Last updated: June 09, 2003
|
What do we know about pre-drainage conditions in the
1800's? (Part 1)
Poster presented May 1999, at the South Florida Restoration Science Forum
Poster presented by:
Dr. Christopher McVoy, SFWMD
Is much known about
the Everglades of the 1800s?
Yes, a great deal.
A perhaps surprising
answer, given that South Florida was still a frontier at that time, and
given how extensively it was later altered by drainage. |
Recent research
has answered the following questions, many with high confidence: |
Where?
|
What?
|
How?
|
Where was the boundary of the Everglades?
Where did the five main landscapes
occur? |
What did the landscapes look like?
What plants? What soils?
What did the whole basin look like? |
How deep was the water?
Was it the same everywhere?
How did it change from dry to wet season? |
Why?
|
When?
|
Why does it look different now?
Why did fire affect the system differently
before drainage?
Some whys we donĂt know... |
When during the year did many explorations
into the Everglades occur?
When did drainage begin affecting different
parts of the Everglades? |
(Click on the images below for a
larger version.)
|
|
|
Bureau Topographical
Engineers (1848)
|
Pre-drainage
Landscapes (this research)
|
Vegetation
- Harshberger (1913)
|
Next: How do we know so much?
|