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The Hungryland Slough Natural Area contains a portion of the historic Hungryland Slough, and portions of the pine flatwoods and wet prairies that bordered the slough. The Hungryland Slough was identified on early maps as the "West Prong of the Loxahatchee Marsh." It flowed both east to the Loxahatchee Slough and west to the Everglades. Both the volume of water flowing through this system and the direction of the flow depended upon rainfall patterns and water elevation levels. Water in the portion of the Hungryland Slough within the natural area generally flowed to the east, due to the higher ground elevation of this tract (approximately 19 feet above sea level, as compared with the Loxahatchee Slough, which has a ground elevation of approximately 16 feet). The Hungryland Slough Natural Area has a long history of human use. An Indian midden located in the southwestern portion of the site probably was used as both a hunting camp and a camp site for travelers. It was located on a hammock island within the Hungryland Slough and would have been a good spot for fishing and hunting game animals. It also was located in a travel corridor between the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee and the Atlantic Ocean. Indians coming from the Everglades would pole dugout canoes through the Hungryland and Loxahatchee Sloughs to the Loxahatchee River and follow the river to the Indian settlements at the Jupiter Inlet on the Atlantic Ocean. The hammock island probably was used as an overnight camp area. Pioneers reportedly called the land in the vicinity of the natural area the "hungry land" because the infertile soil did not produce good crops, the game animals had been nearly hunted out, and there was not much in the way of fruits and berries that could be gathered. Thus, the slough that ran through this area was called the Hungryland Slough. During the pioneer era, the natural area was used for hunting and for grazing of open-range cattle but little else. In the early 1900s, the Southern States Land and Timber Company owned the natural area and much of the surrounding land. The author of a 1916 Southern States report said that the area was ideal for use as open-range, cattle-raising lands (Symmes 1916). Open grassy areas and the wetland mosaics were considered fairly good for year-round cattle grazing, and also deemed a "tick-free" zone for cattle. The pine trees were considered excellent for use as pilings and for yields of large quantities of turpentine, although the pine tree cover was said to be "rather sparse and sometimes gnarly and twisted." Southern States apparently could not find buyers for much of its land, and made arrangements to have the timber harvested. In 1919, Harry Kelsey bought a large tract of land in northeastern Palm Beach County and began to develop a new town he called Kelsey City, which was incorporated in 1923. Kelsey envisioned his city as a self-supporting center with both an industrial area and nearby agricultural production areas (Gooding 1990). The industrial area just west of the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad tracks included an ice house, a lumber company, a brick and tile making factory, and other enterprises needed to support a growing city. By the 1920s, all the harvestable timber in the coastal areas around Kelsey City had been cut, so the lumber company looked west, beyond the Loxahatchee Slough, for new sources of timber. The Drake Lumber Company purchased all the trees on the natural area that were greater than 6 inches in diameter and 16 feet tall from Southern States in 1923. At the same time, It also obtained a right-of- way for a logging railroad that was built shortly thereafter. The railroad ran northwestward from its sawmill until it reached the location of present-day Northlake Boulevard. It then ran westward along the section line until it crossed the Loxahatchee Slough and reached the Southern States lands.From that point it meandered north and west, following the higher ground and the concentrations of slash pines. The railroad never entered the natural area as it passed to the south through the present-day Mecca Farms property. When Northlake Boulevard was widened across the Loxahatchee Slough in the early 1990s, the contractor reported finding large logs buried under the old roadbed, which were presumably originally placed there to stabilize the logging railroad. If the lumber company followed the typical logging practices of that time, temporary spur lines would have been built outward from the main railroad line. When all the timber within 1/4 mile of the spur line had been cut and dragged to the spur line for transportation to the sawmill, the temporary line would have been dismantled and reestablished ½ mile or so farther to the west. The 1920s were boom times in southeast Florida. The Drake Lumber Company would likely have been cutting and sawing as many trees as it could handle and shipping the lumber via the FEC Railroad to new developments up and down the coast. When the Seaboard Airline Railroad (the present-day CSX Railroad) was constructed on the northern border of the natural area in the mid-1920s, interconnections were built at the intersection with the Drake Lumber Company railroad to allow cars to be transferred between the two lines. It is likely that all the slash pines large enough to have usable timber were cut on the natural area during the 1920s. On a 1940 aerial photograph (USDI 1940) the tree cover in the pine flatwoods habitats on the site is sparse, which indicates that all the