U. S. Department of A9ricultur~""" 

Forest Seruice General Technical Report S E- 17 

.. 

Cover Photo. - A rare phenomenon: Fire crowning into a stand of mangrove 

after a killing frost, but prior to leaf fall. The small mounds in the 

foreground are cordgrass tussocks. Broad River Marsh, Everglades 

National Park, February 1977. 

March 19S0 

Southeastern Forest Experiment Station 

Asheuille, North Carolina 
FIRE IN SOUTH FLORIDA ECOSYSTEMS 

by 

Dale Wade, John Ewel, and Ronald Hofstetter* 

*The coauthors are, respectively, Research Forester (Fire), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Macon, Georgia; Associate 

Professor, Department of Botany, University of Florida, Gainesville, 

Florida; and Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of 

Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. 
A BSTRA CT - This compendium of fire information for selected south 

Florida vegetative communities will help resource managers and 

policymakers to better predict the consequences of their fire management 

decisions. Included is a brief history of fire in south Florida, along with 

some associated damages and benefits. Certain natural functions fulfilled 

by fire are outlined. Fire is rated against other specified threats to south 

Florida's remaining wildlands, and the impact of ongoing vegetative 

changes upon fire management in the near future is assessed. The effect of 

fire on attainment of resource management objectives and the necessity of 

integrating fire planning into the land management planning process are 

explained. Available information about fire effects is presented for each of 

the major vegetative types in south Florida, and fire's relationship with certain exotic species is discussed. 

Keywords: Fire management, fire effects, prescribed burning, wildfire, 

water levels. 

i 
FOREWORD 

Our Smoke Management Research and Development Program was 

asked to help with a smoke problem on the south Florida "Gold Coast" 

late in the winter of 1974. Smoke was being blamed for numerous hospital 

admissions and for blocking out the sun many people paid highly to enjoy. 

There was a genuine concern that this smoke would interact with urban 

emissions - such as automobile exhaust - and result in an increased 

health hazard. The smoke came from the Everglades, from the agricultural 

lands adjacent to Lake Okeechobee, and from way off in the Big Cypress 

Swamp. Some came from fires on nearby lands soon to be subdivided. 

On a fact-finding trip to the areas, we heard once" more about the 

natural role of fire, and for the first time heard the term "benign fire." We 

heard, on the one hand, that the Florida Division of Forestry was letting 

too many fires get too big, but, on the other hand, that more should be let 

burn. We were told of strong pressures to let most of the fires we saw continue burning - "to a point." To a point where someone became alarmed 

about a threat to improvements, alarmed about the size of the fire, or alarmed about the smoke. But delaying control action often resulted in fires so 

large that suppression costs were next to impossible to meet! 

From the air we saw many intentional "sets" beyond fire suppression 

lines, we saw glade-buggy and airboat tracks leading from these "sets," and 

we saw miles of continuous fuel that pointed to the enormous tactical, 

logistical, and detection jobs that face south Florida fire managers. We saw 

the entire Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation blanketed with a thick 

smoke that hugged the ground for days. Here and there, the fires were 

spreading across water. 

Perhaps most important, there was an odor not at all like that from the 

sweet-smelling grass fires known elsewhere. This disagreeable odor was said 

to come from fires that were burning deep into the dried muck and peat underlying the sawgrass. A nagging question began to bother us. If peat takes 

hundreds of years to form, how can peat consuming fires be regarded as a 

natural part of the ecosystem? 

Shortly after, State Forester John Bethea invited other agencies and the 

interested public to take part in a South Florida Fire Management Open 

Forum. In discussions at that landmark meeting, we learned that others, 

too, believed that properly used fire was needed in south Florida. Yet these 

same people feared that too many fires, set by too many well-meaning people, were not what the area needed. As we progressed, more and more 

references were made to unknowns and changed ecosystems, and a list of 

research needs was compiled. 

To help meet these needs, the Forest Service initiated a new research effort, the Lowlands Fire Management Alternatives Work Unit. Their first 

goal was: TO GAIN NEW KNOWLEDGE AND SYNTHESIZE WHAT 

IS KNOWN ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF FIRE ON SOUTH FLORIDA 

ii 
ECOSYSTEMS, TRANSLATING THESE TO IMPLICATIONS FOR 

FIRE MANAGEMENT WHERE POSSIBLE. 

The authors of this report have satisfied these objectives. A rigorous 

technical review of their findings assures that the best knowledge available 

is contained in the pages to follow. 

We still have a long way to go. The strange-smelling smoke isjust now 

being characterized. Photochemical reactions and other phenomena are being studied. The best smoke management practices in south Florida are 

thus only partially set forth. Final guidelines for when fire is really needed 

must await a merger of land management objectives, resource evaluations, 

and other research. Here, though, is a determined first step forward! 

:t/u~~J~~/1 / JOHN M. PIEROVICH 

. Program Manager 

HI 

Southern Forest Fire Laboratory 

USDA Forest Service 

August 4, 1979 
CONTENTS 

Page 

FOREWORD .... . ............................................... ii 

PREFACE ........................................................ v 

INTRODUCTION ......... . ........................... . ......... 1 

BACKGROUND ................................................. 2 

EFFECTS OF FIRE BY ECOSYSTEM 

SAWGRASS ...................................................... 20 

WET PRAIRIE AND SLOUGH .................................. 41 

FRESHWATER MARSH AND MARL PRAIRIES .............. 48 

SALTMARSH .................................................... 54 

MANGROVES ................................................... 58 

MIXED-HARDWOOD SWAMPS ................................ 61 

CYPRESS: STRANDS, DOMES, AND DWARF FORESTS ....... 67 

TREE ISLANDS: BAYHEADS AND HAMMOCKS. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 80 

PINE FLATWOODS ............................................. 95 

MIAMI ROCK RIDGE PINELANDS ............................ 105 

RELEVANT FLORIDA STATUTES ............................. 112 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................ 113 

iv 
PREFACE 

On the following pages, we have attempted to define the historical effects of fire on evolving south Florida ecosystems and to describe the 

responses of selected plant communities to changes in the frequency and intensity of fire under current conditions. 

Our intent was neither to produce a burning manual nor to leave the 

reader with the idea that fire is the sole means of achieving all resourcemanagement goals; other treatments do exist. Instead, our objective is to 

add to and synthesize available information regarding fire effects in south 

Florida. We think this report will help policymakers and land managers 

support decisions concerning fire management. 

A reader might well conclude, on the basis of this report, that 

prescribed fires can help achieve certain management objectives. In that 

case, a burning manual might prove helpful. "A Guide for Prescribed Fire 

in Southern Forests" (Mobley and others 1977)1 provides a good basic discussion of prescribed fire, but it does not relate specifically to south Florida 

conditions. Another sourcebook that the potential prescribed burner 

should be aware of is the "Southern Forestry Smoke Management 

Guidebook" (USDA FS 1976a), available from the same address. We 

recommend that anyone contemplating the use of fire become familiar with 

these two publications and then contact the nearest Florida Division of 

Forestry (FDOF) office. 

The FDOF is the best source of information about south Florida fuel 

types and burning prescriptions. Moreover, it helps individual landowners 

to plan and execute prescribed burns. Regardless of one's proficiency with 

fire, Florida law requires that a prescribed burning authorization be obtained from the FDOF before a fire is set. Other pertinent Florida statutes 

involving fire are briefly summarized in a separate section entitled "Relevant Florida Statutes," at the end of this report. 

lAvailable free from U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv., South. For. Fire 

Lab., P.O. Box 5106, Macon, Ga. 31208. 

v 
FIRE IN SOUTH FLORIDA ECOSYSTEMS 

INTRODUCTION 

Florida's population increased 35 percent between 1960 and 1970. 2 The 

seven counties south of Lake Okeechobee (fig. 1) reported a 49 percent increase during the same time period. Since 1970, people have been migrating 

to Florida at an estimated rate of over 5,000 per week. The southeast 

Florida coast contains the fastest growing population center in the United 

States. Lee County's population increased 64 percent between 1970 and 

1977, and Fort Myers was the fastest growing city in the Nation from 1970 

through 1974. The population of Collier County rose 89 percent between 

1970 and 1977. As the population of south Florida continues to soar, so do 

demands upon its natural resources. Aquifers are being depleted as wateruse rates exceed recharge rates. Saltwater intrusion is all too common during the dry season. The water table has dropped more than 6 feet in the 

northern Everglades. The hydro period has been drastically shortened 

throughout south Florida, and the potential for large destructive wildfires 

has increased. Stephens (1974) estimated that 88 percent of the volume of 

peat present in 1912 would be gone by the turn of the century. 

Changes in land use, and attitudes of people, have increased the risk of 

fire and have resulted in severe conflicts of ideas and fire management objectives. These fires can eliminate fire-adapted species and consume vast 

amounts of the underlying organic soil. 

No wonder dramatic vegetative responses are taking place. The natural 

system cannot be expected to support itself indefinitely under these 

pressures. Aggressive exotics are colonizing large areas at the expense of 

native vegetation. The situation has become critical. Decisions must be 

made; realistic goals for resource protection and use have to be set. Planners must determine the compatibility of fire management alternatives with 

resource options. But this cannot be done until land managers and 

policymakers are able to predict ecosystem responses to their fire-related 

decisions. Researchers are being asked to assist in this process. Research 

results, however, have been slow to accumulate, and available findings often have not been related to the fire problems that exist. 

To the extent that knowledge can help, this publication should aid in 

the decisionmaking process. It summarizes available information on the effects of fire in south Florida ecosystems. It reviews some of the damages 

and benefits as well as some of the natural ecological functions of fire in the 

area. Next, for each major vegetative type in south Florida, fire effects are 

described in detail. We hope that our efforts will help with the needed task 

of integrating fire planning into land management planning. 

2The following population-growth statistics are from various articles that appeared in the 

Miami Herald and Fort Myers News-Press. [Clippings on file at the South. For. Fire Lab., 

Macon,Ga.] 
Of SOlO CO 

GULF OF MEXICO 

Figure I. - Map of south Florida showing: A, the major road and canal network~ 

8, selected large ownership. (Adapted from McPherson and others 1976.) 

BACKGROUND 

The Florida Peninsula extends almost to the Tropic of Cancer. In fact, 

Miami is closer to Havana, Cuba, than to Orlando or Tampa. Thus, south 

Florida in many respects has more in common with the West Indies than 

with central Florida. 

In this discussion, south Florida includes the counties of Broward, 

Collier, Dade, Hendry, Lee, Monroe, and Palm Beach (see figure 1). These 

seven counties lie south of Lake Okeechobee and have a total area of 

7,448,000 acres (3,014,200 hectares) (Alleger 1974). Our discussion is limited 

to the mainland, but it should be applicable to the Keys and offshore 

islands wherever the same vegetative associations exist. 

2 
EXPlANl<nQN 

Ffo,.tdo SfOI-,!, ;:Qt"lt~ 

~ f!Offdo !n.;Lcn R~"I!'r.r{;·I()ft 

~ C..,,,t.ral cnd s.(lt..~r·""r>'" F;{)OJj 

C~trcJ Di.,'n(~ 

A, 

~+ 

" " "0 

During ancient ice ages, the land mass of south Florida was much 

greater. As- the glaciers began receding about 17,000 years ago, sea level increased. Alexander (1974); Scholl, Craighead, and Stuiver (1969); and 

Scholl and Stuiver (1967) present evidence that this increase is continuing in 

south Florida. Concurrent with this slow submergence, however, has been 

the land-building action along the coastal mangrove fringe (Craighead 

1964). This process has resulted in formation of nearly one-fifth of the present land surface of Dade, Monroe, and Collier Counties within the last 

4,000 to 5,000 years (Craighead 1971). Parker and others (1955) reported 

that Everglades organic soils began accumulating approximately 5,500 

years ago. Long (1974a) estimated the south Florida flora to be 3,000 to 

3 

N 

+ 

I 

I 

I 
5,000 years old at most. The earliest dated south Florida archeological materials are about 3,500 years old (Griffin 1974), although human remains 

dating back over 10,000 years have been found at Warm Mineral Springs 

in Sarasota County (Clausen and others 1975). 

The climate is subtropical with alternating wet and dry seasons. 

Average annual precipitation is between 45 and 65 inches (114 to 165 cm), 

depending upon location (Thomas 1974), and is characterized by wide annual fluctuations - from less than 30 to over 105 inches (76 to 267 cm) 

(Leach and others 1972). Between 70 and 80 percent of the rain generally 

falls during the May-to-October wet season. Average annual temperature is 

between 710 and 750 (220 to 240 C) (Thomas 1974), but below-freezing temperatures can be expected several times a year in the low-elevation interior 

glades. Frost can be expected in all south Florida counties about once every 

other year, but severe cold snaps - such as the one of January 19-20, 1977, 

when the temperature remained below freezing for more than 12 hours over 

much of the area - are very unusual and have an immediate and profound 

effect on the composition of plant and animal communities. 3 

The topography is flat; virtually all land is less than 25 feet (7.6 meters) 

above mean sea level. Slope averages about 0.2 ft/mile (0.038 m/km) from 

north to south. Historically, elevation changes of several inches made the 

difference between being flooded during the summer wet-season and being 

flooded throughout the year. In general, the soils occupying relatively high 

ground are sands or exposed limestone, while those submerged several 

months or more are peats, mucks, marls, or muds. 

The process of lumping related vegetative associations for ease of discussion proved to be no easy task. The flora of south Florida is comprised of 

approximately 1,650 indigenous and naturalized species, of which about 60 

percent are of tropical origin (Long and Lakela 1971). About 4 percent of this 

flora is endemic to south Florida. This percentage is rather small, compared 

to that of West Indian islands such as Cuba (50 percent endemism) and 

Jamaica (27 percent endemism).4 According to Long (1974a), 75 south Florida 

plant communities have been described. Two commonly used classifications (Davis 1943a and Craighead 1971) each deiineate more than 60 plant 

associations. Of the thousands of species of ferns and flowering plants that 

have been introduced, over 170 have naturalized in southeastern Florida 

alone (Austin 1978). According to Long (1974b), almost 16 percent of the 

flora of Collier, Dade, and Monroe Counties is exotic. Several of these 

species are becoming major components of various communities, or are 

forming pure stands. Thus, exotics considerably increase the number of 

associations present. Because fire is so common in south Florida, virtually 

all terrestrial plant associations have been affected by it. The effects of fire 

lFor more detailed descriptions of the physiographic and environmental factors that influence vegetative succession in south Florida, see Alexander and Crook 1973; Craighead 

1971; Gleason 1974; and Robertson 1953, 1955. 

4Avery, G., and L. Loope. 1978 [Data on file at Everglades Nat!. Park, Homestead, 

Fla.] 

4 
on many of these communities, however, are unknown. Moreover, it would 

probably be impossible to find examples of a majority of these plant 

associations that are not responding to other pressures, such as 

hydroperiod changes. Thus, that portion of the total response attributable 

to fire could not be separated out. 

The process of combining or eliminating communities to reach a more 

manageable number ended with our selection of 10 broad vegetative 

associations that: (1) reflect the physiographic features of the area, and (2) 

are easily recognizable by their structure and prominent indicator species. 

They are: sawgrass; wet prairie and slough; marsh and marl prairies; 

saltmarsh; pine flatwoods; Miami Rock Ridge pineland; tree islands, including Miami Rock Ridge hammocks; cypress; mixed-hardwood swamps; 

and mangroves. Long and Lakela (1971) recognize five major 

physiographic provinces in south Florida into which our 10 vegetative communities can be rather conveniently grouped: (1) the Everglades which contain our sawgrass, wet prairie and slough, tree island, and marsh and marl 

prairie associations, (2) the Sandy Flatlands which are the equivalent of our 

pine flatwoods association, (3) the Big Cypress Swamp which includes our 

cypress, ~nd mixed-hardwood swamp associations along with some pine, 

wet prairie, and marsh vegetation, (4) the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, the 

southern part of which corresponds to our Miami Rock Ridge pine association (we have excluded the northern portion of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge 

from our discussion.), (5) the Coastal Marshes and Mangrove Swamps 

which contain our saltmarsh and mangrove plant communities. These 

physiographic areas are outlined in figure 2. 

Other physiographic breakdowns exist. Craighead (1971), for example, 

divides south Florida into nine provinces - only one of which (the Big 

Cypress Swamp) has the same name in both systems. There is an acute need 

for natural science workers in south Florida to adopt a standard nomenclature for the physiographic areas of this region, so that future researchers 

will not have to contend with conflicts in terminology. 

Although the range of longleaf pine ( Pinus palustris p extends into Lee 

County and an isolated pocket of sand pine (P. clausa) occurs in Collier 

County, both species are excluded from discussion. Neither do we include 

the coastal strand and dune vegetative type, although Richardson (1977) 

suggests that fire helps determine successional patterns there. We have also 

omitted the Atlantic Coastal Ridge from Miami north because it is now 

primarily urban. The vegetation of this area is described by Alexander and 

Crook (1975); Austin and oth~rs (1977); and Richardson (1977). Virtually 

nothing is said about the hammocks in the Big Cypress or farther west 

because information is not available. 

Exotics such as melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia), Brazilian pepper 

(Schinus terebinthifolius), and Australian pine (Casuarina spp.) are now 

principal components of the arborescent vegetation in many locations. LitITaxa primarily from Long and Lakela (1971), and updated through review by George 

Avery, Everglades Natl. Park. 

5 
25' 

LEGEND 

SANDY FLATWOODS 

• BIG CY PRESS SWAMP 

[Q EVERGLADES 

D ROCK RIDGE PINELANDS 

MANGROVE AND COASTAL MARSH 

---Boundary of Survey Unit 4 

u~ :-

Location o f scaL[ Ifill IItlUS 

Survey Uni t 4 in 10 to )0 40 

the Stole of 

24- Florida 

82' 81' 

27' 

26' 

Figure 2. - Physiographic provinces of south Florida (after Parker 1974). 

tle information concerning their management is available, however, and 

many purported facts are contradictory. Research by Egler (1952), Ewel 

and others (1976), Hofstetter (1976), Meskimen (1962), Myers (1975), and 

Woodall (1978) is beginning to provide reliable data on these species in 

south Florida. We do not consider these introduced species as separate 

communities in this paper. Instead, we discuss what is known about them 

as they occur in each of the 10 designated associations. Melaleuca, in particular, is having a major impact on fire management in south Florida. As 

dense stands of this species develop, south Florida resource managers are 

6 
being faced, for the first time, with a vegetative type in which crown fires 

are common. Special safety procedures will be needed near urban areas and 

new fire prescriptions and control measures in rural areas (fig. 3). 

Figure 3. - A 650-acre wildfire in melaleuca adjacent to Ft. Myers, May 

1977. The fire crowned through the black area. Note the drainage canal 

the fire jumped. 

The interaction among water, fire, and frost created and maintained 

the diverse vegetative mosaic that greeted man upon his arrival to south 

Florida. Layers and pockets of charcoal frequently found in Everglades 

peat (Cohen 1974) show that drought-year fire has long been part of this 

system. Craighead (1971) radiocarbon dated these layers back to over 3,000 

years. Parker (1974) found ash layers up to 2 inches (5 cm) thick and Davis 

(1943a) reported the recollections of Everglades District Drainage Engineer 

F. C. Elliott regarding ash layers 6 or more inches (15 cm) thick, uncovered 

during drainage canal excavation. 

The vegetation itself offers further evidence of the long history of fire in 

south Florida. According to Robertson (1954), over 70 percent of the approximately 100 herbaceous and low-shrub species endemic to southeast 

Florida occur in communities now maintained by periodic fire. Robertson 

goes on to state that because species evolve slowly, some frequently recurring natural disturbance must have maintained suitable conditions for 

several thousands years. Robertson's observations indicate that most of the 

50 or so species in the Miami Rock Ridge pinelands can be shaded out by 

encroaching hardwoods within 5 or 6 years if fire is excluded. Thus, without 

periodic fire, these pinelands would have long ago become hardwood hammock. 

7 
Adjacent to these pine1ands, a vast marsh, commonly referred to as the 

"Glades," stretched over several thousands square miles. Although many 

marsh and prairie species were present, the visually dominant plant was 

sawgrass (Cladiumjamaicensis). The combination of fire and flooding, occasionally at the same time, inhibited the invasion of woody species. Tree 

islands speckled the landscape, particularly in the southern portion of this 

marsh. To the west, sawgrass gave way first to other grasses and stunted 

cypress, locally called "hatrack" or "bottleneck" cypress, and then to an 

area interlaced with ponds and sloughs. Here a dense multi tiered canopy 

developed, with cypress and swamp hardwoods forming the overstory except on those slightly higher areas subject to just brief flooding, which are 

easily identified by their pine overstory (fig. 4). This region was appropriately named ""Big Cypress Swamp." The pine islands must have burned off regularly, but fire penetrated the surrounding swamps only during 

the most prolonged droughts. When fire did enter these low areas, the resistant cypress often survived as long as the underlying organic soil did not 

burn. On rare occasions when the soil did burn, all vegetation - including 

the cypress - fell in matchstick fashion as the soil supporting their root 

systems was consumed (fig. 5). The result was an open body of water within 

the stand. 

North of the Big Cypress as well as to the east of Lake Okeechobee, the 

pine flatwoods occupied the slightly higher sandy soils and were subjected to 

Figure 4. - Big Cypress vegetation. The gray areas are leafless (winter) 

cypress. Swamp hardwoods are in the center foreground, while pine 

islands dot the background. Tan-colored areas are prairies. Note the recent fire scars in the pine-cabbage palm savannas. Collier County. 

8 
Figure 5. - Aftermath of a summer organic soil fire in cypress. Fire began 

August 1973 and was extinguished by rain. Photo taken September 1973. 

frequent fires. Throughout south Florida the vegetation was in dynamic 

balance; community boundaries oscillated back and forth, depending upon 

precipitation, the extent of lightning fires (fig. 6), and frost (fig. 7) during a 

given year. Many of the soil cores taken by Craighead (1971) had several 

alternating bands of marl and peat within the top 6 feet (l.8 m), suggesting 

climatic cycles of 100 years or more. Hurricanes were an additional force, 

particularly near the coast where they periodically recycled the mangrove 

forests (fig. 8). 

