The Marion County Parks and Recreation Department is looking to restore a piece of history at the McPherson Campus by planting pecan trees in the area where a former orchard once stood.
Long before the McPherson Campus became the hub of Marion County’s local government activity, and even prior to becoming a school for young women, the campus was home to a multi-acre pecan orchard.
While it is unknown when the orchard was originally planted, a curated collection of photos, plans, and additional research documents from the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology points toward the late 1800s.
Pecan trees are native to the southeast, and the state of Florida produces between 5 and 10 million pounds of pecans annually, according to Andersen, P., & Shahid, M. (2004), The Pecan Tree, UF/IFAS Extension Service.
Since pecan trees require cross-pollination between varieties to produce nuts, the parks and recreation department will be planting 25 trees of the ‘Elliot’ and ‘Ambling’ varieties. The trees are expected to start producing pecans a few years after they are planted, with full production happening around 9 to 12 years after planting, according to Marion County Public Relations.
The planting of the pecan trees is part of the county’s larger initiative to replant the McPherson Campus and re-establish a healthy, long-living tree canopy.
This project also includes the removal of invasive species of trees which tend to out-compete native trees for resources. Several large Camphor trees will be removed along the northern end of the McPherson Campus in compliance with the City of Ocala’s tree removal requirements.
“We saw how much canopy has been lost through the decline and removal of several trees, not just pecans. We worked with county administration to develop a tree master plan for the campus,” stated Jim Couillard, PLA, director of Marion County Parks & Recreation and landscape architect. “We’re replacing the invasive trees with native trees more suitable for this area.”
Funding for this tree planting project will be provided by the Tree Mitigation Fund, a general trust fund created to enhance tree replacement in Marion County.
Couillard added, “The pecan trees on the McPherson Campus are actually a part of our cultural landscape. We are now in the process of replanting as much of the orchard as space allows, and in a few years, the new trees will be ‘bearing fruit’ for everyone to enjoy.”
For more information, contact the Marion County Parks and Recreation Department via phone (352-671-8560) or email (Parks@MarionFL.org).