The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
BILL: SB 100
INTRODUCER: Senator Garcia and others
SUBJECT: Mangrove Replanting and Restoration
DATE: March 3, 2023
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Barriero Rogers EN Favorable
2. AEG
3. RC
I. Summary:
SB 100 requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to adopt rules for
mangrove replanting and restoration. The bill requires the rules to address significant erosion in
areas of critical state concern, protect barrier and spoil islands, assist Everglades restoration and
Biscayne Bay revitalization efforts, promote public awareness, and identify vulnerable properties
along the coastline and encourage partnerships with local governmental entities to create
mangrove protection and restoration zone programs.
II. Present Situation:
Mangroves
Mangrove forests are a distinct saltwater woodland that thrive in tidal estuaries and low-energy
shorelines throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. Florida is home to three types of native
mangrove species—red (Rhizophora mangle), black (Avicennia germinans), and white
(Laguncularia racemosa)—and has an estimated 600,000 acres of mangrove forests, the majority
of which is found south of Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast and south of Cape Canaveral on the
Atlantic Coast.
1
Mangroves play an important ecological role as a habitat for various species of marine and
estuarine vertebrates, invertebrates, and other wildlife,
2
including endangered and threatened
1
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Florida’s Mangroves,
https://floridadep.gov/rcp/rcp/content/floridas-mangroves (last visited Feb. 15, 2023). However, mangroves are gaining
ground along their northern Florida habitat limits, and as winter cold snaps decrease, mangroves are expected to expand
further north into new territory. Kristen Minogue & Heather Dewar, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, With
Fewer Hard Frosts, Tropical Mangroves Push North, 1 (2013), available at https://sercblog.si.edu/with-fewer-hard-frosts-
tropical-mangroves-push-north/.
2
Section 403.9322(2), F.S.
REVISED: BILL: SB 100 Page 2
species such as the manatee, hawksbill sea turtle, American crocodile, Key deer, and Florida
panther—all of which rely on this habitat during some stage of their life cycle.
3
Mangrove
branches act as bird rookeries and nesting areas for coastal wading birds, including egrets,
herons, brown pelicans, and roseate spoonbills.
4
Their intricate root systems provide critical
nursery habitats for fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and other marine life, allowing them to forage
and grow while remaining protected from predators.
5
The roots also make ideal underwater
perches for barnacles, oysters, crabs, and other marine organisms.
6
These organisms, in turn,
provide food for juvenile fish, birds, reptiles, and other wildlife both above and below the
water’s surface.
7
Florida’s important recreational and commercial fisheries would drastically
decline without healthy mangrove forests.
8
Mangroves also help maintain water quality and clarity by trapping sediments, absorbing
nutrients, and removing pollutants that would otherwise end up in estuaries and coastal waters.
9
Their roots provide attachment surfaces for various marine organisms that filter water through
their bodies and, in turn, trap and cycle nutrients.
10
Without natural filters like mangroves,
dangerous conditions like red tide, sargassum, and algal blooms can proliferate.
11
In addition, mangroves capture massive amounts of carbon dioxide emissions and other
greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
12
Wetlands primarily store carbon in the soils, where it
can remain for centuries. This buried carbon is known as “blue carbon” because it is sequestered
via photosynthesis and stored underwater in coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, seagrass
beds, and salt marshes.
13
Current studies suggest that mangroves and coastal wetlands annually
sequester carbon at a rate 10 times greater than mature tropical forests, making them some of the
most efficient natural carbon sinks in the world.
14
3
Florida Museum, University of Florida, South Florida Aquatic Environments: Mangrove Life,
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/southflorida/habitats/mangroves/mangrove-life/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2023). See also
Teresa O’Reilly, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Mangroves in Florida,
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/flaglerco/2018/02/09/mangroves-in-florida/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2023).
4
Florida Museum, South Florida Aquatic Environments: Mangrove Life; DEP, Florida’s Mangroves.
5
Tiffany Duong, World Economic Forum, Why planting mangroves can help save the planet (2021), available at
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/planting-mangroves-helps-the-planet/.
6
Hannah Waters, Smithsonian Institution, Mangrove Restoration: Letting Mother Nature Do the Work (2016), available at
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/plants-algae/mangrove-restoration-letting-mother-nature-do-work.
7
Id.
8
DEP, Florida’s Mangroves.
9
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Mangrove Forests,
https://myfwc.com/research/habitat/coastal-wetlands/mangroves/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2023).
10
DEP, Florida’s Mangroves.
11
Duong, Why planting mangroves can help save the planet.
12
See Jean Brodeur et al., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Blue Carbon White Paper, 1
(2022), available at https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/40456; NOAA, Coastal Blue Carbon,
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coastal-blue-carbon/ (last visited Feb. 21, 2023); Jessica Merzdorf, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASA Study Maps the Roots of Global Mangrove Loss (2020), available at
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-study-maps-the-roots-of-global-mangrove-loss.
