Photo by TuffyDog.com
This is a photograph of the boardwalk over the tidal flats and
mangroves at Weedon Island Preserve in Pinellas County Florida.
Habitat
Restoration
Scrub Restoration
Scrub and scrubby flatwoods are a rare, high, dry, sandy (=xeric)
upland
plant community that occurs at Weedon Island. Efforts are currently
underway
to restore an area that has been overrun with nuisance exotic species
to its original state - scrub and scrubby flatwoods.
Saltern Restoration
Salterns (also called salinas, salt flats, and salt barrens) are open
areas where tidal waters pool and salt is concentrated. We are trying
to re-establish some salterns that were lost due to past land
alterations,
particularly the excavation of a network of mosquito ditches that
criss-cross
the mangrove forest.
Ongoing exotic species removal program
Nuisance exotic species, like the Brazilian pepper and Australian Pine
pictured below, often out-compete our native vegetation. Our native
animals
are not particularly well adapted to these species and our overall
natural
diversity declines. We aggressively try and remove these undesirable
species
as they are discovered. Because the seeds of many of these nuisance
exotics
are dispersed by wind, water, or wing (birds), exotic species removal
is a never-ending process.
Prescription Burns
There are three pyrogenic (fire dependent) community types at Weedon
Island
Preserve: pine flatwoods, scrub, and scrubby flatwoods. Each requires
a varied burn regime: flatwoods typically burn every 2 to 7 years,
scrub
every 25 years, and scrubby flatwoods every 2 to 5 years.
Weedon Island Center
Florida's Invaders: Exotic Pests
Plants and Animals Exotic to Florida
Is Your Garden a Danger to the Environment?
Square Foot Garden Fall 2001
Square Foot Garden Spring 2006
Solar Stills
Solar Dryer
Solar Cooking
Robot Farmers
Biodiesel News
Wind Energy News
Paul L. Getting Memorial Trail
Weedon Photos Index
Observation Tower
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