Residents Rally to Protect Nesting Herons, Halt Biscayne Park Tree Cutting

Biscayne Park residents successfully stopped the removal of eight Australian pines on NE 121st Street, which contained nesting yellow-crowned night herons. After lengthy and scorching public comments from many residents at a special commission meeting on March 26, the Biscayne Park Village Commission gave in to resident demands, not only to halt the removal of the eight trees, but possibly even reconsider the need for future removal.

Ironically, the small village of just over 3,000 residents is a bird sanctuary, meaning there are ordinances in place to prohibit harm and cruelty toward birds, such as hunting, trapping, or destroying their nests.

“Taking a sledgehammer to all the pines instead of going carefully through and seeing which ones were causing potential danger or had wildlife in them is inhumane,” Susan Howell, a Miami Shores resident, said at the meeting. “Think about our homes, if someone came in and knocked down our homes in the middle of our nesting season. Think about nature. They can't speak to us, but they are speaking to us in ways of wonder."

Howell was one of many residents who were unhappy with the commission’s actions in February. The commission decided to cut down 37 Australian Pines after one Australian Pine on NE 113th Street collapsed on January 9. While no one was hurt or property damaged, a powerline was taken out, leaving about 45 homes powerless for hours.

Commissioner Veronica Amsler, who addressed the matter in letters to the village on February 20 and March 17, led the discussion at the March 26 meeting. Other residents at the meeting charged the commission with rushing the project and handling it recklessly. Some downplayed the risks the trees posed to public safety, the main reason the project was rushed in the first place.

One resident even accused the commission of falling into “native-plant Nazism” or “the belief that native plants are a master race, and the non-natives are all inferior to be exterminated.” Australian pines are not native to South Florida and are considered invasive, another reason the commission initially cited for removing them.

Most, though, were just angry that the nature they enjoyed was wiped out.

“You have created a scar on our landscape, almost wiped out the herons' yearly nesting sites, and have traumatized the neighbors who are most directly affected by these wonders," Dori Zieman, a Biscayne Park resident, said. "This isn't about pointing a finger at any one person. You collectively voted on this plan. You are all to blame for this failure.”
After the Australian pine fell in January, interim village manager, Albert Childress, who had just arrived last year, was quickly made aware that Australian Pines had been a problem in the village. Childress, who believed this was a matter of public safety and that falling trees posed a significant risk, moved quickly to get the removal underway, asking for surveys and price estimates from three landscaping companies, he told New Times.

Childress went with Joe's Landscaping and Tree Service, located in North Miami Beach. They found 37 Australian pines in danger of collapse and offered to remove them for $120,000.

Resolution 2025-14, waiving the competitive bidding process due to public safety concerns, was quickly drafted and approved by the commission on February 4. The resolution called for Joe’s to remove all 37 trees.

That is where the issues started. Tree removal began in early February, but residents at the meeting complained they were basically unaware of this. Some woke up to trees being cut down on their street without notification.

After successfully removing many trees, the village halted the removal on February 20, when Biscayne Park resident Melanie Oliva (a New Times contributor) and her neighbors notified the village commission that eight trees they were planning to cut down on NE 121st Street contained heron's nests.

Oliva was one of the residents who was most involved in protecting the herons. In addition to petitioning the commission, she and others held sessions on NE 121st Street so residents could view the herons. During these sessions, she obtained over 440 signatures and finished by presenting a PowerPoint at the March 26 meeting.

Her notification of the herons' nests to the commission stopped the tree removal in its tracks, not only because the commission promised to avoid wildlife during the February 4 meeting but also because of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), this act prohibits "the intentional taking of these birds, their eggs, nests, or young is permitted without proper authorization. "

Yellow-crowned night herons are protected under this act, especially during their nesting season which is from early spring to mid-summer. Therefore, the commission legally can't do anything to the trees until the heron's nesting season ends and they are gone.

The FWC was made aware of the village's attempts to cut down the trees on February 21 and "gathered all available information," they told New Times, but FWC officers didn't issue any citations.

After Oliva halted the tree removal, the village had a fiery March 4 commission meeting when residents similarly attacked the commission for the project. In the end, the commission reached the conclusion that Oliva and the other residents fighting to preserve the trees and herons wanted: the removal of the remaining eight Australian pines would be halted for now.

A bigger win for Oliva and others is the commission’s decision to take a more cautious approach in September, when the commission will reconsider removing trees. While they are required to wait until nesting season is over to cut down the pines, they aren’t just going to start cutting once the herons are gone.

Childress told New Times they plan to hire an arborist in August to inspect trees in the village and determine which are at risk of falling and could be a public hazard. Then, in September, the commission will hire a wildlife inspector or biologist to ensure the trees that have been identified for removal don’t contain any wildlife.