13
NOAA, NOAA Blue Carbon White Paper at 1.
14
Id. BILL: SB 100 Page 3
Mangroves’ specialized root system can help prevent erosion by stabilizing shorelines.
15
They
also protect against damage from storm surge by reducing wind and wave energy
16
in shallow
shoreline areas.
17
According to one study by the Nature Conservancy, in Florida, mangroves
prevented $1.5 billion in direct flood damages and protected over half a million people during
Hurricane Irma in 2017, reducing damages by nearly 25 percent in counties with mangroves.
18
In
Collier County, some regions immediately behind the county’s mangroves receive annual risk
reduction benefits of over $1 million.
19
Another study suggests that without the mangroves on
Florida’s coast, the storm surge of Hurricane Wilma would have extended up to 70 percent
further inland.
20
The amount of protection afforded by mangroves depends on the width of the forest. A narrow
fringe of mangroves offers limited protection, while a wide fringe can considerably reduce wave
and flood damage to landward areas by enabling overflowing water to be absorbed into the
expanse of forest.
21
Notably, the Legislature has found that in Florida, many areas of mangroves
occur as narrow riparian fringes that do not provide all the functions of mangrove forests or
provide such functions to a lesser degree.
22
15
DEP, Florida’s Mangroves; NASA, NASA Study Maps the Roots of Global Mangrove Loss.
16
On average, mangroves reduce wave heights by 31 percent. Siddharth Narayan et al., The Effectiveness, Costs and Coastal
Protection Benefits of Natural and Nature-Based Defenses, 4 (2016), available at
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154735.
17
United States Army Corp of Engineers, Engineering with Nature: An Atlas, 110 (2018), available at https://erdc-
library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/handle/11681/27929; DEP, What is a Mangrove?, https://floridadep.gov/water/submerged-lands-
environmental-resources-coordination/content/what-mangrove (last visited Feb. 15, 2023); NASA, NASA Study Maps the
Roots of Global Mangrove Loss.
18
Siddharth Narayan et al., The Nature Conservancy, Valuing the Flood Risk Reduction Benefits of Florida’s Mangroves, 2,
available at https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Mangrove_Report_digital_FINAL.pdf.
19
Id. at 10. Worldwide, mangroves reduce risk to more than 15 million people and prevent more than $65 billion in property
damages each year. Duong, Why planting mangroves can help save the planet.
20
Jodie Berezin et al., University of Massachusetts Amherst, Using Mangroves to Mitigate Hurricane Damage to the
Southern US Coast, (2018), available at https://blogs.umass.edu/natsci397a-eross/using-mangroves-to-mitigate-hurricane-
damage-to-the-southern-us-coast/.
21
DEP, Florida’s Mangroves.
22
Section 403.9322, F.S. BILL: SB 100 Page 4
Human activities such as coastal development are responsible for destroying more mangrove
forests worldwide than any other type of coastal habitat.
23
The Florida Marine Research Institute
has reported up to 86 percent loss of mangroves in some areas of Florida since the 1940s.
24
Climate change, which results in higher sea levels and more intense droughts and storms, is also
increasing the rate of mangrove loss.
25
In Florida, mangrove loss is compounded by the regional
water management system that was built in south Florida between the late 19th and mid-20th
centuries, which has reduced the natural flow of water through the Everglades to Florida Bay and
other coastal bays.
26
Drier conditions can slow or stop the natural buildup of organic peat soils
like those in the Everglades and cause the peat soils to collapse.
27
State Regulation of Mangroves
In 1996, the Florida Legislature passed the Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act (the Act)
in ss. 403.9321 - 403.9333, F.S., to protect mangroves from unregulated removal, defoliation,
and destruction.
28
The Act is implemented by DEP as well as several delegated local
governments, including Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, and Pinellas Counties, the City of
Sanibel, and the Town of Jupiter Island.
29
Under the Act, a permit is generally required to alter or trim mangroves,
30
though certain
statutory exemptions exist.
31
Property owners do not need a permit to trim their mangroves when
the mangroves are in a riparian mangrove fringe (RMF)
32
and are no more than 10 feet in height,
so long as the homeowner does not trim the mangroves below six feet in height and does not
defoliate any mangrove. If the mangroves are more than 10 feet in height, the homeowner will
need to hire a professional mangrove trimmer,
33
but they still may be exempt from permit
requirements. However, if the mangroves are not in an RMF, the property owner will need to get
a permit and a professional mangrove trimmer.
34
Riparian property owners can obtain a permit from DEP to trim mangroves if:
The trimming is conducted in an area where DEP has not delegated the authority to regulate
mangroves to a local government;
23
FWC, Mangrove Forests.