trees were cut prior to 1940. There is no evidence as to how large these trees were because the stumps were removed in the 1960s for chemical extraction. In 1925, Southern States sold the natural area and the land east of the natural area, subject to the logging and railroad rights already sold to Drake Lumber Company, to the Colorado Development Corporation, which was controlled by the Randolph family. Colorado Development Company established a public road right-of-way that extended northward from Northlake Boulevard to Indiantown Road along a half-section line, in order to provide access to its property. Within the natural area, this right-of-way ran north-south between the Unit 11 and O'Connell tracts. This road right-of-way exists mostly on paper, and the only sections utilized were in the Acreage and in Unit 11. The Florida land boom collapsed in the late 1920s. A devastating hurricane hit Miami in 1926, scaring away many people who were considering moving to Florida. Investors stopped putting money in Florida ventures, and the land speculation bubble collapsed when there were no new buyers willing to pay higher prices. Harry Kelsey went bankrupt, and his namesake city would follow within a few years. A 1928 hurricane hit Palm Beach County hard, killing thousands around Lake Okeechobee and destroying most of the buildings in coastal areas, including those of the Drake Lumber Company (Gooding 1990). It is not clear if the logging railroad was still used after the lumber company was destroyed. On the 1940 aerial photograph, a road is visible that had been built on the east-west portions of the old railroad bed. This road was called Lake Park West Road, after the Town of Lake Park, which was incorporated in 1939 as the successor to Kelsey City. When the Seaboard Airline Railroad was constructed from Indiantown to West Palm Beach along the northern border of the natural area in the mid-1920s, the railroad bed was constructed at an elevation of 25 feet, presumably to keep the rails from being flooded. Although the railroad crossed the Hungryland Slough, there are no trestles visible on the 1940 aerial photograph like those visible where the railroad crossed in the Loxahatchee Slough further to the east. There were openings under the railroad bed that allowed the Hungryland Slough water to flow from one side of the tracks to the other, but they were too small to be visible on the photograph. Normally, railroad access encourages the agricultural or residential development of a property, but that apparently did not happen at this site. Maps made in the 1930's show a "Randolph Station" located along the north side of the railroad tracks adjacent to the natural area. This area now contains the Caloosa rural estate development. An unpaved road is shown extending northeastward from the station to the farming settlement of Italian Farms (now the old section of Jupiter Farms). No evidence of a station or a dirt road is visible in a 1940 aerial photograph (USDI 1940), although other railroad stations and roads from the same era are visible elsewhere. The only other tangible proof that a railroad station or a siding may have existed is a Randolph Siding road in Jupiter Farms. However, this road runs along the section lines and not on the route shown on the 1930s maps. Although the destruction of the Drake Lumber Company, the end of the 1920s land boom, and the Depression all lowered the demand for wood products, logging of slash pines continued on the lands north and west of the natural area until the 1950s. The logging railroad was converted to a logging road, and was extended westward into additional Southern States Land and Timber Company lands. Logging roads would eventually reach throughout the Corbett WMA and would extend northward through the present-day Pratt & Whitney complex into the Pal-Mar region and into the western portions of the Loxahatchee Slough. The old railroad roadbed can be clearly differentiated from the later logging roads - the railroad had gentle curves and long straight sections, while the logging roads had sharp turns and wiggly routes as the builders tried to avoid wetlands and follow the highest ground. Cut trees were hauled out by logging trucks to nearby sawmills. In the late 1940s, agricultural interests began to follow the logging roads westward and established new fields, primarily to grow tomatoes. Using the logging roads for access, farmers would find a logged, mostly upland area, ring it with a ditch and berm it to the outside, dig an interior cross-hatch ditch system, pump the water out, and clear the area and plant a crop. After a few years, persistent soil-borne fungal diseases would become prevalent, and the area would be abandoned or converted to pasture. Typically, a farming operation would have abandoned tomato fields, active tomato fields, and future fields in which ditching and draining were underway. Agricultural development on the Randolph lands started in the southeastern portion next to Lake Park West Road and proceeded west and north toward the natural area. On a 1953 aerial photograph, all of the present-day farmed area in the southeastern portion of the Randolph lands is shown as being cleared and ditched (USDI 1953). Lake Park West Road was paved in 1951 to provide access to the agricultural operations and the adjacent Froelich's Dairy and alligator farm. No regional drainage systems were in place at that time. Water was pumped into adjacent wetlands that were separated from the farmed areas by berms. These wetlands were frequently connected by ditching to other wetlands to help dissipate