This episode originally broadcast on June 2, 2025.
As of June 1 most southwest Floridians are prohibited from applying fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus to their yards. Lee County’s rainy season fertilizer ordinance has been in place since 2008.
Back in the 1990s, as the southwest Florida population grew, it became apparent that local water bodies and waterways were being impacted — and impaired — by nutrient pollution.
So, in the late 2000s several local governments began implementing ordinances that prohibited the application of lawn fertilizer during the rainy season, which generally speaking runs from June first through September or so. Lee County’s ordinance, again, means it is prohibited to apply lawn fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus anywhere in unincorporated Lee County until the beginning of November.
Most municipalities in southwest Florida have similar ordinances, including Cape Coral, the City of Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, and the City of Naples. Charlotte, Sarasota, and Manatee counties have similar rainy season bans. Collier county does not have an ordinance, but does provide guidelines for best practices.
Overall, more than 100 cities and counties across the state have passed strong local protections aimed at reducing nutrient pollution from the misapplication of lawn fertilizers - with the goal of reducing the amount of nutrients that wind up in area waters, and therefore reducing the possibility of harmful algae blooms like the severe ones we experienced in 2018 and 2019.
We learn about Lee County’s ordinance, and the importance of complying with these rules to benefit our waters and ecosystems.
Guests:
Lisa Kreiger is an operations manager with Lee County’s Natural Resources Department
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega is the Pond Watch Coordinator with the Lee County Hyacinth Control District
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
Transcript
Mike Kiniry
From WGCU News, this is Gulf Coast Life. I'm Mike Kiniry. Thanks for joining us. While we have been in a severe drought and still mostly are, the rains have begun to return and that means most Southwest Floridians are prohibited from applying fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus to their yards. Lee County's rainy season fertilizer ordinance has been around since 2008 in the 90s as Southwest Florida's population grew it became apparent that local water bodies and waterways were being impacted and impaired by nutrient pollution driven by all the growth. So in the late 2000s, several local governments started to implement ordinances that prohibit the application of lawn fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus during our rainy season, which basically runs from June 1st through September. Most municipalities across Southwest Florida have similar ordinances, including Cape Coral, of Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach and the city of Naples. Charlotte, Sarasota, and Manatee counties also have similar rainy season bans. Collier County does not, but does provide guidance for best practices. In all, more than 100 cities and counties in Florida have passed local protections aimed at reducing nutrient pollution from the misapplication of lawn fertilizers. The goal is to reduce the amount of nutrients that end up in the water to reduce the possibility of big, harmful algae blooms. Today we're revisiting a conversation we had last year at the beginning of June to learn about Lee County's ordinance and the importance of complying with these rules. My guests were Lisa Krieger. She's an operations manager with Lee County's Natural Resources Department and Ernesto Lasso de la Vega. Ernesto spent several decades with Lee County's Hyacinth Control District. He was the pond watch coordinator. He retired not long after this conversation was recorded last year. Lisa Krieger is an operations manager at Lee County's Natural Resources Department. Lisa, welcome back to the show.
Lisa Kreiger
Thank you for having me back.
Mike Kiniry
And Ernesto Lasso de la Vega is the pond watch coordinator with the Lee County Hyacinth Control District. Ernesto, welcome back to the show to you as well.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Thank you for inviting me.
Mike Kiniry
So as I was saying to you both before the show, I normally try to spread out when we talk about topics to a certain degree, but I've decided that doing a show on fertilizer and fertilizer ordinances right here at the beginning of June we should do every year because people move to Florida and they don't know. But more importantly, is it correct, Lisa, to say that following the right procedures for using fertilizer and when to do it is basically the easiest thing an individual can do to positively contribute to water quality? Yes, it's very easy.
Lisa Kreiger
Anybody can do it. Everybody can participate in protecting our waterways by just not doing something rather than doing something. So we really appreciate that people follow our ordinance. Not only are you doing something by doing less, you are also saving money, saving time. It gives you time to do more fun stuff. But it's a personal impact that everybody can help us by avoiding.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
And also doing it correctly.
Lisa Kreiger
Yes.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Because there is a lot of information that has to be in the user in order to do it right.
Mike Kiniry
In other words, you can't just like, following the instructions is really important in this particular topic.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Correct.
