MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – “It is the second most imperiled habitat in the world,” said James Duncan as he led a group of volunteers through the Tamiami pineland Complex Addition in west Miami-Dade County.
Duncan is the special projects administrator for the county’s Division of Environmental Resources Management program, or DERM as most people know it.
On Tuesday, the agency’s Environmentally Endangered Lands, or EEL, program received a major assist from the Miami Heat for their 14th Annual Heat Beach Sweep. The event was sponsored by Amerant Bank and is part of the franchise’s conservation campaign that raises funds and awareness for environmental protection.
Legacy Miami Heat star Glen Rice led the team in the effort to plant 3,000 native trees and help restore this important ecosystem.
“(It’s) absolutely beautiful, I’m enjoying it,” Rice remarked. “Every time I get an opportunity to get out here and help the community in any way, you can count on me being here.”
This year’s mission brought volunteers to a four-acre parcel of EEL land in West Kendall that was once a historical wetland marsh.
“Watch to see the wildflowers that we planted connect the wetland to the pine pockland,” Duncan explained as he walked through the trail. “It’s an edge between two habitats where one habitat turns to another.”
The pine rockland that abuts the wetland is one of few places where you can still find this critically endangered habitat, with now less than one and a half percent existing outside of Everglades National Park.
“They (the pine rocklands) are the lungs of this county,” explained EEL program director Janet Gil. “Everybody thinks of them remotely in these areas like the Amazon but literally these EEL-managed forests are the lungs of our county.
“Our partnership with the Heat is extremely significant, it’s bringing outreach and media attention to a whole new audience. EEL needs all the exposure it can get, it’ll bring the love that’s needed.”
Its love and muscle from volunteers that’s necessary to help the program in its management of more than 23,500 acres of land in Miami-Dade County.
“This is just the tip off of what they’re doing try and try to highlight, and try to encourage other folks to get involved and volunteer with them to continue this mission that they have,” explained the Senior Manager of Social Responsibility for the Miami Heat Leon Bichachi.
The trees planted for the event are also part of the county’s ambitious mission to increase Miami-Dade’s tree canopy by 30% by the year 2030. Over the past three years, nearly 28,000 trees have been planted.
Since 2023, Local 10 News has also contributed to this tree-planting initiative with the Green Street seasonal campaign.
The mission is vital because trees serve multiple purposes for mitigating climate change. Trees are carbon sinks that suck carbon dioxide right from the air. They also provide much-needed shade that can reduce temperatures by 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
“They (trees) also help with with stormwater, they recharge the aquifer,” Gil said. “So this is the cleanest spot you’re gonna get that provides those ecosystem benefits for you.”
So when the trees win, it’s a slam dunk for us too.
“When you’re actually putting a tree in the ground and then you come back years later, you feel that legacy,” Gil reflected. “They (volunteers) will be a part of expanding the footprint and guaranteeing that pine rocklands will exist for many, many more years.”
You don’t have to be a part of the Miami Heat organization to plant trees and protect these critical lands. The EEL program is always looking for volunteers. You can find out more information about how to take part in this team effort by visiting their website.