24
DEP, Mangrove Trimming Guidelines for Homeowners, 4, available at https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/Mangrove-
Homeowner-Guide-sm_0.pdf.
25
Miriam C. Jones et al., Rapid inundation of southern Florida coastline despite low relative sea-level rise rates during the
late-Holocene, 1, 10 (2019), available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11138-4.
26
United States Geological Survey, Rising Sea Levels Could Accelerate Florida Bay Mangrove Loss (2019), available at
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/rising-sea-levels-could-accelerate-florida-bay-mangrove-
loss#:~:text=Florida%20has%20lost%20much%20of%20the%20mangrove%20forests,USGS%20research%20published%20in%20the%20
journal%20Nature%20Communications.
27
Id.
28
Section 403.9322(1), F.S.
29
See DEP, Mangrove Trimming – Delegated Local Governments, https://floridadep.gov/water/submerged-lands-
environmental-resources-coordination/content/mangrove-trimming-delegated-local (last visited Feb. 21, 2023).
30
Section 403.9328(1), F.S.
31
Section 403.9326, F.S.
32
RMF is defined as mangroves growing along the shoreline on private property, property owned by a governmental entity,
or sovereign submerged land, the depth of which does not exceed 50 feet. Section 403.9324(7), F.S.
33
Section 403.9329, F.S., delineates the criteria for which persons may be considered a professional mangrove trimmer.
34
DEP, Mangrove Frequently Asked Questions, no. 8, https://floridadep.gov/water/submerged-lands-environmental-
resources-coordination/content/mangrove-frequently-asked#whyimportant (last visited Feb. 21, 2023). BILL: SB 100 Page 5
The trimming is supervised or conducted exclusively by a professional mangrove trimmer;
The mangroves subject to trimming under the permit do not extend more than 500 feet
waterward;
No more than 65 percent of the mangroves along the shoreline which exceed six feet in
pretrimmed height will be trimmed, and no mangrove will be trimmed so that the overall
height of any mangrove is reduced to less than six feet; and
No herbicide or other chemical will be used to remove the leaves of a mangrove.
35
A general permit can also be obtained for the limited trimming of mangroves within existing
navigational channels, basins, or canals to provide clearance for the navigation of watercraft if
certain conditions are met.
36
DEP may require mitigation if mangroves are to be trimmed or altered under a permit issued
pursuant to s. 403.9238, F.S.
37
In such cases, DEP must establish reasonable mitigation
requirements that allow the use of mitigation banks as an option, where appropriate.
38
Restoration or mitigation is required for any area in which five percent or more of the mangrove
trees have been trimmed below six feet in height.
39
Restoration must be accomplished by
replanting mangroves to achieve within five years a canopy area equivalent to the area
destroyed.
40
Any replanting for restoration and mitigation must result in at least 80 percent
survival of the planted mangroves one year after planting, otherwise additional mangroves must
be planted and maintained until 80 percent survival is achieved.
41
Where restoration or mitigation is not practicable, the impacts resulting from the destruction,
defoliation, removal, or trimming of mangroves must be offset by donating an amount equivalent
to the cost of creating mangrove wetlands at a 2-to-1 created versus affected ratio based on
canopy area. The donation may not be less than $4 per square foot of created wetland area.
Payments received as mitigation must be sufficient to offset impacts and be used for mangrove
creation, preservation, protection, or enhancement.
42
Any person who fails to obtain a permit before trimming or altering mangroves commits a first
degree misdemeanor (or a second degree misdemeanor if the violation is due to reckless
indifference or gross careless disregard), punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 and/or
60 days in jail for each offense.
43
For second and subsequent violations, additional monetary
penalties for each illegally trimmed mangrove are imposed as follows:
Up to $100 for each mangrove illegally trimmed; or
Up to $250 for each mangrove illegally altered.
44
35
Section 403.9327(1)(a), F.S.
36
Section 403.9327(1)(b), F.S.
37
Section 403.9332(1)(c), F.S.
38
Id.
39
Section 403.9332(1)(a), F.S.
40
Id.
41
Section 403.9332(1)(d), F.S.
42
Section 403.9332(1)(c), F.S.
43
Section 403.9332(2), F.S.
44
Section 403.9332(3), F.S. BILL: SB 100 Page 6
Areas of Critical State Concern
The Areas of Critical State Concern Program was created by the Florida Environmental Land
and Water Management Act of 1972.
45
The program is intended to protect resources and public
facilities of major statewide significance within designated geographic areas from uncontrolled
development that would cause substantial deterioration of such resources.
46
Designated areas of critical state concern include:
Big Cypress Area (portions of Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties);
47
Green Swamp Area (portions of Polk and Lake Counties);
48
City of Key West and the Florida Keys (Monroe County);
49
Apalachicola Bay Area (Franklin County).
