This area roughly corresponds 

 to what some call the southeast 

 saline Everglades (Egler 1952, DERM 

 1980). A considerable chunk of this 

 area (approximately 30%) lies within 

 the privately owned East Everglades 

 Agricultural Area. For our pur- 

 poses, the northeast and eastern 

 boundaries of this province corre- 

 spond to SFWMD Canal 111 (C-111), 

 also known as the Aerojet Canal, 

 which runs from just east of the 

 park entrance southeast to U.S. 

 Highway 1 and then south to Florida 

 Bay. This is considered to be the 

 extent of the southeast coastal 

 glades drainage system that directly 

 affects Florida Bay. The remainder 

 of the southeast coastal glades 

 drains into Long, Barnes, and Card 

 Sounds to the northeast. 



Taylor Slough Coastal Drainage 

 System 



That portion of the southern 

 slope north of the coastal swamps 

 and lagoons, and west of Taylor 

 Slough is referred to as the Taylor 

 Slough Coastal Drainage. To the 

 north, the area extends to include 

 Long Pine Key and the Everglades 

 Keys. To the west, the area is 

 bounded by State Road 27 (Anhinga 

 Trail). 



The elevated limestone ridges 

 that run west/southwest from the 

 upper Taylor Slough (Long Pine Key 

 and the Everglades Keys) form a 

 barrier inhibiting sheet flow from 

 Shark River and the lower Rocky 

 Glades, as outlined in Figure 1. As 

 such they represent the northern 

 boundary of the drainage basin from 

 which surface waters flow south 

 either into Taylor Slough or direct- 

 ly into Florida Bay. The Park High- 

 way is chosen as the western bound- 

 ary of this province though some 

 surface drainage does occur, espe- 

 cially in the wet season, through 

 culverts underneath the road. 



South of the Everglades Keys 

 this segment is largely dominated by 

 muhly prairies. Almost directly in 

 the middle of the area is a large 

 oblong area of scattered dwarf 

 cypress, known as "hatrack" cypress. 

 Although most of the segment is 

 clearly dominated by natural commu- 

 nities, a significant area of former 

 agricultural lands is also present 

 on the southeastern fringe of Long 

 Pine Key. This area, which was 

 recently acquired by the National 

 Park, is referred to as the Hole- 

 in-the-Donut. 



Coastal Swamps and Lagoons 



To the west of Taylor Slough, 

 Puri and Vernon (1964) distinguish 

 two physiographic provinces, aside 

 from the southern slope, lying with- 

 in the Taylor Slough drainage basin. 

 The first of these, the gulf coastal 

 lagoons, refers to the series of 

 lagoons from Seven Palm Lake to West 

 Lake. A broad continuous strip of 

 land covered by coastal prairie 

 occupies the area north of these 

 lagoons, running southeast to the 

 mangroves bordering Madiera Bay. 

 The northern border of the gulf 

 coastal lagoons roughly corresponds 

 to a partial barrier between fresh 

 and saline waters known as the 

 Buttonwood Embankment (Craighead 

 1971). A distinct band of pioneer 

 red mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ) 

 occurs 3 to 8 km (2 to 5 mi) inland 

 of this barrier. The second prov- 

 ince distinguished by Puri and 

 Vernon (1964) in this region is the 

 reticulate coastal swamps which 

 correspond to the more saline black 

 mangrove ( Avicennia qerminans ) and 

 white mangrove ( Laguncularia race - 

 mosa ) communities which occupy the 

 area south of the gulf coastal 

 lagoons to Florida Bay. 



To the west of lower Taylor 

 Slough the coastal swamps and la- 

 goons are characterized by a series 



20 



