![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/saw-palmetto-berry-serenoa-repens-300x202.jpg\" "\\"saw-palmetto-berry-serenoa-repens\\"")
Here in Lehigh Acres, we not only attract snowbirds during the winter months, but we also attract berry pickers during the summer time.\u00a0\u00a0It 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.\u00a0\u00a0To some the pickers do no harm, but to others they are a huge concern and safety issue.\u00a0\u00a0Year after year these pickers have been coming to Lehigh Acres for only one purpose, and that is to trespass for their own benefit.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/DSCF0116-300x225.jpg\" "\\"DSCF0116\\"")
This is not just only a local problem.\u00a0\u00a0Berry 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.\u00a0\u00a0Do not be fooled when you drive by one or two pickers and form a belief that it is a small-scale operation.\u00a0\u00a0These individuals come in massive numbers and a few people can pick 5,000 lbs of berries per day.\u00a0\u00a0This 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.<\/p>\n
Residents of Lehigh Acres have raised a concern to local officials year after year, but have continued to be told \u201ctheir hands are tied<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0According to the law nothing can be done unless the private landowners call the Sheriff\u2019s office themselves and report the pickers.\u00a0\u00a0What message is this sending to the pickers?\u00a0They know that they can come to Lehigh Acres and get away with trespassing.\u00a0\u00a0They 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?<\/p>\n Its time to take action.\u00a0\u00a0How many more years are we going to allow this to happen?\u00a0\u00a0In 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.\u00a0\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Aaron Lynch Here in Lehigh Acres, we not only attract snowbirds during the winter months, but we also attract berry pickers during the summer time.\u00a0\u00a0It is that time of year… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}