Upland Plant Management

The Upland Invasive Exotic Plant Management Program conducts invasive plant removal on public conservation lands throughout the state, as required by Florida Statute (F.S. 369.252).

Invasive plant removal projects are recommended by a network of eleven Regional Invasive Plant Working Groups, comprised of local land managers who are interested in or responsible for maintaining and restoring federal, state, and local government conservation land. The program hires private vegetation management contractors to do the work.

Our goal is to use ecosystem management concepts such as "place-based management" to bring together diverse interests to develop flexible, innovative strategies to address local upland invasive plant management issues.

During its two decades of operation, the Uplands Invasive Plant Management Program has conducted 2,000 invasive plant control operations targeting 2.7 million acres. The program has assisted land managers on 700 federal, state, and county-managed natural areas that comprise over 10 million acres, or 90 percent of public conservation land in the state.