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Improve water deliveries to the Everglades by increasing them at a rate of approximately 26% into Shark River Slough.[70]
Remove barriers to sheetflow by destroying or removing 240 miles (390 km) of canals and levees, specifically removing the Miami Canal and reconstructing the Tamiami Trail from a highway to culverts and bridges to allow sheetflow to return to a more natural rate of water flow into Everglades National Park.[71]
Store water in quarries and reuse wastewater by employing existing quarries to supply the South Florida metropolitan area as well as Florida Bay and the Everglades. Construct two wastewater treatment plants capable of discharging 22 billion US gallons (83 Gl) a day to recharge the Biscayne Aquifer.[71]
The implementation of all of the advised actions, the report stated, would "result in the recovery of healthy, sustainable ecosystems throughout south Florida".[72] The report admitted that it did not have all the answers, though no plan could.[73] However, it predicted that it would restore the "essential defining features of the pre-drainage wetlands over large portions of the remaining system", that populations of all animals would increase, and animal distribution patterns would return to their natural states.[73] Critics expressed concern over some unused technology; scientists were unsure if the quarries would hold as much water as was being suggested, and whether the water would harbor harmful bacteria from the quarries. Overtaxing the aquifers was another concern—it was not a technique that had been previously attempted.[74]
Though it was optimistic, the Restudy noted,
It is important to understand that the 'restored' Everglades of the future will be different from any version of the Everglades that has existed in the past. While it certainly will be vastly superior to the current ecosystem, it will not completely match the pre-drainage system. This is not possible, in light of the irreversible physical changes that have made (sic) to the ecosystem. It will be an Everglades that is smaller and somewhat differently arranged than the historic ecosystem. But it will be a successfully restored Everglades, because it will have recovered those hydrological and biological patterns which defined the original Everglades, and which made it unique among the world's wetland systems. It will become a place that kindles the wildness and richness of the former Everglades.[75]
The report was the result of many cooperating agencies that often had conflicting goals. An initial draft was submitted to Everglades National Park management who asserted not enough water would be released to the park quickly enough—that the priority went to delivering water to urban areas. When they threatened to refuse to support it, the plan was rewritten to provide more water to the park. However, the Miccosukee Indians have a reservation in between the park and water control devices, and they threatened to sue to ensure their tribal lands and a $50 million casino would not be flooded.[76] Other special interests were also concerned that businesses and residents would take second priority after nature. The Everglades, however, proved to be a bipartisan cause. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 11, 2000. It approved the immediate use of $1.3 billion for implementation to be split by the federal government and other sources.[77]
Implementation
The State of Florida reports that it has spent more than $2 billion on the various projects since CERP was signed. More than 36,000 acres (150 km2) of Stormwater Treatment Areas (STA) have been constructed to filter 2,500 short tons (2,300 t) of phosphorus from Everglades waters. An STA covering 17,000 acres (69 km2) was constructed in 2004, making it the largest environmental restoration project in the world. Fifty-five percent of the land necessary for restoration, totaling 210,167 acres (850.5 km2), has been purchased by the State of Florida. A plan named "Acceler8", to hasten the construction and funding of the project, was put into place, spurring the start of six of eight construction projects, including that of three large reservoirs.[78]
A changing economy, too, hurt the plan. It passed in a year with a record budget surplus, but the climate changed sharply after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Some state officials say the plan, which involves dozens of complex engineering projects, also got bogged down in federal bureaucracy, a victim of "analysis paralysis."
