Roots and toppled trees present barriers not encountered along most of a native sandy shore. A walk along the trails of Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca, or John D. MacArthur State Park will show what a native south Florida shore community can be. It is unique in North America. The forest is rich and diverse. The trees provides shade and shelter, food for migrating birds.
Many native wildflowers bloom year-round in the sunny areas.
The community is healthy, vigorous, supports many different kinds of life, and recovers from hurricanes well. In southeast Florida the federal, state and local parks are the sole locations along the congested shoreline that have a chance of resembling the shoreline that covered the area less than eighty years ago.