Since mangroves grow along the coastlines, lagoons, and estuaries of the state, their domain has been significantly reduced by the dredging, filling, and bulkheading of waterfront property for development. In addition, large concentrations of mangroves were isolated from lagoon waters in the 1950's, by the construction of dikes that established impounds for mosquito control. These impounds continue to be used for controlling mosquito populations through the managed flooding of wetlands during the summer months when tidal waters are low and insect reproductive activity is high. The dikes now prevent the free flow of water between the mangrove wetlands and the lagoon, thereby denying the marine ecology the full benefits of the mangrove population.

Development and population growth will continue to have a negative impact on habitat necessary to maintain commercial and recreational fisheries. Based on analysis of aerial photos from the 1940's, 1950's, and 1980's, one study of the Indian River Lagoon from Sebastian Inlet south to Vero Beach, documented an 86 percent decline in the availability of mangrove habitat to fisheries over a forty year period.

An opportunity to derive significant direct economic benefit from mangroves as a means of erosion control is evident along roadways that abut intracoastal waters. Such major highways as A1A and U.S.1 require constant and considerable maintenance to repair erosion damage at the waters edge that in many cases threatens integrity of the road bed. The author has document one section of A1A where Florida Department of Transportation regularly must fill and grade to prevent damage to the road itself due to wave activity and upland run-off. In addition, along the same roadway Florida Power and Light has on several occasions experienced falling power poles as a result of the eroded road embankment. This is an excellent example where mangrove replenishment can offer an ecologically sound and environmentally beneficial means of erosion control. DOT is annually spending significant funds and resources to maintain rock revetments that do not effectively control erosion caused by wave action or run-off. In fact, as evidenced by the photographs, the revetment offers only temporary protection and no long term solution in erosion control. The rock that is intended to sustain the embankment continually migrates into the lagoon, creating a need to dump more rock and fill in its place. This situation is a where mangroves, as natural members of the estuary system, can have a positive impact on controlling erosion by softening shoreline, dissipating wave energy, stabilizing the embankment, and reducing the effects of upland run-off. It seems logical that DOT should redirect some of the current funds being expended in perpetuity on short term fixes and invest them in a long term solution. Employing the Encased Replanting methodology along lagoonal waters adjacent to such roadways would reduce periodic maintenance costs and offer an environmentally beneficial solution.

A planting simulation illustrates the encased process and progressive development of the red mangrove tree.