Content provided in partnership with
Oasis in the Everglades: a Florida wildlife refuge combines nature and nurture
Natural History, Nov, 2003 by Robert H. Mohlenbrock
Wetlands once covered much of the southern third of the Florida peninsula. Cypress swamps dominated the western part of the region and mangrove swamps the south coast. In the east lay a vast tract of water and sawgrass known as the Everglades. Prior to the nineteenth century, most of the settlement in southern Florida was confined to the strip of elevated land along the Atlantic coast. But by the 1800s people bent on farming began draining the Everglades by constructing canals and levees.
- Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »
In 1934 Congress established the Everglades National Park to preserve the southern part of the original Everglades. North of the park and south of Lake Okeechobee, however, development continued. There, in the late 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the establishment of three so-called water conservation areas, which further reduced the natural flow of water through the Everglades. The good news for the plants and animals that depended on the vanishing wetlands is that in 1951, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Florida, under the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, turned one of the water conservation areas into a national wildlife refuge.
Still managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (named for the nearby town of Loxahatchee and in honor of a former employee of the Fish and Wildlife Service) covers more than 220 square miles. Most of the refuge is Everglades marsh bordered by levees. The water flow is managed to create marsh areas for waterfowl and other plant and animal species. Within the marsh are slightly elevated portions of terrain known as tree islands, which, true to their name, support the growth of trees. In addition, a 400-acre cypress swamp conserves the remains of a habitat that once extended all the way from Lake Okeechobee southeast to Fort Lauderdale.
Perhaps the most striking plants in the cypress swamp are the epiphytic bromeliads, which are members of the pineapple family. These gray or gray-green plants live on the branches and trunks of the trees, but they are not parasitic. Instead, their leaves absorb moisture and nutrient particles directly from the air, such as the remains of decaying leaves and the droppings of insects and birds. Spanish moss is the most familiar example, though a misnomer: it is not a moss but a flowering plant. Its small, yellow-green flowers are particularly fragrant after sundown.
The main entrance and the visitor's center of the refuge are located west of Boynton Beach, on Lee Road, off U.S. Highway 441. The only other public entry point (from Loxahatchee Road, also off route 441) is farther south, west of Boca Raton. The northern two-thirds of the refuge is closed to public use, but the rest provides ample opportunities for biking, canoeing, fishing, and hiking.
The refuge needs extensive management to maintain its present condition. Periodic prescribed burning enhances the growth of certain native species and, perhaps more important, slows the growth of an aggressive invasive species, melaleuca. Furthermore, the refuge is a part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project, which is trying to return as much of the Everglades as possible to more natural conditions.
A major part of the project, under the direction of the Corps of Engineers, is to restore the natural flow of water. The South Florida Water Management District, which is manipulating water depths and flows under its jurisdiction and examining the responses of plants and animals, is conducting experimental studies at the refuge. The hope is to learn how to re-create, on a small scale, natural communities similar to the ones that still occur in the Everglades. Results from these studies will be applied to the larger Everglades complex.
HABITATS
Cypress swamp Visitors can see a good cross section of the cypress swamp by following a 0.4-mile boardwalk near the main entrance. The standing water along the way can be as much as two feet deep in rainy seasons, or it can vanish entirely in dry periods. Pond cypress is 'the dominant tree, but other species such as coco plum, red bay, and red maple also grow here. Native shrubs scattered beneath the canopy include buttonbush, dahoon holly, Virginia willow and wax myrtle. Among the invasive species found here and there are Brazilian peppertree, guava, laurel fig, melaleuca, Old World climbing fern, and strangler fig. Climbing hempweed, laurel greenbrier (bamboo vine), muscadine grape, pepper vine, saltmarsh morning glory, Virginia creeper, wild balsam pear, and other vines form dense entanglements.
Ferns range in size from the giant leather fern, with fronds as much as ten feet long, to the tiny water spangles and mosquito fern that float on the water. In between are cinnamon fern, giant sword fern, long strap fern, royal fern, and swamp fern. Apart from Spanish moss, epiphytic bromeliads include ball moss, Schultes northern needleleaf (with curved leaves) and southern needleleaf, and the rare spreading air plant. The showiest bromeliad is the wild pineapple, which produces small purple flowers emerging from red, usually yellow-tipped bracts.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Technology
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »