FPS Natural Resource Restoration Successes
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Florida's ecosystems depend on the dynamic interaction of forces
associated with hydrology, lightning fires, and interactions between
native species. Human-caused disturbances such as large-scale drainage,
disruption of sheetflow, exclusion of natural fires, introduction of
invasive exotic species, loss of predatory species, and landscape
fragmentation have disrupted these processes. Our resource management
goal is to protect, restore, and maintain examples of the full diversity
of natural communities within the state, while providing appropriate
recreational opportunities. Often, attaining this goal requires active
restoration of the natural processes that once sustained Florida’s
complex biological systems.
As Florida’s population expands, marinas are dredged, roads are
built, farmland is planted, and neighborhoods are developed. As the
Florida state park system expands, so too, does the need to restore
natural processes to the lands that have been acquired. Below are a few
examples of successful restoration projects on state park lands.
Cape Florida State Park
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park has undergone a tremendous change
since August 24, 1992, when the center of Hurricane Andrew passed just
south of Key Biscayne. The event devastated the park, leveling most of
the vegetation, damaging the park's infrastructure, exposing and
damaging archeological sites, and leaving the park inaccessible to the
public for a year. Before the storm, exotic Australian-pine trees
occupied over 95 percent of the park. A year later, after the storm
debris had been cleared, nearly 400 acres of the park had been bulldozed
and almost all the park was left treeless.
For the natural resources of Cape Florida, the destruction of the
Australian-pine forest was ultimately a benefit. It allowed the
initiation of the ecological restoration of the upland portion of the
park, a long term project that is reestablishing the natural communities
that once existed there: beach dune, coastal grassland, coastal strand,
maritime hammock, freshwater wetland and tidal swamp. The restoration
efforts are concentrated in two areas: the control of invasive plant
species, both native and exotic; and the planting of native trees,
shrubs, grasses and forbs.
Since 1992, multiple county, state, and federal agencies have been
involved in the restoration of Cape Florida, and tens of thousands of
hours have been donated by local and out-of-state volunteers. Over
$7,000,000 of federal, state and private grants have been spent. The
American Littoral Society, a non-profit organization, continues to be a
valuable partner in the project, securing funds and volunteer resources.
To date, over 300,000 native plants have been installed and many more
have self-propagated. In the restored plant communities, the park's
native wildlife is flourishing and new species are being seen every
year. Since 1994, more than 160 species of bird and 29 kinds of
butterflies have been recorded in the park. Rare species such as the
American crocodile and the peregrine falcon now routinely can be seen.
While much work still remains to be done, Cape Florida nevertheless is
now an oasis of native habitats. The park, once overrun with invasive
exotics, has now become a valuable environmental asset, a place where
both people and wildlife can find refuge in the natural Florida.
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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park
Kissimmee Prairie Ecosystem
One of the system’s newest parks, the 46,000-acre
Kissimmee Prairie
Preserve State Park is the third-largest of the system’s 155 units. The
property had been owned by a single family since 1940s and was used as a
cattle ranch.
The hydrological disruption that has occurred on the property is
related to past agricultural uses. There are at least 75 miles of
ditches throughout the preserve. Several areas were converted into
vegetable fields. These fields were ditched and diked to form
impoundments to control water levels for growing tomatoes.
The 47,000-acre Kissimmee Prairie Ecosystem Restoration Project,
comprised of both public and private lands, was born out of a desire by
the park staff and adjacent landowners to help solve water resource
problems that had been compounded by El Niño’s extremes of wet and dry
periods. The landowners joined together with the South Florida Water
Management District and obtained a $997,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. More than $600,000 of those funds were spent entirely
on restoration within the state park.
The goal of the project was to utilize an ecosystem management
approach to restore wetlands, enhance wetlands, and enhance the dry
prairie found in the geographic area known as the Kissimmee Prairie
Ecosystem. A secondary benefit was the creation of more natural water
storage areas.
An impressive partnership developed that included Ducks Unlimited,
National Audubon’s Ordway-Whittell Kissimmee Prairie Sanctuary,
Okeechobee High School, U.S. Air Force-Avon Park, Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Division of Forestry, Florida
Department of Corrections, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the South Florida Water Management
District. The end result was restoration of 47,300 acres, including
Seven Mile and Fish Slough and more than 25,000 acres within the state
preserve.
