Bill Baggs Cape Florida Habitat Restoration Multi
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This is a 7-stage multi-cache that will take you to a variety of habitats that were restored within Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. 1st 6 stages are micros, final is an ammo-box. You will be traveling over 2 miles between all of the stages, so be prepared to hike, bike, or get in and out of your car a lot. Stages are placed such that you will never have to walk into a restricted area.
If you need to count on something, don't count past 10. Don't make this harder than it is. If you find a tag with only six numbers, assume the first four are 25 40. and 80 09.
Bill Baggs is open from 8 am to sunset. Entrance fees are $8 per vehicle (up to 8 people), $4 per single occupant vehicle & $2 per bicycle/walk-in.
Located at the southern tip of the large barrier island of Key Biscayne, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park was founded in 1967 following the State purchase of the land in 1966. The park is named after the late Miami newspaper editor who championed this area for a public park.
There is a rich history here as the park contains one of the oldest standing South Florida landmarks, the Cape Florida Lighthouse, built in 1825. In the 1950’s, a proposed development got underway here, and much of the natural ground was filled. The result of this disturbance was a total infestation by Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia), which will be well remembered by people who had visited the park prior to Hurricane Andrew. Following Andrew in 1992, a comprehensive ecological restoration effort was undertaken with the help of thousands of volunteers who restored the park’s historic native plant communities. The cooperative effort between Florida Parks and the American Littoral Society spent untold money and man-hours to clear the downed exotic trees, restore former wetlands, control invasive exotic plants, and replant lost habitats, including coastal strand, coastal hardwood hammock, isolated freshwater wetlands, mangrove swamps, dune and back-dune communities. Other restorative efforts by the park have included the installation of dune boardwalks, fishing platforms and the restoration of the Cape Florida Lighthouse in 1996. It cannot be underscored enough how big a role volunteers have played in supporting the park in these goals.
The Friends of Cape Florida, a Citizens Support Organization (CSO), continues the work of those dedicated volunteers as they strive to promote, protect and restore the natural and cultural resources of the park. Please see: http://www.capeflorida.org/ for more information regarding Bill Baggs and The Friends of Cape Florida including membership information.
For a guide to Florida’s natural communities, see: http://www.fnai.org/PDF/Natural_Communities_Guide.pdf
Local botanical information for Cape Florida can be found at www.regionalconservation.org
This cache is dedicated to all the staff and volunteers at Bill Baggs who have helped make this park one of the jewels of the state park system. Just a little over a decade ago, this park was a near monoculture of Australian pine. The transformation it has undergone is nothing short of miraculous. The various stages of this cache will take you to the main restored habitats within the park. After completing this cache, you will hopefully come to appreciate the beauty of this area and will have gained a hands-on knowledge of a variety of coastal habitats.
Stage One: This stage is located in Dune and Back Dune habitat. The boardwalk will afford you a nice view of the beach, lighthouse and back-dune habitat. No need to leave the boardwalk to find the stage. ADD .050 TO THE NORTH AND .010 TO THE WEST. ORIGINAL TAG IS STILL HERE, SECOND STAGE WAS MOVED.
According to the Florida Natural Areas Inventory’s (FNAI, see www.fnai.org) Guide to the Natural Communities of Florida, Beach Dune is described as follows:
Beach Dune - (synonyms: sand dunes, pioneer zone, upper beach, sea oats zone). Beach Dune is characterized as a wind-deposited, foredune and wave-deposited upper beach that are sparsely to densely vegetated with pioneer species, especially sea oats. Other typical pioneer species include beach cordgrass, sand spur, dune or bitter panic grass, railroad vine, beach morning glory, seashore paspalum, beach elder, dune sunflower, sea purslane, and sea rocket. Typical animals include ghost crab, six-lined racerunner, kestrel, red-winged blackbird, savannah sparrows, beach mouse, and raccoon. Beach dune, especially along its ecotone with the unvegetated beach, is also the primary nesting habitat for numerous shorebirds and marine turtles, including many rare and endangered species.
Stage Two: This stage is located along a flyway (an area where birds migrate through) within the park. You will notice an unnatural elevation change as you approach this stage. That is due to fill being piled up on this spot. This fill that was originally placed throughout the park and was moved here to restore other habitats throughout the park. (THIS A PLACE IS A EASTERN-COUNT ON THE PLAQUE)ADD .002 TO THE NORTH AND .005 TO THE WEST
Stage Three: This stage is located close to Isolated Wetland habitat. You will typically see wading birds at this quiet spot. This islolated wetland could be categorized as Wet Prairie, but is more appropriately described as Basin Marsh:
Basin Marsh - (synonyms: prairie, freshwater marsh). Basin Marsh is characterized as an herbaceous or shrubby wetland situated in a relatively large and irregular shaped basin. Typical plants include common reed, panicum, cutgrass, southern watergrass, pennywort, Spanish needle, redroot, soft rush, American lotus, water primrose, arrowhead, coastal plain willow, saltbush, elderberry, spikerush, knotweed, buttonbush, and dog fennel. Typical animals include two-toed amphiuma, lesser siren, greater siren, cricket frog, green treefrog, pig frog, leopard frog, alligator, eastern mud snake, green water snake, banded water snake, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, little blue heron, tricolored heron, bald eagle, and northern harrier.
