Florida Mangrove Coasts

Florida mangroves grow mainly on the southern half of the peninsula, typically south of Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast and south of St. Augustine on the Atlantic Coast (FWC FWRI).

Cold sets the northern edge of Florida mangrove country. NOAA explains that mangrove forests grow only at tropical and subtropical latitudes because the trees cannot withstand freezing, and it counts about 80 mangrove species worldwide (NOAA National Ocean Service); the FDEP mangrove page gives a lower figure, more than 50 species worldwide (FDEP). The Florida Natural Areas Inventory adds that mangroves need an average annual water temperature above 66F (FNAI Mangrove Swamp).

Each Florida species stops at a different line. FNAI reports black mangrove as the hardiest, forming dense stands as far north as Cedar Key and scattered shrubs farther up the Panhandle coast and into St. Johns County, while red and white mangroves form dense forest only as far north as Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic coast and Tarpon Springs on the Gulf coast (FNAI). The most luxuriant Florida stands are in the Ten Thousand Islands of the southwest coast.

The heart of the system is the southern tip of the peninsula. FNAI places nearly two thirds of Florida mangrove swamp inside Everglades National Park, and the National Park Service describes the park's mangroves as the largest contiguous stand of protected mangrove forest in the western hemisphere (NPS Everglades). Statewide, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection estimates more than 500,000 acres of mangroves remain along Central and South Florida coasts, with at least 80 percent held in public or private ownership for preservation or conservation (FDEP, What is a Mangrove?).

Florida law defines a mangrove as any specimen of red, black or white mangrove (FDEP Mangroves), while buttonwood often grows with them but is not a true mangrove (FWC FWRI).

The identification details in the table come from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and FWC, which explains that buttonwood lacks the reproductive and root features of the three true mangroves (FWC FWRI). The Florida statute counts any specimen of the three species, and FDEP stresses that dead mangroves fall under the same trimming rules as living ones (FDEP).

Salt tolerance also sorts the Florida species. FNAI reports that red mangrove cannot grow where soil salinity exceeds 60 parts per thousand, while white and black mangroves tolerate roughly 80 to 90 parts per thousand, and that trees range from dwarf shrubs on solid limestone rock to more than 80 feet tall, most often 10 to 20 feet (FNAI).

Florida mangroves serve as nursery habitat for juvenile fish, stabilize shorelines, remove pollutants from land runoff and help prevent storm surge damage (FWC FWRI).

FNAI lists common snook, shrimp, several grouper species and snapper among the Florida fish and shellfish that use mangrove swamps as nurseries, and notes that fallen leaves and the root habitat supply as much as 80 percent of the organic material in the surrounding aquatic food web (FNAI). Mangrove islands also give roosting and nesting space to Florida wading birds and shorebirds; rare animals in the community include the American crocodile, mangrove cuckoo, white-crowned pigeon, roseate spoonbill and manatee.

On the water quality side, FWC says Florida mangroves trap sediments, absorb nutrients and remove pollutants that would otherwise reach estuaries and the coastal ocean, and that they help prevent storm surge and erosion damage to coastal property (FWC). FDEP describes the same trees as storm buffers that cut wind and wave action in shallow shoreline areas (FDEP), and the Everglades National Park staff call the park's mangroves the first line of defense against hurricane winds and surge (NPS).

Storms do not always end well for the forest itself. FNAI records that after Hurricane Donna in 1960, parts of the Everglades mangrove swamp stayed bare mud flats for decades, possibly because dead roots no longer aerated the soil, and it rates Florida mangrove swamps as especially vulnerable to rising seas and stronger tropical weather (FNAI).

The Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, sections 403.9321 through 403.9334 of the Florida Statutes, governs the trimming and alteration of red, black and white mangroves and does not distinguish between living and dead trees (FDEP Mangroves).

Submerged Lands and Environmental Resources staff of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee coordinate the program, interpret the statute, oversee delegated local governments and review applications to become a professional mangrove trimmer (FDEP). DEP district offices and the delegated local governments process the actual trimming and alteration applications. Removal is a different matter from trimming: FDEP says the exemptions and general permits do not cover removing mangroves, so removing mangroves, for example to reach the water, may require an individual permit, and mitigation may be required (FDEP Mangrove FAQ).

Seven Florida local governments hold delegated authority under section 403.9324, and questions about trimming inside those areas go to them rather than to a DEP district (FDEP delegated local governments).

Elsewhere, FDEP directs trimming questions and applications to the local DEP district office and lists a shared permitting inbox for each district, for example [email protected] for the Central District and [email protected] for the Southwest District (FDEP). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Legislature websites.

Yes, within limits: a Florida owner may trim mangroves in a riparian mangrove fringe that are no taller than 10 feet, as long as none is cut below 6 feet or defoliated (FDEP Mangrove FAQ).

A riparian mangrove fringe is a band of mangroves along the owner's Florida shoreline that reaches no more than 50 feet waterward, measured from the most landward trunk to the most waterward trunk, and heights are measured from the substrate where the trunk meets the ground, even under water (FDEP). Section 403.9326 adds the fine print: no herbicide or other chemical may be used, the exemption applies to property with 150 feet of shoreline or less, and owners with more shoreline may trim no more than 65 percent of their mangroves under the exemption (section 403.9326, Florida Statutes).

The first three rows restate section 403.9326 (Florida Statutes); the last row follows the FDEP answers on trimming below 6 feet and on mangroves outside a fringe (FDEP FAQ). FDEP also describes an exemption, tied to certain exempt or permitted activities, to trim or alter mangroves within the footprint of a dock or growing into a seawall as maintenance or repair, and asks owners to send the district office a description and photos before starting.

Timing is the practical tip. FDEP calls October through March the most desirable Florida trimming window because the trees grow least then, and warns that in northern areas a trim during or near a freeze can compound the damage and kill the tree (FDEP). Floating, unrooted propagules may be gathered without a permit, but pulling rooted seedlings or picking propagules off a tree needs authorization, and no collecting is allowed in Florida state parks, national parks or national marine sanctuaries.

FNAI names Everglades National Park, the Ten Thousand Islands, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park and the Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area as exemplary Florida mangrove swamps (FNAI).

FNAI places those sites in Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier, Charlotte and Lee counties, and Everglades National Park lists its mailing address as 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, with a main phone of 305-242-7700 (NPS Everglades). FNAI also identifies a common Florida variant, buttonwood forest, which often grows in upper tidal areas where mangrove swamp transitions to rockland hammock and is common along Florida Bay.

The pressures on Florida mangroves are well known. FNAI lists past diking, flooding, mosquito ditching, dredging and filling, and current threats from oil spills, altered tidal flow, shifts in freshwater inflow from upland development, and invasion by Brazilian pepper, carrotwood, seaside mahoe, latherleaf and Australian pine (FNAI). FWC adds that coastal development has destroyed more mangrove forest worldwide than any other coastal habitat, and that large extents of Florida mangrove forest have been lost to coastal development, while mangroves are now protected by Florida law (FWC).

Two cautions on the official numbers. The acreage figures differ: FDEP estimates over 500,000 acres in Central and South Florida without giving a survey year (FDEP), while the 2010 FNAI guide says several estimates indicate nearly 500,000 acres statewide, citing a 1990 source (FNAI). The law's date also varies by document; FDEP calls it the 1996 act, and the statute history for section 403.9326 cites chapters 95-299 and 96-206 of the Laws of Florida, while the FNAI guide prints 1985 (Florida Statutes).