Mike Kiniry
Lisa, give us a quick overview of your background and your time with the Natural Resources Department.
Lisa Kreiger
I have been with Lee County, it'll be 10 years in July. Before that, I've had a career. I worked for the South Florida Water Management District and FDOT, all in the environmental field. My job with Lee County is I work on water quality issues, restoration issues. I participate in some of the larger scale issues with the Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers. So I've had a long career of working on various environmental issues.
Mike Kiniry
Ernesto, you've been with Lee County for 35 years, is that what you said?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Correct, Lee County Hyacinth Control District for 35 years.
Mike Kiniry
People who live here, many probably don't even know what Hyacinth is, especially newcomers. So they might think, why on earth does a county have a district? Tell us what Hyacinth is and what the district does and makes possible for us?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
So we were created after mosquito control was created. Mosquito control take care of all the mosquitoes. But then we find out the hyacinth were a pest, another aquatic weed.
Mike Kiniry
Oh, aquatic weed, that's the word I was looking for.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Yeah, that floats on the water and then hides sometimes the mosquito larva. So by eliminating or controlling the hyacinth, you're also controlling mosquitoes. And that's the reason why we were side by side working with mosquitoes. In fact, we have the same facility where we both share the same facilities.
Mike Kiniry
Is it also about keeping waterways open? Because I remember I grew up here, so I can remember times when like the canals at Fort Myers Country Club would just be full of Hyacinth, like entirely full.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Correct. In fact, we take care of the navigation through the whole river from Lake Okeechobee all the way down to the Fort Myers. So the jurisdiction of the Caloosahatchee River is ours. as well as Cape Coral Canals and any other canals in the area that contribute to the water flow.
Mike Kiniry
You are the Pond Watch coordinator. Explain what Pond Watch is.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
So very early when I first started, I saw another program called Lake Watch. And Lake Watch is the University of Florida. taking care of volunteers, sampling waters, and say, well, why don't we create a pond watch here in Lee County to help citizens who have a pond? And the ponds are just artificial bodies of water to hold water and then filter sometimes nutrients. So that is an asset that we thought, well, we can provide help, education, and that's where we created Pond Watch.
Mike Kiniry
Also things people might not realize if they're new to the area. All of these small bodies of water that we're so used to seeing are actually stormwater treatment or stormwater management ponds, right? So they are there for a reason in terms of how we move water around.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Correct, because the water gets collected by all the impervious waters and they have to go somewhere. And instead of flooding another place, they hold in the stormwater and then sooner, later on, they discharge slowly into the rest of the bodies of waters and then eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mike Kiniry
So how direct is that connection between the health of a pond behind a gated communities thing and the health of the river or the health of the Gulf?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
It's direct because there's some maintenance that has to be taken care of in those ponds starting from the surrounding whatever you do around including the fertilizers And then also the littoral plants that are in the ponds because those are units that are filtering units. So those ponds are meant to be filtering units. And also bring aesthetics and probably even more important, the value of the property. Because if you have a pond that has all kind of problems, nobody's going to buy that property. So having a good, nice pond sells a lot of things, increase the value of that property.
Mike Kiniry
So as I mentioned, Lisa, we had you and Dr. Mike Parsons from FGCU on the show almost exactly a year ago, off by like a week. Has anything fundamentally changed in terms of when the ordinances run or what the ordinance in Lee County says over that past year?
Lisa Kreiger
No, there have been no changes. This Lee County ordinance has been in place since 2008 and there have been no changes pretty much. I think how they said it to begin with is a tried and true formula scientifically based. It's June 1st to September 30th is when we restrict the use of fertilizer containing phosphorus or nitrogen in Lee County, unincorporated Lee County I'm talking about. Most municipalities if not all in Lee County have their own ordinances. We all pretty much mimic the same pattern and the idea behind this summer ban on fertilizer is it coincides with the rainy season. So when you put fertilizer incorrectly or excessively on a lawn, that excess can wash right off into our waterways. So that's why the ban is from June 1st to September 30th.
Mike Kiniry
When we get a big rain like we've just gotten these past couple days after it's been dry for a long time, does that create like a short-term burst of water that has stuff in it?