When white people first penetrated south Florida, they found the Indians using fire for a variety of purposes and quickly adopted the practice 

themselves (Givens 1962; Robertson 1954; Small 1929). Nevertheless, 

man's presence remained unobtrusive until near the end of the 19th century, 

when elaborate plans to drain and reclaim the southern part of the State for 

agricultural development were,initiated(see figure 1 A).Thislarge-scale drainage of the Everglades and associated vegetative types has produced several 

side effects. Except during drought years, water levels were historically at or 

above the ground surface on all but the higher pinelands when the intense 

thunderstorm activity began each summer (Parker 1974). Now, it is increasingly common to find the organic soil dry enough to burn, well before 

the beginning of this season of frequent lightning. The increased length and 

severity of the dry season, along with man's incendiary activities, have 

resulted in more destructive wildfires and higher fire-control costs. Under 

these conditions, fires consume vast amounts of organic soil and kill the 

root systems of most fire-adapted plants as well as fire-sensitive species 

(fig. 9). 

9 
Figure 6. - A wet-season lightning fire in the pine flatwoods that went out 

because of the lack of dry fuel; much as happened historically. Collier 

County. 

Figure 7. - Red mangrove top-killed by the severe cold snap of January 

1977. The cabbage palm were not damaged. Collier County. 

10 
Figure 8. - Snags from a past hurricane stand watch over the mangrove 

regrowth and suggest the destructive potential of these storms. Everglades 

National Park. 

Figure 9. - A burning pine trunk, Ingraham fire, Everglades National 

Park. 

11 
These fires destroy the very resource the land was drained to reclaim. 

Robertson (1953) reported that widespread and severe fires plagued south 

Florida during more than one-third of the years between 1900 and 1952.6 

During very dry years, organic-soil fires occasionally burned from one dry 

season to the next - right through the normally wet summer months 

(Bender 1943; Dovell1942; and Small 1921). Based on the 1937 report of the 

Governor's Commission on the Conservation of Florida's Natural 

Resources, Hanson (1939) estimated that $40 million worth of land within 

the Everglades Drainage District was no longer suitable for agriculture 

because fires had consumed the organic soils. We, however, know of no 

land that has been removed from agricultural use for this reason. As new 

roads made the vast interior wilderness more accessible and as drainage 

progressed (see figure 1), the fire situation continued to worsen (fig. 10). In 

the seven counties of south Florida, more than 530,000 acres (214,500 hectares) per year burned during 1969 through 1971. This area contained 12 

percent of the land burned by wildfire in the United States during that 

period (USDA FS 1970, 1971, 1972). 

Figure 10. - Drought-year wildfires in Golden Gate Estates, a 200-square 

mile (518 knt) tract in Collier County that was drained and subdivided by 

800 miles (1287 km) of road. 

In response to these losses, organized fire protection was extended to 

all of south Florida in 1971, when the Florida Division of Forestry was 

given fire-control responsibility for all non-Federal land in Monroe and 

6 Readers interested in a chronology of fires in southeast Florida between 1900 and 1952 

are referred to Robertson (1953, p. 93-99). 

12 
Collier Counties. Burned acreages continued to be very high, however, 

because annual rainfall deficits which began in 1970 continued through 

1977. During 1972 through 1976, Florida accounted for 14 percent of the 

fires in the 13 Southern States but sustained 32 percent of the protected area 

burned (USDA FS 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976b, 1977). In severe-drought years, 

fire losses continued to assume national importance. In 1974, 8 percent of 

all land burned in the United States was south of Lake Okeechobee and in 

1975, 9 percent. 

These statistics do not imply shortcomings in fire protection. They simply underscore the fact that the climate and the vegetation of south Florida, 

coupled with the area's elaborate system of drainage ditches and canals, 

have created one of the highest fire potentials in the United States. Abundant summer rainfall (even during extremely dry years) and warm temperatures from May through October promote a rank buildup of fuel that 

becomes explosive during the 6- to 8-month dry season. 

The suppression workload in these fuels is enormous. There are more 

days with lightning recorded in south Florida than elsewhere in the Nation. 

Over 6,000 lightning strikes were recorded in inland south Florida during 

one 6-hour period in the summer of 1976F Much of the area is relatively inaccessible to fire-suppression equipment (fig. 11). Many of the fuels make 

excellent short-distance firebrands. The more than 29 million tourists annually hosted by Florida and the increased leisure time of its year-round inhabitants both dramatically increase the risk of ignition. 

Figure 11. - An all-terrain vehicle attempting to cross an area of exposed 

limestone, Dade County. 

7Maier, Michael. 1978. Personal communication. Natl. Hurricane and Exp. Meteorol. 

Lab., Coral Gables, Fla. 

13 
Moreover, many south Florida residents believe the Everglades must 

burn for a variety of reasons. They see fire suppression conflicting with 

their objectives. Arson, the largest single cause of fire in the area, accounted 

for 58 percent of the 553,000 acres (223,800 hectares) burned during 1972 

through 1975. 

City dwellers object primarily to the reduction in air quality, associated 

with these fires; a substantial segment of the population simply wants clear 

skies (fig. 12). Further, because of the large number of retired people in 

south Florida, a rather high proportion of the population suffers from 

respiratory difficulties, many of which are aggravated by smoke. Organic 

soil smoke is especially noxious, sometimes necessitating evacuating residents of nearby homes. Decreased visibility along highways has caused 

numerous traffic accidents. Smoke during the 1971 drought drastically 

reduced aircraft operations at Palm Beach International Airport (Williams 

1972). 

Figure 12. - Smoke pall from Gotcha wildfire near Pinecrest about 40 

miles west of Miami, April 1971. 

Other detrimental fire effects include consumption of organic soil, damage to vegetation, impact on esthetics, damage to wildlife and wildlife habitat, creation of site conditions favorable for invasion of exotic species, longterm scars and changes in drainage resulting from certain fire-suppression 

tactics, and destruction of homes and other improvements. The Florida 

Division of Forestry estimated that fire damage to vehicles, equipment, 

buildings, and other improvements in south Florida exceeded $960,000 during the 1974 drought year and averaged about $380,000 the following 2 

14 
years. Fire-suppression costs are not included in these figures. 

Although fire can be very destructive, it is also a natural process with 

many vital functions. The following list, based on one given by Wright and 

Heinselman (1973), was modified to make it more relevant to south 

Florida: 

A. Fire influences the physical-chemical environment by: 

1. Directly releasing mineral elements as ash 

2. Indirectly releasing elements by increasing decomposition 

rates 

3. Volatilizing some nutrients 

4. Reducing plant cover and thereby increasing insolation 

5. Changing soil temperatures because of increased insolation 

B. Fire regulates dry-matter production and accumulation by: 

1. Recycling the stems, foliage, bark, and wood of plants 

2. Consuming litter, humus layers, and occasionally increments of organic soil 

3. Creating a large reservoir of dead organic matter by killing 

but not consuming vegetation 

4. Usually stimulating increased net primary production 

C. Fire controls plant species and communities by: 

1. Triggering the release of seeds 

2. Altering seedbeds 

3. Temporarily eliminating or reducing competition for moisture, nutrients, heat, and light 

4. Stimulating vegetative reproduction of top-killed plants 

5. Stimulating the flowering and fruiting of many shrubs and 

herbs 

6. Selectively eliminating components of a plant community 

7. Influencing community composition and successional stage 

through its frequency and/ or intensity 

D. Fire determines wildlife habitat patterns and populations by: 

1. Usually increasing the amount, availability, and palatability 

of foods for herbivores 

2. Regulating yields of nut and berry-producing plants, such 

as runner oak 

3. Regulating insect populations which are important food 

sources for many birds 

4. Controlling the scale of the total vegetative mosaic through 

fire size, intensity, and frequency 

5. Regulating macrovertebrate and small-fish populations. 

E. Fire influences insects, parasites, fungi, etc., by: 

1. Regulating the total vegetative mosaic and the age structure 

of individual stands within it 

2. Sanitizing plants against pathogens such as brownspot on 

longleaf pine 

3. Producing charcoal which can stimulate ectomycorrhizae 

15 
Fire also regulates the numbers and kinds of soil organisms; affects 

evapotranspiration patterns and surface waterflow; changes the accessibility through, and esthetic appeal of, an area; and releases combustion 

products into the atmosphere. 

Many of these processes and functions can be influenced by regulating 

the intensity and timing of a fire. Fires can be set at specified intervals during particular physiological stages of plant growth under selected fuel and 

weather conditions. 

In many areas of the world, including the Southeastern United States, 

resource managers have found that the benefits from the judicious use of 

prescribed fire far outweigh any disadvantages. In fact, fire is believed to be 

the only practical method of achieving some resource management objectives. Prescribed fire was authorized for silvicultural and rangemanagement purposes on over 390,000 acres (157,800 hectares) per year in 

the seven south Florida counties between 1975 and 1977. 

The large acreage burned by prescription does not mean that this tool is 

easy to use, nor does it imply that there are no deleterious side effects. It 

does, however, suggest that prescribed burning is economical in comparison 

to other alternatives. Figures from the Everglades National Park and the 

National Forests in Florida indicate that the current cost of prescription 

burns in south Florida seldom exceeds $2 per acre ($5jha). Often, the cost is 

only a fraction of this amount. For example, the State burned 13,000 acres 

of high-hazard fuels, by prescription, in Collier County during the 1977 -78 

dry season for less than 50¢ per acre (Wade and Long 1979). 

In the future, the justifications to use fire, and the prescriptions to carry 

out this burning, will be more fully scrutinized. Renewed interest is being 

focused on the remaining wild lands in south Florida. Increased emphasis 

on the quality of the environment and changes in the relative value assigned 

various management alternatives are shifting priorities. These developments necessitate a reevaluation of resource management objectives and 

the techniques used to achieve them. The probability of unplanned events 

such as wildfire, and their potential impact upon resource management 

plans, must be an integral part of this reevaluation. 

From a fire standpoint, managers have four basic alternatives: (1) use 

prescribed fire to achieve one or more clearly defined objectives and attempt to control all unwanted fires, (2) let all fires burn with the chance 

combination of an ignition source and a receptive fuel complex determining 

the time, place, and intensity of the resulting fire, (3) attempt to exclude all 

fire, or (4) some combination of choices 1 through 3. 

These four alternatives must be carefully evaluated under a variety of 

circumstances. A large percentage of the fires in south Florida are caused 

by arsonists and lightning. There is no reason to expect a long-term 

decrease in the number of fires from either of these causes under alternatives 2 or 3. To the contrary, an increase in ignition from both sources is 

anticipated. Vegetation growing on wet sites is relatively safe from damaging fires except during droughts, but it is at precisely this time that firesuppression forces are most likely to be overextended and thus least able to 

16 
mount a successful intitial attack. 

A different problem exists in most plant communities that have been 

burned at frequent intervals before an attempt is made to exclude fire. Here 

suppression is very effective at first because of the lack of fuel. But, over 

time, fuels accumulate and fires that do start will burn hotter and require 

more effort to stop. This accumulation will continue until an equilibrium is 

reached between production and decomposition. Thus, more money will 

have to be allocated to fire suppression each year to ensure that the capabilities of the fire-control organization keep pace with the increasingly hazardous fuel conditions. If unchecked, costs may eventually reach the point 

where they exceed the values at risk. If protection costs are held constant, 

the level of protection provided will decrease as the probability of a destructive fire increases. The costs of providing the same degree of protection 

over time for an ecosystem depend upon several factors. In Muhlenbergia 

prairie, the balance between fuel accumulation and decomposition can be 

reached in as little as 3 years, 8 but in the majority of communities, fuel continues to increase far longer, particularly as species composition changes. In 

many communities, especially mixed-hardwood and cypress swamps, protection costs are less in wet years than in dry years. Although fewer acres 

generally burn during wet years, the additional precipitation accelerates 

growth, increasing the fuel loads that have to be contended with when the 

area does dry. 

The resource manager's dilemma in plant communities that develop 

and survive because of periodic fire is that species composition will change 

in the absence of fire. Furthermore, if fire is excluded until fuel concentrations are very high, even fire-adapted species are likely to be killed by an intense wildfire. The resulting changes in vegetation and wildlife habitat may 

not be in keeping with stated resource management objectives. 

The next section is devoted to clarifying what is known about fire effects 

in 10 major south Florida vegetative communities. But, even before considering management objectives, one needs to determine if existing plant 

associations will be present in the near future. Assessment of an ecosystem's 

ability to cope with current and predicted alteration of its environment 

should help in reaching a decision. Egler (1952, p. 227) contended that "the 

herbaceous Everglades and the surrounding pinelands were born in fires; 

that they can survive only with fires; that they are dying today because of 

fires." Alexander and Crook (1973, 1975, p. 824) reported vegetative 

changes over the last 16 to 30 years on 100 mile-square quadrats located 

throughout south Florida. They found changes were variable, but that fire, 

with severity related to drainage, was responsible for the more drastic 

changes. They concluded, "U nless a way is found to return and properly 

distribute more water to the wild habitats, control exotic plants and animals, 

and manage fire in some meaningful way, the natural ecosystem will con8Werner, Harold W. 1979. Personal correspondence. U.S. Dep. Inter., Nat!. Park Serv., 

Carlsbad Nat!. Park. On file at Southern Forest Fire Lab., Macon, Ga. 

17 
tinue to lose its diversity and ability to maintain itself in any resemblance to 

the pre-1940 condition." 

Exotic species, urban expansion, nutrient enrichment, changed fire frequency or intensity, and water table/hydroperiod modification are all 

agents of vegetative change. Both the likelihood that one of these ','threats" 

will occur over an extensive area of a vegetative type and the severity of impact are ranked by vegetative type (table 1). Changes in one factor can 

produce changes in another, often resulting in a synergistic effect. Examination of this table shows that the freshwater hydroperiod is expected to 

decrease throughout the wetlands of south Florida. This reduction will 

trigger changes both in plant community boundaries and in species composition. In some plant associations, such as the Everglades Tree Island 

vegetative type, these consequences will be secondary to the effects of other 

threats, such as increasing fire frequency as the hydroperiod is decreased. 

It can be seen, however, that the most disastrous impacts are from increased fire intensity. Intensity is increased by consuming more fuel per unit 

of time which, in turn, is one of the characteristics of those fires that burn in 

areas managed under a fire-exclusion policy. 

The utility of a fire management plan will be greatly enhanced if it 

reflects anticipated ecosystem changes. For example, there is little value in 

formulating a detailed fire plan designed to perpetuate a plant community 

that is vanishing because of other, overriding circumstances. Conversely, 

lack of an adequate fire management plan, or implementation of one 

based on ignorance or misinformation, can lead directly to the rapid demise 

of a vegetative association which the resource manager wanted to perpetuate. 

In a fire climate such as south Florida's, the importance of integrating 

fire planning into the land management planning process cannot be 

overemphasized. Ultimate attainment of resource management objectives 

is dependent upon the success of the fire management system. If fire policy 

is in conflict with these overall goals, their fulfillment is likely to be impossible. 

18 
Table 1. - Rank and severity of various change-elements upon major sout

Wildfire Wi

Vegetative type Changed land Exotic species increased increase

use invasion periodicity (drought 

Rank 1 Severity Rank I Severity Rank I Severity Rank 

Sawgrass 3 2 3 2 4 3 2 

Wet prairies and 

sloughs 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 

Freshwater marsh and 

marl prairies 1 2 2 4 3 2 

Saltmarsh 5 2 5 3 3 3 5 

Mangrove 5 3 5 3 5 5 

- Mixed-hardwood swamps 4 2 4 2 2 2 

\0 

Cypress: 

Strands/ domes 4 2 2 1 2 2 1 

Dwarf 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 

Tree islands: 

Bayheads 3 2 3 3 2 2 1 

Rock Ridge hammocks 2 3 3 3 2 3 

Pine natwoods 2 2 2 4 3 3 

Miami Rock Ridge 

pineland 3 3 3 3 3 

Rank: The likeihood of the change occurring, with 1 being most and 5 least likely. 

Severity: The severity of the change if it does occur, with 1 being most and 3 least severe. 

NA: Not applicable. 
SAWGRASS 

Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicensis ),9 a member of the sedge family and not 

a true grass, is the dominant plant in the Everglades. It once covered approximately 2 million acres (0.8 million hectares) (Stephens 1974) and accounted for about two-thirds of the total plant cover in the region (Loveless 

1959a). 

Sawgrass attains its best development on deep organic soils with long 

hydroperiods in the central Everglades. Under such conditions it can form 

pure, dense stands more than 10 feet (3 meters) tall, with a standing crop in 

excess of 25,000 lbs (dry weight) per acre (28,000 kg/ha) (Hofstetter and 

Parsons 1975; Hofstetter 1976). 

More extensive than these pure, dense stands, however, are vast areas 

occupied by sawgrass growing with other plants, such as arrowhead 

(Sagittaria lancifolia) and maidencane (Panicum hemitomon). In areas 

where the surface water is a little deeper and the hydro period longer, wet 

prairie and slough species dominate with pure sawgrass confined to isolated 

strands. The transition between these communities is usually abrupt (fig. 

13). Sawgrass is often a major component of the drier marsh prairies on 

marl soils as well as of brackish water marshes. A band of sawgrass commonly encircles tree islands throughout the Everglades (fig. 14). In the 

lower Everglades, tails of the numerous teardrop-shaped tree islands are 

usually accentuated by robust sawgrass stands intermixed with species such 

Figure 13. - Typical sharp transition between a sawgrass and wet prairie 

community of spike rush and pickerelweed. Everglades National Park. 

9Formerly called Caldium·effusum and Mariscusjamaicensis. 

20 
Figure 14. - Sawgrass margin and tail surrounding a tree island. A 

hardwood hammock can be seen at the upstream end of the island just 

behind the exposed limestone and airboat trails. Everglades National 

Park. 

as willow (Salix caroliniana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), red 

bay (Persea borbonia), elderberry (Sambucus simpsonii), and royal fern 

(Osmunda regalis). In fact, because sawgrass can tolerate a wide range of 

edaphic and hydrologic conditions, it can be found in virtually every plant 

community in southern Florida, albeit in many cases simply as a remnant 

of past stands that once occupied the site. 

What are some of the characteristics of sawgrass which enable it to so effectively dominate the vegetation over such a large portion of south Florida? 

It can tolerate very prolonged flooding in nutrient-poor and oxygenpoor waters. Unlike most plants, sawgrass does not have mycorrhizal fungi 

associated with its roots. These fungi are necessary for nutrient uptake in 

many species, and plants which have them may have a competitive advantage over those which do not. However, mycorrhizal fungi require oxygen, 

so they are seldom found in poorly aerated soils, such as those of the 

Everglades. Sawgrass compensates for its nonmycorrhizal handicap by having exceptionally low nutrient requirements (Steward and Ornes 1975b) 

plus the ability to accumulate P and K far in excess of its own needs (Alexander 1971; Steward and Ornes 1973, 1975b). Thus, it reduces the amounts 

available to competing plants. Even though it is nonmycorrhizal, its roots 

require oxygen, which is transported to the roots through airspaces in both 

the living and dead leaves (Conway 1936, 1937; Forthman 1973; Parsons 

1977). Sawgrass can survive complete submergence for about 6 weeks 

21 
(Lynch 1942). Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission personnepo burned sawgrass plots weekly on a rising water table during the summer of 1978. The minimum submergence time of 8 weeks that they encountered did, in fact, result in 100 percent kill. 

The sites occupied by sawgrass are not always flooded however. In addition to being well adapted to flooded soils, any plant which dominates in 

the Everglades must also tolerate a second extremely important natural environment variable: fire. Sawgrass fills the bill. Except when flowering, the 

growing points (meristems) of its leaves and upright stems (culms) are 

buried in the top of the horizontal stem (rhizome) and are surrounded by 

tightly overlapping leaf bases, with the youngest toward the center (fig. 15). 

These meristems are usually at or just above the soil surface. As long as the 

soil surface is damp, the attached dead leaves act as wicks, keeping the 

bases of the culms damp and protecting the meristems from the heat of a 

fire. If the soil is flooded, burning stops several inches above the water surface. The outer leaves tend to burn somewhat lower, forming a cone that 

tapers upward to a point (fig. 16). The lower the surface water or the drier 

the soil, the less unburned portion 'of the plant remains and the greater the 

Figure 15. - Sawgrass culms 1 week after a May 1977 fire showing leaf 

bases, regrowth, and some heat-killed meristems. Hendry County. 

IOSchortemeyer, James. 1979. Personal conversation. Fla. Game and Fresh Water Fish 

Comm., Dist. Off., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 

22 
Figure 16. - Sawgrass culms and unburned litter after a headfire swept the 

area, March 1975. The metal sampling frame encompasses a quarter 

milacre. Conservation Area 3A. 

chance of the meristem being killed by heat (Forthman 1973; Hofstetter 

and Parsons 1975; Werner 1975). When the soil surface is exposed, the heat 

from a fire will occasionally kill some meristems even though the older 

protecting leaf bases are not all consumed (see figure 15). 

Sawgrass regrowth after a burn is very fast, in part because it can tap 

the food reserves of the rhizome rather than depending upon slower and 

more precarious reproduction from seed. This rapid recovery enables it to 

recapture a site quickly, shading out other pioneer species which might germinate. This fast growth rate also helps sawgrass to keep pace with any rise 

in surface-water levels. Forthman (1973), for example, measured a IO-inch 

(25 cm) rise in surface-water level within 3 weeks after burning, but noted 

that sawgrass regrowth was even faster. 

Sawgrass not only tolerates fire, it thrives on it. Mutch (1970) 

hypothesized that natural selection has favored the development of survival 

mechanisms that make species which evolved in the presence of repeated 

fire more flammable and thus preconditioned to burn more often than 

others. Sawgrass fits these criteria well (fig. 17). It is easy to ignite and 

burns hot, even with a foot or more of water overthe soil surface(see figure 

12) and within hours after a rain. Sawgrass leaves have a high surface-areato-volume ratio, which means their moisture content quickly responds to 

changes in atmospheric relative humidity. Its leaf arrangement is like that 

of kindling on a campfire-leaves are close enough together to heat each 

other rapidly and conduct flames from leaf to leaf, yet not so close as to inhibit good airflow. The leaves die from the tip back, curling over and ac23 
Figure 17. - Prescribed fire in saw grass at the begining of the dry season. 