the drainage water. These ditches were present in the early 1950's. In the mid-1950s, the Randolphs sold the eastern portion of their holdings, including the O'Connell tract in the natural area, to the Dyer family. The Dyers established the Square D Ranch and continued the agricultural development of the site. In 1956, Southern States Land and Timber Company sold off all its land in the vicinity of the natural area to Indian Trail Ranch, the State of Florida, and Pratt & Whitney. Indian Trail Ranch, which was controlled by the Friedland family, bought the southern portion and later developed it as Royal Palm Beach and the Acreage. The state-owned land became the Corbett WMA. Pratt & Whitney, which formerly made only piston airplane engines, needed to acquire a large remote facility to build and test jet and rocket engines. It also was concerned about providing security for classified government projects. Land swaps would occur between the three parties in order to give Pratt & Whitney its desired site configuration. In 1957, Pratt & Whitney started construction of its facility northwest of the natural area and completed it in 1958. The Bee Line Highway (State Road 710) was extended from Indiantown in Martin County southeastward to Military Trail to provide access for Pratt & Whitney and its employees in 1958-1959. The Bee Line Highway was constructed as a two-lane road just north of and parallel to the present-day CSX Railroad. Beginning in late 1956, construction started on the C-18 Canal as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACOE) Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project. The work included widening the existing Limestone Creek canal from the Loxahatchee River, constructing the S-46 control structure, and extending the canal 6.1 miles south and then southeast through the center of the Loxahatchee Slough, eventually ending at the CSX railroad tracks just north of Northlake Boulevard. The 7.9-mile western leg of the C-18 was constructed at the junction of the Hungryland and Loxahatchee Sloughs,. This western leg is also known as the Hungryland Slough Canal; it roughly follows the route of the slough. It borders the natural area on the southeast and south sides and terminates at the edge of the Corbett WMA. A planned extension southwestward to the L-8 Canal was never built. The C-18 Canal was completed in 1958. The western leg of the C-18 Canal disrupted water flow in the Hungryland Slough downstream from the natural area, but initially did not have a large effect on the site. The canal was constructed with an adjacent spoil levee set at an elevation of 25 feet. Surface water could only flow into the canal through designated project culverts, and the only project culvert location on the site did not connect to a major wetland system. Wetlands adjacent to the canal lost water via seepage, but significant impacts did not became apparent until after the construction of additional culvert connections and ditch systems. The canal levee was adjacent to the natural area was used as a semi-public road called Youth Camp Road because it connected to the Everglades Youth Camp in the Corbett WMA. This road provided a railroad crossing over the CSX tracks and an access route to off-road vehicles (ORVs) along the southeastern and southern borders of the Natural Area. In 1961, the Randolphs signed a stumpage agreement with Heyden Newport Chemical Company to allow them to remove the resin-soaked cores of old slash pine stumps for $1.85 per ton. This agreement covered the Unit 11 and Royal Palm Beach Colony tracts. This "lighter pine stumping," as the process was called, continued into the early 1970s. Aerial photographs taken in 1973 (Palm Beach County Property Appraiser 1973) show numerous small scrapes scattered throughout the Unit 11 portion of the natural area where machines had dug up the old pine stumps. In the early 1960s, the Randolphs sold their land south of the C-18 Canal to Mecca Farms, which planted an orange grove and a water retention area. The Dyers obtained permits for and placed seven drainage culverts through the C-18 Canal levee to connect to various wetlands on the O'Connell tract. The purpose of these culverts was to provide drainage for a proposed orange grove. Although these seven culverts originally had riser pipes with boards to control water levels, the riser pipes rusted out and are no longer effective. The culverts drain the southeastern portion of the natural area down to the level of the C-18 Canal. The permit for these culverts has expired and has not been renewed. The County has been unsuccessful in obtaining permission from South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to remove or plug these unpermitted culverts, so drainage of the southeastern portion of the natural area continues unabated. At the Square D Ranch, an internal drainage system for the farmed areas that connected to the C-18 Canal was dug shortly after the canal was completed. This system had spurs into adjacent wetlands to drain them as well. Agricultural development of the Square D Ranch would continue into the late 1960s, when the last of the farm fields was cleared and ditched. By 1970, agricultural development in the vicinity of the natural area had virtually ceased. Much of the drier land had already been cleared, and tomatoes were grown in beds covered with plastic mulch and with soil fumigation under the mulch. The use of fumigants controlled soil-borne fungal diseases, making it possible to grow tomatoes year after year on the same land. Use of previously cleared areas as pasture continued until