ANNA MARIA – The plants and landscaping recently removed near the Cedar Avenue beach access will be replaced by new native plants and landscaping.
On Saturday, Nov. 27, Anna Maria resident Dennis Ellsworth sent Mayor Dan Murphy an email in which he expressed his concerns regarding the scope and scale of the city’s plant and landscaping removal and replacement project.
“Went to the end of Cedar Avenue yesterday. This sight made me want to vomit. Did the city do this, and if they did what was the purpose? Will the path at Mangrove Avenue or the path to Bean Point be next?” Ellsworth stated in his email, which included before and after pictures of the area.
On Tuesday, Nov. 30, Murphy responded to Ellsworth’s email: “This trimming and clean out was done by the city to foster the growth of sea oats and other native species. Numerous Brazilian pepper trees along with other invasives were removed. The project is not completed and will include the planting of native species in place of the invasives,” Murphy stated in his email.
In his response to Murphy’s email, Ellsworth wrote, “Thanks for responding. I understand the desire to rid the area of invasive species. However, looking at previous photos of the area, the only invasive species I see are mother-in-law tongue and Australian pines. Sea grapes were removed as well as immature sabal palms.”
During a visit to the Cedar Avenue beach access on Wednesday, Dec. 1 as the work continued, Ellsworth said, “What they’ve done to this area upset me a lot. I didn’t think it was necessary.”
On Friday, Dec. 3, Murphy and Public Works Manager Dean Jones provided some additional insight on the ongoing plant removal and replacement efforts.
“A lot of invasive Brazilian peppers were removed, as well as the other invasives that were taken out. It’s a work in progress,” Murphy said. “We are going to bring in more sea oats and plant those there, as well as some additional vegetation that attracts gopher tortoises. Right now, it doesn’t look very pretty. It looks scalped and barren, but it’s going to be beautiful when we get through with it.”
When asked about the project, Jones said coco plums are among the native plants that will be planted in that area. He said gopher tortoises enjoy the edible plums those plants provide.
“We’ll have beach daisies going in there, coonties, some green buttonwoods and we’re planting at least 100 sea oats. Sea oats are the best plants for erosion control during hurricane season. The goal of this project is to reclaim that area that had been taken over by invasive species. Now that we have a clean palette to work with, we can start bringing all the native species back. I know there’s been some negativity about it, but in the end, everybody will be happy with what we’re doing.”
Jones noted the roots of the removed sea grapes remain in place and some are expected to regrow.
“My crew has done a great job out there. We’ve learned a lot about that area and we know that when we finish, it will be better than it was. We didn’t see one gopher tortoise hole in that area, which tells me they didn’t want to be in that area because of the invasive species. If you look at other areas that have sea oats and the native species, we find tortoise holes all the time. I truly believe in this project and it will be a good thing,” Jones said.
