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Lake Miccosukee | |
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![]() Lake Miccosukee, Florida | |
Location | Jefferson / Leon counties, Florida, United States |
Coordinates | 30°34′15″N83°58′45″W / 30.5707°N 83.9791°W Coordinates: 30°34′15″N83°58′45″W / 30.5707°N 83.9791°W |
Type | prairie lake |
Basin countries | United States |
Lake Miccosukee is a large swampy prairie lake in northern Jefferson County, Florida, located east of the settlement of Miccosukee. A small portion of the lake, its northwest corner, is located in Leon County. The small town of Miccosukee, Florida is located on the north eastern shore of the lake in Leon County.
The lake is named after the Miccosukee Indians. [1]
Lake Miccosukee forms the northern border between Jefferson and Leon Counties. The lake is controlled by an active sink hole located in the northern end and water represents the actual surface of the Floridan Aquifer as the caverns beneath the sink reach into the aquifer.
Lake Miccosukee was a natural prairie lake prior to the settlement by Miccosukee Indians the original indigenous inhabitants of Florida. Thousands of years ago, the lake connected directly with the St. Marks River on the south end. Today, that connection is underground and reappears above ground in Wakulla County. The shores of the lake attracted ancient Paleoindians and the Apalachee later on. From the 1830s to 1860 the land around the lake was home to a few cotton plantations.
Lake Miccosukee's descriptions have changed through time, particularly in regard to coverage of the lake's surface with aquatic plants. Like Lake Lafayette and Lake Iamonia in Leon County, this was a prairie lake. In 1876, a plant-clogged Lake Miccosukee was described as being covered by maidencane, monocotyledonous and white bonnets. In 1914, a large amount of open water was noted, the lake was said to be covered with water to a depth of 2 to 5 feet. The southern end had grass and buttonbushes projecting above the water. Aerial photographs taken in 1976 and 1988 show a plant-clogged lake. Only 19.4% of the lake was open water.
Around the late 1940s, aquatic plant coverage of the lake's surface varied as the basin periodically emptied and refilled on a 10 year cycle. This is a natural cycle for lakes of this type in northern Florida such as Lake Iamonia and Lake Jackson in Leon County. As aquatic vegetation grew back, more and more of the lake's surface gradually became overgrown with plant life. More extensive restoration could have created deep areas within the lake and future open water habitats, but permits could not be obtained form the Forestry Service to allow fires to burn the muck deposits within the lake. There was concern that smoke from the fires could cause traffic accidents on Highway 90 which crosses the lake system at its south end.
In 1954, an earthen dike, concrete spillway, and gate was built around the sinkhole to keep the lake from drying naturally as it had done in previous years as a prairie lake. At the southern end of the lake, a wooden weir was built to keep the water from disappearing into the Lloyd Sink. Between 1954 and 1988, the lake was stabilized to the point that it only drained twice. Water level stabilization accelerates the aging process of lake by allowing build-up of excess plant life, sediment, and muck created from dying plant life. By the late 1990s the lake was almost completely covered with plant life and in essence turning the lake into a marsh good for alligators and waterfowl but poor for sport fishing.
In 1999, a drought struck northern Florida and part of the lake was allowed to drain into the aquifer. The lake was excavated in many places and most of the lake bottom was burned during the draw-down to get rid of the muck. Restoration provides for healthy populations of fish and other wild life. Further restoration could have occurred creating deeper areas within the lake. The Florida Forestry Service could not obtain fire permits with concerns of traffic accidents on nearby U.S. Highway 90.
Lake Miccosukee provides duck hunting in north Florida and has scenic value. One endangered species of plant exists in only three places in the world. The Miccosukee gooseberry (Ribes echinellum) can be found on two places on the shores of Lake Miccosukee.
A swamp is a forested wetland. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment. Swamps vary in size and are located all around the world. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water, or seawater. Freshwater swamps form along large rivers or lakes where they are critically dependent upon rainwater and seasonal flooding to maintain natural water level fluctuations. Saltwater swamps are found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. Some swamps have hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo.
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The ecosystem it forms is not presently found anywhere else on earth. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades experiences a wide range of weather patterns, from frequent flooding in the wet season to drought in the dry season. Throughout the 20th century, the Everglades suffered significant loss of habitat and environmental degradation.
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, and then sometimes called carrs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.
The underwater environment is the region below the surface of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature, such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characteristics of the underwater environment are universal, but many depend on the local situation.
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At 310 miles (500 km) long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in elevation from headwaters to mouth is less than 30 feet (9 m); like most Florida waterways, the St. Johns has a very low flow rate 0.3 mph (0.13 m/s) and is often described as "lazy".
