Florida officials want a state forest to look like it did before it was drained, roughly 50 years ago. More than 55,000 acres of wetlands were supposed to be developed, but they eventually became the Picayune Strand State Forest in Collier County.
South Florida Water Managers hope a new effort will revive more native plants there, bringing animals with them.
Since June, a pump station has been rehydrating Picayune Strand State Forest, using water from the Merritt Canal. Janet Starnes with the South Florida Water Management District said the freshwater could bring back plants that haven’t been around in years.
“Once we bring back the healthy vegetative systems, then the critters will come back. It's sort of the concept of build it and they will come,” said Starnes.
She hopes the increase in plants will provide more habitat for panthers and bears.
Starnes has good reason to think this will work. The water district used a similar strategy in 2004 with the Ten Thousand Islands, also in Collier County.
After the first wet season, she said native plants grew, which haven’t been seen in that area in more than 50 years.
