The trails here at Buchan Airport Community Park were named in Tom Minnich's honor yesterday.  Tom, who passed away on October 7, 2012 was a champion of Englewood's ecology, especially the watershed.  

To raise awareness of the natural beauty of Englewood, Tom insisted that officials take his famous "Tour of Englewood".    In fact the tour actually focused on the watershed; and Tom's message was that our lives here depend on the health of our rivers, streams and our beautiful Lemon Bay.

The Ethnobotany Program at EC4S was Tom's brainchild.  His education and professional experience as a pharmacist, and his love of our natural world led Tom on a quest to develop a garden in Englewood where healing plants could grow and be harvested.  

Tom was a founding member of the Englewood Center for Sustainability.  He brought wit, wisdom and inspiration to everything he did.   The Ethnobotany Program will continue as a part of his rich legacy.  Donations for the program in Tom's Memory can be sent to: Sarasota County Parks, 6700 Clark Road, Sarasota, FL 34241.

At the Englewood Center for Sustainability, a new adventure is unfolding.  We have taken on Ethnobotany as a new frontier.  By definition, ethnobotany is the relationship between plants and people.  Throughout the ages, indigenous people have turned to plants for food, medicines, dyes even for currency.  In today's world, although we cultivate plants for food and for their beauty, their value for healing has been, for the most part, neglected.

Don and Janet Landis generously donated Daniel F. Auston's book, Florida Ethnobotany to ECRS. This book won the 2005 Klinger Book Award Presented by The Society for Economic Botany.  CRC Press describes the book as follows:

"Florida Ethnobotany provides a cross-cultural examination of how the state’s native plants have been used by its various peoples. This compilation includes common names of plants in their historical sequence, weaving together what was formerly esoteric information about each species into a full reference.

"The author accomplishes the monumental task of translating the common names of species, which offers insight into plant usage and a glimpse into the culture of each ethnic group or tribe. These common botanical names often demonstrate how individuals fit into their societies and how these societies functioned.

"Although there have been previous studies of plants used by the inhabitants of Florida, this is the first comprehensive synthesis of this flora-rich region that was so pivotal in the history of New World exploration."

If you would like to be a part of our ethnobotany discovery program, contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sim­ply defined, sus­tain­abil­ity is the capac­ity to endure. For humans, sus­tain­abil­ity has been described as the “poten­tial for long-term main­te­nance of well-being, which has envi­ron­men­tal, eco­nomic, and social dimen­sions.” And, while there seems to be an exasperating number of ways to define the concept, the Englewood Center for Sustainability (ECS) is simply seeking to determine – at a practical level – what sustainability means for our community, as well as for ourselves individually, and ultimately, for our planet.

Our goal for community is to be inclu­sive, rather than limiting our efforts to fixed geo­graphic areas.

ECS is Englewood’s platform for not only sharing sus­tain­able ideas but developing practical applications for sustainable ways of life. The ECS has part­nered with Sara­sota County Parks and Recreation in this ambitious educational endeavor at the Buchan Air­port Com­mu­nity Park located at 1390 Old Englewood Rd, in Englewood FL, 34223.   Currently, the cen­ter is oper­a­ting as a chap­ter of the Friends of Sara­sota County Parks and the group is gratefully using the Friends’ 501(c)(3) sta­tus for fundraising.

We welcome you to browse our website, and we hope that soon you will join us at the Center. We need your ideas and energy to define and build Englewood's Center for Sustainability!

Four well-groomed new trails are now open at the Kiwanis Park, adjacent to the Englewood Center For Sustainability and Buchan Airport Park on Old Englewood Road and SR 776.

This is a beautiful wooded area with lots of native Florida trees, shrubs and plants. New trail markers and trail information sign to be installed shortly.

In addition, this park will be the home of the new EthnoBotanical gardens and will make Englewood one of the few places in the country to offer this program. EthnoBotany is the scientific study of the relationship between people and plants, specifically how plants are used as food, medicines, in divination, cosmetics, dyes, textiles, tools, currency and in social life. Come see what Englewood has to offer.