Skip to main content

Tag: Anna Maria Island mangroves

FDEP educates officials on mangroves

FDEP educates officials on mangroves

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Environment, Outdoors.

HOLMES BEACH – Representatives from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) want to make sure that city leaders know what they’re getting into if they opt to take over mangrove regulation from the state agency.

Holmes Beach city leaders are considering partnering with Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Longboat Key officials to locally monitor and regulate mangrove trimming and removal under the authority of FDEP. Issues of unauthorized removal of mangroves, large-scale trimming and lot clearing have led local leaders to consider taking on the permitting and enforcement duties.

FDEP Environmental Administrator Hannah Westervelt visited city commissioners during a June 11 meeting to explain how mangroves are regulated by the state and what the limits of their power would be if commissioners opt to apply to take over regulations from the state.

Florida Statute 403.9321, the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, states the intent for the government regulation – to protect mangroves from unregulated removal and destruction, protect uninhabited mangrove islands and conservation/preservation lands, give property owners a riparian right of view and encourage property owners to plant and maintain mangroves.

A lesser-known regulation that Westervelt stressed in her presentation is that the act doesn’t distinguish between living and dead mangroves, therefore it protects both and the same trimming and removal rules apply even if the tree is dead.

While she said that a local municipality can create a delegation to enforce mangrove protections and make their own rules regarding mangrove trimming and removal, they are limited by established exemptions, which they cannot change. Only state legislators can change the exemption qualifications for mangrove trimming, alteration and removal.

“There is the ability for local governments to apply and obtain the ability to regulate and enforce this act,” Westervelt said. To qualify, she said the local government must create a program, budget funds for running the program, and handle both permitting and compliance.

Exemptions are not required to have a permit from FDEP, Westervelt said, though they can have an exemption verification done if the work is questioned. She said all exempt trimming, defined by FDEP as “to cut mangrove branches, twigs, limbs and foliage; does not include roots; does not mean to remove defoliate or destroy the mangroves,” must occur only in a riparian mangrove fringe. The riparian mangrove fringe is where mangroves growing along a shoreline do not extend more than 50 feet waterward from the most landward mangrove trunk to the most waterward mangrove trunk.

Homeowner exemptions include trimming within the riparian mangrove fringe on land owned or controlled by the homeowner, including submerged land. Mangroves cannot exceed 10 feet tall before they are trimmed under an exemption, or be trimmed lower than 6 feet tall. All trimming should be done by a certified professional mangrove trimmer and within regulations determined by height and shoreline length. Any trimming or mangrove alteration that doesn’t fall within an established exemption should be discussed with the local governing authority before any work takes place to determine if the work can be legally done and if a permit is needed.

Westervelt also advised that anyone doing mangrove trimmings take before and after photos of the mangroves in case a question of a violation comes up when the mangroves are inspected. If a violation is found, she said both the owner and the person trimming the trees are liable and may be required to restore the mangroves or perform some kind of mitigation on the site.

Mangroves are protected in Florida due to the protection they provide for properties against erosion and flooding and their role as nurseries for sea life.

Mayors propose to regulate mangroves

Mayors propose to regulate mangroves

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News.

LONGBOAT KEY – The mayors of the three Anna Maria Island cities and Longboat Key are considering making a joint application to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to obtain local control over mangrove regulations.

The discussion took place at the Coalition of Barrier Island Elected Officials (BIEO) meeting on April 17 at Longboat Key Town Hall, and followed a presentation by Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Dr. Abbey Tyrna.

Tyrna began her presentation by displaying a 1940s-era aerial photo of the north end of Anna Maria Island, which showed a lagoon lined with mangroves.

“I wanted to show you this because later you’re going to see where mangroves were removed from a place that is now on what they call a manmade canal,” she said. “From the 1940s you can see there were a lot of naturally-occurring mangroves.”

In the 1990s, a large amount of mangroves were removed during a period of development, she said.

“Most of that was occurring on the Sarasota Bay side of things,” she said. “At the time mangroves decreased by 26%.”

She said that number has increased exponentially with further development.

“Canals are a particular focus, because the mangroves are vulnerable right now to development,” she said. “Older homes are developed, out with them goes not only the older home, but also the mangrove area.”

Any mangrove in a canal system can be removed under the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, she said.

“So the state will allow that removal” in Manatee County, Tyrna said, adding that it’s different in Sarasota County, because officials there have opted to accept the delegation of enforcement of the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. The county does not allow mangroves to be removed on manmade canals without mitigation.

Tyrna then displayed a photo of a home at 111 Gull Drive in Anna Maria prior to its development and the subsequent removal of 116 feet of mangroves, which was allowed under an FDEP seawall exemption.

