St. Augustine Beach schedules Arbor Day planting at City Hall with Alligator Farm

St. Augustine Beach Mayor Dylan Rumrill announced an Arbor Day tree-planting event at City Hall that will run Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with participation from the Alligator Farm and several local groups.

The event, introduced at a brief city meeting, will include plantings of beautyberry, Simpson stopppers, southern magnolias and chickasaw plums. "We're gonna have beautyberry, Simpson stoppers, southern magnolias, chixaw plums, and we are so excited for the people who helped us out," Rumrill said, naming participating groups including the Alligator Farm, St. Augustine Public Works Department, Matangis Riverkeepers, Friends of A1AC, the Historic Coastal Byway, Anastasia State Park and the Fish Island Community Alliance.

An Alligator Farm representative described an educational component tied to the event: "Yeah so this is 1 of our juvenile American alligators here who lives on property with us. In terms of alligators and crocodiles we're pushing 700 individuals at this historic property. We've been around for over a hundred and 30 years and our goal is crocodilian conservation, which goes in really well with this coming week with Earth Day and Arbor Day and everything coming up in the near future." The representative added the Farm will bring an animal like "Alice" to City Hall and provide information about how American alligators support local ecosystems.

Rumrill invited residents to attend. "Make sure you come here on Friday 05:30 to 07:30," he said.

The announcement focused on outreach and education rather than a policy decision or formal vote. Specifics about preparatory logistics or any permits were not discussed in the remarks on the record.