complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Unit Name: Picayune Strand State Forest
Acres: 78,614.81 Managing Agency: FDACS-DOF
Current Management Plan
Approved:
378
8/15/2008
Narrative:
The Picayune Strand State Forest (PSSF) is comprised of approximately 78,000 acres. It is made
up of two tracts, the South Golden Gate Estates Tract and the Belle Meade Tract, both of which are
Florida Forever projects. Most of the land within the Forest boundaries was purchased under the
Save Our Everglades, Conservation and Recreation Lands, Preservation 2000, and Florida Forever
programs at a cost of over one hundred and thirty-one million dollars. The property was acquired
to restore the sheet flow of freshwater through the strand, which is necessary for the continued
existence of the ecologically sensitive Ten Thousand Islands and the Rookery Bay National
Estuarine Research Reserve. PSSF is in the heart of an ecosystem called the Big Cypress Basin.
The majority of this hydric forest is under water during periods of considerable rainfall. The Forest
is comprised of cypress strands, wet prairie, and pine flatwoods in the lowlands and subtropical
hardwood hammocks in the uplands. The northern section of the Belle Meade Tract contains many
second growth South Florida slash pine, with some remnant trees being over 100 years old. The
South Golden Gate Estates Tract comprises the majority of the Forest. The land which is currently
PSSF was originally logged for cypress trees in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, a developer
purchased over 57,000 acres to create the largest subdivision in America to be called "Golden Gate
Estates". A massive system of canals and roads was built and thus began the infamous
"swampland in Florida" scam. In 1985, a plan was put into place to purchase SGGE using C.A.R.L.
funds under the "Save Our Everglades" program. Restoration plans have been formulated and
efforts have begun to block several of the 45 miles of canals and remove 227 miles of roads
constructed by land developers in the 1960s.
In an effort to standardize the land management planning and reporting methods implemented by
all state land managers, the LMUAC has established eight common management goals and 32
quantitative measures that should be addressed by all management plans, where they apply to the
specific purposes and mission of each management unit. The Division of Forestry’s progress
towards achieving the common goals and applicable core objectives, as well as additional State
Forest-specific objectives for the PSSF, is described in quantitative terms on Tables 1- 8. The
management plan for PSSF was approved prior to July 2008, and does not contain specific
measures and timeframes for the goals, objectives and recommended actions. In the narrative
below, the last two years of applicable outstanding accomplishments, deficiencies and corrective
actions, and other important or clarifying information is provided for each of the LMUAC
management goals.
Major community groups represented on the forest include mesic and wet flatwoods, wet prairie,
strand swamp and dwarf cypress savanna. Significant species on the forest include the Florida
panther, Florida black bear, red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW), bald eagle, eastern indigo snake,
Big Cypress fox squirrel, wood stork, gopher tortoise and sandhill crane. Recreational activities
enjoyed at PSSF include fishing, hunting, hiking, and horseback riding. Accomplishments include
the completion of a new parking area/reception area for the public accessing the forest via
Everglades Blvd., initiation of the construction on the Merritt Canal Pump Station, began the
removal of all the old cypress logging trams, and completed a forest inventory on over 50,000
acres.