The New York Times, November 2007
Despite the bipartisan goodwill and declarations of the importance of the Everglades, the region still remains in danger. Political maneuvering continues to impede CERP: sugar lobbyists promoted a bill in the Florida legislature in 2003 that increased the acceptable amount of phosphorus in Everglades waterways from 10 ppb to 15 ppb and extended the deadline for the mandated decrease by 20 years.[79] A compromise of 2016 was eventually reached. Environmental organizations express concern that attempts to speed up some of the construction through Acceler8 are politically motivated; the six projects Acceler8 focuses on do not provide more water to natural areas in desperate need of it, but rather to projects in populated areas bordering the Everglades, suggesting that water is being diverted to make room for more people in an already overtaxed environment.[80] Though Congress promised half the funds for restoration, after the War in Iraq began and two of CERP's major supporters in Congress retired, the federal role in CERP was left unfulfilled. According to a story in The New York Times, state officials say the restoration is lost in a maze of "federal bureaucracy, a victim of 'analysis paralysis' ".[81] In 2007, the release of $2 billion for Everglades restoration was approved by Congress, overriding President George W. Bush's veto of the entire Water Development Project the money was a part of. Bush's rare veto went against the wishes of Florida Republicans, including his brother, Governor Jeb Bush. A lack of subsequent action by the Congress prompted Governor Charlie Crist to travel to Washington D.C. in February 2008 and inquire about the promised funds.[82] By June 2008, the federal government had spent only $400 million of the $7.8 billion legislated.[83] Carl Hiaasen characterized George W. Bush's attitude toward the environment as "long-standing indifference" in June 2008, exemplified when Bush stated he would not intervene to change the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) policy allowing the release of water polluted with fertilizers and phosphorus into the Everglades.[84]
Reassessment of CERP
Florida still receives a thousand new residents daily and lands slated for restoration and wetland recovery are often bought and sold before the state has a chance to bid on them. The competitive pricing of real estate also drives it beyond the purchasing ability of the state.[85] Because the State of Florida is assisting with purchasing lands and funding construction, some of the programs under CERP are vulnerable to state budget cuts.[86][87] In June 2008 Governor Crist announced that the State of Florida will buy U.S. Sugar for $1.7 billion. The idea came when sugar lobbyists were trying to persuade Crist to relax restriction of U.S. Sugar's practice of pumping phosphorus-laden water into the Everglades. According to one of the lobbyists who characterized it as a "duh moment", Crist said, "If sugar is polluting the Everglades, and we're paying to clean the Everglades, why don't we just get rid of sugar?"[64] The largest producer of cane sugar in the U.S. will continue operations for six years, and when ownership transfers to Florida, 187,000 acres (760 km2) of the Everglades will remain undeveloped to allow it to be restored to its pre-drainage state.[88]
In September 2008 the National Research Council (NRC), a nonprofit agency providing science and policy advice to the federal government,[89] submitted a report on the progress of CERP. The report noted "scant progress" in restoration because of problems in budgeting, planning, and bureaucracy.[90] The NRC report called the Everglades one of the "world's treasured ecosystems" that is being further endangered by lack of progress: "Ongoing delay in Everglades restoration has not only postponed improvements—it has allowed ecological decline to continue". It cited the shrinking tree islands, and the negative population growth of the endangered Rostrhamus sociabilis or Everglades snail kite, and Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow. The lack of water reaching Everglades National Park was characterized as "one of the most discouraging stories" in implementation of the plan.[90] The NRC recommended improving planning on the state and federal levels, evaluating each CERP project annually, and further acquisition of land for restoration. Everglades restoration was earmarked $96 million in federal funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with the intention of providing civil service and construction jobs while simultaneously implementing the legislated repair projects.[91]
In January 2010, work began on the C-111 canal, built in the 1960s to drain irrigated farmland, to reconstruct it to keep from diverting water from Everglades National Park. Two other projects focusing on restoration were also scheduled to start in 2010.[92] Governor Crist announced the same month that $50 million would be earmarked for Everglades restoration.[93] In April of the same year, a federal district court judge sharply criticized both state and federal failures to meet deadlines, describing the cleanup efforts as being slowed by "glacial delay" and government neglect of environmental law enforcement "incomprehensible".[94]
Before drainage, the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, were an interwoven mesh of marshes and prairies covering 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2). The Everglades is both a vast watershed that has historically extended from Lake Okeechobee 100 miles (160 km) south to Florida Bay (around one-third of the southern Florida peninsula), and many interconnected ecosystems within a geographic boundary. It is such a unique meeting of water, land, and climate that the use of either singular or plural to refer to the Everglades is appropriate.[1] When Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote her definitive description of the region in 1947, she used the metaphor "River of Grass" to explain the blending of water and plant life.
