SUMMARY

In the second year of our Mangrove Rangers program, our team documented damage to mangrove forests across Manatee County following the intense 2024 hurricane season. These forests, which provide essential services like shoreline protection, habitat for wildlife, and carbon storage, rely heavily on their canopy structure for overall health and resilience. When canopy volume declines, mangroves lose their ability to buffer storm surge, filter water, and support biodiversity.

Unfortunately, even our healthiest site in 2024, a protected conservation area in Sarasota Bay, suffered a dramatic 46% loss of canopy in 2025. This site, once a model for mangrove health, saw massive old-growth trees snapped in half by hurricane winds, dropping its Mangrove Health Index Score from 90 to 59. This decline illustrates how even the most robust and protected mangroves are vulnerable to increasingly extreme weather events.

Still, there are glimmers of hope. Site 1, previously damaged by a 2022 sewer pipe blowout and one of our worst-performing locations last year, showed an 8% increase in canopy volume, making it the only site to experience growth. We also expanded our monitoring to include two new protected sites in Palma Sola Bay to understand better how conservation and land use affect mangrove recovery over time. These additions enable us to compare the impacts more effectively across different land use types and protection statuses.

The Mangrove Rangers program will continue to monitor these dynamic ecosystems. With sea level rise, land development, and climate-driven storms on the rise, protecting and restoring mangrove structure is more important than ever. These trees are not just coastal vegetation; they serve as a frontline defense for our communities and a vital lifeline for local biodiversity and the economy.  The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (2023) estimates that flood protection benefits from these coastal systems amount to $54.3 million per year.

DATA

Author

Alison Shuman