Resort pays high fine for destroying mangrove forest that will take 25 years to regrow
A Treasure Coast resort has paid one of the steepest mangrove-cutting fines in state history for illegally cutting about 944 mangrove trees to nubs along the St. Lucie River shoreline. The state also has issued a second fine in the case to an unpermitted West Palm Beach landscaping company.
The resort blamed a tornado for yanking out the trees, DEP reports say; however, the National Weather Service told TCPalm there was no twister. At worst, a tornado more likely would have removed the trees’ leaves, not entirely knocked down nearly 1,000 trees, said Stuart-based Florida Oceanographic Society scientist Loraé Simpson.