the present day. These former tomato fields are being invaded by shrubs and trees, but the shrubs are suppressed by periodic mowing and cattle grazing. Australian pines and Brazilian peppers plants began to grow on canal and ditch spoil banks in the 1970s. Also in the early 1960s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) purchased three acres in the northeast corner of the O'Connell tract and erected a communication tower. A railroad crossing was constructed to provide access to the tower site from the Bee Line Highway. The tower and railroad crossing are clearly visible in a 1965 aerial photograph (Palm Beach County Property Appraiser 1965). Although gates were put up to block unauthorized access, they were quickly torn down and the crossing became an access point for ORVs. The FAA tower is an inholding within the natural area and is not located on any FCT project site. In 1969, the Randolphs sold the last of their land holdings, including most of the natural area, to Royal Palm Beach Colony, Ltd., which was the development arm of the Friedland family. The Randolphs retained the oil and mineral rights. These oil and mineral rights are still privately-owned, but are of little value since there are no oil or mineral deposits present that are economically feasible to extract. At about the same time, the ownership of the Square D Ranch passed to Lake Park Golf Estates, Inc. In the early 1970s, the CSX Canal was dug from the C-18 Canal project culverts northwestward along the northern border of the natural area to within 1,200 feet of the western border. The purposes of this canal seemed to be to stop vehicles from crossing the CSX tracks and to provide fill dirt rather than to provide drainage. Although the CSX Canal did not connect directly to the site's wetlands, overflow from the wetlands following large storm events soon created erosion channels running to the canal. These erosion channels lowered the wetlands' surface water elevation to approximately that of the CSX Canal and effectively drained the northern edge of the natural area. Control structures in the project culverts and the CSX Canal rusted out and became ineffective, making the water levels in the CSX Canal controlled by those in the C-18 Canal, except where CSX Canal obstructions held the water slightly higher. Charles Vavrus bought the portions of the former Square D Ranch that were east of the C-18 Canal in 1975. The portions that were west of the canal were sold to a group of investors headed by Phil O'Connell. Vavrus operated his lands as a low-intensity cattle ranch and leased portions of it for hunting. The O'Connell tract was left as is, and no attempts were made to restrict ORV access or limit drainage. In the late 1970s, development began in the Caloosa development northeast of the natural area and across the Bee Line Highway. Caloosa was divided into five-acre tracts and sold off as rural residential estates. In the mid-1970s, Royal Palm Beach Colony, Ltd. constructed an internal system of roads and canals in the Unit 11 portion of the natural area that they had purchased from the Randolphs, and began to sell off individual lots. These lots were approximately 1.3 acres in size and were sold as having roads and drainage and being ready for residential housing. The selling price of the lots was approximately $5,000 each. Royal Palm Beach Colony advertised widely that people could buy their Florida retirement homesite in the Acreage (of which Unit 11 was a portion) for $25 down and $25 a month. Many people from outside of Florida and outside of the United States bought their lots sight unseen via mail order. Royal Palm Beach Colony still owns over 10% of the lots in Unit 11. The Unit 11 internal canal system empties into the C-18 Canal on the southern border of the natural area via three large drainage canals. Several large culverts pass under the C-18 Canal levee at the end of each of the drainage canals. The riser pipes on these culverts are intact and riser boards could be inserted to raise water levels, but no boards have been placed in these culverts in order to obtain maximum drainage for privately-owned Unit 11 lots. The Unit 11 drainage system is operated and maintained by the Indian Trail Improvement District (ITID). The drainage canals in Unit 11 and the uncontrolled culverts emptying the C-18 Canal have resulted in most of the surface water in the Unit 11 tract's wetlands being pulled down to the level of the C-18 Canal within a week or two after a rain event. Only a few isolated wetlands in the interior of the Unit 11 have a hydroperiod that approaches the historical levels. These isolated wetlands have not been seriously affected by the drainage canals because they do not have a direct connection to the canals and are separated from them by a ridge of pine flatwoods or an elevated roadway that prevents their water from flowing to the drainage canals. When the west leg of the C-18 Canal was first constructed, the only drainage outfall that connected to it was the Pratt & Whitney drainage canal. Outfalls for drainage canals in the Corbett WMA and Square D Ranch were soon added, and were followed by those for Mecca Farms and the CSX Canal. When the Unit 11 drainage system was connected in the late 1970s, the west leg of the C-18 Canal was already at capacity and backed up during storm events. The SFWMD has determined that the west leg could not handle a 1 in 10 year storm and could only handle one-third of the normal 1 inch per day stormwater runoff that is the standard elsewhere in the District (SFWMD 1988). They recommended that development