Pine Rockland Initiative Accomplishments to Date
Spring 2024 – Coral Reef Park
IRC has been working on exciting new projects in the Village of Palmetto Bay, Miami- Dade County at Coral Reef Park. Our crews have been working hard to remove invasive plant species and overgrow native hardwoods to restore the pine rockland habitat in the park. You can see the beautiful work happening from the before and after where the crews removed Sewervine (Paederia cruddasiana) and exposed the remnant high value patches of Saw palmettos. This park was loaded with lots of biodiversity and IRC’s crew has been doing a fantastic job repairing the ecosystem function of its pine rockland habitat. Recently, our crew found the endangered species man-in-the-ground (Ipomoea microdactyla) hanging on to life in the restoration area that was in a lower quality area of the park!
November 4, 2022 – Florida City Pineland Preserve
As part of the Pine Rockland Working Group conference, a field trip was held at Florida City Pineland Preserve, where Alex Seasholtz and Tim Joyner from Miami-Dade County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands Program led groups (students from Advanced Achievers Academy) around the preserve showing the ongoing restoration efforts.
November 5, 2022 – Calderon Pineland Preserve
As part of the Pine Rockland Working Group conference, a collaborative volunteer event was held a Calderon Pineland Preserve. More than 100 volunteers joined Miami-Dade's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program at the Preserve, planting more than 1,500 rare plants that support butterfly species and other pollinators. Thank you to the Miami-Dade Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Connect to Protect Network, Miami Blue Chapter North American Butterfly Association, North American Butterfly Association (NABA) for their collaboration, and to all of the volunteers. Photo by Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources.
June 2021 - Florida City Pineland Preserve
As part of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s “Make a Difference Week”, IRC led a field trip/bioblitz at Florida City Pineland Preserve to get the citizens outside and involved with this imperiled habitat.
April 20, 2019 - Quail Roost Pineland Preserve
Volunteers helped removed non-native invasive species, such as Asian tuberous fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) and Lananta (Lantana camara).
March 2019 – Sunny Palm Pineland Preserve
FIU Restoration Ecology class helped us remove a monoculture of Lacy bracken fern (Pteridium caudatum) from a small area within Sunny Palms Pineland Preserve.
September 2018 – Big Pine Key
Michelle Smith and volunteer pictured here, are monitoring out-planted Pineland Croton (Croton linearis) for signs of herbivory from Bartram's scrub-hairstreak butterflies (Strymon acis bartrami) on Big Pine Key.
September 2018 - Camp Choee
IRC worked with the Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida at their Camp Choee pine rockland site. The Girl Scouts reviewed the invasive plants that were present, conducted a scavenger hunt, and removed 20 bags worth of Oysterplant (Tradescantia spathacea) from the site!