Lisa Kreiger
Does. It does. we refer to that as the first flush. We've had months and months. We've been in a drought. It's been very, very dry. So these rains come and you see they're starting to come like a deluge every day. And they will wash that fertilizer right off into the waterways. They refer to it as the first flush.
Mike Kiniry
And so the first flush this year perfectly coincided with the fertilizer restrictions.
Lisa Kreiger
It did. It's amazing. Somebody turned the faucet on and we desperately need the rain. So it's a great and wonderful thing, but it's also a great and wonderful thing that you're having us back here to remind people that now's the time to put your fertilizer or bag away to the end of rainy season.
Mike Kiniry
Do most fertilizers that people would use on their yard have phosphorus and nitrogen?
Lisa Kreiger
I would say most of them do, typically. When you go to the store and buy a fertilizer, they all contain one percentage or the other of.
Mike Kiniry
And those are all listed right there.
Lisa Kreiger
Yeah, they're on the bag. Yeah.
Mike Kiniry
Are there kinds? Oh, go ahead, Ernesto.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Depending on the location, but in Florida, especially Southwest Florida, they don't have so much phosphorus. The phosphorus is being eliminated from the typical fertilizer that they sell around in this area. Now you might find some other type of fertilizers in the... stores, but the one that is using most landscapers, they have low phosphorus to no phosphorus. Nitrogen, no phosphorus, and maybe some potassium, but it's not even that much.
Mike Kiniry
We're kind of off track a little bit, but I have to ask, is the reason there isn't phosphorus in fertilizer that's sold here because the plants that grow here don't really need it like other parts of the country, or is it just a change in the industry?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
No, it's basically because there is some phosphorus already present in the store.
Lisa Kreiger
In their soils.
Mike Kiniry
Understood. Okay, gotcha. So if people are going to use fertilizer that doesn't have the nitrogen in it, is there things they should be thinking about doing it differently during this time rather than the rest of the year?
Lisa Kreiger
Well, there are some other things that people can do. As Ernesto has already referenced, application is also important. No matter what kind of fertilizer you're using and no matter what time of year you're going to do it, using deflector shields, making sure you don't fertilize...
Mike Kiniry
What does deflector shield mean?
Lisa Kreiger
There's shields that you can put on your fertilizer spreader that will divert the fertilizer away. It gives it a more focus.
Mike Kiniry
I see. So you can like walk along a water body and only shoot left.
Lisa Kreiger
Or something like that. Yeah. So like, you know, these broadcast spreaders, they'll just go.
Mike Kiniry
Understood.
Lisa Kreiger
Okay. So this will kind of keep it where you want it to be. But also if you stay 10 feet away from waterways, if you leave, for example, best management practices in your lawn, if you live along a waterway or a canal, you can leave a vegetative buffer of like 6 feet with low maintenance native plants that don't need irrigation or fertilizer. And so just kind of backing off. Don't let your fertilizer go on hard surfaces because if they go on hard surfaces, they're definitely not getting to your plants and they will be washed off into the storm drains.
Mike Kiniry
More does not necessarily equal better when it comes to fertilizer. Is that correct, Ernesto? I've never been a fertilizer, but I think that's true.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
That's correct. In fact, the type of fertilizer also is important. Like you have slow release fertilizer, which is mandatory for this kind of use. And also they have crystals and the crystals dissolve right away and they go right onto the ground into the pond. So the type of fertilizer is important. Most of this stuff, the landscapers already know. the ones who don't know maybe is these homeowners, the citizens who are now just coming from another region and then they are adapting to know these things and they need to start reading about that and learning a little more about that. I want to bring something about and it's an applaud for the Lee County commissioners in 2008 that they passed this fertilizer. because Pond Watch has been way before, 1993 is when we started, 1993. So we had four years before the fertilizer was passed and four years after. So we were calculating, okay, what was the effect of the fertilizer ordinance?
Mike Kiniry
Oh, so you had data to show year over year over year?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Pond Watchers had been sampling month after month and we were comparing those two and then indeed they did a great job by passing the fertilizer ordinance because we saw the drop. on the nitrogen in the ponds that we were monitoring. So since then has been a phenomenal thing that I see every time there is a blackout, there's no fertilizers. And also when it comes, and this is a warning for most landscapers and also for homeowners, that after the blackout passes, then October still rainy come rain coming. So you have people who put extremely fertilizers after that because they are allowed to do that. But what happens is all that stuff runs into the water no matter what. So I warn them, everybody, every pond watcher, watch out what was before and after that. the next rain is going to wash your fertilizer. So be easy on the fertilizers that you put in October, because there's still going to be some effect on that. And I've seen that year after year. The good news is that the differences is coming less and less because they're learning how to do that.
