Management
Spirit-of-the-Wild will be managed to protect natural habitat
important to the Florida panther and other listed species and to
restore and preserve the hydrological connection with adjacent protected
lands. More than half of the property has been modified by past
human activities including the exclusion of fire and conversion
of native habitats to improved pasture and winter vegetable
crops. Through a contract with the
Florida Natural
Areas Inventory (FNAI), the Commission will map both the
current and the historic plant communities. This information
will be used to guide habitat management and restoration.
The hydrology of Spirit-of-the-Wild has been drastically
altered and will require large scale restoration. This will
involve coordination with the South Florida Water Management
District, the Wetlands Reserve Program and local water
management authorities. Natural water regimes will be
reestablished on approximately 40% of the WMA’s modified habitats.
Portions of the property are under contract until 2006 with
previous landowners who have retained leases to continue cattle
grazing. Revenues generated from these leases help fund the
restoration and management of the site. Restoration will be
phased in as these management leases expire and will be based on
FNAI and FWC assessment of historic plant communities. In the
short term, cattle grazing will be used as a tool to manage
plant succession and maintain wildlife habitat diversity.
Prescribed fire is the primary tool for managing vegetation on
pastures and flatwoods communities and will consist of 80%
winter burns and 20% growing season burns. Invasive exotic
vegetation such as Brazilian pepper, hydrilla, tropical soda
apple, cogongrass, torpedo grass and smutgrass will be removed
by mechanical or chemical means.
The population of feral hogs will be controlled through
hunting. Though this exotic species causes great harm to
vegetation when it uproots plants in search of food, it is a
preferred prey of the Florida panther. The level of hog removal
will be set in consideration of the needs of the panther while
providing hunting opportunities.
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to Natural Communities
