By Aaron Lynch
Here in Lehigh Acres, we not only attract snowbirds during the winter months, but we also attract berry pickers during the summer time. It is that time of year now that residents of Lehigh Acres can see people trespassing on private property searching for saw palmetto berries to pick. To some the pickers do no harm, but to others they are a huge concern and safety issue. Year after year these pickers have been coming to Lehigh Acres for only one purpose, and that is to trespass for their own benefit.
This is not just only a local problem. Berry picking is a large-scale operation that is taking place statewide. State parks with the help of FWC have been unsuccessfully trying to stop pickers every season. The Florida black bear depends on the saw palmetto as a source of food in the summer and pickers strip ever last berry they can get to. Do not be fooled when you drive by one or two pickers and form a belief that it is a small-scale operation. These individuals come in massive numbers and a few people can pick 5,000 lbs of berries per day. This large-scale picking of the saw palmetto berries can have a long-term effect on the surrounding environment. The palmetto berry is also the seed for the next generation of plants if they continue to be stripped the plants existence will be threatened. Recent studies have shown saw palmettos are crucial for the survival of the Florida Panther. Animals that utilize the and depend on the berries for survival are numerous including over a hundred species of birds 27 mammal species, 25 amphibians, and 61 reptiles. I would consider the saw palmetto a keystone species in florida.
Residents of Lehigh Acres have raised a concern to local officials year after year, but have continued to be told “their hands are tied.” According to the law nothing can be done unless the private landowners call the Sheriff’s office themselves and report the pickers. What message is this sending to the pickers? They know that they can come to Lehigh Acres and get away with trespassing. They have no respect for authority and continue to pick on private land and state forests. How would they handle this situation if this was happening in a more affluent area?
Its time to take action. How many more years are we going to allow this to happen? In 2008 Commissioner Mann said that he is open to suggestions on how to solve this problem. My view is that they are stealing the berries and the larger companies buying them are dealing in stolen goods. The State has already put laws in effect making it illegal to pick berries on state land . Its time to protect our private land as well.
I think they should be arrested then deported back to their own country since most of them are illegal immigrants. Year after year they trespass on my yard and then I can’t let me dogs outside in fear they will attack. I would then get sued for them trespassing. I have been forced to put up a fence to keep my family safe. What kind of a world do we live in when I have to barricade my home from trespassers?
I live on twenty acres in east Lee County and I am fed up with this! It is getting worse every year and our local law enforcement is no help. The only way to stop this is to go after the buyers.It is obvious that the only way to stop these immigrants is to go after the businesses that hire them and make it profitable for them to be here. If there was not a money incentive for them they would not be here.
That won’t happen because our representatives are bought and paid for by the businesses that profit from cheap labor.
Thank you for your comments. I also feel like going after the buyers is the only solution. There is to many pickers to go after. all the berries that are bought are sent to Europe and its almost a billion dollar industry. Florida would benefit from regulations.
I am fed up! I am trying to learn how and where to send a petition. They also destroy the habitat of the Scrub Jays who only live in Florida and are protected. I have lost 15 birds in two years and feel it is due to the pickers. Please E-mail me with any facts and information on where to send a petition.
i’m new to the area. well, the state even. i had thought of the palmetto as a problematic nuisance but am seeing it in a different light now. i don’t have any new suggestions about the illegal at worst, invasive and destructive at best, harvesting of the berries. but i do wonder if farming the plants has been considered? i admit naivete but i wonder if a legitimate industry providing the berries, even at a grass roots level, would in any way improve the situation?
We the people got to do something to stop them stealing the berries for our local wildlife that is being picked by foreign illegals to be shipped and sold mostly to foreigners in other countries.This is insane the way our local government and alot of residents dont care what is happening.It is our community and if we have pride in it ,then whenever we see someone picking these berries we got to do what ever we can to scare them away.It is unfortunate we have to do this ,but this is our community and we have to defend it if our government and most of our locals wont.I pledge i will fight for it and I hope you will to.
This is probably one of your worst jobs someone in America can have. They have obviously taken this job as a desperate last option. This is the only way that they can feed their families. Don’t get in the way of someone’s job. Everybody has to eat.
Everyone has to eat? So it’s okay to break the law and steal. There is a reaction to every action. These berries are the staple food for wildlife.When their food supply is stolen, they are forced to forage for food anywhere they possibly can. Tell the people who die in collisions with wildlife traveling outside their normal areas in search of food that it’s “OK” they died because these illegals needed to eat!