Note the flame length and intensity of the fire and the surface water in the 

foreground. Everglades National Park. 

cumulating in a loosely tangled mass intermixed with the live leaves. The 

leaves have a high percentage of aerenchyma (tissue with large intercellular 

airspaces), which enhances combustion. Moreover, the chemical composition of sawgrass is conducive to rapid burning. Lindenmuth and Davis 

(1973) found that P04 concentrations of less than 0.235 percent in tissue appreciably increase rate of fire spread-sawgrass values are lower by at least 

a factor of 7! 

Thus, sawgrass possesses almost unique characteristics which adapt it 

to sites which are nutrient poor, flooded for long periods (and, therefore, 

poor in oxygen), and subjected to frequent fires. These are the conditions 

which prevail over vast areas in the Everglades and account for the success 

and importance of sawgrass in south Florida. 

RECENT SAWGRASS DECLINE 

Although sawgrass is still the most extensive plant community in south 

Florida, it occupies substantially less area than it did 100 years ago. This 

decline primarily reflects human manipulation of water levels and fire 

(Craighead 1971). In some cases, sawgrass has declined because water levels 

have been dropped by draining and diking, which are often associated with 

increased frequency and intensity of fire. In other cases, sawgrass has suffered because hydroperiods have been artificially extended and/or water 

levels have been increased. Finally, there are many cases-especially 

noticeable in the 1970's-in which sawgrass has declined markedly, for unknown reasons (fig. 18). 

24 
Figure 18. - Decadent sawgrass, Shark River Slough, Everglades National 

Park. 

Considerable acreage of sawgrass has been lost on the higher elevations 

in what are now the Conservation Areas because of reduced water levels 

and shortened hydroperiods (Egler 1952; Craighead 1971; Alexander and 

Crook 1973, 1975). There, sawgrass has been replaced by drier-site species 

such as wax myrtle ( Myrica cerifera), saltbush (Baccharis spp.), plume grass 

(Erianthus giganteus) muhly grass (Muhlenbergia spp.), marsh fleabane 

(Pluchea spp.), fennels (Eupatorium spp.), and hemp vine (Mikania spp.) 

(fig. 19). 

In the early 1950's, muhly grass was rare in Taylor Slough, Everglades 

National Park, but it has steadily replaced sawgrass in response to the 

lowered water table until it is now probably the most common plant there. 

The shortened hydro period increases in the time when muck and peat 

are exposed to ground fires that also consume sawgrass rhizomes and roots 

(fig. 20). Thus, sawgrass has to reinvade these areas by vegetative propagation or seeding, both of which are slow processes. Numerous seedlings can 

become established on these sites when the soil is damp, but they die during 

the ensuing dry season unless it is unusually wet (Craighead 1971). If an 

area stays wet, sawgrass can again form rank stands within 4 or 5 years.ll 

Shallow-burning ground fires result in sawgrass replacement by weedy annuals and perennials such as fennel, primrose willow (Ludwigia peruviana), 

water hemp (Amaranthus cannabinus), cattail (Typha spp.), willow, elderberry, alligator flag (Thalia geniculata), and buttonbush (fig. 21). Deepburning organic soil fires have exposed the underlying bedrock or marl soil 

IISchortemeyer, James. 1979. Personal conversation. Fla. Game and Fresh Water Comm., 

Dist. Off., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 

25 
Figure 19. - Saw grass communities being displaced by Andropogon, south 

end of L-31 canal, Everglades National Park. 

Figure 20. - Fire-killed saw grass on a shallow peat burn, Everglades 

National Park, May 1974. 

in numerous locations, creating wet-season ponds that fill with aquatic 

plants. 

26 
Figure 21. - Fennel and golden ragwort (Senecio glabellus) invading a former sawgrass community following an organic soil fire. 

The slowly rising sea level (Scholl and Stuiver 1967), combined with 

reduced freshwater flow and head, has allowed salt and brackish water to 

move farther inland, especially during the dry season. This process has 

decreased sawgrass stature and area at the southern end of the Everglades. 

Here, the sawgrass is being replaced by saltmarsh species and mangroves 

(Alexander and Crook 1975; Craighead 1971; Egler 1952)(fig. 22). 

Where the water table has been artificially held at a higher level for 

longer periods of time, such as the downstream ends of the Conservation 

Areas, sawgrass, beak rush (Rhynchospora spp.), and maidencane have 

given way to other wet prairie and slough species. The hardwood components of tree islands in these areas are dying and being replaced by 

sawgrass, but overall the sawgrass is suffering a net loss in area occupied. 

Where surface waters are deep and annual fluctuations of the water 

table are not great, sawgrass develops structures called tussocks (cylindrical 

mounds of undecayed leaf bases), roots, and rhizomes (fig. 23). The 

meristematic zone is on top of this mound and is well above the soil surface 

(Yates 1974). If tussocks are present, their meristems are likely to be 

damaged by fire because of their increased exposure. 

Between 1972 and 1977, the stature and density of sawgrass 

mysteriously deteriorated throughout the Everglades, especially in oncevigorous pure stands. Some sawgrass stands that in 1971 were so dense and 

tall that penetration on foot was laborious, and seeing over them was impossible, could be traversed with little difficulty in 1976, and visibility was 

unimpeded. Patches of previously robust sawgrass became open water or 

27 
Figure 22. - Sawgrass being invaded by buttonwood along Flamingo road. 

Everglades National Park. 

Figure 23. - Sawgrass tussocks, Everglades National Park. 

28 
exposed bare peat, with only decaying sawgrass stubble reflecting the past 

vegetation (fig. 24). Werner (1975) noted entire strands in the Shark River 

Slough system that had died in less than 2 years except for a narrow fringe 

around the edge. 

Discussions with long-time users and researchers failed to turn up any 

recollections of similar conditions prior to 1972, nor was any reference 

found in the historical literature. Several possible explanations have been 

suggested however. Craighead (1971) attributed the decline of sawgrass in 

wet prairies to burning of the deep peat, upon which sawgrass grows best. 

Just as too much of the wrong kind of fire may be detrimental to sawgrass, 

so might too little fire. Forthman (1973) suggested that sawgrass decadence 

may simply be the result of an excessive accumulation of its own litter, such 

as occurs in many grass communities (Launchbaugh 1973; Old 1969; Van 

Rensburg 1972). Werner (1975) studied the effects of fire on decadent 

sawgrass strands in the Shark River Valley. He found that burning 

stimulated the recovery of these strands, resulting in a general (although 

not significant) increase in sawgrass propagation (fig. 25). He burned each 

month from October through April and found the best regrowth occurred 

after his January and February fires. 

Insect attack is another possibility. Valentine (1964, in Yates 1974, 

p. 112) reported an extensive sawgrass dieback in Louisiana which was 

caused by insects, but there is no strong evidence of such depredation in the 

Everglades. 

The extremely wet years of 1968, 1969, and spring 1970, followed by the 

severe drought that began in the summer of 1970 and continued through 

1971, may also have been a major contributor to this widespread sawgrass 

decadence. 

Figure 24. - Dead sawgrass and suspended algal mat during the dry season, 

northeast corner of Conservation Area 3A. 

29 
Figure 25. - Prescribed burning decadent saw grass in Shark River Slough, 

Everglades National Park, February 1973. The dense black smoke is 

characteristic of fire in decadent sawgrass. Ignition by personnel on foot 

without the safety of a fireline is not generally recommended. 

It is most likely that the recent decline of Everglades sawgrass resulted 

from the interaction of several factors. Hofstetter and Parsons (1975), and 

Hofstetter (1976), for example, believe that insect damage, nutritional 

deficiencies, and altered hydroperiod were all involved. 

Whatever the reasons, this situation seems now to be reversing itself; 

observations since 1977 suggest sawgrass is again gaining in stature and 

density. 

MELALEUCA THREAT TO SAWGRASS 

While the coverage of sawgrass has been decreasing in south Florida, 

that of melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) has been increasing 

dramatically. Also called cajeput or punk tree, this exotic was introduced 

into the area early in this century. Melaleuca has become established in a 

wide variety of south Florida ecosystems, and its range continues to expand 

yearly. One estimate of its potential range in south Florida, based on the 

assumption of continuation of present trends, is shown in figure 26. 

Because it is an exotic and highly visible plant, it is considered to be undesirable by many who fear that it will eventually eliminate native south 

Florida vegetation. In addition, both melaleuca and Brazilian pepper 

(Schinus terebinthifolius) cause contact dermatitis and respiratory problems 

(Finegold 1975, in Austin 1978, p. 28; Morton 1971). Therefore, management practices which might encourage or discourage melaleuca are of great 

interest, not only in sawgrass but also in other south Florida plant communities. 

30 
27' 

26' 

~4' 

83' 

LEGEND 

EXTE NSIVE STANDS 

D ~30% MELALEUCA HIGH REPRODUCTION 

POTENT IAL 

D SCATTERE D TREES NOT CO NSPI CUOUS 

OR IMPOR TANT 

-.- -

Location of 

Suryey Unit 4 in 

Ihe Stale of 

Florida 

82' 

27' 

26' 

25' 

.c. .. ~( "' ILlt 

o 4 0 

81' 80' 

Figure 26. - Projected distribution of melaleuca in south Florida by the 

year 2000 under 1976 conditions. 

Most of the available information regarding melaleuca in south Florida 

is the result of work by Meskimen (1962); Myers (1975); and Woodall 

(1978). The following description of melaleuca's ecological characteristics is 

based on the work of these three authors. One important characteristic of 

melaleuca is its incredibly high reproductive potential. Each tree produces 

millions of tiny seeds each year, and these are held in capsules on the tree, 

sometimes for many years. The capsules open when the twig to which they 

are attached is killed, either through natural mortality or fire. Because of 

natural twig dieback, some seeds are continually released, but a tremendous 

31 
number fall after a fire (fig. 27). Adults damaged by fire resprout vigorously 

(see figure 99). In fact, the proliferation of branches on a burned, adult 

melaleuca often results in more twigs - thus more capsules and more seed 

production - than was the case prior to the burn. 

Figure 27. - Carpet of melaleuca seedlings 3 months after a May 1977 

wildfire, Lee County. 

The tiny seeds are readily dispersed by wind and water, and they retain 

their viability for more than 10 months. 12 Tiny seedlings can also be uprooted and dispersed by floodwaters, and their nutrient requirements are 

extremely low (Woodall 1978). 

A major conclusion reached by Myers (1975) was that melaleuca can 

invade a wide variety of south Florida ecosystems, but only when the 

natural vegetation on these ecosystems had been disturbed. Sometimes the 

disturbance that facilitates melaleuca invasion is wildfire, sometimes 

drainage, sometimes land clearing, and most often some combination of 

impacts. Other workers, however (e.g., R. Hofstetter and S. Woodall) have 

observed it on apparently undisturbed sites ~ Once established, melaleuca is 

extremely difficult to eliminate, primarily because it resprouts vigorously 

after fire or cutting, and anything which damages a seed-laden adult usually 

results in the dispersal of a vast amount of seed onto the site. Because of its 

tenacity once established, it would seem to be far more preferable to prevent initial establishment of melaleuca than to attempt to eliminate it after 

it has successfully colonized a site. Perhaps the best way to exclude 

'2Woodall, S. 1978. Personal conversation. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv., Southeast. For. 

Exp. Stn., Lehigh Acres, Fla. 

32 
melaleuca is to manage south Florida landscapes in ways that maintain the 

vigor of the native vegetation. If resource managers keep the natural 

vegetation happy, it, in turn, will help contain the spread of melaleuca. 

There is a possibility (as yet untried) that fire may be useful for controlling melaleuca on some sites where it is already established. Ewel and 

others (1976) suggested that very young seedlings might be killed by 

prescribed burning. However, an abundance of tiny melaleuca seedlings 

usually means that there was an earlier fire-induced seed release, and the 

earlier fire would probably have consumed most available fuel, thus 

precluding a second burn which might be used to kill the seedlings. But, if 

the adult melaleuca were killed by below-freezing temperatures, fire might 

be an excellent method of eliminating any subsequent seedlings. A second 

possible use of fire (suggested by Myers' work) would be to induce a 

melaleuca seed release at a time when germinating seeds would be killed by 

drought or flooding. This approach would require accurate prediction of 

water level changes and merits additional research before definite recommendation can be made. 

Another approach to melaleuca containment is a direct attack on individual trees. Woodall (1978) has concluded that massive elimination of 

dense stands is not ecologically nor economically feasible, but he does 

suggest that additional expansion of melaleuca into presently uncolonized 

ecosystems might be slowed or stopped by manual removal of the scattered 

individuals which serve as seed sources. Fire must be used with great care 

on such areas to prevent inadvertent seed release. 

FIRE AND SAWGRASS 

Successful sawgrass management depends, to a large degree, on the fire 

regime. Sawgrass has evolved with fire; it apparently needs fire to maintain 

its dominance and, even if man-caused fires could be eliminated, lightning 

fires would continue. These often occur in the dry season and, if the upper 

layer of organic soil is dry enough to ignite (moisture content [m.cJ < 65 

percent ovendry weight) when the surface fuels burn, these smoldering 

ground fires can dry out and burn progressively wetter layers (at least 150 

percent m.c.) until the water table is approached or bedrock is reached. 

Such fires will kill virtually all vegetation on the site. 

When sawgrass remains unburned for 3 to 5 years, the amount of dead 

material usually surpasses the live biomass. Eventually several feet of litter 

accumulate, particularly in the central Everglades where sawgrass achieves 

its best growth. However, in the Shark River Slough, Werner (1975) found 

most of this dead material disappears each wet season rather than accumulating, as it does in the Conservation Areas. These differences are partially due to the different hydroperiods, which affect decomposition rates, 

and different waterflow rates, which determine how much of the dead 

material is flushed from the system. Sawgrass survival can be assured by 

prescribed burning when surface water still covers some of the litter or, if 

tussocks are present, when most of the meristems are just submerged by the 

dropping surface water. To reduce the threat of fire during the peak of the 

33 
dry season, however, prescribed burning has to remove much of the accumulated litter. If the sawgrass is burned when the water table is too high, 

it may reb urn later in the dry season when the water table is lower. Some 

sawgrass communities burned three times in 4 months during the spring of 

1971, the last burn being an extensive ground fire. Similar events occured 

during the 1973-1974 season (Zipprer 1977). 

Sawgrass regrowth after burning is prompt and rapid if the meristems 

are undamaged (fig. 28). Tilmant (1975) recorded average sawgrass 

regrowth heights of 2.5 feet (0.75 m) 2 weeks after a March prescribed burn 

when the water table was just below the soil surface and 3.9 feet (1.2 m) 8 

weeks after the fire. Forthman (1973) found new shoots 1 inch (2.5 cm) high 

the day after a prescribed burn. Regrowth averaged 8 to 16 inches (20 to 40 

cm) at the end of 2 weeks. She found these growth rates were much higher 

than those on unburned control plots and that the new sawgrass leaves differed from those on control plots. New leaves on culms in the burned areas 

were rather limp, a brighter green, and had fewer teeth. The rigid, toothed 

leaves from which sawgrass derives its name were not produced until 1 to 2 

months after burning, when growth rates slowed to normal. As Forthman 

(1973) pointed out, it would be advantageous for any defoliated plant to 

produce new leaves as quickly as possible so it could resume photosynthesis 

and thus not deplete its stored food reserves. Sawgrass does just this after a 

fire; it produces new leaf area at the expense of secondary thickening of cellwall tissue. Many grasses do the same; following the fire an increase in the 

ratio of cellulose to lignin (which in indigestible) is often noted (Daubenmire 1968; Halls and others 1952, 1964; West 1965). 

-Figure 28. - Sawgrass regrowth 3 weeks after a lightning fire, July 1973. 

Note the fire-killed seed stalks in foreground and the line of Casuarina 

along canal berm in the background. North boundary, Everglades National Park. 

34 
Thus, even though fire generally removes most of the vegetative cover, 

sawgrass recovers its preburn stature. This process takes 1 to 2 years 

(Loveless 1959a). Forthman (1973) reported the sawgrass on her plots had 

regained about 70 percent of its preburn height and standing crop weight 

the first year, which agrees with the first-year-height recovery reported by 

Yates (1974). Although Tilmant (1975) did not take any measurements 

before burning, he reported sawgrass regrowth 5 months after a late 

December burn over standing water to be 5.75 feet (1.75 m), while regrowth 

after an early March prescribed burn, when the water table was just below 

the surface, was 4.9 feet (1.5 m). If fire damages the meristems, regrowth is, 

of course, much slower. For example, Steward and Ornes (1975b) reported 

the standing crop was only 38 percent of its preburn weight 18 months after 

a wildfire in May 1971 - an extreme drought year. 

To produce the best growth of both tropical and temperate zone 

grasses, burning at the end of the dry season is usually recommended 

(Hughes 1975; Rose Innes 1972; Van Rensburg 1972). Furthermore, 

Forthman (1973) found that the growth rate of sawgrass increased in the 

spring (April through June), which she interpreted as a response to increased solar radiation and temperature. The largest acreage of sawgrass 

has probably always burned in the spring, and this is usually the best time 

to burn if soil moisture is adequate. This can easily be determined before 

burning. Seek out the highest elevation on the site; if standing water is present or the soil surface is damp (>65 percent m.c. ovendry weight), proceed; 

if the soil surface feels dry «65 percent m.c.), do not burn! 

To perpetuate sawgrass in the Shark River Valley, the Everglades 

National Park fire management plan (Bancroft 1977a) calls for prescribed 

burning between December and March with winds 10 to 20 mph out of the 

North, Northeast, East, Southeast, or South (to carry smoke away from the 

populated east coast). Relative humidity (RH) should be less than 60 percent; standing water should be present but on a falling water table; and 

Drought Index should be between 400 and 600 (see Keetch and Bryam 

1968). 

The Florida Division of Forestry uses the following criteria for 

prescription burning of sawgrass to reduce wildfire hazard and damage on 

the Conservation Areas (Zipprer 1977): a falling water table with surface 

levels 3 to 6 inches, wind east to south at 10 to 15 mph, RH less than 60 percent, and the stagnation index under 10 (for good smoke dispersion). They 

try to maintain less than a 2 to 1 ratio of dead to live fuel; to do so requires 

a burning interval of 3 to 5 years. In areas where dead fuel buildup is 

slower, the interval between burns can be extended. The historical sawgrass 

fire rotation can only be estimated; Hendrickson (1972) gives a hypothetical 

fire frequency from 3 to 25 years, which is wide enough to encompass most 

estimates. However, sawgrass can apparently withstand, at least occasionally, more frequent burns (fig. 29). One of Forthman's (1973) study 

plots had burned the previous year as well, yet these two successive spring 

fires had no detrimental effect on the sawgrass regrowth. Neither did she 

find any differences in sawgrass density (culms/m2

) with burning. 

35 
Figure 29. - Several weeks after a wildfire in l-year-old sawgrass regrowth, 

September 1972, Everglades National Park. 

A hazard-reduction burn when surface water levels are high obviously 

will not meet its objective, nor will a burn over 2 to 3 inches of water completely eliminate the threat of a wildfire later in the dry season as the water 

table continues to drop. However, if a wildfire does start on such an area, 

its rate of spread will be less, it will not burn as hot, and it will, therefore, be 

easier to extinguish. Sawgrass can safely be precribed burned as long as the 

soil is wet, but it is usually burned when several inches of surface water are 

present, in part to allow the use of airboats during the burn. 

We recommend that headfires or spotfires be used whenever possible. 

Pushed by the wind, they will cross areas of sparse fuels that a backfire is 

unable to cross. They are fast moving and thus less likely to dry out and 

ignite any elevated areas of organic soil. Werner (1975) found a strong 

positive correlation between sawgrass recovery and fire-spread rate, undoubtedly because headfires consume the dry fuels quicker and move on 

before the moisture can be driven from the sawgrass culms and rhizomes 

causing heat damage to these plant parts. Moreover, a headfire will burn a 

given area quicker than a backfire and is therefore more economical. 

Containment should not be a problem because any area of sparse fuels 

more than a few feet wide should stop a prescribed fire. Fire will sometimes 

jump these natural breaks, but the spots can be stopped by simply circling 

them a time or two with an airboat to push down and wet the fuels ahead of 

the fire (fig. 30). Occasionally, the nighttime increases in humidity and fine 

fuel moisture are relied upon. In general, control is not a problem until the 

soils begin to dry out. 

36 
Figure 30. - An airboat was used to knock down the sawgrass on the first 

pass. The line was then backfired on the return pass. Conservation 

Area3A. 

Because most sawgrass burning is done over water and an airboat is 

usually present in case it is needed for control, these craft are also commonly used for ignition (fig. 31). However, ignition from a helicopter is 

generally much more efficient and safer. Travel time to the site is less, ignition is quicker, and the person doing the igniting has an overview of, as well 

as complete access to, the burn area so he can better place the igniters and 

can more easily access fire behavior and regulate it by changing his ignition 

pattern. An aerial igniter was specifically developed for south Florida conditions by the U.S. Forest Service (Sackett 1975) and further refined by L. 

Bancroft of Everglades National Park. Instead of starting a continuous line 

of fire, these aerial igniters, like lightning strikes, start spot fires that spread 

in all directions (fig. 32). The result is a mosaic of burned and unburned 

areas (fig. 33) which is desirable for wildlife. The unburned areas act as 

refugia for many animals during the fire and then provide cover for them in 

subsequent months. The burned areas, on the other hand, soon contain new 

plant growth that is tender and high in nutrient value, and thus a preferred 

wildlife food source. 

Most animals do not exhibit an innate terror of fire or become unduly 

alarmed at the first sniff of smoke. We have observed many species of birds 

feeding on insects and small mammals dislodged by a fire. Snakes are often 

seen along the flanks and back of a fire, staying just ahead of the flames. 

