OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Osceola County is working to create a cleaner, healthier Lake Toho through a vegetation harvesting project currently underway.
“I feel like it’s going to bring a lot of people back to the docks and back to the waterfront,” Osceola County resident Cameron Algero said about the project. “This used to be beautiful. It wasn’t all overgrown, so I feel like it’s a step in the right direction.”
The effort aims to clear about 160 acres of invasive plants to improve water quality, reduce flooding and encourage native wildlife to flourish.
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People who live in the area and see the lake every day are excited about the progress already being made.
“Seeing how it has changed in the last couple of weeks is actually really nice,” resident Haley Eichstadt said.
The county is removing invasive vegetation that negatively impacts water quality, recreational activities, and stormwater flow.
“If you go on this lake in a jet ski, you are probably going to be stuck on this lake right now with the invasive plants,” Water Resources and Policy Advocate for the Environment and Public Lands Department Susan Gosselin said. “What this will do is open up approximately 160 acres for wildlife and for native species to flourish. We are also improving floodwater passage from north of Neptune Road to the main part of the lake. It will improve stormwater flows within Lake Toho, remove some invasive plants that are in our lake, and remove nutrients such as nitrous and phosphorus that are bound into these plants.”
After removal, the invasive plants are placed on the shoreline to dry before being transported and turned into compost.
While this method is more costly than spraying chemicals, Gosselin says it is more efficient.
“We decided to start harvesting the vegetation from the lake instead of spraying because we heard from residents that they did not like us spraying the invasive aquatics. Harvesting also removes nutrients from the lake that should not be there and are bound in these plants,” she explained. “This process gives you fairly quick open water, but it does take a lot of effort and is more expensive than spraying, per acre. We’re looking at approximately $15,000 per acre to actually do this work.”
This project marks the first time the county has physically removed vegetation instead of using chemical sprays, a change welcomed by residents.
“A lot of the chemicals just harm the wildlife; it’s not good for the natural wildlife out there, it’s not good for the community in general,” Algero said.
The project is estimated to cost $2.2 million, funded by both state and county sources. County officials hope to complete the vegetation removal, which is being done in phases, by the end of the year.
“Our phase two will occur north of us off of Neptune road, it’s approximately 50 acres that we’ll be harvesting,” Gosselin said. “Phase three is another state-funded project, which is going to be north of Neptune Road and south of the lake.”