Lisa Kreiger
Thank you for bringing that up because the rainy season doesn't end in September. I mean, hurricane season goes till the end of November. And a lot of times the storms and the rain keep coming. But we do want to year over year. The reason we do this really is to change behavior. And I think a lot of people feel like their lawns and their vegetation needs a lot more fertilizer than maybe it even does. And I think it's a habitual thing. You know, fertilize, fertilize, fertilize. But often they're over fertilizing and it's really not necessary. So when we continue to educate people, we try to to give them other ideas like using native plants that require a lot less irrigation and fertilizer. These are the sort of things that just make you have a more low maintenance lawn. Again, you save money and you have more fun by not working on your lawn all the time.
Mike Kiniry
I'd like to take a moment to reintroduce my guests. Lisa Krieger is an operations manager for Lee County's Natural Resources Department and Ernesto Lasso de la Vega is the pond watch coordinator with the Lee County Hyacinth Control District. We're discussing fertilizer use and ordinances that are in place across much of Southwest Florida that restrict its use during this time of the year and we're learning about how these rules help prevent excess nutrients from entering water bodies because of the way they can fuel algae blooms and just degrade water quality in general. Lee County's fertilizer ordinance took effect on June 1st and runs through the end of September but you should be careful through October based on what Ernesto just said. Most cities and counties around Southwest Florida have similar ordinances during this same stretch of time. If you'd like to engage with the show just find us on our social media. We are on Instagram and Facebook as WGCU. So this is not directly involved but I think it's worth talking about. A couple of years ago the state legislature put a moratorium on local governments being allowed to have fertilizer ordinances. As I understand it, didn't do anything to the ones that were existing and it has expired, the moratorium has, but I just want each of you to kind of reflect on what that was all about or what your take on it is. Ernesto, you can go first.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Well, it's kind of sad because we have learned so much for all this data that we have been collecting. The fact that we proved that this ordinance is actually work and having the pressure to remove that from other type of science that has been conducted And there is a big debate on that. But I think the people are learning and the people see the effect of that once they have data, once they have looking at the numbers. And that's if we providing that. At least Pond Watch is providing them citizens who are wondering about their communities, how they are implementing their practices, if they have an effect on the pond. We have that data and we teach them how to control that. And it is actually a very good educational part. Now, whether it's going to be instrumental in the future, people can still take their own decisions on making their impact in their communities. And I think that's a powerful thing. Knowledge is power.
Mike Kiniry
Lisa, were you guys relieved that the moratorium passed?
Lisa Kreiger
Lee County believes strongly that the ordinance that we have in place is for the benefit of our waterways. As Ernesto said, science is a process. There's always questions. There's always new answers. Some people have questioned why we have the ban, because we have a growing season that can be almost year-round in South Florida. So therefore, the vegetation could maybe continue to update the fertilizer. But we also know, as you kind of kicked us off here with the conversation, is that personal behavior is a great a great, we've got 8, 900,000, almost 900,000 people living in Lee County now. Okay, if all those people are making impacts to our waterways or even half of them are with a fertilizer, we know that cumulatively that is impacting our waterways. We have a lot of impaired waterways. The county is working very hard. The Board of County Commissioners is very supportive of us doing projects or education ordinances and so on to improve those waterways. So We're glad that the ordinance that we have in place was left untouched and we continue to support it because we believe in it.