37 
Figure 31. - Prescribed burning sawgrass over surface water, February 

1975, Everglades National Park. The airboat is used for both ignition and 

control. Note the abrupt transition between the robust saw grass and wet 

prairie, which will not carry a backfire under these conditions. 

Figure 32.- A helicopter was used for ignition. Note the airboat standing 

by. The gray areas ahead of the fires are decadent sawgrass; the green 

areas, healthy sawgrass or tree islands; the tan areas, wet prairie; and the 

open water in the foreground, slough communities. The spot fires are unable to back under these conditions. Note the airboat trail that follows the 

saw grass-wet prairie interface. Everglades National Park. 

38 
Figure 33. - Mosaic of burned and unburned marsh after a February 1974 

prescribed fire, in selected saw grass strands, to reduce the chances of a 

dry-season fire reaching the large tree island. Note the airboat trails. 

Everglades National Park, February 1974. 

Dineen (1972) observed that red-shouldered hawks changed their feeding 

habits and raised their young right through the severe drought-year fires of 

1971. 

Few studies have been specifically designated to assess the relationship 

between Everglades fauna and fire, but many first-hand observations have 

been reported in the literature. Robertson (1953, p. 83) encountered enough 

fire-killed cotton rats and marsh rabbits to conclude that wildfires in 

sawgrass "may exert considerable influence on the rodent populations of 

the glades." He also mentions having seen small alligators, opossums, raccoons, and several species of snakes, frogs, and turtles killed by wildfires in 

sawgrass. These observations were made during 1951 and 1952, which 

Robertson (1953, p. 18) states "were abnormally dry years, at least by all 

previous standards." Babbitt and Babbitt (1951) reported large numbers of 

frogs, snakes, lizards, anoles, and turtles killed by fire during February 

through April 1949. Robertson (1953, p. 99) quotes the chief of the 

Everglades Fire Control District on March 15, 1949, as saying it was the 

"driest in 14 years." Ligas (1960) believes severe sawgrass fires can set back 

the frog population by 5 years; but if we can assume that severe fires mean 

drought-year fires, Ligas' statement must be tempered by that of Viosca 

(1928, p. 224) who states "frogs are very scarce for 1 to 2 years following 

every drought sufficient to dry our swamps." Robertson and Kushlan 

(1974) thought direct fire mortality of birds was limited to nestlings of 

species that nest on the ground or in low vegetation. Further, springtime 

39 
bird populations are low except around ponds and sloughs, which are least 

affected by fire (Robertson 1953). Virtually all the mortality described 

above occurred during wildfires, many of which were undoubtedly dryseason, organic soil fires. In our experience, turtles are probably the most 

common victims of fire. Werner (1978) states that it is common to find 

Florida box turtles (Terrapene carolina bauri) with up to 70 percent of the 

carapace scarred by fire. In many cases, the tissue in the bony plates has 

been destroyed and replaced by new tissue that formed underneath. 

Animals may also be killed in prescribed burns, but several factors 

combine to limit losses. Prescription fires are generally smaller, less intense, 

slower spreading, occur over standing water, and leave a mosaic of burned 

and unburned fuels (see figure 33). Thus,more animals can outrun the fire, 

find safety in areas of sparse emergent fuels, or submerge while the fire 

passes over them (fig. 34). Marsh burning is an integral part of wildlife 

management on almost all the coastal wildlife refugia in the South (Givens 

1962; Perkins 1968; Zontek 1966). 

Yates (1974) lists almost two dozen species of birds that utilize 

sawgrass. Ducks, in particular, are fond of sawgrass seed but are effectively 

kept from this food source without periodic burning to remove the dense 

accumulation of plant materials (Givens 1962; Lynch 1941). 

In one of the early intensive wildlife studies conducted in south Florida, 

Loveless (1959a) and Loveless and Ligas (1959) tied the health of the EverFigure 34. - Alligator on a fresh sawgrass burn, March 1975, Conservation 

Area 3A. 

40 
glades deer herd directly to the periodicity of fire in the Glades. They believe the two most important reasons for burning are that it encourages the 

establishment of many important deer food plants and that it checks plant 

succession toward less desirable associations. Deer, like most browsers, 

tend to congregate on recently burned areas to browse the tender sawgrass 

regrowth, provided adequate cover is nearby (Klukas 1973; Loveless 1959a). 

Cattlemen have long recognized the benefits of burning for range 

management. Although the slash pine flatwoods provide the principal cattle range in south Florida, postfire marsh regrowth also attracts herbivores 

(Hughes 1966; Lynch 1941; Van Rensburg 1972; and Wharton 1966). 

WET PRAIRIE AND SLOUGH 

WET PRAIRIES 

The term "wet prairie" has been used in the literature to describe a 

variety of communities that differ in vegetation, hydroperiod, animal life, 

and fire history. Wet prairie is used here in the sense of Loveless (l959b) 

and includes the spike rush marshes and sedge flats of Craighead (1971). 

Loveless (1959b) identified several subdivisions of wet prairie communities 

that he called "flats," using as a prefix the Latin name of the dominant 

plant, e.g., "Eleocharis flats." 

Loveless' (l959b) wet prairie communities such as beak rush flats, spike 

rush flats, and maidencane flats, have different dominant species, but the 

more common plants in all are: beak rush ( Rhynchospora spp.), spike rush 

(Eleocharis spp.), maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), string lily (Crinum 

americanum), spider lily (Hymenocallis spp.), ludwigia (Ludwigia repens), 

arrowhead (Sagittaria lalifolia), floating hearts (Nymphoides aquatica), 

bladderworts (Vtricularia spp.), and pickerelweed ( Ponlederia lanceolala). 

Wet prairies occupy sites where the maximum surface water depth is 

less than 4 feet (125 cm) and there is, at most, only a short annual dry 

period (fig. 35). Except during severe drought, the water table does not 

recede more than about a foot below the soil surface (Loveless 1959b). Wet 

prairies have a longer hydroperiod than sawgrass communities, according 

to our usage. However, others in south Florida use the term "wet prairie" 

to denote vegetative communities between sawgrass and higher ground (fig. 

36). This problem in nomenclature can be, at least, partially overcome by 

becoming familiar with the site requirements of the primary plant species. 

For example, floating hearts, bladderworts, and ludwigia are indicators of 

deep water, while maidencane prefers drier sites. 

The lowering of the water table and the shortening of the hydroperiod 

in drained areas have resulted in displacement of wet prairies by species 

that favor drier conditions (fig. 37). On the other hand, wildfires have burned out the surface layers of peat in many sawgrass communities, and most 

of these depressions have changed to wet prairie. The raising of the water 

table, the lengthening of the hydroperiod, and the lack of a dry period (as in 

the wetter areas of Conservation Areas 1, 2, 3) have resulted in displacement 

of sawgrass by wet prairies and of wet prairies by slough and cattail communities (Alexander and Crook 1973, 1975; Dineen 1972; Goodrick 1974). 

41 
Figure 35. - Wet prairie ecosystem, Conservation Area 3A. Note the sparse 

fuel load of spike rush and the abrupt transition to saw grass in the 

background. 

Figure 36. - Wet prairIe in the Fahkahatchee, Collier County. Swamp 

goldenrod is in bloom. 

42 
Figure 37. - Wax myrtle encroachment into a wet prairie, Corkscrew 

Swamp Sanctuary. 

Some wet prairies, notably maidencane flats, are becoming more widespread, partially because maidencane prefers drier sites than other wet prairie 

species and partially because it can tolerate both recurrent fire and widely 

fluctuating water levels (Loveless 1959b). Goodrick (1974) described wet 

prairies as one of the marsh communities most sensitive to water conditions. 

In general, wet prairies have insufficient fuel to carry a tire when 

flooded. A well-developed algal mat (periphyton) (figs. 38A, 38B) is frequently present. When this suspended mat and the surface sediments are 

dry, however, the periphyton will burn, smoldering imperceptibly (fig. 39), 

often carrying fire through the night and over considerable distances. 

Ma"idencane flats are an exception; they burn almost as well as sawgrass 

and quickly resprout after a fire. Tilmant (1975) considered that vegetative 

recovery of both species was nearly complete 6 months after a March 

prescribed burn. The maidencane averaged 3.6 feet (1.1 m) tall and the adjacent sawgrass community averaged 4.9 feet (1.5 m) tall. Average water 

depths were about 2.8 inches (7.0 cm) greater in the maidencane. Tilmant 

(1975) thought this difference in water depths was enough to prevent the intermingling of the two species. He also reported that 6 months after a fire, 

total cover was 77 percent in the maidencane marsh, compared to only 27 

percent in the sawgrass strand, which in contrast to the discussion in the 

sawgrass section, indicates that sawgrass does not always recapture a site 

rapidly. At about this time, however, the water level rose almost 2 feet (0.6 

m) in 2 weeks to 28 inches (72 cm), killing much of the maidencane but apparently not affecting the sawgrass. 

43 
Figure 38. - Periphyton in wet prairie during: A, the wet season; B, the dry 

season. Everglades National Park. 

44 
Figure 39. - Smoldering algal mat, Everglades National Park. The light 

gray is unburned, the dark gray is burned, and the brown is the fire front. 

Note the lack of smoke. 

Maidencane is preferred cattle forage throughout the year (Yarlett 

1965) and, along with other wet prairie plants, is an important deer food 

(Loveless 1959a). These species, therefore, are often burned to improve 

wildlife habitat and range. 

Tilmant (1975) studied the effects of fire on the round-t~iled muskrat 

(Neofiber alleni) in Everglades National Park. He found these animals 

move from wet prairie to sawgrass and back with the annual rise and fall of 

surface water levels. Fire may force a move to unburned vegetation, 

depending upon water level at the time of the burn; otherwise, fire has little 

apparent effect. 

Vogl (1973) followed wildlife trends after an intense wet prairie 

prescribed burn in north Florida, visting the area 63 times in 4 months. He 

recorded a total of 754 birds on the burned shoreline, but only 236 on an 

adjacent, comparable unburned shoreline. Thirty of the 35 bird species encountered were seen more often on the burn. Alligators used the burned 

shore almost exclusively. However, within 4 months after the fire, the 

animal populations on both areas appeared similar. 

Goodrick (1974) points out the general ecological importance of wet 

prairies: they contain excellent waterfowl food plants, abundant invertebrates and other small aquatic animals, plus the highest density of smallfish populations in any south Florida freshwater vegetative type. All of 

these are required to maintain the vast wading-bird populations of south 

Florida. 

45 
Van Arman and Goodrick (in press) have just completed a study of the 

effects of fire in the Kissimmee River marsh which, although north of our 

south Florida boundary, is considered an integral part of this region by 

many people. They concluded that maidencane and pickerelweed are fire 

tolerant and regain preburn biomass within 6 months. But their most important finding was that the total numbers of both animal species and individuals were significantly greater on their burned plots. Thus, for the first 

time, statistically significant increases in secondary productivity have been 

tied to the use of fire. One management implication of this discovery is that 

prescribed burning, in conjunction with the manipulation of water levels, 

can increase the production of macrovertebrates and small fish which are 

food for wading birds and larger fish. 

SLOUGHS 

Sloughs are elongated, often sinuous natural drainage channels that 

contain water most of the year (figs. 40A, 40B). They are a few inches to a 

few feet below the adjacent marsh. In the upper Everglades, where the soil 

is mostly peat or muck, the submerged surface sediment in the sloughs 

tends to rise and fall with changing water levels. 

Emergent plants are usually sparse, while aquatic plants are abundant; 

sloughs are easy to recognize. The common aquatic plants include white 

water lily (Nymphaea odorata), spatterdock (Nuphar luteum), water hyssop 

(Bacopa caroliniana), ludwigia (Ludwigia repens), bladderworts (Utricularia 

spp.), and floating hearts (Nymphoides aquatica). Spike rush (Eleocharis 

spp.), an emergent plant, is common in some areas (see figure 35). Sloughs 

west of the Everglades generally have a border of overhanging swamp 

hardwoods and/or cypress (fig. 41). 

Because sloughs are wet much of the year and the vegetation is sparse, 

they have historically acted as nature's firebreaks in south Florida. The 

communities bordering them are protected from fires approaching from 

across the slough. When the surface sediments dry out in severe droughts, 

however, ground fires may develop. Such fires create depressions that later 

fill with water to become ponds. Most alligator holes are found in sloughs; 

when they occur in other plant communities, they are probably the result of 

the acids in accumulations of plant litter dissolving the limestone and/or 

deep-burning muck fires (Loveless 1959b). 

Human modification of the hydroperiod throughout the wetlands has 

altered the distribution and nature of sloughs. Where the hydroperiod has 

been shortened by drainage, sloughs have been replaced by wet prairies, 

sawgrass, or even less-water-dependent communities, depending on the extent of reduction. Good examples of these community shifts can be found 

in Taylor Slough and Shark River Slough. Where the hydroperiod has been 

lengthened, as by impoundment along the downstream ends of the Conservation Areas, sloughs have been replaced by shallow lake communities of 

cattails (Typha spp.) and/or submerged and floating plants. 

Cattails have increased in density and distribution in southern Florida, 

primarily as a response to human manipulation of the hydrology of the 

area. Along canals and the wetter southern ends of the Conservation Areas 

46 
Figure 40. - Slough communities during the wet season: A, Shark River 

Slough, Everglades National Park; B, slough and adjacent sawgrass communities several weeks after a 1971 drought-season wildfire. The water 

table was close enough to the surface to prevent ignition of the organic 

soil. Note the small changes in elevation between communities. 

47 
Figure 41. - A pond-apple slough in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. 

where surface water is present almost all the time, cattails have displaced 

other graminoids, especially sawgrass (fig. 42). This succession also may be 

accelerated by introduction of more nutrient-rich waters from agricultural 

areas. 

Cattail growth declines in the early dry season (i.e., winter), and the 

large quantity of standing dead material and litter will readily burn when it 

is dry. Further, cattail shoots cannot tolerate low temperatures, so a cold 

spell will increase the amount of dead fuel present above that resulting from 

the annual dieback. The role of fire in cattail marshes of southern Florida is 

not fully understood, but deep-burning ground fires in freshwater wetlands 

create conditions favorable for cattail. One hypothesis is that fire in cattail 

marshes may perpetuate this species by consuming the plant material that 

would otherwise remain on the site, form peat, and decrease water depths, 

favoring sawgniss colonization. 

FRESHWATER MARSH AND MARL PRAIRIES 

These vegetative types are characterized by shallow soils covered with a 

moderate to well-developed algal mat called periphyton. Where the 

periphyton is thick, it forms a marl soil high in calcium carbonate. In many 

places the limestone bedrock protrudes to the surface or has been exposed 

by past fires that have consumed the thin overtopping layer of peat (fig. 43). 

The vegetation is sparse to patchy and comprised of graminoids with some 

48 
Figure 41. - Cattail i n.ading a "'pike' ru 1 ftla/' im'jj the· southern end deE per 

water) of Consen'ation Area 3. Notle .. Jough ,lind sa \ grass c.ommun·ities in 

the background . 

•. igure 43. - \Vhere the limestone outcrops or ~l s been exposed by ground 

fires, it is called pinnacle rock. Everglades N.atJonal Park. 

49 
forbs intermixed. Species composition varies considerably and may include 

plants generally associated with sloughs, sawgrass glades, wet prairies, and 

saltmarshes along with more mesic-site plants, such as white-top sedge 

(Dichromena colorata), love grasses (Eragrostis spp.), muhly grasses 

(Muhlenbergia spp.), plume grass (Erianthus giganteus), and beard grasses 

(Andropogon spp.). Included in this section are the Marl Prairies of Harper 

(1927); the Southern Everglades Marsh Prairies and Southern Coast Marsh 

Prairies of Davis (1943a); the Southeast Saline Everglades of Egler (1952); 

and graminoid communities of Craighead's (1971) provinces IV 

(Freshwater Swamps) and VI (Low Pineland and Sloughs). 

While freshwater marsh and marl prairies differ floristically and environmentally (notably, soil type and hydroperiod), they probably share a 

similar burning history, with periodic fire pruning back invading brush and 

trees. The irregular vegetative cover generally results in a patchy burn even 

under severe burning conditions, except on muhly grass prairies where 

there is adequate fuel to carry fire readily. Although hydroperiods differ 

within this vegetative complex, they are all fairly short, resulting in dry surface soils during much of the dry season. At this time, the periphyton will 

carry a smoldering fire across poorly vegetated areas to unburned patches 

of fuel (see figure 39). Some researchers (e.g., Craighead) believe the surface 

soils of these communities historically had a high percentage of organic 

matter, but that dry-season fires, particularly following drainage, have 

removed most of it. 

This vegetative complex occupies extensive areas in the Big Cypress 

and once was the characteristic vegetative type from the Miami Rock Ridge 

southeast to the saltmarsh-mangrove fringe. Marl prairie vegetation has, 

however, disappeared from much of its original area because of drainage, 

fire, agriculture, urban expansion, and displacement by exotic plants. 

Drainage has resulted in a shift to species requiring a drier habitat such as 

saltbush (Baccharis halimifolia), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), and swamp 

fern (Blechnum serrulatum). With the increasing demands for homesites, the 

decreasing surface water levels, and the lack of an inexpensive way to control the more aggressive exotic plant species, the loss of these prairies will 

undoubtedly continue. Richardson (1977) states that the recorded prairie 

fire cycle of slightly less than 2 years in southeastern Palm Beach County is 

too short to perpetuate the original prairie community. 

Three exotic tree species, known collectively as Australian pine 

(Casuarina spp.), are invading the easternmost marl prairies (fig. 44). All 

three species are very susceptible to fire, but only one, C. equisetifolia, does 

not sprout after fire. Thus, periodic fires keep expansion of this species in 

check and, with herbicide treatment, can be used to kill existing trees. 

However, fire just prior to seed maturation will prepare a very favorable 

seedbed for this exotic, promoting it over the graminoid vegetation. 

North of Kendall Drive in Miami, melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) 

is the most common exotic invader of these marsh prairies. Melaleuca is 

rapidly moving westward and eastward from the coastal ridges. Single trees 

appear first, then scattered dense heads, and finally extensive dense stands 

50 
Figure 44. - Casuarina invading a marl prairie south of Miami. Note snags 

from past fires. 

essentially devoid of all other species (figs. 45A, 45B). Melaleuca readily invades disturbed land (Alexander and Crook 1973; Myers 1975), but 

development in essentially undisturbed communities has also been 

documented (Woodall 1978). Austin (1976) reports that disturbed "wet 

prairie" sites are particularly susceptible to invasion by melaleuca. 

Melaleuca, however, is also spreading south of Miami, displacing the 

Australian pine with the help of fire. 

Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), a large shrub or small tree 

introduced from Brazil, has also invaded areas that once were marsh 

prairies, but its spread and development are most severe in freshwater buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta) forests, and on abandoned farmlands, excessively burned pinelands, and other disturbed land. It is common 

throughout south Florida and constitutes another major exotic plant threat 

to the native vegetation. Its fruit is readily eaten by wildlife, but the seeds 

pass through the digestive tract unharmed. Because wildlife is drawn to 

fresh burns, this exotic is often a major component of the postburn vegetation (fig. 46). Although fire will kill Brazilian pepper seedlings, it is not effective for the control of this species once it forms thickets because even intense wildfires have difficulty penetrating them, and sprouting almost 

always occurs. This is at least partially due to the damp conditions and lack 

of well-distributed dead fine fuels within these thickets (fig. 47). In fact, 

hedgerows of Brazilian pepper are often used as a firebreak because of this 

trait. 

51 
Figure 45. - Melaleuca invasion of marl prairie: A, clumps developing in 

Conservation Area 28; B, closeup of a dense melaleuca sapling stand in 

Dade County. 

52 
Figure 46. - A clump of Brazilian pepper seedlings that germinated in raccoon feces. 

Figure 47. - A 36-year-old Brazilian pepper forest, Everglades National 

Park. Note the lack of dead fuels on the forest floor. 

53 
SALTMARSH 

Saltmarshes are perhaps the most isolated and least understood plant 

community in south Florida. Farther north they often extend from high 

ground directly to the sea, but here they are almost always surrounded by a 

border of mangrove, or, on the inland edge, by freshwater marsh (fig. 48). 

Water chemistry of these saltmarshes changes dramatically on several time 

scales. During much of the year, most saltmarsh areas are covered with 

freshwater, but as the dry season progresses, brackish water covers them. 

At the height of the annual dry period, water levels usually drop below the 

surface. Tidal cycles cause daily low-amplitude salinity changes. Storms, 

particularly hurricanes, can temporarily alter salinity in two ways. They can 

push masses of seawater well inland into freshwater wetlands, or the rain 

from them can increase freshwater discharge and decrease salinity. 

Figure 48. - Mangrol'e lined streams and saltmarsh communities in 

El'erglades National Park. The dead mangrol'e fringe is the result of a 

prel'ious fire. Gray areas in the background are black rush. 

Saltmarshes are usually dominated by one or more of the following 

species: black rush (Juncus roemerianus), salt grass (Distichilis spicata), and 

fringe rush (Fimbristylis spp.). Other species such as cordgrass (Spartina 

spp.), sawgrass (Cladium jamaicensis), cattail (Typha spp.), and spike rush 

(Eleocharis spp.) generally associated with freshwater marshes, are occasionally present and may even dominate some brackish-water areas (fig. 

49). Thus, there is a continuum rather than a clear separation between 

54 
Figure 49. - Three months after fire in a cordgrass community, Everglades 

National Park. The lush regrowth on the burned area is rapidly regaining 

its prefire stature. 

saltmarsh and freshwater marsh in southern Florida. 

Water (quantity, quality, and duration), frost, and fire are the forces 

which determine species dominance and succession in this ecosystem. 

Saltmarshes readily burn, regardless of the height of the water table, when 

adequate fuel protrudes above the water surface and weather conditions are 

conducive to fire spread. These fires kill any encroaching mangrove, ensuring continued graminoid dominance (Klukas 1973). When hot fires are 

stopped by mangrove, the outer fringe of trees is often killed and the marsh 

temporarily expands (fig. 50). Without frost or fire, trees would probably 

eventually replace most saltmarsh vegetation. 