A prairie lake is a somewhat shallow lake that will empty naturally during dry seasons, allowing a variety of terrestrial plants to flourish upon the rich nutrients in the exposed lakebed, and the lakes eventually refill with water returning to their previous aquatic state.
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a 21,000-acre (85 km2) savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441. It is in the center of the Paynes Prairie Basin. The basin's primary source of drainage is Alachua Sink. During occasional wet periods, the basin will become full. A notable period occurred from 1871 to 1891 when the Alachua Sink was temporarily blocked. During this period, shallow draft steamboats were a frequent sight on Alachua Lake in the center of the prairie. The region was also historically known as the Alachua Savannah. Its drainage has been modified by several canals. Since 1927, Camps Canal has linked the basin to the River Styx which leads to Orange Lake and eventually the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Johns River. That reduced the basins water intake by half. Additional changes to the prairie's environment have been detrimental to its hydrology. In 1970, the state of Florida acquired the land and has been in the process of restoring the environment to a more natural condition ever since.
Bivens Arm is a body of water in Gainesville, Florida. Located west of U.S. Route 441 and south of Archer Road, it is a part of Paynes Prairie. Bivens Arm is a small shallow lake covering approximately 189 acres (76 ha) in southwest Gainesville. Bivens Arm is a unique environment, which supports a wide diversity of plant and animal life in an urban setting. Tumblin Creek, which is fed by small springs and seeps, drains into Bivens Arm and is the primary source of drainage into the lake. Bivens Arm overflows onto Paynes Prairie and eventually discharges to the aquifer via Alachua Sink.
The Lake Worth Lagoon is a lagoon located in Palm Beach County, Florida. It runs parallel to the coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier beaches, including Palm Beach Island. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by two permanent, man-made inlets.
Lake Jackson is a shallow, prairie lake on the north side of Leon County, Florida, United States, near Tallahassee, with two major depressions or sinkholes known as Porter Sink and Lime Sink.
Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Orlando, mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part is in Lake County. Fed by a natural spring, rainfall and stormwater runoff, water from Lake Apopka flows through the Apopka-Beauclair Canal and into Lakes Beauclair and Dora. From Lake Dora, water flows into Lake Eustis, then into Lake Griffin and then northward into the Ocklawaha River, which flows into the St. Johns River.
Bradfordville is an unincorporated community in northern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is 8 miles (13 km) north of Tallahassee and south of the Florida/Georgia state line by 8 miles (13 km) at the intersection of US 319 and County Road 0342. Elevation is 237 feet.
Lake Iamonia ⟨aɪ ˈmoʊ njə⟩ is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States, created during the Pleistocene epoch.
The Red Hills or Tallahassee Hills is a region of gently rolling hills in the southeastern United States. It is a geomorphic region and an ecoregion.
Lake Lafayette is a prairie lake located in the coastal lowland in eastern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida with US 27 / State Road 20 running close on its south side.
Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 1,350 acres (550 ha) in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The park was established in the late 1960s and is named for the natural spring within its boundaries. The park has two artificial lakes and the Fox River flows through the northern end of the park. Silver Springs hosts a variety of activities including fishing, hunting, boating and hiking. The park has areas of native prairie restoration, a sledding hill and a seven-mile (11 km) equestrian trail. The prairie restoration areas hold many species of plants including lead plant, and purple coneflower.
A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than 5 hectares in area, less than 5 meters (16 ft) deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from that of lakes and wetlands. Ponds can be created by a wide variety of natural processes, or they can simply be isolated depressions filled by runoff, groundwater, or precipitation, or all three of these. They can be further divided into four zones: vegetation zone, open water, bottom mud and surface film. The size and depth of ponds often varies greatly with the time of year; many ponds are produced by spring flooding from rivers. Ponds may be freshwater or brackish in nature. 'Ponds' with saltwater, with a direct connection to the sea that maintains full salinity, would normally be regarded as part of the marine environment because they would not support fresh or brackish water organisms, so not really within the realm of freshwater science.
Nainital Lake, also known as Naini Lake, is a natural freshwater body, situated amidst the town of Nainital in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India. It is tectonic in origin and is kidney shaped or crescent shaped and has an outfall at the southeastern end. Nainital, along with other lakes of Kumaon, is integral to tourism and recreation in Kumaon. The lake is also an integral part of Kumaoni folklore.
Kissingen Spring was a natural spring formerly flowing in Polk County, Southwest Florida. It was also a venue for recreation until it dried up in 1950. Hundreds of wells drilled into the Floridan Aquifer may have caused the demise of the springs. Its site is located near the northern end of Peace River, approximately 3/4 mile east of U.S. Highway 17 and 4 miles south of Florida SR 60 / south of Bartow.
Orange Creek is a small stream in north-central and northeast Florida, that drains Orange Lake to the Ocklawaha River. Privately owned Orange Springs provides part of the water volume.