Although sawgrass and sloughs are the enduring geographical icons of the Everglades, other ecosystems are just as vital, and the borders marking them are subtle or nonexistent. Pinelands and tropical hardwood hammocks are located throughout the sloughs; the trees, rooted in soil inches above the peat, marl, or water, support a variety of wildlife. The oldest and tallest trees are cypresses, whose roots are specially adapted to grow underwater for months at a time. The Big Cypress Swamp is well known for its 500-year-old cypresses, though cypress domes can appear throughout the Everglades. As the freshwater from Lake Okeechobee makes its way to Florida Bay, it meets saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico; mangrove forests grow in this transitional zone, providing nursery and nesting conditions for many species of birds, fish, and invertebrates. The marine environment of Florida Bay is also considered part of the Everglades because its seagrasses and aquatic life are attracted to the constant discharge of freshwater.
These ecological systems are always changing due to environmental factors. Geographic features such as the Western Flatwoods, Eastern Flatwoods, and the Atlantic Coastal Ridge affect drainage patterns. Geologic elements, climate, and the frequency of storms and fire are formative processes for the Everglades. They help to sustain and transform the ecosystems in the Shark River Valley, Big Cypress Swamp, coastal areas, and mangrove forests. Ecosystems have been described as both fragile and resilient. Minor fluctuations in water levels have far-reaching consequences for many plant and animal species, and the system cycles and pulses with each change.
Shaping processes of ecosystems
At only 5,000 years of age, the Everglades is a young region in geological terms. Its ecosystems are in constant flux as a result of the interplay of three factors: the type and amount of water present, the geology of the region, and the frequency and severity of fires.[2][3]
Water
A storm over the Shark River in the Everglades, 1966
Photo:Charles Barron / State Library and Archives of Florida
Water is the dominant element in the Everglades, and it shapes the land, vegetation, and animal life of South Florida. The South Florida climate was once arid and semi-arid, interspersed with wet periods. Between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, sea levels rose, submerging portions of the Florida peninsula and causing the water table to rise. Fresh water saturated the limestone, eroding some of it and creating springs and sinkholes. The abundance of fresh water allowed new vegetation to take root, and through evaporation formed thunderstorms. Limestone was dissolved by the slightly acidic rainwater. The limestone wore away, and groundwater came into contact with the surface, creating a massive wetland ecosystem.[4] Although the region appears flat, the wearing away of the limestone in some areas created slight valleys and plateaus—a difference of inches in elevation—that affected not only the flow of water, but also types of vegetation present.
The Everglades are unique; no other wetland system in the world is nourished primarily from the atmosphere.[5] Before the first attempt at draining the Everglades in 1882, the entire watershed extended from Orlando to Florida Bay comprising the Kissimmee–Lake Okeechobee–Everglades (KLOE) watershed. Kissimmee River outlets flow into Lake Okeechobee, which sits 18 feet (5.5 m) above sea level.[6] Only two seasons exist in the Everglades: wet (May to November) and dry (December to April). Average annual rainfall in the Everglades is approximately 62 inches (160 cm), though fluctuations of precipitation are normal.[7] Droughts, floods, and tropical storms are normal occurrences in the area.[8] When Lake Okeechobee exceeds its water storage capacity during the wet season, it pours slowly over the southern rim and flows for 100 miles (160 km) to Florida Bay. The gradient change is so slight that the river moves only 2 feet (0.61 m) a minute.[9] Sawgrass thrives in this river, dominates freshwater marshes and sloughs, and is the main characteristic of the region.
Severe weather, in the form of tropical storms and hurricanes, also affects the structure of the Everglades. Between 1871 and 2003, 40 tropical cyclones struck the Everglades, usually every one to three years.[10][11] These storms alter the coastline, flush decaying vegetation from estuaries, strip weakened branches from trees, and disperse seeds, pollen, and plant material.[12] Hurricane Donna in 1960 affected 120 square miles (310 km2) of mangrove forests by depositing marl over the roots and depriving the trees of oxygen. It also eradicated orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes that once flourished in the mangroves; their reappearance may take a century or more. Donna also significantly spread buttonwood, saltwort, and glasswort, and epiphytes began to grow in new areas.[13] Although the lasting effects remain to be seen, Hurricane Andrew in 1992 also destroyed mangrove forests and snapped slash pines in half. However, regrowth occurred quickly, and sand deposited by the storm surge improved nesting conditions for crocodiles and sea turtles.[14]
Geology
Further information: Everglades § Geology
A vast marshland could only have been formed due to the underlying rock formations in southern Florida.[15] The floor of the Everglades formed between 25 million and 2 million years ago when the Florida peninsula was a shallow sea floor. The peninsula has been covered by sea water at least seven times since the earliest bedrock formation.[15] The rock that makes up the Everglades floor was created as layers of calcium carbonate were compressed by ocean water, making limestone. Fossilized bryozoans and tiny shells, or ooids, make the limestone porous. Water is stored in the rock, sometimes from one year to the next.[16] The length of time that a region in the Everglades remains flooded, called a hydroperiod,[4] determines what particular soils and vegetation are present.
