PUBLIC LANDS AND WATER ADVOCACY
The Natural Environment of Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory |
The staff at Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory has worked closely with the Trust for Public Lands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Florida to acquire environmentally endangered lands in the Florida panhandle. We have been instrumental to the preservation of thousands of acres at Fiddlers Point, Piney Island, Tate's Hell, the Spring Creek tract and Mashes Sands and Bald Point State Park. The Florida panhandle is experiencing a seemingly unstoppable land boom which threatens to degrade both the upland and marine enviroment, making land acqusition even more urgent. | |
GSML is located in one of the most natural coastal areas left in the lower 48 states. Forests still sweep down to the water's edge where marshes and sea grass beds support a rich marine world that has disappeared elsewhere in urbanized Florida. Here the tropics meet the temperate zone and the salt marsh coast of the Florida Big Bend meets the white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle. It is one of the few areas where the original ecological fabric of upland, wetland, coastal and marine ecosystems is still functional. Rare and endangered large species, such as bald eagles, manatees, wood storks and sea turtles are abundant because thousands of small obscure marine species still flourish. Regionally, public lands exceed one million acres. The last remaining large tract of the longleaf pine forest ecosystem on earth occurs here. Towering straight trees grow in open grooves, scattered across a meadow like groundcover of grasses and wildflowers. Animals unique to the longleaf forest include huge fox squirrels, the nearly extinct red cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoises, pine and indigo snakes. |
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The largest number of freshwater springs on earth occur in the area, including, within 15 miles of the project's location, both the world's deepest spring, Wakulla, and the world's largest spring, Spring Creek. A kaleidoscope of emerald and sapphire color, they are the swirling gems of the coast. The coast itself has two major shoreline habitats. A vast salt marsh sweeps north from the Crystal River region to Ochlockonee Bay south of Tallahassee. A ribbon of grassland between the sea and the forest, the 300 mile long coastal marsh is a world unto itself. 
To the west of Ochlockonee Bay, the intertidal marshes are replaced with sand beach and rolling dunes. Estuaries interrupt the shoreline, biological factories producing huge crops of shrimp, crabs and oysters.Below the low tide line, the second largest meadow of sea grass in the world covers approximately 1.2 million acres and shelters sea urchins, starfish, spider crabs, scallops, hermit crabs, mussels and octopuses. | ||
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Offshore limestone outcrops are the equivalent of a rich oasis in the sand plains. Sponges, soft corals, bryozoans, tunicates and algae dominate these communities. Fishes swarm there as well. Our forty years of collecting experience in these areas have enabled us to comment effectively on the need to protect them. | |
GULF SPECIMEN MARINE LAB • PO BOX 237 • PANACEA, FL 32346 USA • (850) 984-5297 • FAX (850) 984-5233