Stage Four: This stage is located in Coastal (or Maritime) Hammock habitat. Hammock is the local term for most hardwood forests in South Florida. Maritime Hammock occurs in coastal areas.
Maritime Hammock - (synonyms: coastal hammock, maritime forest, tropical hammock). Maritime Hammock is characterized as a narrow band of hardwood forest lying just inland of the Coastal Strand community. Live oak, cabbage palm, and redbay generally combine to form a dense, wind-pruned canopy whose streamlined profile deflects winds and generally prevents hurricanes from uprooting the trees. Other typical plants include willow bustic, pigeon plum, Jamaican dogwood, wild tamarind, sea grape, false mastic, paradise tree, lancewood, gumbo-limbo, strangler fig, poisonwood, saw palmetto, beautyberry, poison ivy, coral bean, coontie, prickly ash, wild coffee, snowberry, myrsine, caper tree, marlberry, rouge-plant, and ferns. Typical animals include squirrel treefrogs, ring-necked snake, rat snakes, and gray squirrel. Migrating birds rely on these forests for food and shelter following trans-oceanic or trans-gulf migrations.
Stage Five: This stage is located on the edge of coastal hammock and includes some back dune plantings. You can see historic Stiltsville from this spot. This area is a good example of the other types of restoration in the park such as fence repair and the addition of fishing platforms.
Stage Six: This stage is located on a viewpoint to an extensive Mangrove Swamp restoration site. Mangrove or Tidal Swamp is described as follows:
Tidal Swamps - (synonyms: mangrove forest, mangrove swamp, mangrove islands). Marine and Estuarine Tidal Swamps are floral based natural communities characterized as dense, low forests occurring along relatively flat, intertidal and supratidal shorelines of low wave energy along southern Florida. The dominant plants of Tidal Swamp natural communities are red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove and buttonwood. These four species occasionally occur in zones which are defined by varying water levels, with red mangrove occupying the lowest zone, black mangrove the intermediate zone, and white mangrove and buttonbush the highest zone. Other vascular plants associated with Tidal Swamps include salt grass, black needlerush, spike rush, glasswort, Gulf cordgrass, sea purslane, saltwort and sea oxeye. Typical animals of the Tidal Swamp include mangrove water snake, brown pelican, white ibis, osprey, bald eagle, and a variety of shorebirds, herons, egrets, and raccoon. Also included are sponges, oysters, marine worms, barnacles, mangrove tree crabs, fiddler crabs, mosquitos, and numerous other invertebrates. Fishes are likewise diverse in this community. Those most frequently occurring include black-tipped shark, lemon shark, nurse shark, bonnet-head shark, rays, tarpon, ladyfish, bonefish, menhaden, sardines, lookdown, permit, snapper, sheepshead, porgies, pinfish, and mullet. Mangrove swamps often act as nurseries to the juvenile stages of many of these species and hence play a key role in their life cycle.
Final: A bit of bushwhacking required for this one in the hardest (and rarest) of the Cape Florida restorations: Coastal Strand. You will become quite familiar with one of the local residents, Poor man’s patch (Mentzelia floridana, http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/main.asp?plantID=%202587), when you complete the final..
Coastal Strand - (synonyms: shrub zone, maritime thicket, coastal scrub). Coastal Strand is characterized as stabilized, wind-deposited coastal dunes that are vegetated with a dense thicket of salt-tolerant shrubs, especially saw palmetto. Other typical plants include sand live oak, cabbage palm, myrtle oak, yaupon, sea grape, cat's claw, nakedwood, lantana, greenbrier, buckthorn, cocoplum, nickerbean, coin vine, beach jacquemontia, pinweed, bay cedar, necklace pod, sea lavender, Spanish bayonet, and Florida rosemary. Typical animals include gopher tortoise, six-lined racerunner, southern hognose snake, coachwhip snake, and beach mouse.
First–to-Find Prize: One year’s free membership to the Friends of Cape Florida and a copy of Gil Nelson’s book, “Trees of Florida”. Membership benefits include free admissions to Cape Florida, invitations to member-only events, and park restaurant discounts.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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