Shorter hydroperiods of three or four months promote the growth of periphyton: algae and other microscopic organisms covered with calcium carbonate crystals.[15] Periphyton is the basic building block of marl, a calcitic mud. In areas with hydroperiods of longer than nine months, peat builds up over hundreds or thousands of years due to many generations of decaying plant matter. Peat and marl are considered nutrient-poor soils that foster the growth of specialized vegetation depending on the length of the regional hydroperiod.
Five types of peat appear in the Everglades system; each type supports a specific type of vegetation, such as sawgrass, tree islands, or custard apple trees.[17] Peat buildup is possible because water prevents oxygen from quickly decomposing plant matter. Once peat buildup reaches the surface, oxygen reacts with the microorganisms to decay the peat rapidly in a process called subsidence. Initial attempts at developing agriculture near Lake Okeechobee were successful, but the nutrients in the peat quickly deteriorated by drying, and were broken down by bacteria in the soil. The dried peat burned or was degraded into carbon dioxide and water by microorganisms. Some homes built near early farms had to restructure their foundations on stilts as the peat deteriorated; other areas lost approximately 8 feet (2.4 m) of soil depth.[18] Between the 1880s and 2005, an estimated 3.4 billion metric tons of soil has been lost in the Everglades due to oxidation. Most of that loss occurs in the Everglades Agricultural Area; the least amount of loss is found in Everglades National Park.[19]
Fire
Fire near a cypress dome in the Turner River area in the early 1920s
Fire is another important element in the maintenance of the Everglades. The majority are caused by lightning strikes from thunderstorms during the wet season. Their effects are largely superficial, and serve to foster further plant growth: sawgrass will burn above water, but the roots are preserved. Fire in the sawgrass marshes serves to keep out larger bushes and trees, and releases nutrients from decaying plant matter more efficiently than decomposition.[20] Large burned areas also affect waterflow, since wind and water are undeterred by the eradicated sawgrass; water may flow two to three times faster in recently burned areas.[21] During the wet season only dead plant matter and the tips of plants are burned; however, the effects of fire are much more significant in the dry season, as fire may be fed by organic peat and burn deeply, destroying root systems. The only impediment to the spread of fire in the Everglades is the presence of water. It takes around 225 years for one foot (0.3 m) of peat to develop, but the peat is not as dense as it should be for the 5,000 years of the Everglades' existence. Scientists point to fire as the reason.[3]
Researchers have noted that fires appear in cycles associated with those of the hydroperiods.[3] The first cycle is the annual wet-season fires that occur with rapid frequency during the summer, but are quickly extinguished. Dry-season fires are rarer due to the lack of lightning, but their damage may be more pervasive.[20] A longer fire cycle spanning ten to fourteen years coincides with similar water cycles affected by global climate conditions. Fires in this cycle may be numerous and have little effect, or rare and have catastrophic consequences. The third cycle appears in a 550-year frequency associated with severe drought. Layers of charcoal have been detected inside peat in parts of the Everglades, indicating the region endured severe fires for years at a time, although this trend seems to have abated since the last occurrence around 940 BCE.[3]
Ecosystem characteristics
A color satellite image of the lower third of the Florida peninsula with labels superimposed over major landscapes before human alterations: directly to the south of Lake Okeechobee is a thin custard apple and cypress swamp, a much larger cypress swamp borders the lake to the east, and a major section of western pine flatwoods borders it to the west. Massive sawgrass plains are formed to the south of the custard apple swamps, which eventually merge into ridge and slough formations that narrow into the Shark River that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Where the Shark River forms the area is lined with marl marshes, and the Big Cypress Swamp is located between the ridge and slough formations and the Gulf of Mexico. To the east the Atlantic Coastal Ridge rises slightly above the Everglades, which is where the major population centers are located
Major landscape types in the Everglades before human action. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
The Everglades are dominated by sawgrass in water; this is the titular "River of Grass" popularized by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1947. This river contains a wide variety of plant and animal life. Early American environmentalist Gifford Pinchot said of the Everglades, "It is a region so different that it hardly seems to belong to the United States. It is full of the most vivid and most interesting life on land, in the air, and in the water. It is a land of strangeness, separate and apart from the common things we all know so well."[22]
The sawgrass grows in prairies or strands, in between channels of water in a shallow river 100 miles (160 km) long and 60 miles (97 km) wide flowing from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Some authors refer to the sawgrass and water combination as the "true Everglades" or just "the Glades".[23][24] Prior to the first drainage attempts in 1905, the sheetflow, or the wide shallow river starting in Lake Okeechobee, occupied nearly a third of the lower Florida peninsula.[4] Though sawgrass remains the main feature of the Everglades, other ecosystems are scattered among the marshes and prairies, and their borders are sometimes imperceptible.
