Prairie Pines
When clicked on, the images on this page open in a new window.
Mellow Drive (Del Prado Blvd. North)
North Fort Myers, FL 33917
The Prairie Pines site about 64 acres of pine flatwoods owned and managed by the Lee County Parks and Recreation Department. The land is a palmetto and pine wetland infested with a range of large to sapling sized melaleuca trees intermingled with slash pine and saw palmetto. The land is seasonally flooded. The site consists of 13 plots. The stump treatment plot consists of nine subplots.
For more information about this site, click here.
Chemical Treatments 
Slightly over twenty-eight acres received aerial chemical treatments. We treated 7.4 acres using hack and squirt with the following herbicides: Arsenal, Rodeo, and an Arsenal-Rodeo mix. Five aerial plots and the stumps on nine subplots each received a different herbicide or mix of herbicides.
Subplots 1 through 3, 5, and 6 were treated by contractors with commercial herbicides. Subplot 4 was treated with off-the-shelf consumer products. Subplots 7 through 9 were not treated with chemicals.
Mechanical Treatments 
Almost 15 acres received mechanical treatments using heavy equipment as follows:
| Acreage treated |
Type of Treatment |
|---|---|
| 4.8 |
Standing trees ground using a brontosaurus |
| 4.8 |
Leveled and stacked using a feller-buncher |
| 5.0 |
Leveled and chipped using a Barko chipper |
Biological Control Treatments 
We released melaleuca psyllids (Boreioglycapsis melaleucae) on 3.3 acres. Melaleuca weevils are present here naturally as a result of earlier releases elsewhere.
Mention of trade names or commercial products on this web site is solely for the purpose of providing specific information, and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, South Florida Water Management District, or University of Florida.
