Land use: About 50 percent of this area is used as Indian reservations, national parks, and game refuges and for other large holdings. About 35 percent is forested. Cypress forests are extensive, but mangrove forests are widespread along the eastern and southern coasts. A large part of the area is open marsh. Much of the area is used for hunting, fishing, and other recreation activities. About 13 percent is cropland. Winter vegetables are the main crop, but some citrus fruits, avocado, and papaya are grown on better drained sites. Sugarcane is an important crop on the organic soil south of Lake Okeechobee. The acreage of improved pasture, about 6 percent, is increasing. Beef cattle are the principal livestock, and dairying is an important enterprise locally. Urbanization is extensive along the eastern coast.
Elevation and topography: Elevation ranges from sea level to less than 25 m. The level, low coastal plain contains large areas of swamps and marshes. Poorly defined broad streams, canals, and ditches drain the area to the ocean. Most of the area is flat, but in the interior, hummocks rise a meter or two above the general level. Low beach ridges and dunes, mainly in the east, rise a few meters above the adjoining swamps and marshes.
Climate: Average annual precipitation-1,275 to 1,625 mm. Maximum precipitation is from late in spring through early autumn, and the minimum is during the remainder of autumn and in winter. Average annual temperature-22 to 25 C. Average freeze-free period-330 to 365 days.
Water: Rainfall, surface water, and ground water provide an abundance of water. Near the coast, some surface and ground water is salty. A large part of the area is flooded during the rainy season. Canals and ditches control the ground-water level for crops and pasture. Excess water is pumped out during the rainy season, and irrigation water is applied during the dry season. Domestic and municipal water supplies are obtained from wells in the underlying limestone. This water is highly mineralized.
Soils: The dominant soils are Saprists and Fibrists. They are very poorly drained, organic soils that have a hyperthermic temperature regime and an aquic moisture regime. Medisaprists (Terra Ceia, Pahokee, Lauderhill, and Dania series) are over limestone bedrock in the Everglades marsh. The more shallow soils are dominant in the southern part, and the deeper soils are dominant near Lake Okeechobee. Medifibrists (Montverde and Micco series) and Medisaprists (Tomoka series) are over mineral material in the St. Johns marsh. Also important are poorly drained, sandy Psammaquents (Hallandale and Margate series) and Ochraqualfs (Boca series) that are moderately deep to limestone. Especially important in Dade, Monroe, and Collier Counties are soils that are shallow and very shallow to limestone and marl. Sulfihemists and Sulfaquents are shallow to rock; they are along the coast.
Potential natural vegetation: This area supports freshwater marsh and swamp vegetation. Sawgrass, pickleweed, willow, buttonbush, and maidencane are the dominant marsh species. Baldcypress is the dominant swamp species. Mangroves grow in saltwater swamps along the eastern and southern coasts.
(From "Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the United
States". United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service
Handbook 296. Dec. 1981. page 115.)