Sun Coast Regional Working Group The Sun Coast Regional Working Group liaison is Ms. Debbie Chayet, Pinellas County Parks Department, 631 Chestnut Street, Clearwater, Florida 33756, phone: 727-464-3347, fax: 727-464-3379, e-mail:
[email protected]. Six of the fourteen projects completed in this region were partnerships with Pinellas County. Ms. Chayet was the project manager for the following five projects. Sawgrass Lake Invasive Exotic Plant Control County: Pinellas PCL: Sawgrass Lake Park PCL Size: 400 acres Project ID: SC-015 Project Size: 55.5 acres Fiscal Year 02/03 Project Cost: $131,214.39 Sawgrass Lake Park is owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, with the park operated and maintained by the Pinellas County Park Department for passive recreational use. The Anderson Environmental Education Center located at the park is staffed by an instructor from the Pinellas County School Board and offers a wide range of environmental education programs. Air-potato vines of varying densities, ranging from light to extreme (15%-90%), infested approximately 50 acres of oak hammock, maple swamp, and ecotonal areas. There were four control sites, ranging from 5 to 20 acres in size. Target Plants Common Name FLEPPC Rank Treatment Herbicide Dioscorea bulbifera air-potato Category I foliar Glypro Colocasia esculenta wild taro Category I foliar Glypro Lygodium spp. climbing fern Category I foliar Glypro Schinus terebinthifolius Brazilian pepper Category I basal Garlon 4 Psidium guajava guava Category I basal/cut stump Garlon 4 Urena lobata Caesar’s weed Category II foliar Glypro 75 76 Air-potato, like other problem vines, smothers native vegetation with a thick blanket of leaves (above).