Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, south of Miami. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers 172,971 acres (69,999 ha) and includes Elliott Key, the park's largest island and first of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossilized coral reef. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world. Biscayne National Park protects four distinct ecosystems: the shoreline mangrove swamp, the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay, the coral limestone keys and the offshore Florida Reef. The shoreline swamps of the mainland and island margins provide a nursery for larval and juvenile fish, molluscs and crustaceans. The bay waters harbor immature and adult fish, seagrass beds, sponges, soft corals, and manatees. The keys are covered with tropical vegetation including endangered cacti and palms, and their beaches provide nesting grounds for endangered sea turtles. Offshore reefs and waters harbor more than 200 species of fish, pelagic birds, whales and hard corals. Sixteen endangered species including Schaus' swallowtail butterflies, smalltooth sawfish, manatees, and green and hawksbill sea turtles may be observed in the park. Biscayne also has a small population of threatened American crocodiles and a few American alligators.

The people of the Glades culture inhabited the Biscayne Bay region as early as 10,000 years ago before rising sea levels filled the bay. The Tequesta people occupied the islands and shoreline from about 4,000 years before the present to the 16th century, when the Spanish took possession of Florida. Reefs claimed ships from Spanish times through the 20th century, with more than 40 documented wrecks within the park's boundaries. While the park's islands were farmed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, their rocky soil and periodic hurricanes made agriculture difficult to sustain. In the early 20th century the islands became secluded destinations for wealthy Miamians who built getaway homes and social clubs. Mark C. Honeywell's guesthouse on Boca Chita Key was the area's most elaborate private retreat, featuring a mock lighthouse. The Cocolobo Cay Club was at various times owned by Miami developer Carl G. Fisher, yachtsman Garfield Wood, and President Richard Nixon's friend Bebe Rebozo, and was visited by four United States presidents. The amphibious community of Stiltsville was established in the 1930s in the shoals of northern Biscayne Bay, taking advantage of its remoteness from land to offer offshore gambling and alcohol during Prohibition. Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Elliott Key was used as a training ground for infiltrators into Fidel Castro's Cuba by the Central Intelligence Agency and by Cuban exile groups.

Originally proposed for inclusion in Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay was cut from the proposed park to ensure Everglades' establishment. It remained undeveloped until the 1960s, when a series of proposals were made to develop the keys in the manner of Miami Beach, and to construct a deepwater seaport for bulk cargo, along with refinery and petrochemical facilities on the mainland shore of Biscayne Bay. Through the 1960s and 1970s, two fossil-fueled power plants and two nuclear power plants were built on the bay shores. A backlash against development led to the 1968 designation of Biscayne National Monument. The preserved area was expanded by its 1980 re-designation as Biscayne National Park. The park is heavily used by boaters, and apart from the park's visitor center on the mainland, its land and sea areas are accessible only by boat.

Climate

Biscayne's tropical climate reflects its location in extreme South Florida. Southern Miami-Dade County is classified as tropical savanna in the Köppen-Geiger system. Seasons may be divided into the November–April dry season and the May–October wet season. Dry season temperatures average between 66 and 76 °F (19 and 24 °C) with an average monthly rainfall of 2.1 inches (53 mm). Wet season temperatures average between 76 and 85 °F (24 and 29 °C) with an average monthly rainfall of 5.39 inches (137 mm). The wet season roughly coincides with hurricane season, with frequent thunderstorms. 

Like many locations in southern Florida, Biscayne National Park is affected by hurricanes every few years. Most storms require temporary closings and occasional repairs to park facilities. A direct hit by a powerful hurricane can produce severe consequences, primarily by its impact on human interventions in the environment rather than on the natural environment of the park, which is well-adapted to these events.  Significant hurricanes to strike Biscayne include storms in 1835 and 1904, the 1906 Florida Keys hurricane, the 1926 Miami hurricane, the 1929 Bahamas hurricane, the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, the 1935 Yankee hurricane, the 1941 Florida hurricane, the 1945 Southeast Florida hurricane, the 1948 Miami hurricane, Hurricane King in 1950, Hurricane Donna in 1960. Hurricane Cleo in 1964, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The park can be affected by wave action from more distant tropical storms such as 2012's Hurricane Sandy, which damaged facilities on Elliott Key.

Exploration

Juan Ponce de León explored the area in 1513, discovering the Florida Keys and encountering the Tequesta on the mainland. Other Spanish explorers arrived later in the 16th century and Florida came under Spanish rule. The Tequesta were resettled by the then-Spanish government in the Florida Keys, and the South Florida mainland was depopulated. Ponce de León referred to the bay as "Chequescha" after its inhabitants, becoming "Tequesta" by the time of Spanish governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés later in the century. The present name has been attributed to a shipwrecked Basque sailor known as the "Biscaino" or "Viscayno" who lived in the area for a time, or to a more general allusion to the Bay of Biscay. Spanish treasure fleets regularly sailed past the Florida Keys and were often caught in hurricanes. There are 44 documented shipwrecks in the park from the 16th through the 20th centuries. At least two 18th-century Spanish ships were wrecked in the park area. The Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora del Popolo is believed to have been wrecked in park waters in 1733, though the site has not been found. HMS Fowey was wrecked in 1748 in what is now Legare Anchorage, at some distance from the Fowey Rocks. The discovery of the ship in 1975 resulted in a landmark court case that established the wreck as an archaeological site rather than a salvage site. 43 wrecks are included on the National Register of Historic Places in the Offshore Reefs Archeological District, which extends for 30 mi (48 km) along the seaward side of the Biscayne National Park keys. During the 18th century, Elliott Key was the reputed base of two different pirates, both of whom were called Black Caesar, commemorated by Caesar's Creek between Elliott and Old Rhodes Key.

Ecology

South Florida is a transitional zone between the Nearctic and Neotropical ecozones, resulting in a wide variety of plant and animal life. The intersection of ecozones brings opportunities for visitors to see species, particularly birds, that are not seen elsewhere in North America. The park includes four distinct ecosystems, each supporting its own flora and fauna. Mangrove swamp, lagoon, island key and offshore reef habitats provide diversity for many species. In this semi-tropical environment, the seasons are differentiated mainly by rainfall. Warm to hot and wet summers bring occasional tropical storms. Though only marginally cooler, the winters tend to be relatively drier. Bay salinity varies accordingly, with lower salinity levels in the wet summer, trending to more fresh water on the west side where new fresh water flows in.

Hundreds of species of fish are present in park waters, including more than fifty crustacean species ranging from isopods to giant blue land crabs, about two hundred species of birds and about 27 mammal species, both terrestrial and marine. Molluscs include a variety of bivalves, terrestrial and marine snails, sea hares, sea slugs and two cephalopods, the Caribbean reef octopus and the Caribbean reef squid.way between North American, the Caribbean islands, and South America. Many southbound land birds stop in the fall at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, just north of the park on Key Biscayne, before venturing across the open waters of Biscayne Bay. Northbound spring migrants do likewise on Elliott Key. Most of the small passerine migrants are warblers, with ovenbirds, palm warblers, American redstarts, common yellowthroats, prairie warblers, worm-eating warblers and black-throated blue warblers accounting for the majority. Migrant raptors include short-tailed hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, merlins, peregrine falcons and swallow-tailed kites, while bald eagles and ospreys nest in the park. Both white-tailed and red-tailed tropicbirds are seen in the park, as are American flamingos, with some of the latter probably escaped captive birds.