The removal of nearly 89 million cubic feet of dirt and filling 76
miles of drainage ditches throughout the entire project area has
resulted in tremendously improved wetland and dry prairie habitats for
waterfowl, migratory birds, fish and wildlife, and is a model of
Ecosystem Management.
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Hydrological Restoration
Tosohatchee State Reserve's 30,700 acres have been shaped by
alternating cycles of fire and flood, creating a mosaic of marshes,
swamps, pine flatwoods and hammocks. Its wetlands are essential as water
storage and cleaning areas supplying the St. John’s River. The network
of canals and ditches constructed in the Reserve prior to the state's
purchase has significantly altered historic surface and subsurface
drainage patterns, water retention times, and water levels. Such
alterations have resulted in a general loss of the habitat mosaic which
historically occurred in the Reserve.
Several wetland restoration projects have been completed which
successfully reduced the diversion of surface and groundwater resources
and allowed formerly wet areas of the reserve to remain inundated for
longer periods, creating a more natural “hydro-period.” The topography
was restored by backfilling approximately fifteen miles of large
drainage ditches, using fill from the berms which were created when the
ditches were originally excavated. Native but off-site plant species
that had invaded as a direct result of the altered drainage have been
removed and replaced with appropriate wetland species, greatly
accelerating the restoration process. Non-native species which thrived
under the artificially dry conditions have been removed using
environmentally-safe chemicals and careful use of heavy equipment.
The natural surface flow of water was further enhanced and restored
by elevating approximately four miles of an internal park road and
installing culverts. This had the additional benefit of providing
visitor access. Additionally, ongoing selective harvesting of several
hundred acres of pine plantations will restore a more natural tree
density and create an evapo-transpiration rate similar to what occurred
prior to the artificial drainage.
The recovery of these restored areas has been nothing short of
astonishing. The results have been much more rapid and far-reaching than
originally expected. Although the hydrological conditions have been
greatly improved in some areas, additional work still remains. Future
projects will include additional elevation and culvert installation for
internal roads; plugs or weirs in roadside and powerline ditches; and
construction of bridges or low-water crossings where park roads cross
creeks.
The tremendous expense for projects of this magnitude is a limiting
factor for the Florida Park Service. Fortunately, portions of
Tosohatchee are being used as mitigation “credits” for private
developments and other government agency projects. The Florida
Department of Transportation has used the Reserve as mitigation for
wetland impacts incurred during several highway improvement projects.
This successful relationship between development and resource
restoration is an excellent example of cooperation between the public
and private sector for the benefit of Florida’s environment.
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During 2001, a tract of land adjacent to
Torreya State Park was
purchased which had been identified as part of the park’s optimum
boundary. The parcel contained a badly-eroded 25-acre“borrow” pit. The
associated siltation was negatively impacting water quality in some of
the park’s pristine steephead streams, which in turn adversely affected
rare salamanders and crayfish.
At about the same time, the Division received its first-ever
legislative allocation of $1 million to be used specifically for
Resource Restoration. Realizing that ‘restoring’ the huge pit would
require so much fill as to be cost-prohibitive (and would only create
another borrow pit elsewhere) District One staff embarked on a plan of
stabilization and management for “the Clay Pit”.
Based on successful previous partnerships with Northwest Florida
Water Management District, park and water management district staff
worked together and quickly enlisted the Orange Hill Soil and Water
Conservation District to manage the project. While original project
costs were estimated at $153,000 Orange Hill management contracted
services from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Liberty
County and reduced costs by approximately 40%. The cost savings were
re-directed other resource restoration needs in the Florida Panhandle.
The park’s Citizen Support Organization has also become involved in the
project and has contributed to its maintenance and repair.
The project design called for complete re-contouring of the site and
construction of a retention pond which would capture water and let it
flow out gradually rather than in destructive, rushing torrents. The
site also required revegetation. However, since native herbaceous
species would take years to establish, the project managers elected to
plant non-invasive perennials such as winter rye and millet, which would
stabilize the soil and break the cycle of erosion while the native
groundcovers were becoming established. Longleaf pine and wiregrass were
also planted on site and are doing fine. Routine maintenance of the
dikes is to be expected and additional stabilization is planned by
sowing native groundcover seed gathered in other areas of the park.
While the new system is still untested by a tropical weather event, it
held up well through record rainfall in May and June of 2003.
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Bureau of Natural and Cultural Resources
