Survey regarding Goals for the Friends of Indian River

We had an excellent first meeting and the next meeting is planned for Wednesday March 14th, 7 PM at Indian River Library.   The goal of that meeting will be to prioritize our goals and activities for the coming months.   Please take a few minutes to complete an online survey using SurveyMonkey so we can collect your  feedback on these priorities and activities - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WS6N56Z

When taking the survey, consider the following opportunities for action by the Friends of Indian River:

·         Education and Outreach to the Community

o   Advise neighbors on good gardening and yard practices, replacing lawn area with gardens, reducing fertilizer use, benefits of native plants,  planting trees, establishing rain gardens, removing invasive plants, developing wildlife habitat, “scoop the poop”, etc.

·         Beautification Efforts

o   Adopt a Street(s) for quarterly cleanups, roadside plantings, etc.

o   Encourage local business to spruce up storefronts and parking lots.

o   Find areas to plant demonstration rain and/or butterfly gardens

·         Adopt Indian River Park

o   Support cleanups and trail maintenance (in coordination with Eastern Virginia Mountain Bike Association - EVMA)

o   Educate community on value of waterway and stream buffers (“it’s not just a ditch”)

o   Map park to identify major areas of invasive plant encroachment and important native species, publish trail guide.    

o   Encourage use of trails for biking, hiking, birding, and interaction with nature.

o   Remove invasive plants

o   Improve habitat for wildlife such as birds, fish, amphibians, and small mammals.

·         Indian River Stewardship

o   Support CBF and Elizabeth River Project goals for fishable, swimmable river

o   Educate waterfront home owners on environmental, aesthetic, and cost benefits of natural shorelines

o   Educate water users of good boating practices

o   Map shoreline, identify areas for restoration of natural shorelines, identify areas for shoreline access and possible canoe/kayak launch site, identify areas of high value marshes, identify wildlife use

o   Investigate options concerning resident Canada Geese

o   Establish oyster gardens

o   Monitor water quality

·         Support Local Business

o   Encourage community to buy local

o   Encourage new retailers to come to our shopping streets to help residents buy local

o   Campaign for a new supermarket in Indian River Shopping Center

o   Encourage businesses to make good landscaping decisions – establish curb appeal to bring in customers while reducing run-off and providing environmental benefits

o   Engage local business to support group’s activities.

·         Support Community Activities

o   Support activities to enhance streetscapes including safe residential streets, proper tree maintenance, proper ditch maintenance, elimination of illegal dumping and dumpsters.   

o   Support actions to assure any in-fill development follows proper zoning, permitting, and environmental practices.   

The survey is located at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WS6N56Z.   The first page re-iterates the opportunities above and then has 8 follow-up questions.   Your feedback will be very useful to starting up this organization.   Thank you for your time.