Mike Kiniry
Ernesto, I'm going to give you a chance to pass along a bit more specific Pond Watch wisdom. But first I want to ask, you mentioned that you guys had data. So the Pond Watch people are are collecting data among the things that they're doing. Like what does and what is, are they members? Can you join? I mean, explain what it is.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Any citizen who pay taxes in Lee County And they pay that little tiny taxes called Hyacinth Control District. And sometimes they don't know what it is at Hyacinth because we do a good job controlling them. But regardless, that taxes allow them to have this service that where they can provide water samples to the lab that we have in Lee County in Hyacinth Control District, not the Lee County Environmental Lab. And we have, Hyacinth has its own water quality lab, and we run the analysis for free. This is no charges. And so they just bring the samples every month. And then after every month, throughout the whole year, they know the whole picture. When the rain comes, the nutrients increases, temperature increases, algae increases. So that's a big input knowledge that they get from one year of sampling. And they stay in the program for many, many years. In fact, I want to give you one example. that community had a very finger kind of a shaped pond and that pond had a condominiums in one side and single homes in the other side. By doing the sampling, they found out that the condominiums were taking more fertilizer by the landscapers rather than the single homes where nobody fertilized. But They do have a phosphorus difference because the condominiums, they have little phosphorus where the single homes have more phosphorus. Where the phosphorus came from? the dog waste. Wow. Because they, let the dog in the single homes.
Mike Kiniry
That's a great story, Ernesto.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Yeah. And then the country. I know when the community learned that like, oh my goodness, right? Because they pick up after their dog in the condominiums, but in the single homes, nobody.
Lisa Kreiger
But I'm glad you brought that up because that's another thing that's really important. And we also have like we also have a pet waste ordinance. We also try to educate people about pick up your pet waste, pick up your pet waste. It can be a real source of bacteria and nutrients in the waterways. People don't even think about it.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Big time. my goodness. Yeah, right.
Mike Kiniry
I'm so glad we wound up there because, there was a time when one did not pick up their dog poop. You know what I mean? That's a relatively new thing in the big picture. But it's not just about being polite or not having to look at poop on your bright green grass. It's about water.
Lisa Kreiger
It is.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
And it has an effect. And in fact, it's very, very noticeable when you see. And the result of all these whether you like it or not, algae and what type of algae is what we're really now focusing. Because if we have the harmful algae blooms, cyanobacteria, those are producing toxins.
Mike Kiniry
And I'm the one toxins for animals and mammals. We could just say mammals. Let's do it that way. Lisa, if somebody, is this like an enforceable thing? I think the answer is that, there might be a point at which enforcement happens, but explain what happens if you look at your neighbor and all summer long their grass is bright green and you peek over and look at their fertilizer bags and realize they're breaking the rules. I mean, is there like a, is there an enforcement mechanism?
Lisa Kreiger
Yes, there is an enforcement mechanism for these ordinances, but We do come at it from a place of education. Some people don't know, and we do have so many people moving here every year from other places, and they don't know about the fertilizer ordinance. So we really want to educate people. We can enforce. We're not driving around looking for people to enforce. Sometimes, as you mentioned, someone might call in and say, hey, my neighbor, ABC. So we'll have a conversation with them. We can go there, but we try not to. We try to change behavior. We don't want to just crack down on them. We want them to change.
Mike Kiniry
We did a show, it's been years ago now, and so maybe this isn't completely accurate, but it was about water quality, water treatment. And the person said something like half of the water we treat gets put on the grass in the yards. In other words, if we had more xeriscaping or Florida friendly or whatever you call it, the amount of water that the water treatment people need to treat would be, we'd have a lot more water for humans, I guess. Is that still about the estimate?
Lisa Kreiger
Do either of I would say that we would have to talk to a subject matter expert about that. I don't want to pull those numbers out. Let me ask you, are you asking specifically about wastewater, treated wastewater?
Mike Kiniry
Well, just the water that comes out of our faucets that's been treated. about half of that water that comes out of our faucets or our hoses goes down on the ground instead of into cooking and feeding.
Lisa Kreiger
Okay, I misunderstood. That's what I meant. Okay, I misunderstood the question. So let me restart. We do know, I can't give you a percentage, but irrigation is a huge, huge percentage of the water use in this area. It is. And it's to the point that it's an issue this year. We've been in a severe drought Lee County has kind of tightened up their watering restrictions in certain times a year because of this demand on water and we've got so many people living here. I think it would be strongly preferable to have water to drink and shower with and wash your dishes and cook than to water your lawn. So I can't give you a percentage on that but irrigation for landscaping is a huge use of the resource.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
One issue I have about the irrigation is that when the cities provide the water for irrigation with reclaimed water, which is wastewater.
