Lakewood Ranch's preserved lands face many threats

The Uihlein family paid about $2 an acre in 1922 for the over 33,000 acres of land that Lakewood Ranch sits on today. 

If bought at today's prices, Lakewood Ranch would look like an entirely different community.

Laura Cole, senior vice president for Lakewood Ranch, said nearly every acre would have to be developed in order to make a profit, but Lakewood Ranch has 40% of its acreage designated as green space. 

The space is split between recreational uses, stormwater management and conservation. All require upkeep as even conservation land can't remain fully untouched — especially in areas containing wetlands. 

Anne Ross, executive director of the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District, said last year’s budget was over $600,000 for stormwater and conservation. The stewardship district covers about two-thirds of Lakewood Ranch in areas that aren’t managed by one of the five community development districts. 

Whether it’s a voluntary action or a requirement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, clearing and chemically treating Brazilian pepper trees is written into the budget each year.

“They just pop up everywhere,” Ross said. “They’re a real nuisance.”

She said pepper trees are also very green and lush looking, so efforts to eradicate the pests can be unwelcome at first. Staff has to explain to residents why these nice-looking trees are not the type of greenery they want in their backyards. 

Alyssa Vinson, a horticulturist with the UF/IFAS Extension in Manatee County, said there are two big things pepper trees do to destroy a wetland. They reduce the native biodiversity and the availability of open standing water. 

A pepper tree’s overabundance of berries dropping to the ground will block out the sun to any native ground cover that had previously grown underneath the tree. 

The tree’s shallow roots spread and can spawn new trees, change the flow of water and eventually eliminate any open water that once provided a habitat for native plants, insects and amphibians. 

“Brazilian pepper is really good at just totally covering a wetland,” Vinson said. 

She also called them “potentially allelopathic,” which means the trees can exude chemical compounds into the soil that can prevent native plant species from growing. 

It also takes more than a saw to eradicate pepper trees. The nubs have to be treated with chemical herbicides. If the tree is large or the herbicide is applied more than five minutes after the tree was cut, it takes multiple applications to kill the tree. 

That is just one of the challenges. Australian pine, melaleuca (a genus of 300 species of plants that are considered invasive species here) and poison ivy need to be controlled to protect the preserved lands.

Ross said it can be a challenge to meet the success criteria required by the FDEP.

“The permits (to build near a wetland) are set up to meet a success criteria that the native plants should be able to thrive on their own with less maintenance,” she said. “However, the invasive species do make their way in. We’re constantly going into different areas to remove them.” 

Wetlands are monitored on an annual basis and can take up to 10 years to meet the success criteria. 

Beyond required permitting, the other reason the district removes invasive species is to maintain the natural flow of the water.

“As a stewardship district, we want to ensure the functionality of the systems, whether it be man made stormwater or natural flow pathways,” Ross said. “So when we have a downpour that’s out of the ordinary, the water isn’t backing up and causing damage.”