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Thieves strip parke's palms

Deputies have arrested at least 30 recently for taking saw palmetto berries.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET Times Staff Writer
Published September 21, 2007

Mayans prized saw palmetto berries as a tonic. Processing plants around the world pound them into pills to treat enlarged prostates and baldness.

Now the popular herbal remedy is at the center of a mystery the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is trying to unravel.

In the past three weeks, deputies have arrested at least 30 people for picking saw palmetto berries at southeast Hillsborough county parks: the Golden Aster Scrub Preserve in Gibsonton and the Balm Boyette Scrub Preserve in Riverview.

Most of them hail from Mexico or Guatemala. Many list addresses in South Florida, such as Fort Myers and Immokalee.

A county ordinance prohibits removing plants or parts of plants from parks, said county parks department spokesman John Brill.

Deputies don't know whether the pickers are working for a company, or why they set their sights on county property.

Parks officials have spotted pickers with dozens of large bags stuffed with up to 150 pounds of berries, which they can sell to processing companies for about $1 a pound.

"Folks are being dropped off at these locations. Then they're being picked up later in the day by trucks," sheriff's Deputy Roy Johnson said. "They load up the berries, then they load up the folks, then they leave."

But signs of their presence remain.

"They're trampling through the preserve where there are not any kind of trails. They're knocking down fences. They're leaving trash," Brill said. "We're finding plastic jugs and wrappers from food, things that normally wouldn't be out in the middle of a preserve like that."

In Hillsborough County, picking the berries on county land is a misdemeanor that carries a $500 fine or up to 60 days in jail.

The recent thefts mark the first significant surge of palmetto berry picking in Hillsborough County and the first sign of seemingly organized illegal activity at county parks, Brill said.

But the allure of the saw palmetto berry is nothing new. For years people have harvested the berries across the state. And clandestine berry picking is a familiar issue for many South Florida landowners and law enforcement officers.

"It remains to this day a street crop. People are going to go out there on their own, harvest the berries and bring them in," said Fritz Roka, an associate professor of agriculture economics at the University of Florida. "There's no documentation as to where these berries came from."

And processing plants don't require it, he said.

Brill said prices for the berries have recently increased.

"It's a supply and demand thing," he said.

And in Hillsborough County, he said, saw palmetto plants are plentiful. Deputies have stepped up surveillance of parks in southeastern Hillsborough County parks, Brill said.

Parks officials plan to give the berries that have been recovered to local nurseries to grow new trees.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 661-2454.

Fast facts

Saw palmetto berries

Species: Serenoa repens. Used as an alternative medicine treatment for enlarged prostate, male-pattern baldness and bladder disorders.

Effectiveness: Studies have indicated that it helps treat an enlarged prostate. Studies on treating other conditions are less conclusive.

Source: National Institutes of Health

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 08:31:38]