LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Birds chirping, not a cloud in the sky, wind with a slight breeze makes a perfect day to spend at Harns Marsh Preserve in Lehigh Acres.
You can walk, bird watch and fish here, but you cannot cast net fish for bass or brim.
And, you definitely cannot hunt on a Lehigh preserve.
Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District (LAMSID) Director Dave Lindsay and his team, manage the area.
Lindsay said they see more people breaking those laws.
"Too much traffic and too many rules being broken we wouldn't have a viable place in nature," he explained.
Find out what less fish in Harns Marsh Preserve can lead to in Lehigh Acres Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades' report.
When it happens, they call Florida Fish and Wildlife and restrict areas of the preserves.
"It's not that we are trying to be difficult. We're trying to be stewards of good nature," Lindsay said.
FWC told Lehigh Acres Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades they responded to people cast net fishing without a license and issued a violation here at Harns Marsh in February.
At Mirror Lakes, another LAMSID preserve, FWC said after a person placed bait and hunting equipment out, they issued a trespassing notice.
Lindsay also said Harns Marsh is the perfect environment for alligators, and there should be hundreds there. However, the reptile is rarely spotted at the preserve.
Lindsay said LAMSID is concerned people are poaching alligators at night.
He says LAMSID is interested in hiring deputies to patrol the preserves after the recent incidents.
LAMSID said you can still fish if you follow the rules, but all the plants, animals and wildlife play an integral part to keep the water healthy, such as the fish that eat nutrients.
Lindsay said if fish and wildlife are not in the marsh ecosystem, we will see and smell the problem later because all this water flows to the Caloosahatchee River.
"If we send a lot of nutrients downstream, it could be one of the big effectors on red tide...we've all got our responsibility to try to keep nature as close to normal," he said.
FJ Dias said nature called him to move here from Southwest Florida and hopes people can start following the rules.
"I wish we all could respect Mother Nature and take care of what we were blessed with," Dias said.
LAMSID said if you see someone breaking the law at a preserve call them at 239-368-004 or FWC at 888-404-3922.
