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Plant Ocean Friendly Gardens

 

The Surfrider Foundation initiated the Ocean Friendly Gardens Program (OFG) to help its members and the general public to take some steps at their own homes to clean and prevent pollution reaching the ocean and start to restore urban watersheds. Water that leaves residential and other developed sites can carry away and/or pick up pollutants on its journey to the ocean. This urban runoff has become the #1 source of ocean pollution.

Ocean Friendly Gardens and parkways "apply CPR to the landscape" to significantly reduce wet and dry-weather runoff entering our watersheds and ocean. CPR stands for:

•Conservation of (a) water, (b) fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, (c) energy (moving water around the state is the #1 user of energy), (d) and reduce the use of gas-powered maintenance machinery (air pollutants) through the use of native and/or climate-adapted plants.
•Permeability increased - utilizing materials for a driveway, walkway and patio that allow water to percolate into the soil.
•Retention devices like rain gardens, rain barrels and rain chains as well as bio-swales, dry creek beds and dry wells.

http://www.surfrider.org/programs/entry/ocean-friendly-gardens