“You’ve probably seen 111 Gull Drive in the news,” Tyrna said. “Here’s 111 Gull Drive before the development with the mangroves lining the shoreline.”

She then showed a photo of the Gull Drive property following the mangrove removal there under an FDEP seawall exemption.

“You can see all the trees that used to line the coast are now gone,” she said. “This isn’t happening in a vacuum. There are property listings where it says ‘on a manmade canal. Mangroves will be removed.’ That means there is a lack of understanding about how beneficial they are.”

Tyrna said mangrove removal is a crisis occurring throughout the Suncoast in the rivers and bays. Suncoast Waterkeeper in the last year received 18 violation reports about the removal of mangroves.

“We need strong local policies that protect our wetland systems,” Tyrna said. “The good news is, local governments can actually take delegation and enforcement of the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act.”

She listed municipalities that have done so, which included Sarasota County and Sanibel.

“Sanibel is a barrier island much like your own and has a great robust program that puts education at the forefront of its delegation,” she said.

At the conclusion of Tyrna’s talk, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy asked what the first steps would be if a municipality, or all the towns on the Island, wanted to accept delegation of mangrove enforcement.

Tyrna suggested Murphy speak to Sanibel and Sarasota County officials and refer to the state statute which outlines the delegation application process.

Hannah Westerveldt from the FDEP mangrove division will be giving a presentation at a Longboat Key work meeting on Monday, May 20, according to Town Manager Howard Tipton.

“We could continue the conversation then,” he said.

“I wonder if we could do this under the auspices of the barrier islands (BIEO), where we band together,” Murphy said, noting that while Anna Maria likely couldn’t afford to set up the program alone, the four cities coming together could be a viable option.

“One of us could house the function and others could, through an interlocal agreement, avail themselves of that,” Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier said.

Schneier asked Tyrna to send him program information from Sarasota County and said he would distribute it to Murphy, as well as to Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie.

“This is in our own backyard. The scalping (of the mangroves) is not going to stop,” Murphy said. “It’s going to continue until we do something about it.”

“We really need to have the mangrove replacement remedy available,” Schneier said.

Tyrna said local governments that have delegation authority have the ability to be stricter than the state regulations.

“The state is the floor, you have all the way up to the ceiling,” Tyrna said.

Mangrove jurisdiction differs by county

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Environment, Featured, Outdoors.

ANNA MARIA – The outcome of the removal of 116 feet of mangroves to build a seawall at a Gull Drive home may have been different if the property had been located in Sarasota County instead of Manatee County.

A contractor removed some of the mangroves prior to receiving a federal permit, but had been granted an exemption from the state permit requirement by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the federal permit, the contractor removed the rest of the mangroves. No county permit was required.

“In Sarasota County, this wouldn’t happen” because the county has jurisdiction over mangroves under the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna wrote in a March 7 email to The Sun. “If mangroves had to be removed to install a seawall, then mitigation would have had to take place.”

Under the act, “The department (FDEP) shall delegate its authority to regulate the trimming and alteration of mangroves to any local government that makes a written request for delegation.”

Sarasota is one of the few counties statewide, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Broward, that have such authority.

Manatee County does not.

According to the act, most areas in which 5% or more of mangrove trees have been trimmed below 6 feet in height, destroyed, defoliated, or removed must be restored or mitigated.

“Restoration must be accomplished by replanting mangroves, in the same location and of the same species as each mangrove destroyed, defoliated, removed, or trimmed, to achieve within five years a canopy area equivalent to the area destroyed, removed, defoliated or trimmed,” according to the act.

The owner of the 111 Gull Drive property, Sharp Development, received a seawall exemption on Sept. 19, 2022 from the FDEP.

“There are multiple seawall exemptions in the Florida Administrative Code. One of the exemptions allows for construction of seawalls in artificially created waterways and within residential canal systems, which was the exemption used for the Gull Drive case,” FDEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys wrote in a Feb. 2 email to The Sun.

According to Florida law, a permit is not required for the construction of seawalls in artificially created waterways.

“The law is not protective of mangroves,” Tyrna said. “There’s no difference between mangroves on manmade canals versus on the natural waterways. Mangroves anywhere perform the same ecosystem services, including erosion control, water, cleanup, fish, habitat, etc.”

CONTRACTOR SPEAKS OUT

In a Dec. 18, 2023 email to The Sun from Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, he wrote that a City of Anna Maria stop work order was placed on the property based on a neighbor’s complaints received earlier in December about mangrove removal. On Dec. 19, Murphy emailed The Sun identifying Mason Martin LLC as the contractor involved.

“How do you red tag something the city doesn’t govern? What did that paper really mean?” Contractor Frank Agnelli of Mason Martin said in a Feb. 27 telephone interview with The Sun.