Sawgrass marsh
Most marshes in the Everglades are dominated by the sedge known as Cladium, or sawgrass in common terminology. The sedge is a three-dimensional v-shaped stalk with upward-pointing teeth. Sawgrass thrives in the slowly moving water, but may die if oxygen is unable to reach its roots and is particularly vulnerable to floods immediately after a fire.[25] Some of the sawgrass can grow up to 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and directly south of Lake Okeechobee it has grown to 10 feet (3.0 m). Farther south, where the peat is not as rich, it typically grows 4 feet (1.2 m) tall in patches, as opposed to the prairies of the upper glades.[26] The hydroperiod for the marsh is usually nine months but can last longer. In shorter hydroperiods, marl may form instead of peat.[27]
Where sawgrass grows densely, few animals or other plants thrive, although alligators often choose these locations for nesting. Where there is more room, periphyton grows, appearing as mats or brown sausage-shaped chunks. Periphyton is predominantly algae, although over 100 different microorganisms help create it.[28] Larval insects and amphibians are supported by periphyton; these in turn provide food for birds, fish, and reptiles. Periphyton also absorbs calcium from the water, which creates marl where sawgrass takes root.[29]
Freshwater sloughs
Sloughs are channels of free-flowing water in between the sawgrass marshes. Sloughs are deeper than sawgrass marshes, about 3 feet (0.91 m), and may stay flooded for at least 11 months out of the year if not multiple years in a row.[30] The peat beds that support sawgrass are slightly elevated and may begin abruptly creating ridges of grass. The borders between these systems are called "ridge-and-slough" landscapes. Aquatic animals such as turtles, young alligators, snakes, and fish live in sloughs and they usually feed on aquatic invertebrates, such as the Florida apple snail.[31] Plants grow here, usually submerged or floating like bladderwort (Utricularia), waterlily (Nymphaeaceae), or spatterdock (Nuphar lutea). Major sloughs in the Everglades system include the Shark River Slough draining to Florida Bay, Lostmans Slough bordering The Big Cypress, and Taylor Slough in the eastern Everglades.
A black and white illustration of a cross section of fresh water ecosystems: from the left is in the deepest water; pond sloughs merge into the slightly higher wet prairies, then the sawgrass marsh. Large cypress trees take over and the water deepens slightly and the land raises above the water completely indicating where hardwood hammocks are located relative to average water depths
A cross section of fresh water ecosystems in the Everglades, with relative average water depths
Wet prairie
A color photograph taken from above of a mid-sized alligator with its head above water resting on an outcropping of plants and the rest of its body submerged in clear water. The alligator is surrounded by strands of yellow and brown strands of periphyton underwater
An alligator amid strands of periphyton in the Everglades
Two kinds of wet prairies thrive in the Everglades: marl and water-marsh community. Wet prairies are slightly elevated like sawgrass marshes, but contain abundant plant diversity. Marl prairies are located where marl covers limestone that may protrude as pinnacles or erode into solution holes: depressions formed by the same processes that create sinkholes. Solution holes, however, do not meet the water table; they are filled with rain water.[32] The surface is covered only three to seven months of the year, but the water is usually just 4 inches (10 cm) deep.[33] Marl is created by layers of periphyton loosely attached to the limestone, and forms a grey or white crumbly mud when it dries. When flooded, the marl can support a variety of water plants, and dwarf cypresses may grow for hundreds of years though not exceed 10 feet (3.0 m) in height.[34] Solution holes may remain flooded even when the prairies are dry, and they support aquatic invertebrates such as crayfish and snails, as well as larval amphibians which feed young wading birds.[35] Where the predominant soil is peat, a water-marsh community exists. Its hydroperiod is longer than the marl prairie, although its plants are less diverse. These regions tend to be on the border between sloughs and sawgrass marshes.