Little is known about the effects of fire upon saltmarsh communities in 

south Florida. Most saltmarsh fires are thought to be lightning caused, but 

some are undoubtedly set by people. 

The Everglades National Park initiated a study in 1973 to monitor 

vegetative changes on two adjacent saltmarshes, one prescribe burned in 

February 1973 and the other unburned until February 1977. Werner (1977) 

summarized his observations over the intervening 4 years. The most 

pronounced changes took place on the unburned marsh, where glasswort 

(Saliconia spp.) expansion resulted in a 75 percent reduction in the area occupied by black rush and a much smaller decrease in the cordgrass area. 

The salt grass communities remained stable. On the burned marsh, salt 

grass invaded open areas and patches of sea purslane (Sesuvium spp.), while 

black rush and cordgrass remained relatively stable. The area of glasswort 

55 
Figure 50. - Repeated fire in saltmarsh perpetuates this vegetation type by 

killing back encroaching mangrove. Everglades National Park. 

also increased slightly on such sites. However, expansion of glasswort, a 

halophyte, was probably independent of fire and simply a response to 

higher salinities.13 Werner (1977) thought the severe frost of January 1977 

was more effective than fire in retarding the invasion of mangrove and thus 

perpetuating these saltmarshes. Saltmarsh species quickly recolonize these 

areas, but this reprieve may be only temporary because frost-killed 

mangrove generally resprouts from its roots (fig. 51 ).14 

Werner's (1976) detailed study of the endangered Cape Sable sparrow 

( Ammospiza maritima mirabilis) shows its plight is due to a loss of suitable 

habitat. A large colony has recently been found in a freshwater muhly grass 

(Mulenbergia spp.) prairie, where its welfa.re is tied directly to the fire cycle 

(Werner 1976). Its existence in the saltmarsh ecosystem may also be related 

to the fire cycle. Lynch (1941) reported that all species of geese "eagerly 

sought" the new growth of spartina and salt grass within a week or two after burning Gulf Coast refuges. 

There is probably little need to burn these coastal marshes because 

'JVegetative changes indicating an increase in salinity have been observed in many south 

Florida coastal ecosystems (Alexander and Crook 1973, 1975; Craighead 1971; Truesdell 

1969). Reduced freshwater sheetflow and the slow submergence of this region are thought to 

be the major reasons for these changes. 

'4There are conflicting opinions regarding the ability of mangrove to resprout after a 

freeze. Personal correspondence on file at South. For. Fire Lab., Macon, Ga. The January 

1977 freeze was reported to be the worst in over 50 years, yet the only mangrove the authors 

know ofthat did not sprout was on an area that burned soon after the freeze (see figure 55). 

56 
Figure 51. - Mangrove resprouting after being top-killed by the January 

1977 freeze. Light-green areas are cordgrass and brown areas are black 

rush. Photo taken February 1979. Everglades National Park. 

lightning fires are comm~n. However, if a decision is made to burn, to slow 

encroachment of woody plants, for example, the weather conditions should 

be comparable to those required for burning sawgrass or other graminoid 

marshes with similar available fuel loads. When burning over standing 

water, adequate wind to push the fire into unburned fuel is the prime 

weather requirement. If standing water is not present on the area to be 

burned, soil moisture should exceed 65 percent on areas underlain by peat 

to prevent its ignition. Attention should also be paid to the vegetation and 

soil-moisture content of organic soil on adjacent higher ground. Burning 

saltmarshes that are surrounded by mangrove is easy because, under normal 

circumstances, the mangrove border acts as a firebreak. On areas that 

merge with freshwater marshes, fire can be confined to the saltmarsh by 

walking the vegetative boundary to knock a swath through the fuels and 

setting a headfire from that line. 

Although coastal prairies are not true saltmarshes, they are sometimes 

inundated by salt or brackish water and thus are included here. Species 

composition includes cordgrass (Spartina spartinae and S. bakerii), bunchgrass (Sporobolus spp.), seaside daisy (Borrichia Jrutescens and B. 

arborescens), and batis (Batis maritima). The coastal prairies around 

Flamingo and Cape Sable burned often, perhaps annually, prior to establishment of the Everglades National Park (fig. 52). If fire and hurricanes 

are kept from these prairies for several decades, they will become buttonwood forests (Craighead 1971). Encroaching shrubby vegetation is kept 

off prairies outside the Park because they still burn every year or so. 

57 
Figure 52. - Buttonwood killed by fire near Flamingo, probably to clear out 

the underbrush prior to a charcoal operation before the 1935 hurricane. 

MANGROVES 

Mangrove forests are found along tropical and subtropical coasts with 

weak wave action. Although mangroves occasionally become established in 

other Gulf Coast States, nowhere else in the United States do they form extensive forests, as they do along the southwestern coast of Florida (fig. 53). 

They make up an unusual and interesting ecosystem that is of particular importance because it links the land and sea. 

Four species of mangrove are found in Florida. Red mangrove 

(Rizophora mangle) is found primarily along open water channels and has 

characteristic prop roots (see figure 55). The black mangrove (Avicennia 

germinans) is common in areas of high salinity, reduced water movement 

and low soil oxygen; it is characterized by pencil-like pneumatophores 

which protrude into the air from the roots. White mangrove ( Laguncularia 

racemosa) is a colonizing species and thus surrounds many marshes; it frequently is found in mixtures with black and red mangroves. Buttonwood 

(Conocarpus erectal) is most common on the freshwater side of the other 

mangroves; it generally occurs on dry ground or sites with very short 

hydroperiods. It was once an important source of charcoal for urban south 

Florida. 

Most of Florida's remaining mangrove forests are located in 

Everglades National Park and the National Wildlife Refuges in the lower 

Keys. Outside the Park, mangrove forests have been drastically altered by 

urban development along the coasts. This loss is unfortunate because 

mangrove forests form a natural and surprisingly resilient barrier against 

the sea. Mangrove forests absorb the brunt of many storms. 

58 
Figure 53. - Mangrove forests, Everglades National Park. Note the eagle's 

nest in the large snag. 

In addition, mangrove forests produce much of the organic matter that 

supports the food chains of our coastal waters. Thus, to destroy the 

mangrove forests is to cut off the food supply of our economically important marine fisheries. 

The mangrove belt is also where land building takes place. Craighead 

(1964) believes this whole zone (one-third of the land area south of the 

Tamiami Trail) has been deposited in the last 3,000 to 4,000 years. 

Lightning is a frequent visitor to mangrove forests (Craighead 1973). 

From the air, 1/10- to I-acre (0.04- to O.4-ha) circular holes of dead and dying mangrove resulting from lightning strikes are obvious (fig. 54). These 

holes are common, and it has been suggested they might be an important 

(but as yet un quantified) facet of mangrove ecology.15 Lightning-started 

fires in mangrove almost never spread beyond the immediate area of the 

strike. Fire, however, is an important determinant of how far inland 

mangroves extend. Mangroves in Florida usually merge into marsh vegetation along the gradient from saltwater to freshwater, and the marshes with 

which they are contiguous often burn. Because fire readily kills mangrove 

back to ground line, it excludes mangroves from both salt- and freshwater 

marshes (Davis 1940; Egler 1952). However, it is perhaps more common for 

a band of spike rush (Eleocharis spp.), which is too sparse to burn, to 

separate the mangrove from the more flammable glades. 

'5Robertson, William, Jr. 1978. Personal conversation. U.S. Dep. Inter., Everglades Nat!. 

Park, Homestead, Fla. 

59 
Figure 54. - Circular holes of lightning-killed mangrove. Regrowth is filling 

the older holes. Mangrove in the fresh strikes have not yet begun to break 

up. Everglades National Park. 

Hurricanes and frost produce considerable amounts of dead fuel and 

can lead to fire in mangroves. Craighead (1971, 1973) described the fate of 

extensive areas of mangrove devastated by the hurricanes of 1935, 1960, 

and 1964 (see figure 8). Frosts occur at least annually along the southwest 

coast and are the most significant factor in succession along the mangrovemarsh interface (Craighead 1973). Severe cold snaps, such as the one of 

January 1977, kill back large areas of mangrove forest (see figures 7,51). 

Frosts occur during the dry season, so the dead leaves often fall on dry 

ground, except where influenced by daily tides. These fuel beds are adequate to carry a creeping fire during periods of low humidity. Although 

mangrove usually recovers from freeze damage, it is extremely sensitive to 

heat and even very-low-intensity fires will kill it (fig. 55). Fire can crown 

into mangrove for short distances during the interval between a killing frost 

and the shedding of the dead leaves (see cover photo), but this is uncommon. 

Thus, although a fire may occasionally burn through a mangrove forest 

that has been frost or hurricane killed, it normally has no role in the 

management of these ecosystems. Because there is little surface fuel buildup 

under mangrove forests and what dead fuel is present is usually too wet to 

burn, fire protection measures are not required. In fact, prescribed fires in 

the adjoining marshes are generally run against the mangroves because they 

are such an effective break. 

60 
In some of its native habitats in Southeast Asia and Australia, 

melaleuca forms a band of vegetation in the brackish areas just to the 

landward side of mangroves (Coaldrake 1961; Coulter 1952; Williams 

1967). In Florida this habitat is often occupied by our native buttonwood. 

Even though Myers (1975) was unable to induce melaleuca establishment in 

a mixed stand of white and red mangrove in south Florida, the buttonwood 

zone is susceptible to melaleuca invasion. This substitution of an exotic fire 

type for a native nonfire type of vegetation is, in fact, apparently taking 

place on Little Pine Island in Lee County. 

,f 

, 

Figure 55. - Red mangrove vegetation near Carnestown top-killed by the 

January 1977 frost and subsequently burned. Photo taken April 1977. 

MIXED-HARDWOOD SWAMPS 

These forested wetlands constitute one of the most luxuriant and 

diverse vegetative types in south Florida (fig. 56). They are characterized by 

numerous species of trees which tolerate wet soil and seasonal flooding. 

The older successional stages of this forest type are dense and both 

floristically and structurally complex. They contain abundant epiphytes (including many species of orchids and bromelaids); they serve as either permanent homes or seasonal refugia for a large number of birds, mammals, 

reptiles, and amphibians; and the knolls within these swamps constitute one 

of the principal habitats for Florida's rare and endangered royal palm 

(Roystonea elata). 

Mixed-hardwood swamps probably occupy more area today than they 

61 
Figure 56. - Fahkahatchee Strand, Collier County, the largest remaining 

mixed-hardwood swamp in south Florida. 

did at the turn of the century because of their successional relationship to 

cypress forests. The largest and best known mixed-hardwood swamp in 

south Florida is Fahkahatchee Strand, which covers 180 square miles (460 

km2

) in central Collier County and is now owned and managed by the State. 

Fahkahatchee Strand was logged for baldcypress during the 1940's (Alexander and Crook 1973; Craighead 1971), and the tramways and trestles 

constructed to extract the logs still form a dense herringbone pattern of 

dikes which may affect waterflow southward through the strand. Data on 

floristics, litter dynamics, biomass distribution, and hydrology of the 

Fahkahatchee Strand are available in the report by Carter and others 

(1973). There are several other mixed swamp forests in south Florida 

(primarily in Collier County), but none are as extensive as Fahkahatchee 

Strand. All of them follow major drainage paths, are generally oriented 

north-northeast to south-southwest, and have been logged some time in the 

past. 

Mixed swamp forests occupy peats, sands, and rock, as do cypress 

strands. The hydroperiod is long, often 9 months or more, and in some 

years the water is above the soil surface throughout the dry season. Since 

there are no mixed swamp forests in south Florida that have not been affected by drainage or impoundment structures, the presettlement hydrolog62 
ical characteristics of this ecosystem are unknown. In spite of man's activities, Duever, who has been carrying out extensive water-related studies in 

Corkscrew Swamp for several years, has not been able to document any 

overall change in the hydrology of the swamp since the area was settled. 16 

The mixed-hardwood swamps of south Florida differ from cypress 

strands primarily in tree species composition; the sites they occupy are alike 

in substrate and hydroperiod. The two kinds of forests seem to be closely 

related, and differences between them probably reflect their ecological 

histories, including fire and logging. The striking difference between the 

two kinds of ecosystems is that the cypress strands are dominated by a 

single species (Taxodium distichum), with hardwoods constituting a 

relatively inconspicuous part of the flora. In the mixed swamp forests, on 

the other hand, Taxodium is usually present, but the strand is dominated by 

a diverse mixture of hardwoods. These commonly include: red maple (Acer 

rubrum), red bay (Persea spp.), myrsine (Myrsine floridana), dahoon holly 

(!lex cassine), pond-apple (Annona glabra), cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), 

strangler fig (Ficus aurea), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), diamond-leaf 

oak (Quercus laurifolia), and pop ash (Fraxinus caroliniana). 

The large baldcypress have been logged out of the mixed swamp forests 

of south Florida. When no further site disturbance follows logging, 

hardwoods take over the site, and the result is a hardwood-dominated 

swamp in which baldcypress are still present but less abundant than before 

logging. However, cypress appears to be making an impressive comeback in 

many of these swamps. 

In some of the swamps and strands of south Florida, however, logging 

was followed by fire. Some fires may have resulted from the increased 

drainage that occurred at about the same time as the logging and some 

from the construction of tramways that made areas accessible and changed 

drainage patterns. The logging itself opened the forest and produced large 

amounts of flammable debris. Many of the postlogging fires were severe 

enough to consume at least part of the organic soil (Alexander and Crook 

1973), modifying the moisture-holding properties of the substrate. After the 

combination of logging and fire, former swamp forests frequently are 

dominated by willow (Salix caroliniana), sometimes accompanied by other 

wet-site trees and shrubs such as primrose willow ( Ludwigia spp.), pop ash, 

and button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). This is the case at the southern 

end of Corkscrew Swamp sanctuary, where a former cypress strand was 

logged in the mid-1950's and parts of the logged area burned in 1962. 

Duever and others (1976) and Gunderson (1977), concluded that, in the absence of a cypress seed source and fire, such sites would become dominated 

by mixed-hardwood swamp forests. Frequent fires, however, probably perpetuate dense tangles of willows (Gunderson 1977; Loveless 1959a) or 

graminoids (fig. 57). 

IbDuever, Michael. 1979. Personal conversation. Natl. Audubon Soc., Corkscrew Swamp 

Sanctuary, Naples, Fla. 

63 
Figure 57. - Graminoids dominate in this logged and frequently burned 

cypress forest, Golden Gate Estates, Collier County. 

The successional relationships among willows, mature mixedhardwood swamps, and cypress forests are shown in figure 58 (taken from 

Gunderson's 1977 work). Ewel and Wade concur with the theory that 

mature mixed-hardwood swamps in south Florida are a fire-free version of 

the same environments which, with occasional fire, support cypress 

strands. I? As one of the most diverse and complex ecosystems in the State, 

they warrant protection. They contain numerous species not found 

elsewhere in the United States, including various epiphytes (Buswell 1937; 

Craighead 1963) and the royal palm (Little 1976). 

Mixed-hardwood swamp forests are hydrologically important because, 

like cypress strands, they occupy the major zones of surface drainage and 

are the wettest nonsaline forests in south Florida during the dry season. 

The cypress and hardwood swamps have probably long constituted one 

of the main natural barriers to the spread of wildfires. With increased 

drainage in south Florida, however, there is evidence that the swamp 

forests are drier than they were previously (Carter and others 1973), so fires 

now eat away at their edges. During the unusually dry years of 1971 and 

1973-75, wildfires penetrated some of these drained swamp forests (fig. 59). 

Virtually all of the species found in the swamps (except cypress and cabbage 

palm) are· extremely intolerant of fire, so such fires destroy a unique kind of 

south Florida community. Devastating fires can result in temporary 

17Duever, M. (see footnote 16, p. 63 ) states he has not yet found a cypress forest in 

southwest Florida that did not contain evidence of past fires. 

64 
_--11 ...... - no cypress regeneration 

cypress 

regeneration 

mixed 

hardwoods 

+ 

remnant 

cypress 

severe 

bum willow 

light 

fires logging 

cypress 

+ 

mixed 

hardwoods 

no fir 

surface fire no fire severe fire 

monospecific 

cypress 

forests 

severe burn or logging 

~-~urface fire--+--t 

mixed 

hardwoods 

no fire 

willow 

+ 

remnant 

cypress 

Figure 58. - Generalized successional scheme in south Florida swamps (after Gunderson 1977). 

65 
Figure 59. - The cypress was removed during the fifties, creating a 

hardwood swamp. One side of the road burned in 1974 killing many of the 

fire-sensitive hardwoods. Golden Gate Estates, Collier County. Photo 

taken May 1976. 

dominance of species such as willows. Many decades may pass before the 

forests again consist of the diverse mixture of large, epiphyte-laden trees 

found in some of the oldest, least disturbed swamps. If a severe wildfire 

were to sweep a swamp forest that had been drained, it is unlikely that the 

mixed swamp hardwoods could be reestablished without resturing the 

original hydroperiod. Such drained and burned sites are susceptible to 

colonization by vegetation characteristic of drier sites, including pine ( Pinus 

elliottii var. densa), wax myrtle (Myrica cen/era), and exotics such as 

melaleuca (Alelaleuca quinquenervia) and Brazilian pepper (Schinus 

terebinthl/olius ). 

Because of their ecological uniqueness, hydrologic importance, esthetic 

appeal, and susceptibility to damage from fire, it is probably advisable to 

exclude fire from mixed-hardwood swamps in south Florida. They are 

usually surrounded by pine or cypress forests, so their future depends upon 

good fire management of these adjacent ecosystems. The edges of mixed 

swamp forests have probably always expanded and contracted in response 

to the fire regime in the surrounding lands. There is no reason why extra 

measures, such as permanent firelines along these ecotones, should be employed to prevent this normal ebb and flow of the borders of the swamp 

forests. Catastrophic fires, which might easily result in the long-term loss of 

one of our most complex forest types, should be prevented however. This 

may be best accomplished by judicious prescribed burning in the surrounding plant communities. 

66 
CYPRESS: STRANDS,DOMES,AND DWARF FORESTS 

The cypress forests of south Florida cover more than 800 mil (2000 

km2

) and have their greatest concentration in the Big Cypress Swamp 

(McPherson and others 1976). Cypress occurs in many forms in south 

Florida, ranging from the bonsai-like dwarf cypress to the giant trees, 

which are the largest living things in the State. Whatever the form of their 

trees, however, all cypress forests in south Florida appear to have three 

features in common. All are dominated by a species of Taxodium, and all 

occur on sites that are, or were, flooded for at least part of the year. Finally, 

counter to the intuition of most casual observers, all appear to be intimately 

tied to fire as a natural, recurring environmental factor. 

Botanists disagree about the distinction between pondcypress 

(Taxodium ascendens Brongn.), which is smaller at maturity and has appressed leaves that are scalelike, and baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) 

Rich.), which can be a huge tree at maturity and has leaves that are usually 

flattened and splayed outward from the twigs. Readers interested in this 

debate are referred to Craighead;18 Gunderson (1977); and McJunkin 

(1977). 

Cypress forests constitute a continuous gradient of form and structure, 

ranging across a variety of substrates, including rock (fig. 60), marl, sand, 

and peat. The stature of the cypress trees found on a particular site seems to 

Figure 60. - Cypress growing on exposed cap rock, Gator Den Fire, May 

1974. Northwest boundary, Everglades National Park. 

I8Craighead, Frank, Sr. [n.d.]. Unpublished notes on file, Naples, Fla. 

67 
be a function of both the substrate and the hydroperiod. Although the form 

and density of cypress forest represent a continuum (fig. 61), it is convenient to arbitrarily break that continuous gradation into three forest 

types: dwarf cypress, cypress domes, and cypress strands. 

Figure 61. - Cypress forest in eastern Collier County during winter showing undulating waves of leafless cypress. Green patches in the background 

are tropical hardwood hammocks. 

Dwarf cypress forests occupy shallow soils (sand or marl) overlying 

limestone. The trees are usually less than 12 feet (3.7 m) tall and their 

diameters at breast height (d.b.h.) are usually less than 4 inches (10 em), yet 

ring counts indicate that they may be over 100 years old. Their characteristic silhouette gives rise to the local terms "hatrack" and "bottleneck" 

cypress (fig. 62). In one such dwarf cypress forest near the Collier-Dade 

County Jetport site, Ewel found 668 trees/acre (1650 trees/ha), the largest 

of which was 4.3 inches (11 em) d.b.h. Egler (1952) reported a crown cover 

of only about 33 percent in such stands, an observation comparable to 

Ewel's. The ground cover ranges from scattered to quite complete and consists of a variety of grasses, sedges, and forbs. During the wet season, such 

sites are usually flooded to a depth of 8 inches (20 em) or more. Algal mats 

often cover the soil surface and submerged parts of the herbaceous vegetation. These sites are not very productive, so fuel buildup is slow and fires 

probably occur only once every decade or two. 

Where the soil is deeper, due to depressions in the surface of the underlying limestone, the size of the cypress trees increases. On these depressions, trees are often tallest in the center and gradually taper off toward the 

68 
Figure 62. - Dwarf cypress, Everglades National Park. 

fringes. Sometimes, particularly in pinelands, the depression is well 

delineated and tree height changes dramatically, creating a domelike appearance. 19 At other times the change is very gradual, giving the vegetation 

the appearance of undulating waves when viewed from the air (see figure 

61). Cypress trees in domes reach heights of 50 to 60 feet (15 to 20 m) and 

commonly attain diameters of 12 inches (30 cm) d.b.h. or more (fig. 63). 

