Thursday 6th March, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

27C, 96% humidity
The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is host to the largest area of untouched bald cypress forest in North America. It contains peat known to be up to 7,000 years old, and makes up part of the big cypress system within the western everglades. 

On arrival, a short talk on the history of the swamp was delivered:

1. In 1847, a lawyer named Buckingham Smith was charged by the US government with evaluating the Florida everglades and deciding whether draining them was a viable option. After visiting the area, he concluded that it was beautiful - but useless. The Everglades were to be drained.
2. In 1881 Hamilton Disston, a real-estate developer, purchased 4 million acres of land in Florida and subsequently set about draining Lake Okeechobee from the east and the west.  
3. As the early 1900's came around, so did demand for egret and heron plumes that had become fashionable adornments for women's hats. Plume hunters were decimating rookeries across Florida. Among these was the Corkscrew swamp. However, in 1913 Rhett Green was employed as a warden by the Audubon society to protect the birds of Corkscrew swamp, and he did so with his life. 

At the time drainage began, it is estimated that 2.5 million wading birds inhabited the everglades. It is now currently home to just 100,000.

Valuation of restoring the Florida Everglades is approximately $19 billion.

WETLAND PRAIRIE

The oak hammock community is incredibly diverse

Beginning our boardwalk tour, the vegetation transitioned from an oak hammock forest into a wet prairie. Within the oak hammock, the understory is dense and Saw Palmetto has a dominant presence in the community. The canopy is largely made up of Live Oak and Laurel Oak, with the occasional Cabbage Palm. The presence of epiphytes in an oak hammock is common and characteristic, such as Spanish Moss and the Resurrection Fern. 

Wet prairie bordered by pine flatwoods

The wet prairie is flooded anywhere between 3-7 months of the year, and forms the transition habitat between pine flatwoods and cypress forests. It is absent of tree species, and largely dominated by wetland emergent plants and grasses.

CYPRESS SWAMP

A complex system involving ferns and flowering wetland
plants amongst Pond Cypress trees

Moving further onwards, the water level became gradually higher and Pond Cypress began to dominate the area. It was difficult to differentiate between Pond and Bald Cypress trees as both were lacking needles, however Pond Cypress is much smaller and inhabits shallower waters.

Strangler fig,
Ficus aurea

Further still led us to the now familiar Bald Cypress community, wherein we encountered a raccoon and soon after an American Alligator. From a constructed viewpoint using a terrestrial telescope, a group of nesting Wood Storks could be seen. The endangered Wood Stork is a valuable species as they are good indicators of a healthy wetland system, and are easy to count as they are white and nest in trees.

Soon after we completed the boardwalk route, a thunderstorm passed over Corkscrew swamp. Thunderstorms are the primary source of precipitation for wetlands in the wet season.  Lightning is also largely responsible for starting most natural wildfires, a process essential to maintaining ecosytems such as the Pine Flatwoods. Without regular burning, flatwoods would undergo succession and eventually convert to an Oak Hammock.