Tree Islands of the Everglades

Preface

From Tree Islands of the Everglades edited by Fred H. Sklar (South Florida Water Management District) and Arnold G. van der Valk (Iowa Lakeside Laboratory)

Within the Florida Everglades, tree islands, which cover only a small percent of this ecosystem, historically have provided essential habitat for a wide variety of terrestrial and amphibious plants, birds, and animals. These tree islands, however, have been one of its least studied features. Because of their less flood tolerant vegetation, tree islands are one of the most sensitive components of the Everglades to changes in hydrology, and many tree islands have been lost during periods when water levels have been abnormally high or low. Their sensitivity to water level changes makes tree islands potentially one of the best and surest measures of the overall hydrologic health of the Everglades. Consequently, the maintenance of healthy, functioning tree islands and the restoration of those that have been lost will be an important performance measures that will be used to judge the success of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).

A symposium, Tree Islands of the Everglades, was held on July 14 and 15, 1998 at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. It was sponsored by Florida Center for Environmental Studies and the South Florida Water Management District. This was the first scientific meeting ever devoted to tree islands. The organizers of this symposium were Drs. Arnold van der Valk, Florida Center for Environmental Studies and Iowa State University, Fred Sklar, South Florida Water Management District, and Wiley Kitchens, United States Geological Survey. This symposium brought together scientists from a variety of federal, state and local government agencies and universities who had worked or were working on the geology, ecology, and archaeology of tree islands. On July 15, 1998, there was also a session at the Boca Raton meeting to develop a conceptual model of tree islands. This model identifies threats to them and how they have or will impact tree island abundance, distribution, and condition. Potential features of tree islands that could be monitored to determine their status and condition were also identified. This book is in large part the proceedings of this symposium. It has been significantly expanded beyond this symposium proceedings and it includes a number of chapters reporting on studies done since the Boca Raton symposium. Most significantly, we have added an overview chapter on tree islands. Tree islands are not a unique feature of the Everglades, but are found in many other large wetlands around the world. Unfortunately, as in the Everglades, they have also been largely ignored. It is our hope that this book will stimulate work on tree islands in other large wetlands.

The tree island symposium and this book are products of a year spent on a sabbatical by one of the editors, Arnold van der Valk, at the Florida Center for Environmental Studies (FCES) in Palm Beach Gardens. Funding for this sabbatical was provided by Iowa State University and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). We would like to thank Len Berry, the director of FCES, and his staff for their hospitality and help. We are especially indebted to Jo Ann Jolley for her patience and good humor in dealing with a host of administrative and logistical problems and to Doreen DiCarlo who handled all of the logistical arrangements for the Boca Raton symposium. Pat Gostel of the South Florida Water Management District did much behind the scenes to make this FCES and SFWMD interaction go smoothly. We would like to thank him for his encouragement, support and help.

We would also like to give a very special thanks to our associate editors, Joel VanArman and Jan Johansen of the South Florida Water Management District. Without them, work on this book might never have been finished. Although we are unable to list them because many have requested that they remain anonymous, we would like to thank the reviewers of each of the chapters of this book. Their suggestions and comments have done much to improve this volume. Finally, we would like to thank all the contributors to this book for their hard work and especially their patience.

This book is dedicated to the scientists and staff of the South Florida Water Management District who are working to preserve and to restore the Everglades.

Fred H. Sklar, West Palm Beach, Florida
Arnold van der Valk, Ames, Iowa

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