Crown closure is nearly complete and the ground cover is sparse, perhaps 

partly because there is less light reaching the forest floor than in the dwarf 

cypress forest and partly because the hydroperiod is longer and the depth of 

flooding is greater. No long-term shallow-well records are available, but a 

hydroperiod at least 30 days longer than that of the dwarf cypress forests 

seems likely. Some understory shrubs, often including coco plum 

(Chrysobalanus icaco), are generally present however. An algal mat is 

usually absent in the denser cypress forests, probably because of insufficient 

light for its development. Craighead 20 believes the drought-year fires of the 

late 1930's, in what is now Everglades National Park, burned out the peat 

in many cypress domes that are now bayheads. 

The third major type of south Florida cypress forest - the cypress 

strand - is found along major drainage paths (fig. 64), and is thus usually 

oriented more or less north-south. With the exception of one part of 

'

9

Many explanations of cypress doming have been sllggested. McJunkin (1977) compared 

various theories in several cypress swamps along the lower southeast coast of Florida; he concluded the theory of differential marginal fire put forth by Kurz and Wagner (J953) best fit the 

domes he studied. 

lOCraighead, Frank, Sr. 1978. Personal conversation. Naples, Fla. 

69 
Figure 63. - Cypress dome interior, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. 

Figure 64. - Cypress strand interior, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Note 

the dense hardwood understory void of cypress and the growth of water 

lettuce (Pistia straJiotes) on the water. 

70 
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the Norris Tract (officially called Big 

Cypress Bend, U.S. Natural History Landmark) just west of Carnestown, 

all of the cypress strands of south Florida have been logged for the gigantic 

cypress found there. 

Cypress strands are usually associated with relatively deep water during 

the wet season. Also, unlike the dwarf cypress and cypress domes, the water 

in cypress strands has a measurable (though very slow) flow rate. The 

hydroperiod in cypress strands may be 8 months or more (Duever and 

others 1976), and sometimes the soil is flooded all year. The dominating 

features of these strands are the huge cypress, many over 100 feet (30 m) tall 

and 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter above the butt swell. The woody understory 

vegetation is quite diverse, much more so than in dwarf cypress forests or 

cypress domes, which have a shorter fire rotation. Herbaceous vegetation is 

limited to shade-tolerant ferns, epiphytes, and aquatic macrophytes which 

grow in the pools of water frequently found near the center of the strand. 

Common understory hardwoods include red maple (A cer rubrum), red bay 

(Persea spp.), dahoon holly (Ilex cassine), pop ash (Fraxinus caroliniana), 

myrsine (Myrsine floridana), sweet bay (Magnolia virginiana), pond apple 

(Annona glabra), and willow (Salix caroliniana). These species took over 

many sites after logging, resulting in many of the mixed-hardwood swamp 

forests found today in south Florida. 

Even though cypress occupies seasonally flooded sites and is usually 

thought of as a swamp tree, available evidence indicates that its continued 

existence depends on fire. Hare (1961), for example, found that cypress was 

one of the most fire resistant of the 14 species he tested by measuring the insulation properties per unit thickness of bark. Harper (1914); Garren 

(1943); and Komarek (1973) have noted that surface fires frequently leave 

cypress undamaged. Fires sometimes kill the aboveground parts of dwarf 

cypress trees, but they resprout readily (fig. 65). In a quantitative study, K. 

Ewel and Mitsch (1978) found that a wildfire which swept a cypress dome 

in north-central Florida killed most shrubs, hardwoods, and pines but less 

than half of the cypress trees which dominated the site. Three years after the 

burn, their study dome was composed almost completely of cypress, 

although recolonization by hardwoods and shrubs was occurring. The 

1954-1955 drought fires in Okefenokee Swamp destroyed much of the adjacent pine, but, except where several feet of peat burned out, few of the 

larger cypress were killed (Cypert 1961). 

Because cypress forests have been so dramatically affected by logging 

and drainage in south Florida, it is difficult to reconstruct the presettlement 

relationships between them and fire. It seems likely, however, that the 

cypress forests in south Florida were exposed to fire in inverse relation to 

the length of their hydro period and depth of wet-season flooding. Dwarf 

cypress forests, with a forest floor of herbaceous fuel and relatively short 

hydroperiods, were probably burned more often than were cypress domes. 

Cypress domes probably burned during some dry years when fire swept the 

surrounding dwarf cypress marsh or pineland. Monk and Brown (1965) 

mention that fire has been a continuing influence in the cypress domes of 

71 
Figure 65. - Dwarf cypress regrowth 2% months after the Phantom fire, 

February 1972, Everglades National Park. 

north-central Florida. Cypress strands probably burned very infrequently, 

yet without occasional fires, one wonders why they did not develop into 

more diverse forests containing both cypress and a variety of hardwoods. 

Some environmental factor - perhaps fire - must have helped cypress to 

capture and hold the site (see footnote 17, p. 64). It may have been a 

single catastrophic fire, followed by recolonization by cypress, or it may 

have come about through the action of numerous fires which killed the 

competing hardwoods and permitted the more fire-tolerant cypress to take 

over (fig. 66). 

Without periodic fire, it is not clear what the fate of the dwarf cypress 

forests in south Florida would be. There are no unburned tracts of dwarf 

cypress forest that we are aware of, so the impact of total fire suppression in 

this vegetation type is unknown. Cypress domes, as opposed to dwarf 

cypress, have enough soil to support a variety of hardwoods. Without fire 

they probably become increasingly dominated by hardwoods, and thus 

change toward various types of bayheads and mixed swamps. Cypress are 

extremely long lived and still dominate the unlogged part of Corkscrew 

Swamp and the Norris Tract (see figure 64). These stands, however, show 

signs of decadence. M any of the cypress are hollow, often with broken tops 

because of lightning and/or hurricanes. The few cypress seedlings and saplings in the understory are so outnumbered by hardwoods that these stands 

72 
Figure 66. - Buttressed cypress at low water, Collier County, April 1974. 

Note the fire scars on background trees and the stump in photo center. 

seem to be slowly headed toward eventual dominance by hardwoods. Some 

large cypress show signs of fire, but it is not known how extensive or frequent the fires were. 

Human activities during the last century in south Florida - including 

drainage, logging, and severe dry-season burns - have probably had as 

great an impact on the cypress forests as they have on any other kind of 

ecosystem in the area. Fires on drained lands have been hot enough or deep 

enough to kill cypress in many areas, such as in the Golden Gate Estates. 

Often these burns are colonized by hardwood shrubs (fig. 67) or by pine 

(fig. 68); Many cypress-dominated lands are also invaded by melaleuca 

(Melaleuca quinquenervia) (fig. 69) or Brazilian pepper (Schinus 

terebinthifolius) (fig. 70) after disturbance. 

Data upon which to base decisions regarding the use of fire in cypressdominated ecosystems are extremely limited, but some guidelines can be 

deduced from indirect evidence. Dwarf cypress forests which have not been 

drastically affected by drainage should probably be regarded as fire types. 

Low-intensity fires do no apparent damage, but a buildup of surface fuels 

can result in crown scorch and, in some cases, mortality. It is unlikely that 

wet-season lightning fires, which sometimes occur in flooded sawgrass, ever 

occured with any regularity in dwarf cypress forests because most of the 

herbaceous fuel was either inundated by the floodwaters or too sparse to 

carry a fire. However, lightning tires were probably common in these 

forests whenever the water table dropped below ground level. Thus, proper 

management of lands containing dwarf cypress forests should include 

73 
prescribed burns. Until more data are available, we suggest low-intensity 

headfires spaced about 10 years apart. 

Figure 67. - Willow has taken over following a fire in a cypress forest, 

Golden Gate Estates, Collier County. 

Figure 68. - South Florida slash pine invading cypress following drainage. 

Big Cypress National Preserve. 

74 
Figure 69. -- .Vhlture melaleuca forest ol'cupying a former cypress strand. 

Lee County. Note the cypress snags. 

Fi ur 70. - Brazilian pepper invading a cypress dome. Lee County. 

75 
Fire management of cypress domes should probably be regarded as an 

incidental side effect of proper fire management in the surrounding dwarf 

cypress and pine. During a given year, some domes will probably be moist 

enough to prevent fire from entering, while other domes in the same area 

may be dry enough to carry fire (fig. 71). There is no reason to think that 

Figure 71. - Big Cypress fire, June 1973. The ring of bare sand encircling 

each dome is. flooded during the wet season and supports a sparse plant 

growth that dies as the water table recedes during the dry season. These 

rings act as firehreaks, helping to protect the domes. Note the cypress 

snags in the dome in the foreground from a previous fire. 

this situation is inherently undesirable. There would seem to be little reason 

to. change this basic pattern, which results in a desirable diversity of 

habitats. A general rule might be to let nature make the decision regarding 

fire in cypress domes; man must, however, provide the proper range of options by correctly managing fire in the surrounding pinelands or dwarf 

cypress forests. From time to time the organic soil in a dome may burn (fig. 

72). If this natural event is undesirable in the managed ecosystem, it can be 

prevented by gearing fire activities to organic soil-moisture content. 

Whenever moisture content is below 65 percent (ovendry weight), fire 

should be kept out. 

Cypress strands require fire management both for their maintenance 

and for their reestablishment. Stands of huge cypress once formed some of 

south Florida's most important bird rookeries (Corkscrew Sanctuary is still 

a crucial nesting site for the wood stork), as well as habitat for numerous 

76 
Figure 72. - Cypress domes showing burned-out interiors, Everglades 

National Park. 

rare epiphytic plants (including many orchids) and species of wildlife such 

as the Florida panther and short-tailed hawk. Little and others (1970, p. 63) 

refer to the Leopold Report (Leopold and others 1969), which discusses the 

plight of 12 bird species and several mammals, amphibians, and reptiles inhabiting the Big Cypress Swamp and in danger of extinction. Responsible 

management of south Florida's natural resources should, therefore, 

probably include attempts to reestablish this kind of community. Drainage 

and logging have both taken their toll, as have the severe fires which often 

followed them. The difficulty of reestablishing such stands can be seen by 

examining figure 58 (taken from Gunderson 1977). This figure shows that 

the relationship between the strands and various mixtures of hardwoods is 

intimately related to fire. Too much fire can result in site capture by certain 

pioneer species, such as willows, whereas too little fire can result in excessive competition from other swamp hardwoods. Seed supply is particularly important because cypress seeds have low viability and are 

relatively immobile, and the survival of cypress seedlings is quite low (Gunderson 1977; Langdon 1958). Cypress seeds need a dewatering period to 

germinate, and the seedlings can drown if surface water submerges them 

(Demaree 1932; Langdon 1958). Without fire, the former cypress strands 

seem doomed to be replaced - perhaps permanently - by mixed 

hardwoods. 

More so, perhaps, than any other ecosystem in south Florida, cypress 

requires a finely tuned fire management policy. Fire exclusion is not the 

best course of action, yet cypress is not as tolerant of and responsive to fire 

77 
as are some of the other communities, such as the sawgrass glades and 

pinelands. Whenever a seed source is present, melaleuca tends to invade the 

ecotone between cypress and pine. With drainage, this ecotone is moving 

further into the cypress so that even without invasion by melaleuca, the 

area dominated by cypress can be expected to retreat as pine invades sites 

that were once too wet for successful colonization. 

In north Florida, periodic fires in seasonally dry cypress forests will 

perpetuate cypress at the expense of any invading pine (Ewel and Mitsch 

1978). An intense fire every 2 to 3 decades will kill most of the pine and 

hardwoods but few of the mature cypress. Removal of a thin layer of 

organic soil could probably be tolerated occasionally (fig. 73). However, 

implementation of such a plan would be risky; development of the fire 

prescription would involve estimates, and the consequences of a wrong 

decision would be severe. If the fire consumed more organic soil than called 

Figure 73. - A shallow peat burn in cypress, June 1971. 

for in the prescription, the job of extinguishing the fire would be difficult at 

best. Yet if the fire continued to burn, it might eliminate the cypress as well 

as the other vegetation, presenting a scene many people would consider 

both unattractive and a waste of wood (fig. 74). 

An alternative fire management plan calling for frequent fire (perhaps 

every 3 to 4 years) would have a much better chance of success. Wharton 

and others (1976) described a somewhat analogous procedure whereby the 

Indians maintained extensive canebrakes along river floodplains in Florida 

by regularly firing them. This use of frequent low-intensity fires to maintain 

the cypress overstory on drained swamplands, however, remains to be 

78 
Figure 74. - Aftermath of a May 1974 organic soil fire in cypress, Monroe 

County. 

demonstrated on an operational basis. The pine seedlings would be 

eliminated before they become large enough to withstand low-intensity 

fires. Cypress regeneration would also be killed, but the manager would 

have (;l century or more to wait for a sequence of several wet years (which 

occur at approximately 10-year intervals in the Big Cypress Swamp [Little 

and others 19701) during which cypress seedlings might be favored over the 

pine. Duever21 believes, insteap, that drought years favor cypress regeneration over pine because the pine seedlings would have very shallow roots on 

these normally wet sites and would thus die whenever the water table dropped appreciably below ground level. 

Although a definitive fire policy for south Florida's undrained cypress 

forests cannot be positively stated at this time, the need to develop fire 

prescriptions for cypress strands is not urgent, since the historic fire interval 

may have approached a century or two. They can be determined by simply 

observing vegetative changes after chance wildfires. 

21Duever, M. 1979. Personal conversation. Nat!. Audubon Soc., Corkscrew Sanctuary, 

Naples, Fla. 

79 
TREE ISLANDS: BAYHEADS AND HAMMOCKS 

Within the graminoid wetlands are slightly elevated sites, dominated by 

hardwood shrubs and trees, that stand out in marked contrast to the surrounding herbaceous vegetation (fig. 75). Schneider (1966) estimated that 

these tree islands comprise 5 to 10 percent of the Everglades land area. They 

are common in Conservation Area 1, less numerous in the central Glades, 

and most abundant in the southern Everglades. Tree islands differ from one 

another in many respects, including topography, hydroperiod, shape, size, 

and vegetation, but they also share many similarities. They are all elevated 

above the surrounding terrain; the transition from them to the surrounding 

wetlands is typically abrupt; and they are all detrimentally affected by fire. 

Their surface soils are organic, except in the Big Cypress and farther to the 

west, where they are sandy. 

Tree islands are generally divided into two groups - bayheads and 

hammocks - on the basis of elevation. Hammocks can be further classed 

as tropical or temperate, depending on species composition. The distinctions among tree island terms are often unclear (see Austin and others 1977 

and Robertson 1953). Basically, hammocks, whether tropical or temperate, 

contain numerous species and occupy the higher elevations. Bayheads occupy the lower, but still slightly elevated, sites with longer hydroperiods; 

their species composition is limited to plants that can tolerate considerable 

flooding. Individual heads are usually dominated by a single species such as 

red bay (Persea borbonia), sweet bay (Magnolia virginiana), or baldcypress 

(Taxodium distichum). 

Figure 75. - Numerous hardwood-dominated tree islands oriented in the 

direction of waterflow dot portions of the Everglades. 

80 
In the central part of the lower Everglades, there are large teardropshaped tree islands that contain both bayhead and hammock communities 

(see figures 14 and 33). These islands are aligned in the direction of surface 

waterflow; they have a rounded upstream end and a tapered tail extending 

downstream. The upstream end is elevated above high water and is 

dominated by a hammock community of tropical and temperate 

hardwoods. Floristically these tree island hammocks are quite similar to 

hammocks within the Miami Rock Ridge pinelands except that they are 

much poorer in species diversity. On many, hackberry (Celtis laevigata) is 

dominant, while on others, particularly in Conservation Area 3A, fig (Ficus 

aurea) dominates. The thin soil is organic and overlies an irregular 

limestone platform. Swamp hardwoods surround this community and extend down the central axis of the tree island. This vegetation is usually encircled by a band of robust sawgrass, which is narrowest around the hammock and broadest in the tail. The tails, although usually dominated by 

sawgrass, generally contain several species of shrubs and forbs, as described 

under the Sawgrass section. Most, if not all, of the island tails are flooded 

for at least part of the wet season. 

Fire will readily carry into the tail, even in the wet season if it contains a 

high proportion of sawgrass. Wet-season fires in the tail prune back the 

woody plants but otherwise do little damage (see figure 33). Fire in the 

hammocks on these tree islands is, however, a different story. The plants 

there are highly susceptible to fire damage, especially during the dry season, 

because of their elevated, and therefore drier, organic soils (fig. 76). DryFigure 76. - A 1971 drought-year wildfire burning out a tree island, 

Everglades National Park. 
season ground fires may burn the organic soil down to bedrock, killing all 

vegetation. Late dry-season fires aggravated by drainage have damaged or 

destroyed a large number of these communities in recent times, particularly 

in 1962, 1971, 1973, and 1974 (fig. 77). Sawgrass fires generally go out with 

the nighttime rise in relative humidity, but the organic soil in the tree 

islands often continues to burn, reigniting the sawgrass the following mornFigure 77. - Bayheads burning during a June 1973 drought-year wildfire. 

Dade County. Compare with wet-season conditions in figure 75. 

ing. The sawgrass then carries the fire to other tree islands. One method of 

controlling this type of fire is to construct handlines around those tree 

islands already burning, thus confining the fire to them (fig. 78). 

Too much water, on the other hand, is just as bad. Many trees in the 

Shark River Slough were killed by continued flooding in 1968 and 1969 

(Craighead 1971), a result of excessive water release from the conservation 

areas (fig. 79). Tree islands in the southeast quarter of Conservation Area 

3A have also been severely impacted by continued flooding (Alexander and 

Crook 1975). 

The only practical large-scale means of protecting these tree islands is 

to maintain the historic hydroperiod as closely as possible and to burn the 

surrounding sawgrass, by prescription, when the hammock soils are too wet 

to ignite (see figure 33). Fire prescriptions are as outlined under the section 

on Sawgrass Communities. Ignition from a helicopter is often advisable 

(see figure 32). Aerial ignition provides an excellent overview of the terrain. 

Potential trouble spots can be easily seen, ignition patterns quickly determined, and spot fires rapidly set. 19nition placement, sequence, or timing 

can be easily altered if the spot fires do not behave exactly as anticipated. 

82 
Figure 78. - 8ayheads already on fire were burned out from encircling handlines to confine the fire to them. A helicopter was used to ferry the crew 

between bayheads. Aerojet fire, Everglades National Park, April 1974. 

Figure 79. - Hardwood trees killed by continued high water, Everglades 

National Park. Photo taken June 1970. 

83 
Further, a large number of tree islands can be surveyed and their borders 

burned on a given day with this procedure. 

Large, elongated, north-south oriented tree island strands are also present in Conservation Area 1 (fig. 80). Common plants on these islands are: 

sweet bay, red bay, dahoon holly (/lex cassine), wax myrtle (Myrica 

cerz!era), willow (Salix caroliniana), elderberry (Sanbucus simpsonii), 

swamp fern (Blechnum serrulatum), royal fern (Osmunda regalis) briars 

(Smilax spp.), and aster (Aster caroliniensis). The surface of these islands is 

very irregular and barely elevated above the surrounding graminoid 

wetlands. Thus, standing water is present much of the year. The increased 

water level and lengthened hydroperiod in Conservation Area 1 for the past 

decade make damaging wildfires unlikely on these islands. Tree islands 

were, however, occasionally eliminated by fire under previous hydrologic 

conditions. Burned-out tree strands are occupied by submerged and 

floating aquatic plants, cattails, or sawgrass, depending on the degree of 

peat loss. 

Figure 80. - Circular bayheads, tree strands, and graminoid wetland communities in Conservation Area 1. 

BAYHEADS 

In Conservation Area I, small circular bayheads predominate (see 

figure 80). They are elevated 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 1 m) above the surrounding 

wetlands (Loveless 1959b), and their platforms do not have limestone 

bases, as is the case farther south. Bases are organic, often 9 to 12 feet (2.75 

to 3.7 m) deep. It is quite possible they formed over natural basins in the 

84 
limestone. Soil cores suggest that these tree islands are not attached to the 

underlying limestone and, thus, rise and fall with the water table. 22 Sweet 

bay, red bay, and dahoon holly are usually present, while royal fern and 

cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamonea) are common in wetter depressions, 

particularly around the edges of the platforms. 

These islands may have sawgrass perimeters, but they are usually 

isolated by a slough which fire is not likely to cross except during the dry 

season. The presence of fire scars on older trees that predate the present 

high-water conditions suggests that fires do not necessarily burn out these 

islands completely, particularly if ignition is by lightning during the wet 

season. However, drought-season fires undoubtedly destroy the island. The 

ensuing ground fire consumes the organic soil to a depth that approaches 

the water table. A depression that fills with water and aquatic species during the wet season replaces the bayhead. 

Gleason and Stone23 have shown that large blocks of peat break loose 

during high water and pop to the surface, resulting in topographic highs 

that are colonized by shrubs and small trees. These floating islands are 

called batteries (fig. 81). 

Figure 81. - Floating batteries of peat supporting mesic vegetation. 

Waterlilies colonize the depressions previously occupied by peat, Conservation Area I. 

22Craighead, Frank, Sr. 1979. Unpublished data on file, Naples, Fla. 

23Gleason, P., and P. Stone. 1978. Unpublished data on file South Fla. Water Manage. 

Dist., West Palm Beach, Fla. 

85 
Small circular heads are also common on the marl prairies of the lower 

eastern Everglades (see figure 77). These islands are dominated by cypress, 

coco plum (Chrysobalanus icaco), willow, sweet bay, red bay, or by exotics 

such as Australian pine (Casuarina spp.) and Brazilian pepper (Schinus 

terebinthifolius). Many of these heads have a narrow margin of sawgrass, 

coco plum heads being the common exception. The floors of most are 

slightly elevated, but some of the smaller ones remain flooded into the dry 

season. During the wet season, these tree islands rarely carry fire. Vegetation in the surrounding wetlands is usually sparse, so the fuel load is low. 

However, these wetlands have a well-developed algal mat (see figure 38). 

When dry, this periphyton can smolder imperceptibly (see figure 39), slowly 

carrying fire considerable distances to denser graminoid stands and to tree 

islands (fig. 82). 

Figure 82. - A tree island burning out during a 1971 drought-year wildfire. 

