Sarracenia leucophylla, White top pitcher plant in habitat, Tate's Hell Swamp, Franklin County, Florida
These plants represent a huge success story for habitat conservation in the state of Florida. At one time the Tate's Hell Swamp was heading for ecological disaster very similar to what "the grid" of the Green Swamp in North Carolina is facing today.
Unsustainable industrial forestry practices were attempting to drain the swamp and grow trees that could not otherwise survive in the swamp habitat. In the past decade, the state of Florida has purchased the majority of this land and started restoration practices by removing the garbage trees and restring historic hydrology.
I have visited this particular site first back in 2001 at which time there were some truly spectacular hybrids and large populations of S leucophylla. Over the next decade, prior to restoration practices, the diverity at this site was nearly lost due to altered hydrology and the replanting of slash pine.
The site is now restored as a grassland prairie and these images represent the slow recovery of what will likely become a spectacular site in time.
Sarracenia leucophylla, White top pitcher plant in habitat, Tate's Hell Swamp, Franklin County, Florida
These plants represent a huge success story for habitat conservation in the state of Florida. At one time the Tate's Hell Swamp was heading for ecological disaster very similar to what "the grid" of the Green Swamp in North Carolina is facing today.
Unsustainable industrial forestry practices were attempting to drain the swamp and grow trees that could not otherwise survive in the swamp habitat. In the past decade, the state of Florida has purchased the majority of this land and started restoration practices by removing the garbage trees and restring historic hydrology.
I have visited this particular site first back in 2001 at which time there were some truly spectacular hybrids and large populations of S leucophylla. Over the next decade, prior to restoration practices, the diverity at this site was nearly lost due to altered hydrology and the replanting of slash pine.
The site is now restored as a grassland prairie and these images represent the slow recovery of what will likely become a spectacular site in time.