Changing landscape after hurricanes

Many of you know what saltwater surge does to your homes after surviving hurricanes Ian, Helene and Milton. It’s highly corrosive and destructive.

It also has a similar impact on plants and wildlife, but that’s not all bad news.

Sanibel’s calm environment is improving following a hurricane’s destructive force by targeting invasive species.

“[What] series of hurricanes that have storm surge events actually did is killed a lot of these trees that have taken over a lot of the landscape,” said Chris Lechowicz, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Director of Wildlife and Habitat Management.

Lechowicz told us that, historically, some of the tall trees on Sanibel are not native to the island.

“It was mostly an open canopy island that had a lot of grass and sporadic trees. The hurricane kind of took us in in reverse, where it killed a lot of the trees, and that should enable a lot of the grasses to come back up,” Lechowicz said.

In time, it turned tall trees back into rich lush grasslands, thanks to the hurricanes and saltwater.

Nature is fixing itself, and Sanibel is getting back to its roots, but Lechowicz also told us how turtles are now the target of coyotes thanks to the hurricanes washing away many marsh rabbits.

“Predators on the island have to find other animals to eat. Coyotes are now going after sea turtle nests, which is why all of our nests on the beach have to have a cage on them to help prevent the coyotes from getting into the eggs,” Lechowicz said.

Wildlife adapts, and turtle nests can seem like an easy meal.

Lechowicz said that sea turtles did see a decrease since Ian, as far as predation.

“The communities of wildlife on this island are probably going to change in the near future and probably last a while, and if we get more storm surge events, we may lose more of those animals,” Lechowicz said.

It’s part of the cycle of life.

SCCF reports that the hardest hit areas from Helene and Milton are along West Gulf Drive, Casa Ybel Road and the far west end of Sanibel-Captiva Road.