Alligators have created an ecological niche in wet prairies; they dig at low spots with their claws and snouts and create ponds free of vegetation that remain submerged throughout the dry season. Alligator holes are integral to the survival of aquatic invertebrates, turtles, fish, small mammals, and birds during extended drought periods. Alligators feed upon animals that visit the hole.[36][37]
Tropical hardwood hammock
In a tropical hardwood hammock, plants are very dense and diverse.
Main article: Tropical hardwood hammock
Islands of trees featuring dense temperate or tropical trees are called tropical hardwood hammocks.[38] They may rise between 1 and 3 feet (0.30 and 0.91 m) above water level in freshwater sloughs, sawgrass prairies, or pineland. These islands illustrate the difficulty of characterizing the climate of the Everglades as tropical or subtropical. Hammocks in the northern portion of the Everglades consist of more temperate plant species, but closer to Florida Bay the trees are tropical and smaller shrubs are more prevalent. Tropical trees like the West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) were probably spread by birds carrying seeds from the West Indies.[39]
These hammocks form on slightly elevated areas unharmed by deep peat fires or limestone plateaus rising several inches above the surrounding peat. Hardwood hammocks exhibit a mixture of subtropical and hardwood trees that grow in very dense clumps, such as southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba), royal palm (Roystonea regia), Florida poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), and willow bustic (Dipholis salicifolia).[40] Near the bases of hammocks sharp saw palmettos (Serenoa repens) flourish, making the hammocks very difficult to penetrate. Water in sloughs flow around the islands creating moats. Though some ecosystems are maintained and promoted by fire, hammocks may take decades or centuries to recover; the moats are therefore essential for protection.[41] Islands vary in size, but most range between 1 and 10 acres (0.40 and 4.05 ha); the water slowly flowing around them limits their size and gives them a teardrop appearance from above.[42] The height of the trees is limited by factors such as frost, lightning, and wind: the majority of trees in hammocks grow no higher than 55 feet (17 m).
Florida strangler figs (Ficus aurea) are common in hammocks, and find particular ease in rooting at the heads of cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto). After taking root into the ground, they build complex frameworks around the host tree, eventually squeezing out light and nutrients, and essentially taking its place.[43] A variety of invertebrates including beetles, ants, spiders, and tree snails support a food chain that includes frogs, owls and other birds of prey, snakes, rodents, bobcats, and raccoons. There are more than 50 varieties of tree snails in the Everglades; the color patterns and designs unique to single islands may be a result of the isolation of certain hammocks.[44]
Tropical hardwood hammocks in the Everglades have been harvested for lumber, particularly by shipbuilders seeking West Indian mahogany and black ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum). The largest and most mature of these trees had been removed by the late 18th century.[39] Seminoles made their villages in hammocks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; they lived in groups of chickees numbering half a dozen, with one central chickee for cooking and another for eating. Dugout canoes, cookware, stills, and sewing machines may still be found in remote locations.[45]
Bayheads and willowheads
Some hammocks are dominated by types of vegetation that grow in relation to the amount of water or type of soil present. The majority of hardwood hammocks create a thin poor soil covering the limestone called humus, made of decaying plant matter and moisture trapped by the structure of the trees. When peat forms the layer atop the limestone of a tree island, bayheads develop, dominated by bay trees such as sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) and others like swamp holly (Ilex decidua), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), and cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco).[46] Willowheads, dominated by willow trees (Salix caroliniana), take hold where the hydroperiod is long, usually around solution or alligator holes, and may surround the holes, giving them a donut appearance from above.[47]