50
Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve
Biscayne Bay is the largest estuary in Florida, and the only large, subtropical, protected bay
within the continental United States. Biscayne Bay is home to two state aquatic preserves,
collectively known as Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves. The first, Biscayne Bay Aquatic
Preserve, was established in 1974 and runs the length of Biscayne Bay proper, from the
headwaters of the Oleta River down to Card Sound near Key Largo. Biscayne Bay Aquatic
Preserve is about 64,607 submerged acres. This aquatic preserve is split in half by what is now
called Biscayne National Park.
51
The second aquatic preserve within the Biscayne Bay area—
Biscayne Bay-Cape Florida to Monroe County Line Aquatic Preserve—was established in
1975.
52
Biscayne Bay provides habitat for a variety of juvenile and adult marine species, as well as
several of Florida’s imperiled species, including the Florida manatee, the smalltooth sawfish, the
American crocodile, and Johnson’s seagrass. Johnson’s seagrass is the first and only marine
plant to be listed as threatened on the Endangered Species List and lives in northern Biscayne
Bay Aquatic Preserve.
53
Living Shorelines
“Living shoreline” is a broad term that encompasses a range of shoreline stabilization techniques
along estuarine coasts, bays, sheltered coastlines, and tributaries. A living shoreline has a
footprint made up mostly of native material. It incorporates vegetation or other living, natural
45
See section 380.05, F.S.
46
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Area of Critical State Concern Program,
https://www.floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/programs/community-planning-table-of-contents/areas-
of-critical-state-concern (last visited Feb. 22, 2023).
47
Section 380.055, F.S.
48
Section 380.0551, F.S.
49
Section 380.0552, F.S.
50
Section 380.0555
51
DEP, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves, https://floridadep.gov/rcp/aquatic-preserve/BiscayneBayAquaticPreserves (last
visited Feb. 22, 2023).
52
Id.; section 258.397, F.S.
53
DEP, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves. BILL: SB 100 Page 7
“soft” elements alone or in combination with some type of harder shoreline structure (e.g. oyster
reefs or rock sills) for added stability.
54
There is evidence that living shorelines with intact natural coastal habitats (e.g., wetlands, dunes,
mangroves, and coral reefs) experience less damage from severe storms and are more resilient
than hardened shorelines. Areas with natural coastal habitats also have higher populations of fish
and other living organisms important for shorebirds and for recreation and commercial
purposes.
55
Living shorelines provide several benefits:
Cost efficiency for structural stabilization in low-energy environments;
Increased wildlife access in critical habitat areas;
A natural buffer that reduces coastal erosion by absorbing wave energy;
Decrease in harmful nutrients/pollutants entering coastal waters; and
Increased aesthetic value and privacy.
56
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
Section 1 amends s. 403.9324, F.S., to require the Department of Environmental Protection to
adopt rules for mangrove replanting and restoration. The rules must:
Address significant erosion in areas of critical state concern;
Protect barrier and spoil islands;
Assist Everglades restoration and Biscayne Bay revitalization efforts, including the
development of living shoreline design options for the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve that
are ecologically acceptable and consistent with s. 258.397, F.S., which establishes the
Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and sets requirements for its maintenance;
Promote public awareness of the value of mangroves statewide and support mangrove
education campaigns conducted by local governmental entities; and
Identify vulnerable public and private properties along the coastline and encourage
partnerships with local governmental entities to create local mangrove protection and
restoration zone programs for implementing the rules developed by DEP.
Section 2 provides an effective date of July 1, 2023.
IV. Constitutional Issues:
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions:
None.
54
NOAA, Guidance for Considering the Use of Living Shorelines, 5 (2015), available at
https://www.habitatblueprint.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/NOAA-Guidance-for-Considering-the-Use-of-Living-
Shorelines_2015.pdf.
55
Id.
56
DEP, Resilient Florida Program – Living Shorelines, https://floridadep.gov/rcp/resilient-florida-program/content/resilient-
florida-program-living-shorelines (last visited Feb. 22, 2023). BILL: SB 100 Page 8
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues:
None.
C. Trust Funds Restrictions:
None.
D. State Tax or Fee Increases:
None.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None.
B. Private Sector Impact:
None.
C. Government Sector Impact:
The bill may have an indeterminate negative fiscal impact on the Department of
Environmental Protection related to the costs associated with the rulemaking
requirements of the bill.
VI. Technical Deficiencies:
None.
VII. Related Issues:
None.
VIII. Statutes Affected:
This bill substantially amends section 403.9324 of the Florida Statutes.
IX. Additional Information:
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Changes:
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.)
None. BILL: SB 100 Page 9
B. Amendments:
None.
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.