The National Park
Service has been doing prescribed burns in the area of Little Deer
Airport. They have for weeks been burning around camps in that area. The
NPS is the fire department in the Big Cypress Swamp and they protect the
private property (camps) inside the Preserve. They also do prescribed
burning. The purpose of this is to prevent wild fires from becoming too
intense and out of control thereby destroying the vegetation and trees in
the swamp.
One of the advantages of burning around
the private properties is it creates a fire protection barrier around each
private property. This allows the NPS to set larger prescribed burns,
without the risk of damaging private property. They get more acres burned,
with less manpower, when they don't have to monitor the burns around
private property closely.
We snuck over to the pond and stood out of the flight
path, back in the trees to get these pictures and videos. I'm sure their
safety plan would not have allowed us to be so close.
NPS Helicopter dipping water for Fire Fighting (Video of
Helicopter-about 10mb)
Video of Helicopter
Wayne Robert
Jack Ed
Hoss
The Early Big
Cypress Homesteaders
The group of men to the
left have collectively over 250 years of experience in the Big Cypress
Swamp. Wayne homesteaded a one square mile ranch in the swamp, called "Calusa"
Ranch. Robert came into the swamp as a young boy, when his family, built
and enjoyed, over his lifetime "Big Pine Lodge". Jack built a cabin in the
early days, to lose it to a wild fire. He rebuilt it at another safer spot
and his family enjoyed it over many years. Ed rode the logging tram to go
hunting when he was a teenage boy. He may be the only one left alive that
has that experience and knowledge of the logging in the Big Cypress Swamp.
Hoss is the co-owner of camp Six Pack and his 30 years in the Big Cypress
makes him a youngster in this group of original homesteaders. Collectively
this group's age is 360 years, still visiting and enjoying the Big Cypress
Swamp.
Pine Tree Baby It's been a long time coming Baby. From the remains of a logged pine
tree, a small pine appears. Now this might seem like something not so
unusual, but it has taken between 50 and 60 years for this to happen. The
Big Cypress Swamp was logged heavily during the 1940s, all the first
growth pine was cut and sent to the saw mill. No modern day practices were
used, so this meant that the pine forests were not replanted. All the
pines now in the Big Cypress were either to small to log back then or are
second growth volunteers.
In this case it has taken over 50 years for this heart of a sawed off pine
stump to decompose enough for a new seedling to take root. The heart of a
pine tree is as hard as a rock and this one is no exception. Helped along
by a fire from the past, enough nutrients have finally collected to
support new life. So welcome to the world little baby!
Pine Tree Baby Gone
Nature is tough in the Big Cypress Swamp. Along comes a
wild fire, started by a lightning strike, and the little pine baby is
burned along with other mature pine trees. An older sibling is laying down
on top of sawed off pine stump. A little more of that stump is burned and
the ashes added to the nutrients needed for a new seedling. Soon another
pine tree baby, will sprout to replace this one. Its a tough life, with no
guarantees, so few seedlings make it into a full grown tree. This fire was
a natural fire, named the Six Pack fire by the NPS. It was not one of the
prescribed burns taking place in the area.
Logged Tree Baby Pine Tree Baby Gone
USGS Truck There it sat, next to Ronnie's Pond, first
spotted a few days before Christmas, It was still there in the middle of
January. A nice shiny green Chevy Suburban, with a fancy logo on the side,
sitting on three
wheels, well I guess technically all four, but
no wheel lug nuts
on the fourth one. I guess that lifted stock body, with those big off road
tires were just too much for the stock lugs.
Now almost any of us backwoods off roaders would have taken one or two lug
nuts off each of the other wheels and used them on the fourth and
carefully driven on out, but maybe government employees are not allowed to
do stuff like that. I'm sure they just called a NPS taxi to come and get
them and let the mechanic figure out how to get it repaired.
Backyard Gator It is dry, dry, dry in the swamp right now!
The alligator that lives under a pine tree near the camp kitchen is
starting to suffer a little from the lack of water. Over the years this
hole in the ground has been used by different alligators. Once the swamps
start to dry up, at least one gator will settle into this hole, because it
goes down to the water table. This year the water table has dropped below
the bottom of the hole level. So its dry. Not to mention that the
prescribed burn around camp has burned back the palmetto bushes and took
away the shade.
When we go to camp now, we run a garden hose out to this 6 foot gator and
as soon as we turn it on, out it comes to get under the water stream. The
little guy is starting to lose weight because it is tough to find
something to eat when you are living in a hole in the ground. That, plus
the panthers have eaten all the small critters in the area. So it is a
very tough life for this gator and it is very grumpy right now.
The Mystery of Fire Snakes Swamp wood, soaked by years of dark swampy
water seems to absorb one of the swamps mysterious creatures. This wood on
a dark cold night, when burned in a pile mixed with limbs of pine trees,
release the mysterious fire snakes. To the naked untrained eye, it appears
that burning embers and ashes rise in the cool evening sky. But, to the
trained, but not necessarily sober eye (and digital cameras), Fire snakes
rise from this swamp wood to escape back into the swamp. My attempts to
capture one of these fire snakes is always turned back by the heat of the
fire. I will have to devise a fire proof net, to try to capture one of
these slithery creatures. Until I capture one alive, the pictures will
have to do, to expose the mystery of Fire Snakes.
Panther Surprise One of the Bears Den Camp turkey hunters was
set up and calling in a turkey blind, opening weekend of turkey season. He
heard a slight sound and turned to look and see what it was. There he was
face to face with a panther. Both he and the panther jumped up and took
off running. They both were surprised. Fortunately they went in
different directions. Yeh! he knows not to run, when faced with a panther,
but there is knowledge and there is fear and natural survival instinct
which seems to overrule knowledge, in these surprise situations.
Story by Steve March 14, 2007, updated March 17, 2007