Satellite Beach man, 91, wages war against pepper trees

INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH – Chainsaw in hand, John Baker gazed upward at his 25-foot leafy enemy — an imposing, invasive Brazilian pepper tree whose myriad branches snaked across the ground like a wooden octopus.

“See the berries? By Christmastime, they’ll be red,” Baker observed, pointing.

Removing his hearing aids, the 91-year-old inserted earplugs, pulled on leather gloves, knelt in knee-high brush and primed his trusty orange Stihl MS 250C. Then the chainsaw roared to life and he attacked the tree, lopping off limbs and tossing them into a pile near South Patrick Hardware and Lumber.

You could call Baker Brevard County’s most dedicated pepper-tree buster. A nonagenerian with a strong handshake, the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel has devoted decades to eradicating the environmentally damaging plant from the barrier island, eliminating trees for landowners between the Pineda and Eau Gallie causeways, free of charge.

Baker drives a gray 2006 Toyota Tundra containing three chainsaws, an orange pump sprayer, a toolbox and jugs of herbicide, oil and gasoline.

He typically wears a round brim hat, jeans and long-sleeved collared shirt in the field, though he’s been known to cut the toes out of old tube socks and wear them as sleeves to ward off sharp branches.

At home, he keeps a spiral-bound logbook documenting his pepper-purging labors. To date, he has cleared pepper trees from 1,084 lots in Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach and South Patrick Shores.

“The birds eat the berries. The coons eat the berries. They spread the seeds everyplace. They drop in the water. They float up on shore. And you get them all along the shore. And if they’re not controlled, they just completely crowd out native plants,” Baker said.

“As long as I’m physically able, I’ll keep doing it. My wife isn’t too happy. She’s afraid I’m going to get hurt. Sometimes I have to go up a ladder and work near power lines. She’s not very happy with my chainsaw work,” he said.

“At 91, I’ll keep going for a while,” he said.

Make no mistake: This is hard, sweaty work that would make many 20-somethings blanch. Baker has dissected monstrous pepper trees over the years, including a 50-foot goliath on Lansing Island boasting a 4-foot-thick trunk and limbs stretching 60 feet outward.

Since the 1990s, Baker has advertised free pepper tree removal services in Satellite Beach’s Beachcaster community newsletter. He also used to rustle up gigs by stuffing fliers in people’s mailboxes if he spotted pepper trees looming in their front or side yards.

But nowadays, demand has tapered out because most of the fast-growing invaders have been cleaned out between the causeways.

“John changed the landscape of Satellite Beach, both literally and figuratively. He’s putting himself out of business,” said Michael Crotty, who served as city manager from 1985-2012.

“We had a big problem with the invasive trees. He was a crew of one. He was the go-to man on getting rid of the exotic invasives,” Crotty said.

After flying combat missions in Europe during World War II, Baker got stationed at Patrick Air Force Base in 1958. He moved to Satellite Beach in 1963 upon retirement from the military. Later, he launched his anti-pepper crusade when residents began exterminating the non-native species from overgrown Samsons Island in 1991.

“It was completely covered with pepper trees. Probably 25 to 30 volunteers started working on the island, and after about five or six years we had the pepper trees cleaned off. We burned huge piles of brush,” Baker said.

Kerry Stoms, Satellite Beach’s longtime recreation director, said Baker has probably logged more hours working on Samsons Island than any volunteer in city history. He returns via boat every two or three months to clear up re-sprouting pepper trees.

“We had 52 acres of pepper trees on Samsons Island, Now today, thanks to John, we’ve just got a few small pepper trees in the underbrush that were dropped by birds,” Stoms said.

“His reputation is as ‘Chainsaw John.’ But a kinder man you probably would not know in your life. He’s always very respectful and concerned. Anything that he does is typical of a Southern gentleman, always trying to be kind and upstanding,” she said.

Baker’s “free pepper tree eradication” notice is posted on the Satellite Beach City Hall website home page.

“I meet an awful lot of nice people. And I feel that I’m doing a little bit to help the environment. It gives me a way to get away from the house and sitting on the couch and watching television,” Baker said.

“Good physical exercise,” he said.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter.

Call the pepper buster

Satellite Beach resident John Baker chops down Brazilian pepper trees beachside between the Pineda and Eau Gallie causeways, free of charge.

Call 321-777-0996.

Dread menace

Brazilian pepper trees are the Sunshine State’s most widespread invasive plant, infesting more than 700,000 acres across Central and South Florida.

The evergreen shrub-like plants quickly multiply into dense, closed-canopy forests that shade out practically all plant life, alter natural fire patterns, and support few wildlife species.

Brazilian pepper is related to poison ivy and poison oak, so some people who touch its sap suffer allergic skin reactions.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission