(1) “Alter” means anything other than trimming of mangroves.

(2) “Local government” means a county or municipality.

(3) “Mangrove” means any specimen of the species Laguncularia racemosa (white mangrove), Rhizophora mangle (red mangrove), or Avicennia germinans (black mangrove).

(4) “Mangroves on lands that have been set aside as mitigation” means mangrove areas on public or private land which have been created, enhanced, restored, or preserved as mitigation under a dredge and fill permit issued under ss. 403.91-403.929, Florida Statutes (1984 Supplement, as amended), or a dredge and fill permit, management and storage of surface waters permit, or environmental resource permit issued under part IV of chapter 373, applicable dredge and fill licenses or permits issued by a local government, a resolution of an enforcement action, or a conservation easement that does not provide for trimming.

(5) “Professional mangrove trimmer” means a person who meets the qualifications set forth in s. 403.9329.

(6) “Public lands that have been set aside for conservation or preservation” means:

(a) Lands and interests acquired with funds deposited into the Land Acquisition Trust Fund pursuant to s. 28(a), Art. X of the State Constitution;

(b) Conservation and recreation lands under chapter 259;

(c) State and national parks;

(d) State and national reserves and preserves, except as provided in s. 403.9326(3);

(e) State and national wilderness areas;

(f) National wildlife refuges (only those lands under Federal Government ownership);

(g) Lands acquired under the Save Our Rivers Program;

(h) Lands acquired under the Save Our Coast program;

(i) Lands acquired under the environmentally endangered lands bond program;

(j) Public lands designated as conservation or preservation under a local government comprehensive plan;

(k) Lands purchased by a water management district, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or any other state agency for conservation or preservation purposes;

(l) Public lands encumbered by a conservation easement that does not provide for the trimming of mangroves; and

(m) Public lands designated as critical wildlife areas by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

(7) “Riparian mangrove fringe” means mangroves growing along the shoreline on private property, property owned by a governmental entity, or sovereign submerged land, the depth of which does not exceed 50 feet as measured waterward from the trunk of the most landward mangrove tree in a direction perpendicular to the shoreline to the trunk of the most waterward mangrove tree. Riparian mangrove fringe does not include mangroves on uninhabited islands, or public lands that have been set aside for conservation or preservation, or mangroves on lands that have been set aside as mitigation, if the permit, enforcement instrument, or conservation easement establishing the mitigation area did not include provisions for the trimming of mangroves.

(8) “Trim” means to cut mangrove branches, twigs, limbs, and foliage, but does not mean to remove, defoliate, or destroy the mangroves.

History.—s. 5, ch. 95-299; s. 4, ch. 96-206; s. 215, ch. 99-245; s. 75, ch. 2015-229.