These islands have suffered extensively from fires, most recently in the 

early 1970's, because of the shorter hydroperiod and, thus, the more 

prolonged and severe dry season. If fire enters these heads, they are usually 

completely destroyed because the organic soil ignites and burns to bedrock 

(fig. 83). The 6- to IO-foot-deep (1.8 to 3 m) peat-filled cavities, created as 

the limestone is dissolved by organic acids, are also emptied of their plant 

material by these fires. The holes fill with precipitation and become permanent dry-season sources of water for wildlife (Robertson 1953). Circular 

areas of elevated limestone, occasionally with a few remaining typical tree 

island plants, mark the locations of former heads (fig. 84). 

Another indicator of burned-out tree islands is very conspicuous from 

86 
Figure 83. - A May 1974 drought-year wildfire consumed the vegetation 

and humus. 'Wind and rain will remove the ash, exposing underlying 

limestone. E~erglades National Park. 

- -----~._..-.. - - --

. . 

Figure 84. - Limestone platforms mark the location of burned-out heads in 

the lower Everglades. 

7 
the air - rings of saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens) that occur in the higher 

wetlands of the Everglades National Park (fig. 85). Here, palmetto often 

forms the outer perimeter of tree islands. During the dry season, fire will 

burn through the palmetto and ignite the interior peat. As the fire burns the 

soil from around roots, the trees and shrubs topple over and are consumed 

(see figure 83). According to Craighead (1970), these organic soil fires have 

little effect on the palmetto rootstocks; they soon resprout, forming the 

characteristic ring of palmetto. 

Figure 85. - A ring of saw palmetto is all that remains after a tree island 

peat fire. Everglades National Park. 

Particularly in Conservation Area 2B (fig. 86), drought and subsequent 

fire resulted in the establishment of dense melaleuca heads. High water 

levels have been maintained since then, however, temporarily slowing expansion of this species. 

Small elongated, somewhat teardrop-shaped tree islands dominated by 

either cypress (Taxodium distichum) or bayhead species dot the landscape in 

lower Taylor Slough, Everglades National Park. Unlike the cypress domes 

and strands of the Big Cypress, these tree islands generally have higher 

ground in the center. The largest trees sit atop the deepest soil-filled depressions in the limestone. The surrounding wetland has a well-developed algal 

mat, and the vegetation is generally Muhlenbergia prairie, or sparse 

sawgrass often interspersed with scrub cypress. These islands, too, have suffered the consequences of increased fire, particularly during drought years, 

as a result of altered hydrologic conditions (fig. 87). 

88 
Figure 86. - Melaleuca heads and scattered individuals, Conservation Area 

2B. Photo taken April 1976. 

Figure 87. - Tree .island damaged by a May 1966 wildfire, Everglades 

National Park. 

The increased frequency of tree island fires has resulted in a concomitant increase in willow on those sites (Craighead 1971; Loveless 1959b). In 

fact, many burned-out bayheads are now willow heads. Here, willow forms 

89 
dense thickets in the partially burned-out depressions which tend to remain 

wet long into the dry season. The outer edges of many other tree islands 

now have a large willow component. If enough willow is present, it tends to 

protect the island interior because, although fire will prune back willow, it 

does not readily penetrate dense stands. Many willow areas were originally 

sawgrass, then farmed, and finally abandoned because of salt intrusion. 24 

The area of willow is expected to increase throughout much of the 

Everglades, particularly where peat and muck soils prevail, because the 

shortening hydroperiod results in fires preparing a good seedbed in early 

spring when willow seeds are disseminated. The increased area of willow is 

beneficial to deer because it provides good escape cover as well as good 

browse. 

According to Craighead (1971), willow heads commonly form after fire 

on elevated sites subject to periodic flooding and adjacent to a permanent 

source of water such as a solution hole, basin, or slough (fig. 88). "Willow 

heads are one of the most favored habitats of alligators and they, in turn, 

do much to maintain the depressions, which otherwise would quickly fill 

with organic matter ... " (Craighead 1971, p. 137). These depressions are 

important for wildlife survival during the dry season. 

Figure 88. - Willow head and gator hole during the severe drought of 1965. 

Loveless and Ligas (1959, p. 205) state "tree islands are the key to an 

understanding of the ecology of Everglades deer. Without these elevated 

sites that provide refuge and forage during unusually high water levels, it is 

unlikely that deer could exist for any extended period of time in this environment. " 

24Craighead, Frank, Sr. 1978. Personal conversation. Naples, Fla. 

90 
A relatively short interval exists between the time when a particular tree 

island is too wet to burn and when the peat soils are too dry to safely burn. 

Moreover, burning will result in plant species changes that may not be compatible with other management objectives. Craighead (1974) states, that, in 

general, tree islands become susceptible to fire whenever the water table 

drops more than 2 feet (0.6 m) below ground level. Prescribed burning to 

promote willow and other preferred browse species is a viable wildlife 

management tool in many areas - but not on south Florida tree islands 

under present conditions! Preservation of the tree islands is crucial to the 

well-being of the Everglades deer; they can survive without willow but need 

high ground for escape, resting, foraging, and fawning. 

HAMMOCKS 

The high hammocks of the Miami Rock Ridge differ from other south 

Florida tree islands. Here, the adjoining vegetation is typically south 

Florida slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa). These hammocks are rarely 

flooded, if ever, and, were it not for fire, hardwoods would be the climax 

vegetation. Miami Rock Ridge hammocks originated on older limestone 

that is 1 to 4 feet (0.3 to 1.2 m) higher, is harder, and contains more 

numerous solution holes than the surrounding rock (Craighead 1974). 

Solution holes are the most pronounced feature of Miami Oolite and are 

created as organic acids dissolve the limestone (fig. 89). John K. Small 

(1909), a pioneer south Florida botanist, made the classic statement that the 

Figure 89. - Solution hole in the l\1iami Rock Ridge. Repeated fires have 

consumed the organic matter that once filled these holes. 

91 
surface consists mostly of holes. They come in all shapes and sizes up to 20 

feet (7.5 m) deep and 30 feet (9 m) wide; many are interconnected by a maze 

of subterranean passageways. Organic matter once filled these potholes, 

but lowered water tables have allowed fire to consume most of the humus. 

As this humus is burned off by repeated fires, the areas become very difficult to walk on and the exposed, highly irregular limestone is referred to 

as pinnacle rock. 

Craighead (1971) estimated there were once more than 500 of these 

hammocks ranging in size from v.. acre to over 100 acres (0.1 to 40 ha). 

Davis (l943a) reported 140,000 acres (56,650 ha) of "hammock forests" in 

southern Florida. In some of the larger hammocks, nearly 100 species of 

trees and shrubs have been identified, not to mention the numerous forbs, 

graminoids, vines, ferns, and epiphytes (Schneider 1966). The species composition of these hammocks is variable, but among the more common trees 

are: wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliqua), live oak (Quercus virginiana), 

pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia), gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), 

poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum) bustic (Bumelia salicifolia), stoppers 

(Eugenia spp.), strangler fig (Ficus aurea), mastic (Mastichodendron 

foetidissimum), black ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum), paradise tree 

(Simarouba glauca), and satinleaf (Chrysophyllum oliviforme). Because of 

the lack of light under the dense canopy, the floor is not densely vegetated, 

and the stand microclimate tends to be more humid and has less diurnal 

temperature fluctuation than the surrounding pineland. The hammock soil 

has a higher percentage of organic matter and tends to be deeper than that 

of the surrounding pineland. 

These hammocks are well known for the beautifully colored tree snails 

( Liguus) that inhabit them. Some varieties are now extinct, many are rare 

and endangered, and all are susceptible to fire (Craighead 1974). 

Hardwood shrubs and trees are a normal component of pinelands. 

Without fire, they would rapidly increase in number and stature, resulting 

in a reduction in the amount of light reaching the forest floor. Conditions 

would become less favorable for pine regeneration, and species composition would soon be predominantly hardwood, with pine found only in the 

overstory (figs. 90A and 90B). Fire prevents this succession of pineland to 

hammock by killing the hardwood stems, or pruning them back to the 

ground. Many of the hardwoods that are well established will produce new 

shoots from roots and from the base of the trunk (fig. 91), utilizing food 

reserves present in the roots. This condition is more common if fire has not 

occurred for several years than if fire has been more frequent (Hofstetter 

1973). Where surface fires are frequent in the pineland, the transition from 

pineland to hammock is abrupt. But, when fire is absent for more than 8 to 

12 years, there is often a continuum from pineland to hammock (Alexander 

and Crook 1973, 1975). 

Within 5 years, many of the understory species, including several endemics, are shaded out (Robertson 1954), and the succession to hammock 

with a remnant pine overstory is virtually complete after 15 to 25 years of 

fire exclusion (Alexander 1967; Robertson 1953). Once this point is 

92 
Figure 90. - Pineland succession to hardwood: A, 1953 photo; B, 1979 

photo of the same cat-faced pine after 25 years without fire. 

Figure 91. - Sprout development of pineland hardwoods following a 

prescribed fire. Note the exposed limestone. Everglades National Park. 

93 
reached, most fires will not penetrate the hammock. Under servere burning 

conditions, however, fire is capable of crossing the largest hammocks, killing many of the hardwoods and consuming the organic soil (Robertson 

1953). This opens up the canopy and allows establishment of pine seedlings, 

but most of the hardwoods sprout prolifically from their root systems, outgrowing and shading out the pine seedlings. However, Craighead (1974) 

states that the composition of these second-growth stands is usually quite 

different from that of the original vegetation; in particular, bird droppings 

result in a large increase in berry-producing species. Further, much of the 

arborescent vegetation is at least. partially anchored in the peat-filled solution holes. If enough of the peat is consumed during a fire, the shrubs and 

trees loose their mechanical support and topple over (see figure 83). 

The combination of hurricanes and fire can cause havoc in these high 

hammocks, just as they do in mangrove forests. Craighea<;i and Gilbert 

(1962) mention that severe fires followed the 1935 hurricane, totally or partially destroying many inland hammocks. Altered water tables have had the 

same deleterious impact on these high hammocks as they have had on all 

other south Florida tree island types. Lowered soil moistures have increased the period during which peat-filled solution holes are susceptible to 

fire. Further, on the higher parts of the ridge, wilting of at least some shrubs 

and broad-leaved trees is now common during much of the dry season. 

If the management objective of a particular area is to arrest succession 

and return it to pine, fire is an efficient means of doing so. The required intensity of the first fire and the time interval between the next several burns 

will depend upon how long fire has been excluded. Further discussion of 

these burning intervals can be found under the Miami Rock Ridge 

Pinelands Community. 

In contrast to the high hammocks of the Miami Rock Ridge are the low 

hammocks found on the marl prairies of the extreme southern Everglades. 

These are characterized by one of two species: mahogany (Swietenia 

mahagoni), which cannot tolerate long hydroperiods as can bayhead 

species, or the rare paurotis palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii). These low hammocks are surrounded by moats which, in conjunction with the sparse surrounding vegetation and its long hydroperiod, protect them from fire except during prolonged droughts. No evidence of past fires has been found 

in these low hammocks. Craighead25 sectioned two unscarred mahogany 

trees, after they were blown down in hurricane Donna, and estimated their 

age at 225 years. 

In southwest Florida, tree islands are found on sandy peat overlying 

rock outcrops and surrounded by marsh, or on fairly deep sand ridges that 

occur near cypress strands. Common species include: bay, red maple (Acer 

rubrum), cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), and water oak (Quercus nigra) 

(fig. 92). 

15Craighead, Frank, Sf. 1978. Personal conversation. Naples, Fla. 

94 
Figure 92. - A tree island dominated by cabbage palm in southern Collier 

County. 

PINE FLATWOODS 

Pine flatwoods occupy more area in south Florida than any other kind 

of community except the Everglades marshes. Although they have been 

reduced to about half of their former extent (Birnhak and Crowder (974) 

because of agricultural and urban development, they still dominate most of 

the Western Flatlands, including significant portions of Lee, Hendry, and 

Collier Counties. The pine flatwoods are one of the most economically important communties in south Florida, both because of the extensive area 

they occupy and because they are the mainstay of the timber and cattle 

industries. 

South Florida slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) is the dominant tree 

here, as it is in the east coast flatwoods and on the Miami Rock Ridge. 26 

The east coast flatwoods are lumped with the west coast flatwoods in this 

discussion because they are very similar, even though separated by the 

Everglades. Perhaps the most conspicuous difference is that more tropical 

species are represented in the east coast understory. 

26 Longleaf pine (P. palustris) and sand pine (P. clausa) are also found in south Florida but 

occupy very res~ricted areas. Longleaf pine is found on some dry flatwoods in Lee and Hendry 

Counties, and is very similar to south Florida slash pine with respect to fire. Sand pine is found 

associated with xeric oaks and other shrubs on eolian sand dunes. Fire generally does not enter 

sand pine stands except under a complex combination of fuel and severe weather conditions 

(Hough 1973). When conditions are right, however, fire will crown through the sand pine, killing the trees but opening the serotinous cones and thus paving the way for dense stands of 

reproduction. Most sand pine vegetation in south Florida has yielded to urban development. 

A few small patches remain within the city of Naples on the west coast and several remnant 

stands can be found in Palm Beach County on the east coast. 

95 
The dry prairies which no longer contain pine trees (and perhaps some 

of them never did), but which support shrubs and herbs typical of the surrounding flatwoods, are also included in the pine flatwoods category. The 

pine forests of the Miami Rock Ridge, on the other hand, are discussed 

separately from the flatwoods, for two reasons. First, the substrates in the 

two areas differ dramatically. The pine flatwoods have a higher water table 

and occupy acid sands, usually accompanied by a spodic horizon, or 

hardpan, whereas the pine forests of the Miami Ridge occupy elevated exposed limestone and are rarely sUbjected to more than short-term localized 

flooding. Second, there are marked floristic differences between the understories of these two forests. The flatwoods contain herbs and shrubs 

which, for the most part, are typical of other slash pine flatwoods communities, such as the Pinus elliottii var. elliottii forests of northern Florida. 

The pine forests on the Miami Rock Ridge, however, contain an understory 

dominated by tropical species and have a large number of endemic herbaceous species. 

The taxonomy of Pinus elliottU var. densa is not yet settled,27 and this 

variety appears closer in certain ecological characteristics to Pinus caribaea, 

(which it was earlier reported to be (Small 1913) and which occurs in the 

West Indies), than to Pinus elliottii var. elliottii, which is common farther 

north in Florida (Mirov 1967). Squillace (1966) reported that the two 

varieties of P. elliottU differed appreciably in several traits, but he concluded that they were not discrete genetic entities because the patterns of 

variation were characterized by continuity. McMinn and McNab (1971) 

and Squillace (1966) found that the south Florida variety was more variable 

in several respects than was the northern variety. Squillace (1966) suggested 

this plasticity may be the result of its evolution under severe environmental 

factors, such as the flood and drought conditions of south Florida's pine 

flatwoods which probably fluctuate widely over time. 

The pine flatwoods of southern Florida occupy a variety of sites. In 

some places they are found on deep sands that are seldom inundated. At 

other places, the pine flatwoods exist as part of a mosaic where they share 

the landscape with cypress forests. Variation also results from past land 

use. One of the main activities that changed the pine flatwoods of south 

Florida was the logging which began in the 1920's and continued through 

World War II. After logging, the herbaceous and shrub components 

recuperated rather quickly, but the pines were slow to regenerate on some 

areas. The best regeneration is often observed around pond margins and in 

topographic depressions, while the drier upland flatwoods areas often 

remain pine free for very long periods. In some areas, logging and subsequent fires eliminated the seed source necessary for recolonization. Pine has 

still not reestablished itself on some of these sites. Saw-palmetto (Serenoa 

repens) now dominates many sites formerly occupied by pine, often to the 

extent that such areas are called palmetto prairies. Some of these prairies 

27See Little and Dorman (1954) and Squillace (1966) for a thorough discussion of the 

subject. 

96 
may have once supported pine forest, though evidence is fragmentary 

because the pine stumps were either removed for turpentine distillation after the logging operations or consumed by fires. Other areas may have 

always been too dry for successful pine establishment and thus never supported any vegetation other than their present-day cover of saw-palmetto, 

grasses, and forbs. Pines can sometimes be established on such sites by 

planting seedlings, which bypasses the crucial seed-germination and establishment phases of tree growth. Wherever a dense palmetto cover exists, 

however, fire frequency and intensity are such that few young pines survive. 

The depressions created by stump removal for naval stores, or by fires 

that burned out the resin-soaked virgin pine root systems, are wetter than 

the surrounding flatwoods. These moist depressions are favored sites for 

melaleuca establishment in pine flatwoods. 

Another historical force that has shaped the pine flatwoods over the 

past 400 years is grazing (fig. 93). The pine flatwoods are the major range 

community of south Florida, and range management practices, including 

stocking rates and burning, have undoubtedly had an important impact on 

the landscapes we see there today. Very short burning rotations (l to 3 

years), which are commonplace in south Florida, virtually eliminate pine 

seedlings. They perpetuate the palmetto prairies and convert acreage to 

prairie as the mature pines die or are harvested. 

Manipulation of historical water levels has also affected the pine 

flatwoods. Its effects have been less dramatic on the drier pine flatwoods, 

however, than on the wetter ecosystems such as cypress forests and 

marshes. Drainage has affected the area occupied by pines in south Florida 

Figure 93. - Range cattle on a fresh burn, Collier County. 

97 
in two ways. Drainage of lowlands, especially those occupied by cypress 

and mixtures of pine and cypress, has resulted in an expansion of the pine 

into these areas. This is very evident in areas such as the Golden Gate Estates (see figure 68). This ecotone between pine and cypress is also very 

susceptible to invasion by melaleuca if a seed source is nearby. While 

drainage results in the expansion of pines into areas which would otherwise 

be too wet for its growth, it may also result in conditions too dry for. pine 

establishment and survival on the driest sites formerly occupied by pine. 

These areas, now occupied by palmetto-dominated prairie vegetation, may 

thus be more extensive than they were prior to logging and drainage. 

The site differences and stand histories together have produced 

flatwoods communities that are quite variable in both the status of the pine 

overstory, and the density and composition of the understory. Pine density 

ranges from completely absent to high enough to produce a closed canopy. 

Pine trees are usually abundant enough to dominate the landscape, yet not 

so close that their crowns touch (fig. 94). The ground cover, therefore, 

receives nearly full sunlight. 

Figure 94. - Typical pine flatwoods with a south Florida slash pine 

overstory and palmetto-grass understory, Lee County. 

This prevailing condition of open pinelands does not mean that 

management of south Florida slash pine for wood products cannot be 

economically attractive. For example, one plantation on an abandoned 

tomato field in southern Lee County contained over 27 cords/ acre (242 

m3 /ha) at age 16. This is excellent growth, considerably better than that on 

98 
most land managed for timber in southwest Florida, but it does illustrate 

the potential of this species. 28 

Hilmon (1964) listed nearly 200 plant species he encountered on 400 

plots in the pine flatwoods of southwest Florida. Of these, 10 were particularly common. Five o( the 10 were typical "wiregrasses", pineland 

threeawn (Aristida stricta), bottlebrush threeawn (A. spicijormis), broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), little panicum (Panicum polycaulon) and 

goobergrass (Amphicarpum muhlenbergianum); three were sedges, common 

beak rush (Rhynchospora jasciularis), thread beak rush (R. filifolia Gray), 

and little razorsedge (Scleria georgiana); the other two were sundew 

(Drosera capil/aris) and saw-palmetto. Saw-palmetto was the most common 

shrub, while pineland threeawn occurred on virtually all sample plots except those in freshwater marsh. 

Fire presumably has always been a natural component of the pine 

flatwoods. This community is a fire climax, and the species found here are 

fire adapted. Fuel adequate to carry a fire builds up every few years, and 

historically was ignited by lightning. A recent analysis by Maier (1977) 

shows that southwest Florida is the thunderstorm capital of the United 

States, and that 75 percent of these storms occur from June through September. Summer thunderstorms must have produced a large number of 

small « 25 -acre tl0 hectare]) fires, as they do today, butthose that occured 

during the dry season, even though fewer in number, undoubtedly burned 

most of the acreage. Modern civilization put an end to these extensive lowintensity fires through its fire-control efforts and construction of obstacles, 

such as roads and canals. However, the increase in population has resulted 

in an accompanying increase in the number of fires. The presence of large 

numbers of tourists early in the dry season together with extensive drainage 

may result in fires occuring earlier in the dry season than in the past. In 

other ways, however, the current fire pattern may differ little from the 

historic condition. 

South Florida slash pine growing on sand is extremely fire tolerant, 

much more so than the northern variety. Ketcham and Bethune (1963), for 

example, reported on slash pine survival after a fire swept an experimental 

area 2 years after planting. They found that almost a third of the south 

Florida slash pine survived on those plots that were site prepared by burning, whereas none of the typical variety survived. Seedlings of south Florida 

slash go through a grasslike stage, much like longleaf pine, that greatly increases their resistance to fire. Likewise, older trees of the south Florida 

variety are more fire tolerant than are mature individuals of the typical 

variety. They sometimes recover after being completely defoliated by 

wildfire. In fact, the only native species that rival the fire tolerance of south 

Florida slash pine are longleaf pine and cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto). 

Those sites dominated by a herbaceous understory and cabbage palm 

overstory are indicative of very frequent fires (perhaps 1 to 3 years apart), 

28Forest management planning assistance is available from Florida Division of Forestry 

District Offices. 

99 
at least one of which was severe enough to destroy most other stand components (fig. 95). 

Figure 95. - A cabbage palm-graminoid dominated site indicative of frequent fires, Golden Gate Estates, Collier County. Note cypress snags in 

the background. 

Melaleuca is more closely associated with fire than any native species in 

south Florida. Its foliage contains essential oils that are flammable (fig. 96), 

and it often forms extremely dense stands of several thousand stems/ acre 

(5,000 stems per hectare) (fig. 97) which are conducive to crown fires. Fire is 

transported into the canopy by the loose outer-bark layers (fig. 98) which 

hang from the trunk and larger branches (see figure 69). This material 

makes excellent firebrands. Defoliation results in a profusion of both basal 

and epicormic sprouts (fig. 99). Because of these fire-related traits, and 

others mentioned in the Sawgrass section, native species do not stand much 

chance of being represented in the new stand if melaleuca was present and 

postfire hydrologic conditions are conducive to the germination and establishment of just a small portion of the millions of seed that are invariably disseminated (fig. 100). 