Lisa Kreiger
That's a different system, which is a different thing than just pull. That's why I wanted to really understand what he was asking, because that's a whole different thing.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
So the problem I have with that reclaimed water is that it's loaded with phosphorus and then They don't have to clean it all up. Well, they should because they should be advanced water treatment plants in order to control because what happens that you irrigating with that water loaded with nutrients, the water remains, the rain keeps the soil moist. So when this water comes for irrigation, it runs right into the pond. So the water that you're loading more nutrients is from your irrigation with the reclaimed water. I have a problem with that because it's fouling some of the ponds.
Mike Kiniry
Could it be clean to a higher degree?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Wastewater treatment plants can upgrade that into an advance, but it costs money.
Lisa Kreiger
But let me say this. Again, I'm not a subject matter expert on this, but in the area we are, we have water quality regulations and I don't want to get too technical, but basin management, maximum plan and stuff. The water treatment plants, most of them are advanced or have to become advanced, even if they are advanced treatment. the treated water to the standard advanced is still more nutrients than what the environment can assimilate. So that's the case of just like fertilizer, like Ernesto said, there are nutrients in this reclaimed water treatment. You have to be, it's in the hand of the user. Okay, it's in the hand of the user. So if you know you're getting reclaimed water and know it's got nutrients in it, you still have to have personal responsibility to use best management practices, make sure it's not running off, make sure it's going where it needs to go. Because even the best treatment, there's still going to be, it's treated wastewater.
Mike Kiniry
So put simply, treated water, reclaimed water itself contains the chemical or the compound that is prohibited under the fertilizer ordinance. I mean, maybe not as high as putting fertilizer down, but.
Lisa Kreiger
You're- Yeah, it contains those things, just like you said.
Mike Kiniry
In other words, be mindful of your use of reclaimed water.
Lisa Kreiger
Absolutely. Be mindful. Exactly. It is a resource. Just Use it wisely. If you do have reclaimed water and you're putting it on your landscape, the chances of you needing additional fertilizer are probably very low.
Mike Kiniry
I am running out of time, so I want to ask, though, we talked before the show that you are going to be retiring next year, Ernesto. How long?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
35 years.
Mike Kiniry
35 years. You're gonna pass along the torch to some younger pond watcher.
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Yep, we're gonna be hiring. a person to replace me and actually go on and train them and then continue the legacy of Pond Watch. And that's going to continue.
Mike Kiniry
If you had to guess, how many samples of water have you tested in your life?
Ernesto Lasso de la Vega
Oh, thousands. I mean, I'm talking thousands right now. I mean, we have 150 volunteers right now who have been actively working in our program, and I think it's phenomenal. Man, yeah.
Lisa Kreiger
Ernesto's a legend. He's been around forever. He's done a lot of great and wonderful things. In our community, we have probably 1000 stormwater ponds. Wouldn't you say, Ernesto? I don't even know what the number is, but Ernesto educating people on how to take care of their ponds. I mean, everybody's in a watershed. And the worst the water is in these stormwater ponds, it all goes downstream to our rivers, to our creeks, tributaries, canals, and into the Gulf. So you've done a lot of great work over the years, Ernesto. Thank you.
Mike Kiniry
Thanks to you both, but we are out of time. I hope we raise some awareness today. Lisa Krieger is an operations manager for Lee County's Natural Resources Department. Lisa, thank you so much for coming in again.
Lisa Kreiger
Thank you so much for having me.
Mike Kiniry
And see you next year.
Lisa Kreiger
I hope so.
Mike Kiniry
And Ernesto Lasso de la Vega is the pond watch coordinator with the Lee County Hyacinth Control District. Ernesto, it's always a pleasure. Thank you. This episode originally aired last year on June 2nd. Ernesto has since retired from his long career with Lee County. All of the guidance we referred to and advice they gave still does apply as we begin the month of June. You can find links to Lee County's fertilizer ordinance and others now in place across Southwest Florida on our website, wgcu.org slash GCL. Our show today was produced by yours truly with technical support from Jared Gonzalez. For now, thanks for listening. I'm Mike Canivory. This is WGCU FM Fort Myers 90.1, WMKO Marco Island 91.7 FM. We are NPR for Southwest Florida.
Transcript created with Copilot. Please forgive any spelling errors or mistranslations.
