Changes to the natural hydrology first occurred in 1938 when State Road 92 was built and more recently when the road to Horr’s Island was built to access a residential development, Key Marco. Mangroves on the east side of the road to Horr’s Island and to the south and north of State Road 92 began to show signs of stress after periods of heavy rains in 1992 and died off in 1995.
Since 1992, there has been no successful revegetation in the die-off area and standing water is present in the area for long periods of time throughout the year.
Development and roadway construction adjacent to the mangrove system, located in between Goodland and Key Marco, likely altered the natural drainage patterns within the mangroves. This caused accumulation of surface water within the mangroves adjacent to the development, which drained off slowly.
Black mangrove pneumatophores were completely submerged by high surface water levels that were present for months at a time in 1995, resulting in a large-scale mangrove die-off.
The Conservancy, Coastal Ecology Group, Rookery Bay and the City of Marco, after years of work, received a grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to fund the permitting of the entire project and the restoration of the smaller die-off area on the north side of SR 92, which began in 2012.
As with any permit there are monitoring requirements, which the Conservancy is generously providing as our part in assisting in meeting the goal of restoring the whole die-off.
The purpose of monitoring is to assess the effects of the restoration on the Fruit Farm Creek Die-off.
Comparisons of pre and post-restoration vegetation and wildlife within the project area through monitoring of mangrove recovery, general health and wildlife usage will be used to gauge restoration success.
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