Deputies, county workers clear 1,600 pounds from Key Largo preserve

Deputies and county workers cleared 1,600 pounds of debris from a county-owned preserve on Esther Street in Key Largo in about 45 minutes, hauling out trash that included tents, cookware, bottles, wrappers, worn clothing and other refuse.

The morning cleanup on May 5 brought together investigators and deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and staff from the Monroe County Land Authority for what officials treated as a protection job, not an arrest operation. County assistant land steward Lawrence Lopez walked the group through the encampment before anyone entered the vegetation, describing it as a decent-sized site on fragile land that had become cluttered with an abandoned homeless camp.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay said the work fit both a quality-of-life concern and a public-safety concern, with the county’s sensitive ecosystems at the center of the response. The cleanup was the 12th joint effort between the sheriff’s office and the land authority, a sign that county leaders see these sites as part of a broader land-management problem rather than a one-time blight.

Monroe County says the land authority exists to acquire property for conservation, recreation and affordable housing, a mission that gives this kind of cleanup an added local consequence. County conservation guidance says dumping on conservation land is illegal and can spread invasive exotic plants, making abandoned camps and illegal dumping a threat not just to public order but also to habitat protection in the Florida Keys.

County materials say the land steward regularly monitors conservation lands, and a county report in August 2025 described joint cleanups across several protected hardwood hammock conservation properties. Officials said additional cleanups would be done as new sites are identified, pointing to an ongoing effort to keep vulnerable parcels from sliding back into the same condition.

That approach now sits alongside a more formal county process for homeless encampments. Monroe County commissioners adopted a policy in late 2025 requiring at least 30 days’ notice before removing homeless encampments from county property, with no notices to be issued before March 2, 2026. The county also says illegal dumping of household appliances, construction materials, boats, trailers, RVs and vegetative debris on county-owned vacant land is a felony, underscoring why officials treat these cleanups as enforcement and environmental work at the same time.

The land authority itself dates to 1986 and is governed by the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners, giving the latest cleanup a place in a long-running county effort to protect land while managing the visible pressures that come with it.