spend 50 percent of their public outreach time on FFL topics.
In a typical year county-based FFL programs conduct in excess of 4,000 FFL workshops for over 150,000 homeowners and MG volunteers have direct contact with hundreds of thousands more. County-based FFL home irrigation assessment programs annually account for several hundred million gallons of home irrigation water savings.
In addition, county-based UF/IFAS Extension agents provide the legislatively mandated GI-BMP training to landscaping professionals. The GI-BMP program also trains and certifies qualified volunteers from the green industry, government and education to teach the GI-BMP classes. Since its start in 2002 the GI-BMP program has trained over 70,000 professionals in the proper use of landscaping BMPs.
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