FDEP inspectors conducted a site visit to the home on Dec. 22, 2023 and issued a report Jan. 11, 2024.

“DEP’s investigation has determined that the mangrove alteration/removal activities at this property are in compliance and within the footprint of their seawall exemption,” FDEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys wrote in a Jan. 11 email to The Sun.

However, the report said additional authorization was still required from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The USACE permit was issued on Feb. 16.

“In a nutshell, the exemption from the FDEP was required to remove the mangroves, the Army Corps of Engineers permit was to fill in the area once the seawall is in place and the city issues the permit to build the seawall,” Agnelli said.

USACE did not respond to an email from The Sun requesting comment.

Agnelli said he had authorization from the proper authorities.

“I didn’t jump the gun to remove the mangroves, FDEP gave me an exemption,” he said. “I didn’t install the seawall without a permit.”

Agnelli said the mangroves at the property were not doing what they were supposed to do, and the area flooded during high tides.

“I’m 100% mangroves in Intracoastal waters,” Agnelli said. “They’re not needed in manmade canals. When this canal was built, it was dredged and the dirt was dumped on top of the mangroves.”

“The biggest impact of these differences is that the mangrove fringe is typically not as wide along manmade shorelines than natural ones,” Dr. Dave Tomasko, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, wrote in a March 7 email to The Sun.

Tomasko noted many benefits of mangroves including underwater hiding places for fish and crabs, attachment points for oysters and sponges that filter algae, mangrove forests that can filter out pollutants and shoreline protection.

“There are numerous benefits that mangroves provide – coastal resiliency to storms through flood and wind protection are chief among them. They are also the backbone of our fishing and tourist economy,” Tyrna wrote.

The home at 111 Gull Drive is under construction with a projected sale price of $6,195,000 according to the Sharp Development website.

“The current owner advertised that the new owner will be able to fish from the dock, but without habitat, there what fish are they going to catch? Are they relying on other homeowners to maintain their habitats so that this homeowner can fish? If everybody relies on someone else we will lose all mangrove habitat,” Tyrna wrote.

“If you live along the bay, why would you not want to have the wildlife value, water quality benefits and storm protection of mangroves?” Tomasko wrote. “If everyone removes their mangroves, or cuts them down to nubs, then you’ll likely have a better view of a more polluted bay – is that what you want?”

The value of mangroves

Reel Time: The value of mangroves

Written by Rusty Chinnis on . Posted in Environment, Outdoors, Reel Time.

Anglers know the value of the mangrove forests to provide habitat, food and protection for the snook, redfish, sheepshead and other species they pursue. For those who don’t fish but enjoy eating fish, it’s important to realize that over 80% of the most popular species like grouper depend on mangroves as juveniles

People come to the west coast of Florida to live because of the area’s unique environment. The natural world that forms the basis of that environment is often poorly understood and misrepresented. Case in point, mangroves. Recently a property on a canal on Longboat Key that was lined with a 35-foot stand of mangroves was listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) with the line, “mangroves will be removed.”

A statement like this might signal to someone coming to the west coast of Florida for the first time that mangroves are not desirable, and are in effect a liability. They’re not understanding that mangroves help create what brought them here in the first place, and subsequently are protected by state law. This is a perfect case for helping homeowners understand and communicating to them how the environment (mangroves in this case) is an asset. When trimmed by a reputable mangrove company:

• The laws protecting mangroves are followed while the view is enhanced;

• The shoreline is protected from erosion;

• The maintenance cost is minimized;

• “Eye appeal” is created, enhancing the value of the property; and

• The cost of seawall construction (when allowed) and subsequent maintenance is avoided.

Mangroves that are windowed and trimmed to provide a view can function to protect the property from storms while enhancing the overall ambience of the property.

When laws protecting mangroves are violated, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection must enforce these laws. Unfortunately, state regulators are not performing their duty promptly to protect the citizens and businesses of Florida, present and future. But it wouldn’t be fair to lay the blame only on the FDEP. People I have spoken with who deal with state regulators regularly fault prior Gov. Rick Scott for eviscerating the FDEP and spawning a mass exodus of the brightest and most committed regulators. The people I spoke to at the agency have been responsive to questions and concerns and ultimately addressed the issue when they were alerted. My feeling is the agency is struggling with a limited budget and staff, especially considering the rapid development taking place in coastal areas.

That’s where we the voters come in. It’s incumbent on the citizens of Florida and Manatee County to elect officials with a proven record of protecting our most important and vulnerable resources.

You can report mangrove trimming violations at the Suncoast Waterkeeper site using their new Eyes on the Suncoast initiative. If you’re a boater, request one of their stickers that has a QR code to take you to a form where you can make a report. If we don’t do it, who will?