CERP Picayune Strand - Southwest Protection Features - Baseline Vegetation Monitoring 2023-2025

We provide quarterly baseline data on the percent cover of native and invasive vegetation, and vascular plant diversity including wetland or upland status from 12 locations in Collier-Seminole State Park and Picayune Strand State Forest beginning in November 2023. These data will be used to monitor and adaptively manage the Southwest Protection Feature Levee component and additional operations of the larger Picayune Strand Restoration Project, near Naples, Florida. Monitoring occurred across four separate strata and included percent cover by species or grouping (i.e., wetland indicator status, invasive status, etc.) in shrub and groundcover strata. The tree and sapling strata were evaluated to include these parameters as well as to quantify stand density and/or basal area. All vascular plants were included; mosses were not. The methods were a modified version of that utilized by Bonness et al. (2022; e.g., transect length was increased to 100 meters).