by Helen Harrison
Recently, “Save Our
Pines” had a picnic at Ft. Zachary
Taylor Park to celebrate
the first anniversary of the
Australian pines being saved.
On March 19, 2008, State
Representative Ron Saunders
and the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection
reached an agreement with
Save Our Pines allowing the
Australian pines to remain at
Ft. Zachary Taylor Historic
State Park. DEP has a policy
of eradicating all Australian
pines. At the urging of Save
Our Pines, Rep. Saunders filed
legislation that would have
prevented them from doing so
at Fort Zach.
Faced with pending legislation,
the DEP negotiated a
“Memorandum of Understanding”
stating the pines would
only be removed if they died,
were lost in a storm or were
a safety hazard. Also agreed
upon a year ago were annual
maintenance of the pines and
the removal of calcium compounds
and other unnatural
overburden from the pine
roots.
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