Open-File Report 02-327 - Historical Aerial Photography for the Greater Everglades of South Florida: The 1940, 1:40,000 Photoset

T.J. Smith III¹, A.M. Foster², P.R. Briere³, A.W. Coffin⁴, J.W. Jones⁵, C.R. Van Arsdall⁵  and L. J. Frye⁶

¹USGS, 600 Fourth St. South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 
² USGS, 412 NE 16th Ave., Gainesville, Florida 32601
³ DynCorp/DynTel, Gainesville, Florida 32601
⁴ University of Florida, 412 NE 16th Ave., Gainesville, Florida 32601
⁵ USGS, 521 National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192
⁶ Eckerd College, 4200 54th Ave. South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33711

Introduction:

The Greater Everglades Ecosystem comprises a vast swath of wetlands beginning in central Florida with the headwaters of the Kissimmee River and continuing southward through Lake Okeechobee and then to Florida Bay (Davis 1943). The ecosystem runs some 450 km, north to south, and over 100 km east to west, comprising almost 30,000 km ² of total area. Beginning in the late 19th century, a succession of programs were implemented for land reclamation and flood protection (Blake 1980; Steinman and others, 2002).

At present, the greater Everglades is the subject of a restoration effort with almost $8 billion dollars of planned expenditures over 20 years. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) sets guidelines and goals for the project. Numerous federal, State of Florida, and local agencies are involved in the restoration process, as are not-for-profit non-governmental organizations. A foundation for Everglades restoration must be a clear understanding of the pre-drainage south Florida landscape (Davis and others, 1994; Fennema 1994). Knowledge of the spatial organization and structure of the pre-drainage landscape communities (mangrove forests, marshes, sloughs, wet prairies, pinelands) is necessary to provide potential endpoints, restoration goals, and performance measures to gauge restoration success.

Analyses of information contained in historical aerial photographs of the Everglades can aid in the endeavor. For example, the earliest known aerial photographs are from the mid-to-late 1920s and resulted in the production of what are called T-sheets (for Topographic Sheets) for the coasts and shorelines of far south Florida. The position of the boundary between differing vegetation communities (the ecotone) can be accurately measured. If followed through time, changes in the position of these ecotones could potentially be used to judge effects of drainage on the Everglades ecosystem and also to monitor restoration success (Smith and others, 2002).

The Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), a center of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with USGS Eastern Region Geography, has created digital versions of existing aerial photographs from a survey conducted in early 1940 of south Florida and the Florida Everglades region. Via this Open-File Report, we make available digital versions of the photographs. We have not attempted to rectify, mosaic, or georeference the images. The aspect of our work will be completed in due course and a supplemental Open-File Report will be issued. At present the digital files are available on this website in a manner designed to facilitate access to the product by those intending to integrate the data with other spatial data, particularly those interested in the restoration and management of the Florida Everglades. 

Literature Cited:

Blake, N.M. 1980. Land into water - water into land. University Presses of Florida. Tallahassee, FL. 344pp. 

Davis, J.H. 1943. The natural features of southern Florida. Florida Geological Survey Bulletin, 25: 1-311.

Davis, S.M., L.H. Gunderson, W.A. Park, J.R. Richardson, and J.E. Mattson. 1994. Landscape dimension, composition, and function in a changing Everglades landscape. Pgs 419-443 In Davis, S.M. and J.C. Ogden. Everglades: The ecosystem and its restoration. St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach, FL.

Fennema, R.J., C.J. Neidrauer, R.A. Johnson, T.K. MacVicar and W.A. Perkins. 1994. A computer model to simulate natural Everglades hydrology. Pgs. 249-290 In Davis, S.M. and J.C. Ogden. Everglades: The ecosystem and its restoration. St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach,FL.

Smith, T.J., A.M. Foster, P.R. Briere, J.W. Jones, and C.R. Van Arsdall. 2002. Conversion of Historical Topographic Sheets (T-Sheets) to Digital Form: Florida Everglades and Vicinity. U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 02-0204. CD-ROM.

Steinman, A.D., K.E. Havens, H.J. Carrick, and R. VanZee. 2002. The past, present, and future hydrology and ecology of Lake Okeechobee and its watersheds. Pgs 19-37 In Porter, J.W., and K.G. Porter, Eds. The Everglades, Florida Bay, and Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys. CRC Press, Boca Raton,FL. 

Acknowledgements:

Funding from the USGS Place-Based Studies program to the senior author under the project "Interrelation of Everglades Hydrology and Florida Bay Dynamics to Ecosystem Processes and Restoration in South Florida" helped make the report possible. Additional funding came from the BRD Global Climate Change Program for the project "Understanding and Predicting Global Climate Change Impacts on the Vegetation and Fauna of Mangrove Forested Ecosystems in Florida" and is gratefully acknowledged. R. Johnson, W. Perry, D. Buker, and T. Mullins of the South Florida Natural Resources Center at Everglades National Park provided access to the Park's aerial photographic archives. L. Brandt (Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge), T. Polizos (Collier County office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and C. Coffin (Miami-Dade Co., NRCS) generously assisted by providing the photos of their respective geographic regions of south Florida. K. Rutchey provided access to the archives of the South Florida Water Management District.

Disclaimer:

This report was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in the report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Although the data published herein has been reviewed by the USGS, no warranty, expresses or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related material. Publication and distribution of these data should not be construed to constitute any such warranty and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, and service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favor by the United States Government or any agency thereof. 

Earlier Reports:

Other Open-File Reports in this series include:

Smith, T.J., A.M. Foster, P.R. Briere, J.W. Jones, and C.R. Van Arsdall. 2002. Conversion of Historical Topographic Sheets (T-Sheets) to Digital Form: Florida Everglades and Vicinity. U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 02-0204. CD-ROM