Restoring a Connected and Imperiled Forest Through Partnership in Miami-Dade County

By James Duncan, Miami-Dade County
March 2024

Forests in cities often cross stakeholder boundaries and sometimes this means a forest is vulnerable to development, degradation, and inconsistent management. However, cross-stakeholder restoration is an opportunity for engagement and synergistic improvement. In Miami-Dade County, collaboration has played a vital role for the forest at Matheson Hammock, Camp Mahachee and adjacent private properties. In 2020, the journey of restoring these properties started with pilot projects. The successful pilots generated local interest and resulted in a $5 million investment in the Environmentally Endangered Lands preserve and a grass roots restoration effort next door. In early 2024, Miami-Dade County celebrated the first reforestation effort at Camp Mahachee and completion of Phase 1 of the restoration effort next door. The restoration transformed an invasive dominated vineland created by hurricane Andrew to a high performing young forest filled with endangered trees and pollinator supporting species. This January at adjacent Matheson Hammock, contractors completed restoration of tree islands that used to occur in a seasonal creek. The creek had been drained and the 25-acre site was used as a dump and tree farm for decades. Today neighboring private forests and the preserve are on an upward trajectory, and the restored tree island area has been seeded with pollinator wildflowers and native grasses. Between projects more than 10,000 trees have been planted with upwards of 50,000 trees planned. Species reintroductions are growing in labs for the restored forests. Neighbors are no longer a seed source for the invasive plants threatening this collection of habitats. Biophilia is thriving in Miami-Dade.

The forest had initially been saved by the vision of local residents at the beginning of the urbanization of Miami-Dade County. Matheson Hammock is the county’s first park; created as a nature preserve and preserved by the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program. Two decades later, adjacent Camp Mahachee was purchased by Girl Scouts using cookie sale money, creating what today is a rustic camp that is a gateway to nature for girls countywide. Some adjacent homes maintained connecting forest throughout the decades as landscaping. Today the forest is preserved by the Endangered Species Act as critical to the recovery of endangered species. It is the last home in the city to this unique wildlife. Biodiversity here is best represented by ferns, with this forest containing one of highest number of species in Miami-Dade County. The State of Florida itself also boasts having the largest number of native ferns in the continental U.S.