The understory vegetation, like the overstory of pine trees, is also well 

adapted to fire. The aboveground parts of the herbaceous plants make up 

most of the fuel in the south Florida pine flatwoods, but following fire they 

rapidly recover, both from seed and by sprouting. Saw-palmetto can be 

held in check by the continued use of fire, but it inevitably recovers and 

cannot be eliminated by burning. 

100 
Figure 96. - Melaleuca torching out, Lee ounty Ma 1977. 

Figure 97. - Dense sapling stand of melaleuca beneath a south Florida slash 

pine overstory, Lee County. 

101 
Figure 98. - Burning melaleuca, Lee County, May 1977. 

Figure 99. - Melaleuca basal and epicormic sprouts 2 months after a May 

1977 wildfire, Lee County. 

102 
Figure 100. - Melaleuca reproduction taking over a former pine site after a 

1976 wildfire, Lee County. Photo 20 months after the seedlings were 

killed back to ground level by the January 1977 freeze. 

Fire suppression in fire-adapted communities, such as the pine 

flatwoods, can be as damaging as improper burning. In the south Florida 

slash pine forests of the Miami Rock Ridge, the rapid succession of pine 

forest into a dense, diverse hardwood forest as a result of total fire suppression has been well documented (e.g., see Alexander 1967). In the pine 

flatwoods, however, this rapid vegetative change has not been documented. 

Keeping fire from the pine flatwoods does result in vegetative changes, but 

they occur slowly. These changes are of two types. First, perennial plants, 

which might normally be set back by periodic fires, attain larger size. 

Hilmon (1968) found that saw-palmetto cover increased when fire was suppressed for 6 to 10 years. This increase in cover was accomplished by fewer, 

but larger, individuals than were found in burned areas. However, these individuals will eventually be overtopped and shaded out by other species. 

Second, plant species that would normally be killed by fire in the pine 

flatwoods can invade and survive, but species diversity would not be nearly 

as great as it would be in the Miami Rock Ridge pinelands. 

Another important change that occurs in the absence of regular burning is that fuel accumulates. The amount of fuel on the forest floor is a 

balance between the amount that falls and the amount that decomposes. In 

103 
the pine flatwoods, one can think of fire as a giant decomposer: one which 

consumes the current fuel accumulation in a single stroke. Even in the absence of fire, however, the less conspicuous and slower working biological 

decomposers are at work. Litter and other dead fuels accumulate until the 

amount produced each year is equal to the amount consumed. In south 

Florida, these processes come into balance with one another within 10 years 

(Heyward and Barnette 1936). 

The danger from fire exclusion may result not so much from the litter 

on the forest floor, but rather from the understory and dead pine needles 

which hang in the branches of the shrubs and trees. The live understory 

vegetation and the dead needles can act like a staircase, conducting a surface fire up into the canopy and greatly increasing fire intensity (fig. 101). 

Figure 101. - Fire carried into the tree crowns by underbrush, Golden Gate 

Estates, Collier County. 

Fire exclusion usually results in species changes, decreased forage 

quantity and quality, and increased danger from wildfires. It also results in 

conditions unfavorable for pine regeneration. The pine flatwoods evolved 

under circumstances in which fire was a normal, but not necessarily universal, part of the environment, and there is little reason to modify that natural 

condition. 

Most burning in the pine flatwoods is done to "freshen" the range. The 

new plant growth that follows fire, and can be seen within days of the burn 

(Lewis 1964), provides nutritious forage during the dry winter and spring 

months. Burning for range management is usually staggered on a given 

104 
property between November and May to provide fresh forage throughout 

the dry season (Hughes 1975). Range scientists advocate that flatwoods 

range be burned every 2 years and that cattle be kept off of the burned 

range for at least 4 weeks (and preferably 6) following fire to obtain maximum forage production (Hughes 1975). Range burning in the flatwoods of 

south Florida is, however, very often haphazard and such recommendations are often ignored; many cattlemen simply burn whenever they can and 

let their stock utilize the new growth at will. 

The timing of a burn in pine flatwoods involves several trade-offs. 

Burning under a pine overstory to accomplish forest management objectives, such as hazard reduction or understory control, can be done anytime 

during the dry season when the fire intensity will be appropriate. Burns as 

late as May are more likely to damage the growing tips of the pine and to 

impair the rate of tree growth. Burning to optimize benefits to wildlife requires a particular schedule. According to Moore (1972), quail production 

is enhanced by burning one-third to one-half of a management block per 

year on a 2-year rotation and completing the burns before nesting begins in 

March. In other areas of Florida, annual burning for quail management 

has been practiced for generations with excellent results (Komarek 1963). If 

some areas, burned every 3 or 4 years, are interspersed with those burned 

more often, mast and fruit production will be greater, resulting in increased 

turkey populations (Stoddard 1963). 

In short, there is no "best" timing of prescribed burns that can satisfy 

all management goals. Multiple management goals require flexible burning 

schedules. A burning program that is properly scheduled and conducted 

can be used to good advantage in south Florida's pine flatwoods for range, 

timber, and wildlife management. 

MIAMI ROCK RIDGE PINELANDS 

The Miami Rock Ridge, which forms the southern end of the Atlantic 

Coastal Ridge, extends from near north Miami to Homestead, and then to 

Everglades National Park (Craighead 1971; Davis 1943a; White 1970). 

Elevation is maximum in Miami at about 20 feet (6m) and decreases until 

the outcropping limestone disappears underground near Mahogany Hammock in Everglades National Park. The ridge is composed of marine oolitic 

limestone that varies from nearly pure calcium carbonate to sandy 

limestone with inclusion layers of shells, and beds and pockets of quartz 

sand. The limestone is being dissolved by acids in the plant litter to produce 

a honeycombed structure of solution holes. When fire consumes the 

organic matter in these solution holes, the exposed uneven limestone surface is called pinnacle rock (see figures 89 and 91). Percolation of surface 

water is locally variable but is usually rapid. 

The ridge was historically dominated by forests of south Florida slash 

pine ( Pinus elliotti var. densa) interspersed with numerous hardwood hammocks of various sizes (Alexander and Crook 1973, 1975; Craighead 1971; 

Davis 1943a). Davis (l943a) reported that there were once 180,000 acres 

105 
(72,850 hectares) of "Miami region pine." Sand pine (Pinus clausa) , once 

present at the north end of the rock ridge, has disappeared because of clearing for urban development. 

Intensive lumbering of pines that extended from shortly after 1900 to 

the 1940's and subsequent intense fires severely altered the pinelands. Except for a sizable tract on Long Pine Key that was saved by creation of the 

Everglades National Park, most pinelands have simply been eliminated by 

urban development or agriculture. Virtually all the remaining pinelands 

outside the Park are threatened by: (1) too many fires (less than 4 or 5 years 

apart) that prevent pine reproduction; (2) too few fires that permit succession to proceed to hardwood hammock; and/ or (3) intense fires that kill the 

overstory pines. Disturbances such as excessive fire often result in displacement of the pine by exotic species, mainly Brazilian pepper (Schinus 

terebinthifolius) (fig. 102) but also, to some extent, Australian pine 

(Casuarina spp.) and melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia). 

Unfortunately, early descriptions of this pineland are lacking in detail, 

so the "natural" conditions are unknown. In general, the density of pines 

was probably not high enough to form a continuous closed canopy and 

pines were so sparse, at least in some areas, that the community could more 

appropriately be called pine savanna rather the pine forest. Virgin stands 

are reported to have contained many pine trees 90 feet (27 m) high and 24 

inches (61 cm) in diameter at breast height (Craighead 1971). Robertson 

(1953, p. 22) reported that in the Redlands area west of Homestead, pine 

Figure 102. - Miami Rock Ridge pineland being invaded by Brazilian pepper, Dade County. 

106 
logs "more than 30 inches (76cm) in basal diameter were not uncommon," 

and "many thirty foot 12 x 12 inch timbers" were removed during World 

War!. 

As for current conditions, the second-growth pine on Long Pine Key 

has recovered from the logging of the pre-Park era (fig. 103). The density of 

pine trees taller than 7 feet (2m) is 200 per acre (500 per hectare). Some are 

now more than 60 feet (19m) tall and 11 inches (28cm) in diameter at breast 

height, but most are much smaller (Hofstetter 1973). 

The pineland floor is sparsely covered with a combination of low palms 

and trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs (broad-leaved herbaceous plants). Saw 

palmetto (Serenoa repens) and cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto) are the common palms. Velvet seed (Guettarda spp.), blolly (Guapira discolor), locust 

berry (Brysonima lucida), myrsine (Myrsine floridana), tetrazygia 

(Tetrazygia bicolor), varnish leaf (Dodonaea viscosa), marlberry (Ardisia 

escallonioides), indigo berry (Randia aculeata), and cheese-shrub (Morinda 

royoc) are among the more common shrubs. Tree species usually present include: poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), bustic (Bumelia salicifolia), live 

oak (Quercus virginiana), stoppers (Eugenia spp.), sumac (Rhus copallina), 

fig (Ficus spp.), satin leaf (Chrysophyllum oliviforme), and wild tamarind 

(Lysiloma latisiliqua). Common vine and vinelike plants are rubber vines 

(Echites umbel/ata and Angadenia sagraei), snowberry (Chiococca 

parvifolia), and ground-holly (Crossopetalum ilicifolium). Typical graminoid 

and forb species include fire grass (Andropogon cabanisii), three-awn grasses 

Figure 103. - South Florida slash pine with an understory of fire grass 6 

months after an intense May fire, Everglades National Park. 

107 
(Aristida spp.), muhly grass (Muh/enbergia jilipes), rattlebox (Crota/aria 

pumila), partridge pea (Cassia deeringiana), coontie (Zamia pumila), and 

pinefern (Anemia adiantifolia). Bushy bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus) is 

found on disturbed pine sites, and ladder brake ( Pteris /ongifolia) is found 

on sites that are burned every year or so. 

The foHowing h rbaceou and hrub endemic compri e an important 

and unique fe ture f thi vegetative type: twinflower (D} chari Ie 

oblongifolia var. angu ta ) phyllanthe ( Phy llanthu penlaph lIu var. 

floridanu ) borreri s (Borreria terminali ), tr gia (Tragia axicola) purge 

( hamae )'ce porleriana var. porleriana and . pine/orum) beardgra 

(Schizach rium rhizomatum ) partridge pea Florida grama gra (Tripacum floridana ) pineland morning glory (Jacquemontia curti sii) 

poin ettia (Poin ettia pinetorum) melanthera (Melan/hera parvifolia), 

lantana (Lantana depressa), and pineland olive (Forestiera segreata var. 

pinetorum).29 While most of the preceding species are found throughout this 

pineland type, several species have restricted ranges. Terazygia, for example, is common only at the south end of the rock ridge. 

In some pinelands, abundant light reaches the floor, there is free-air circulation, and eye-level visibility is good. In other pinelands the trees and 

shrubs are more abundant and taller and micro climatic conditions within 

the e pineland approach tho e of hammock. Fire i the major factor that 

prevent ucce ion from pineland to hardwood hammock. But belowfreezing temperature al 0 playa role in that the hammock are relatively 

fro tproof wherea the arne pecie when invading the urrounding 

pinelands, will often be killed. 

Information concerning the fire history of the Miami Rock Ridge 

pineland i lacking. Robert on (1953) cite a number of hi torical account 

howing that fire ha been frequent over the pa t everal hundred year and 

give orne compelling ecological rea on for a uming that a very hort fire 

interval (Ie than 5 year) ha exi ted over a much longer time period. 

Lightning trike peak during the ummer but they occur throughout the 

year and ther i no rea on to u pect fire wa historically confined to the 

wet ea on. Dry- ea on fire are undoubtedly more exten ive and are likely 

to be more severe than those in the wet season because water levels are 

typically lower. 

If fire has been absent from Rock Ridge pineland for 15 to 20 years, 

hardwoods will be numerous and quite large. The humid microenvironment limits a fire's ability to carry through the developing hammock unless 

it is of sufficient intensity to also damage the surrounding pine (fig. 104). 

Careful planning and execution of an exacting backfire prescription is mandatory under these conditions. Klukas (1973) states that fire was successfully reintroduced into several such pine stands in the Everglades 

National Park. When fire is reintroduced, the first several burns may be 

patchy, leaving dense pockets of hardwoods untouched. Moreover, on 

29Loope, L., and G . Avery. 1978. Data on file, Everglades Natl. Park. 

108 
area that do burn, much of the hardwood vegetation will quickly resprout, 

creating an even greater density of hardwood (Ho~ tetter 1973). Thi ituation is overcome by burning every time adequate fuel builds up (2 to 3 

years) for the next 6 to 9 years. Eventual1y hardwood food re erves are 

depleted to the extent that prouting, if it occurs i not prolific. Whenever 

the hardwood under tory was den e Werner (1978) found that ucce jve 

backfire when atmospheric temperature was high and humidity wa low 

were effective in opening up the under tory (fig. 105). Robertson (1955) 

suggest that frequent fires may decrea e under tory species diver ity and 

result in domination by aw-palmetto. A cool fire will have little effect on 

hardwoods but will consume surface fuels and prevent another burn in the 

near future, thus favoring hardwood succession. 

Figure 104. - D~ad pine and hardwood after fire in a 12-year-old rough. 

Everglades National Park. 

Once the hardwoods are brought under .control, they can be kept in 

check by burning every 3 to 7 years on "g09d" sites and'every 6 to 8 years 

on "poor" sites (Bancroft 1977a). This longer burning interval will give 

pine seedlings time to become' fire resistant before the next,burn (fig. 106). 

Hofstetter (1973) found that about 50 percent of the pines between 5 to 10 

feet (1.5 to 3.0 m) tafi survived a prescribed fire in a 7-year accumulation of 

fuel. 

Season of the year to burn is an important consideration. South 

Florida slash pine releases its seed in early fall, so a fire later than this will 

109 
Figure 105. - Backfire in dense hardwood understory is an effective method 

of controlling the hardwood and preparing a seedbed for the pine. 

Everglades National Park. 

Figure 106. - Green needles indicate survival of south Florida slash pine 

seedlings after an October prescribed fire, Everglades National Park. 

110 
destroy the seed crop or young seedlings. Thus, if it has been decided that 

competition from the hardwood understory needs to be reduced on an area 

and there is a good crop of 4- to 5-year-old pine seedlings, a fall or winter 

burn should be scheduled. If pine reproduction is lacking, however, the 

burn should be scheduled before the next seed fall. Good seed crops cannot 

be expected every year. Only 2 years of heavy seed fall were recorded on 

Everglades National Park pinelands between 1966 and 1971 (Klukas 1973). 

However, since it takes 2 years for the cones to mature, the magnitude of 

the next seed crop can be predicted and burning plans modified as 

necessary. 

Attention must also be directed to the effects of burning on wildlife 

populations. Healthy vertebrates are rarely killed by prescribed fire in 

Miami Rock Ridge pinelands. The chances of this happening can be further 

reduced by avoiding excessively intense or fast-moving fires that can overtake or trap an animal. Changes in animal populations following a burn 

are, however, to be expected. Fire reduces the cover and shade, resulting in 

increased sunlight, more extreme minimum and maximum temperatures, 

and increased wind near and at the ground. Animals that require more 

sheltered conditions tend to move out after a burn, while those that require 

exposed stands move in. For example, following a burn in the pinelands of 

Long Pine Key, populations of cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) decreased, 

while those of cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) increased (Hofstetter 

1973). Robertson (1953, p. 84) states: "fire thus tends to maintain or 

enlarge the habitat area available to pine woods species, such as the pine 

warbler and bluebird, and to restrict the habitat area of forest-edge species, 

such as the Carolina wren and cardinal. These forest-edge species alternately advance into and retreat from the pinelands as the shrub understory 

becomes sufficiently dense to suit their requirements and then is once more 

reduced by fire." A fire that results in a uniform habitat will reduce wildlife 

diversity, while a fire that burns a stand irregularly, leaving some unburned 

areas, will promote increased wildlife diversity, compared to conditions 

prior to the burn. 

Perhaps the best way to ensure the range of fire intensities that will 

produce a vegetative mosaic is to use spot fires prior to the height of the dry 

season when conditions become too dry to produce a mosaic. However, the 

exceedingly treacherous footing on the Miami Rock Ridge limits this 

technique to igniters that can be tossed or propelled into an area from the 

firelines or dropped from the air. 

To more accurately predict the effects of different fire intensities upon 

pineland flora, Everglades National Park researchers are comparing the 

results of heading, flanking, and backing fires under different soil-moisture 

contents, relative humidities, and air temperatures. First-year data show 

that vegetation recovers its preburn density and species frequency within 4 

months after all fire treatments (Taylor 1977). They found that the combination of fire and the hard freeze of January 1977 had a severe, longlasting impact on the vegetation. 

III 
Current Everglades National Park pineland fire prescriptions require: 

winds from the N, NE, E, or SE at 5 to 20 mph (2 to 9 m/sec) to carry the 

smoke away from populated areas; air temperature, 70° to 80°F (21° to 

27°C); relative humidity (RH) 35 to 55 percent; soil moisture, 100 percent 

ovendry weight (ODW) in hammocks and 50 to 80 percent in pineland; and 

a Drought Index30 of 350 to 600. 

The future of th~ remaining Miami Rock Ridge pinelands outside the 

Park looks bleak. Many pinelands are surrounded by, or adjacent to, urban 

developments. Here, concerns regarding air quality and fire damage to improvements restrict the use of prescribed fire. Several stands that may be 

large enough to ensure genetic variability occur in Dade County parks. 

These pinelands contain some pineland endemics and other rare species not 

protected in Everglades National Park,31 but they will not survive without 

periodic low-intensity fires. 

RELEVANT FLORIDA STATUTES 32 

590.2. - The Florida Division of Forestry (FDOF) has the authority and 

power to prevent and extinguish forest fires. Suppression forces may 

enter any lands for the purpose of preventing or suppressing forest 

fires. 

590.25. - It is a felony to commit any act to obstruct the extinguishment of 

forest fires by the FDOF. 

590.12. - It is against the law to set any forest, grass, marsh or land clearing debris fire without first obtaining authorization from the FDOF. 

590.13 & 590.26. - Anyone setting an illegal fire is liable for all damages 

caused by the fire and all reasonable suppression costs. 

51-2.06. - All authorized open burning must be conducted between 0900 

and 1 hour before sunset unless the FDOF has determined conditions 

are such that a night burn will also result in good smoke diffusion and 

dispersement of pollutants. The FDOF can suspend any authorization 

if meteorological conditions change so that there is improper smoke 

diffusion and dispersion of pollutants. 

590.025. - The FDOF can prescribe burn any hazardous wild land fuel accumulation on any lands under certain circumstances and subject to 

certain conditions. 

JOSee Keetch and Byram (1968). 

J1Loope, L., and G . Avery. 1978. Personal conversation. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl. Park 

Serv., Everglades Natl. Park, Homestead, Fla. 

12Excerpted from Fla. Dep. Agr. & Conserv. Servo 1977. 

112 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Alexander, Taylor R. 

1953. Plant succession on Key Largo, Florida, involving Pinus caribaea and Quercus 

virginiana. Q. J. Fla. Acad. Sci. 16(3): 134-138. 

Alexander, Taylor R. 

1967. A tropical hammock on the Miami (Florida) limestone - a twenty-five-year study. 

Ecology 48(5):863-867. 

Alexander, Taylor R. 

1971. Sawgrass biology related to the future of the Everglades ecosystem. Soil Crop Sci. 

Soc. Fla. Proc. 31:72-74. 

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PHOTO CREDITS 

The excellent photographs which contribute so much to the value of this book were taken 

by many people from many organizations. To save space we have omitted photographers' 

names and affiliations from all photo captions. Contributors of photographs are indicated 

below. We thank them all. 

Edward Ach, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service 

Figure 101 

Wayne Adkins, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service 

Figures 37, 63,64, and 100 

Taylor Alexander, Environmental Consultant 

Figures 32 and 59 

Frank Craighead, Environmental Consultant 

Figures 19,22,23,36,43,52,62,79,87,88, and 89 

Michael Duever, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, National Audubon Society 

Figures 41, 56, and 93 

Everglades National Park, unidentified personnel, USDI National Park Service 

Figures 5, 8,12,20,25,28,29,31,33,49,50,60,65,71,74, 76,77,82,84,85, 104, and 106 

124 
Jack Ewel, Department of Botany, University of Florida 

Figures 15,47, and 94 

Florida Division of Forestry 

Figures 10, 11, and 40B 

Ronald Hofstetter, Department of Biology, University of Miami 

Figures 9,13,14,17,18,21,24,35, 38A, 39, 40A, 42, 45A, 45B, 48,53,66,67,73,80,81,83, 

86,91, and 103 

Walter Hough, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service 

Figures 16 and 30 

W. Maynard, Everglades National Park, USDI National Park Service 

Figure 68 

William B. Robertson, Jr., Everglades National Park, USDI National Park Service 

Figure90A 

Dale Taylor, Everglades National Park, USDI National Park Service 

Figures 4,6,51,54,61, 72, 75, 90B, and 105 

Dale Wade, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service 

Cover photo; Figures 3, 7, 27, 34, 38B, 44,55,57,78,92,95,96,99, and 102 

Steven Woodall, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service 

Figures 46,69, 70, 97, and 98 

125 
Wade, Dale, John Ewel, and Ronald Hofstetter 

1980. Fire in south Florida ecosystems. U.S. Dep. Agric. For. Serv., Gen. Tech. Rep. 

SE-17, 125 p. Southeast. For. Exp. Stn. Asheville, N.C. 

Available information about fire effects is presented for each of the major vegetative types in 

south Florida, and fire's relationship with certain exotic species is discussed. 

Keywords: Fire management, fire effects, prescribed burning, wildfire, water levels.