SALT SPRINGS, FL (352today.com) – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is sharing an update on its work to restore fish and wildlife habitat on Lake George in Volusia and Putnam counties. Beginning in 2020, restoration efforts include installing temporary fenced enclosures and planting eelgrass, a native freshwater aquatic plant.

Lake George historically had thousands of acres of submerged native plants, mainly eelgrass, which provided important habitat for a variety of fish and wildlife species, including manatees. This submerged habitat disappeared in Lake George following Hurricane Irma and has not naturally re-established, in part due to heavy grazing pressure from fish and wildlife.

To recover critical lake bottom habitat, the FWC planted over 90 acres, equivalent to 1,000,000 eelgrass plants, this spring. Temporary fenced enclosures were installed to exclude herbivores from grazing on recovering vegetation. In total, 34 different fenced enclosures exist around Lake George’s shoreline and cover over 110 acres. These planted areas will provide many ecological benefits and are important to the continued restoration of Lake George and the St. Johns River. An established eelgrass bed will provide food, habitat and breeding grounds for native fish and wildlife, improve fishing opportunities for anglers, and enhance water quality.

Map of Lake George showing fenced enclosures along the shoreline for eelgrass restoration.
A map of Lake George shows the locations of 34 fenced enclosures installed to protect newly planted eelgrass beds as part of FWC’s habitat restoration efforts. Courtesy: FWC

The FWC encourages boaters to use caution when navigating the shorelines of Lake George. Please refer to the map for fence locations. These fenced enclosures have reflective tape at the top of the poles to aid in nighttime navigation, as well as signage installed at each location to inform boaters of their presence. The enclosures are permitted by federal and state agencies.

The FWC plants thousands of native submerged aquatic vegetation plants every year to restore, enhance and maintain aquatic habitat throughout the state of Florida. Members of the public with questions regarding the restoration of Lake George can visit MyFWC.com/AquaticHabitats or email AquaticHabitat@MyFWC.com.

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