Chapter 3
part three of everglades wild guide by gene craighed george this liver box recording is in the public domain reading by matt ferrard part three illustration apple murex a carnivorous mollusk that feeds on oysters florida bay and the coastal prairie when you reach flamingo a former fishing village and now a center for visitor services and accommodations you will be on the shore of florida bay here is an environment rich in variety of animal life where porpoises play the american crocodile makes its last stand and the great white haran once feared doomed to extinction holds its own the abundance of game fish in the bay has given it a reputation as one of the best sport fishing grounds on the east coast the bay's approximately one hundred keys low-lying islets were built up by mangroves and provide foothold for other plants hardy enough to withstand the salty environment and the sometimes violent winds
the keys are also a breeding ground for water birds ospreys and bald eagles florida bay larger than some of our states is so shallow that at low tide some of it is out of water its greatest depth is about nine feet the shallows and mudflats attract great numbers of waiting birds which feed upon the abundant life sheltered in the seaweeds a plant and animal community nourished by nutrients carried in the waters flowing from the glades and mangroves to the west beyond flamenco is cape sable this near island includes the finest of the park's beaches and much of the coastal prairie ecosystem a fringe of coconut palms along the beach could be the remnants of early attempts at a plantation on the cape that did not survive the hurricanes or it could be the result of the sprouting of coconuts carried by currants from caribbean plantations and washed up on the cape for a time casuarina trees called australian pines which became established on cape sable after hurricane donna seemed to threaten the ecology of the beach but these invaders were mostly removed in nineteen seventy one and now appear to be under control
examine the sand of this beach you will discover that it is not quartz grains but mostly minute shell fragments entire shells of the warm-water mollusks that live off shore also wash up on the beach there are also artifacts that speak of indian activity in this area in past centuries curled centers of conch shells from which the pre-columbian indians fashioned tools and numerous pieces of pottery potsherds both shells and potsherds tempt the collector shelling that is the collecting of dead shells for non-commercial purposes is permitted but federal law prohibits the removal of even a fragment of pottery for these are invaluable indian relics essential to continuing scientific investigation of the human history of the region illustration florida bay and the coastal prairie elevation sea level to two feet above sea level florida bay one red mangrove two black mangrove three white mangrove four buttonwood five cabbage palmetto six hurricane killed black mangroves seven fig eight poisonwood
crocodile great white heron reddish egret coconut palm succulents grasses sedges waterway marl prairie back from the narrow beach is a drier zone of grasses and other low-growing vegetation some of the plants of this zone such as the railroad vine are so salt tolerant that in places they grow almost to the water's edge no plant that is extremely sensitive to salty soil could survive on cape sable beyond the grassy zone is a zone of hardwoods burtonwood gumbo limbo jamaica dogwood cactuses yucca and other plants forming a transition from beach to coastal prairie birds provide much of the visual excitement of the beach community just as they do in other parts of the park sandpipers pelicans gulls egrets ospreys and bald eagles use it and the bordering waters for feeding nesting and resting mammals notably raccoons stalk the beach in search of food and the big loggerhead turtle depends on it for nesting in late spring and early summer the female loggerhead hauls herself up on the beach and digs a hole above high tide mark
there she deposits about one hundred ping-pong balls which should hatch out into baby loggerheads unfortunately for this marine reptile however most of them need another fate hardly has the female turtle cover the eggs with sand and started back toward the water than they are dug up and devoured by raccoons and other predators these conditions created such high mortality of the turtles that the national park service has adopted special protective measures removing some of the raccoons and erecting wire barriers around turtle nests these measures have been effective but continued surveillance is required if the loggerhead is not to disappear from florida illustration the flamingo area an abundance of raccoons and other predators is not the only threat to the revival of the loggerhead turtle a major factor in its decline is the serious depletion of its nesting habitat park visitors are prohibited from interfering with these reptiles
cape sable beach is to-day virtually the only wild beach in south florida thanks to its inclusion in evergreen's national park at present visitors can reach it only by boat but it would be foolhardy to take it for granted that the beach will remain unspoiled its potential as an attraction is such that someone not ecologically aware might believe that access for motorists would be an improvement roads however would bring increased pressure on the ecosystem by large numbers of visitors and demands for further development for lodging meals and other services seem always to go with automobiles with continued protection from such encroachments cape sable beach will remain a unique wilderness resource and will not become just another recreational facility merging with the beach is the coastal prairie an ecosystem supporting red and black mangroves grasses and other plants tolerant of the very salty environment hardwood hammocks have developed here on indian shell mounds but the trees are stunted by these saline soils
though there is no lack of water on the cape much of the region appears arid because hurricane lash ties up deposited soils of marl and debris so salt-laken that only sparse vegetation develops Big Cypress Swamp. To the west of the great freshwater marsh called the Everglades, lying almost entirely outside the park, is an ecosystem vitally linked to the park. Big Cypress Swamp is a vast, shallow basin that includes practically all of Collier County. It is commonly called the Big Cypress, not because of the size of its trees, but because of its extent.
most of the bald cypresses which are not true cypresses are small trees drawing an open to dense stands throughout the area the swamp is watered by about fifty inches of annual rainfall the run-off from which flows as a sheet and in sloughs south and west to meet the coastal strip of mangroves and low sand dunes big cypresses speckled with low limestone outcrops cut with shallow sloughs one to two feet deep and dotted with ponds and wet prairies as in the everglades fire and water maintain the character of the plant-like in this swampy realm of sunlight and shadow also as in the everglades a difference of a few inches in elevation creates different communities tropical hardwood hammocks grow on rocky outcrops in the depressions arise bay heads and clumps of pond apple poth-ash and willow
the larger bald cypress trees grow in shallow sloughs which are usually surrounded by prairies of saw-grass and maiden cane growing on slightly higher land although these several different plant communities resembled those in the glades they secured slightly different plants because of the sandy soil there being more quartz in the limestone under big cypress than in the park these bald cypresses many measuring three to six feet in diameter were heavily lumbered from nineteen thirty to nineteen fifty to-day few giant trees survive but a sizable stand exists on the norris tract so named for its conservation-minded donor which forms the nucleus of corkscrew swamp sanctuary here protected by the national audubon society are bald cypresses one hundred and thirty feet tall some have a girth of twenty-five feet a boardwalk more than one half mile long enables you to enjoy the beauty of this wild preserve without getting your feet wet illustration cypress strand
wet prairie tropical hardwood hammock wet prairie one south florida slash pine two bald cypress three pop ash four royal palm air plant large stands of bald cypress called strands support small communities such as ponds prairies and tropical hammocks one such hammock is famous for the finest stand of royal palms remaining in south florida the largest cypress strand the vakahatchee extends some twenty three miles north and south a few miles east of naples big cypress swamp is the home of wild turkey bobcat deer and an occasional florida panther the fish-eating otter plays in its waterways most of the birds found in the everglades also are found in the trees and waterways of big cypress because the swamp has an abundance of food the area is so rich in wild life and edible plants that the seminole indians formerly lived entirely off its products
illustration bobcat white-tailed deer otter the eastern edge of the big swamp and its importance to everglades national park came to world-wide attention in nineteen sixty nine when it was selected as the site for the proposed miami international jetport according to plans this was to be the biggest airport in the world covering thirty-nine square miles and handling sixty-five million passengers a year millions of persons were expected to make their home in and around the jet-port such a threat to the national park into which the waters of big cypress partly drain provoked protest letters from all over the world most riders objected on the grounds that everglades belongs to all and that a jet port here would seal the doom of the park congress acted in nineteen seventy four by establishing big cypress national preserve to help protect the water supply to evergreen's national park end of part three
