Air show TV crews walked on protected sea oats.
Under state law, plants are protected
FORT LAUDERDALE — The sign atop the sand dune has a clear warning for all passing by: “Dune Protection Area. Do Not Enter.”
Yet several TV cameramen and reporters did just that while covering the Fort Lauderdale Air Show over the weekend.
A horrified onlooker snapped photos all day Saturday of the camera crews standing on the sand dune and fragile sea oats, then shared the photos with local officials via email the next morning.
“We wish to bring this potential violation to your attention,” the tipster wrote. “Observed: Walking, standing, trampling on wild sea oats at Ft. Lauderdale Airshow 2021 (date May 8, 2021) for hours.”
Sea oats, vital players in fighting beach erosion, are protected under state law.
Anyone caught cutting, harvesting, removing or eradicating sea oats from public or private land without permission of the owner can be charged with a misdemeanor and fined up to $500.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is tasked with enforcing the law and has the power to levy fines.
Sea oats, with their tall stems and deep root systems, help keep sand dunes in place during high tides and hurricanes. They also provide a safe haven for beach wildlife, including nesting sea turtles.
“The dunes are kind of our last line of protection,” said Samantha Danchuk, Broward County’s beach erosion administrator. “The dune can easily be eroded unless the vegetation is there to keep the dune in place. Time after time, we can see the roots held those dunes in place. The sea oats can easily be damaged by walking or trampling on them.”
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis was alarmed to learn of the incident on Tuesday.
“People should not walk on the sea oats,” he said. “It’s disappointing that the media crews in any way caused damage to the sea oats or the sand dunes, which are there to protect the environment.”
A county official said they will work with the city to make sure it doesn’t happen again next year.
It was unclear Tuesday whether air show organizers directed the journalists and crews livestreaming video for the event to set up shop in the middle of the sea oats along A1A north of Sunrise Boulevard by Northeast 14 Street.
Officials with two local TV stations — WTVJ-Ch. 6 and WPLG-Ch. 10 — did not offer official comment.
But normally TV crews covering a big event like the air show take direction from the event organizer on where to stand.
And that’s what happened on Saturday, according to WFOR-Ch. 4.
“Our photographer and other journalists stood where they were told to stand by air show organizers,” a station representative said. “Had our photographer known about the protected plant, he never would have stood in that area.”
On Tuesday, air show officials said they appreciated the issue being brought to their attention.
“Going forward, we will make sure our team is aware of this issue, so it does not happen again,” air show officials said.
Walking on sea oats is not good for the plant, said Scott Jackson, a University of Florida/IFAS Extension Agent with the Florida Sea Grant program in Panama City.
“When you damage just one stem it can cause substantial harm to all the roots and underground stems that connect all the plants,” Jackson said. “It can create a string of environmental damage that’s hard to recover from.”
Two years ago, Fort Lauderdale used a $5,000 dune grant from Broward County to plant 6,500 sea oats along a five-block section of State Road A1A in front of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, including the spot that got trampled Saturday, a county official said.
It was unknown Tuesday whether the air show incident damaged the sea oats. If it did, the damage might not be visible.
“Even if the stems are not damaged, you can still damage the root network,” said Dr. Jeffry Hoch, an associate professor with Nova Southeastern University’s Department of Marine and Environmental Science. “I think a lot of people do ignorantly walk on them and think they are not going to do any harm. Maybe the [camera crews] thought that getting a shot from a certain angle outweighed protecting the sea oats.”
New sea oats can be planted to replace any that might have been damaged, Hoch said.
“It takes them about two years to get back to where they can do what they need to do with shoreline protection.”
A Fort Lauderdale official said the city plans to send an expert out this week to check on whether the sea oats were damaged.