in this area provide substantial stormwater detention and higher than normal house pad elevations. Indian Trail Improvement District was responsible for obtaining an approved drainage system for the Unit 11 tract. They received a conceptual permit in 1979, but were never able to obtain a final approval of a plan of reclamation (drainage). They were unable to develop a plan that provided adequate drainage, met SFWMD requirements, and could be funded by assessments on the lot owners in Unit 11. Without an approved plan, lot owners were unable to get the necessary permits to build and no permanent residential dwellings have been built in Unit 11. All the structures in Unit 11 are associated with seasonal hunting camps. Many lot owners in Unit 11 gave up hope of being able to build there. If they tried to sell, no one wanted to buy their lots for more than a fraction of the purchase price, so many quit paying their taxes and assessments and abandoned the properties. In the mid-1980s, melaleuca became visible for the first time in aerial photographs of the natural area (SFWMD 1983). It would spread rapidly and became the dominant vegetation on 85 acres of the site. At about the same time, the land north of the Natural Area and across the Bee Line Highway was approved for the Palm Beach Park of Commerce industrial park. Because of its remote location, this park has had problems in attracting tenants and remains mostly vacant today. The Bee Line Highway was widened to four lanes from Military Trail to the Pratt & Whitney facility in the late 1980s. The new lanes were constructed north of the existing two lanes. The SFWMD closed Youth Camp Road as an access route to the Corbett WMA in the late 1980s because of erosion and damage to the C-18 Canal levee. They erected heavy guardrail gates across the road that also blocked ORV access to the O'Connell and Unit 11 tracts from the canal levee. Seminole Pratt & Whitney Road was extended northward as a shellrock road from Northlake Boulevard to provide access to the Corbett WMA Youth Camp and Unit 11. Also in 1988, a series of linear strips were cleared in the Royal Palm Beach Colony tract These strips were perpendicular to the Bee Line Highway and ran in a southwest-northeast direction. They were spaced approximately 500 feet apart and appear to be made for survey purposes in order to determine ground elevations. In the late 1980s, a group of investors headed by William Cordani secured an option to buy the O'Connell tract. Mr. Cordani applied for development approval under Palm Beach County's 1980 Comprehensive Plan, but before he finished the process, the County adopted and implemented the 1989 Comprehensive Plan. The 1980 plan allowed 1 unit per 2 acres on the O'Connell tract, but the 1989 Plan only allowed 1 unit per 20 acres. Mr. Cordani argued that his project should be considered under the 1980 rules, but the County said the 1989 rules applied. A judge ruled in Mr. Cordani's favor, but the point became moot when the O'Connell tract was annexed into the City of Palm Beach Gardens in 1991. Mr . Cordani threatened to sue the City if it did not treat his project as being vested under the County's 1980 rules. The City reluctantly agreed to do this and approved the project, called the Gardens Country Club in 1995. Although the project was originally planned to include a 27-hole golf course and 367 homesites, the developer was force to scale it back to 21 holes and 351 homes because of wetland and upland preserve requirements. In the meantime, Mr. Cordani had sued the County, alleging financial losses from the County's delays in approving his project. The courts eventually ruled that there were no financial losses because his project wasn't economically viable. Because the project was not economically viable, Mr. Cordani could not find anyone to finance the development and eventually declined to renew his purchase option. Palm Beach Gardens also annexed the more than 4,000 acres in the Vavrus Ranch in 1991. Shortly thereafter, Charles Vavrus submitted a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) proposal for a "new town" development of 42,000 persons. This DRI proposal became inactive after the landowner ceased to pursue approval when development difficulties became apparent. In 1990, Palm Beach County identified the portions of the Hungryland Slough Natural Area as one of 14 high-priority tracts of environmentally sensitive lands for county acquisition. In March 1991, county voters approved a $100 million bond issue to purchase these 14 high-priority sites. In the early 1990s, construction began on the North County General Aviation Airport (NCGAA) east of the natural area. The airport was constructed mostly in a former agricultural area in the center of the site. The western and eastern portions, which contained native vegetation, were set aside as preserves. The western preserve contains approximately 1,000 acres and lies one-half mile east of the natural area. The natural area is separated from the western airport preserve by developed and undeveloped portions of the Vavrus Ranch. The airport began operations in April 1994. In the mid-1990s, problems arose as to how to mitigate for wetland losses in the development of individual lots in the Acreage south of the natural area. On September 5, 1995 the County approved the recommendations of the multi-agency Indian Trail Water Resources Task Force which would allow development of remnant wetlands in the Acreage outside of Unit 11 in return for restoration of wetlands within Unit 11. It also approved the development of a funding mechanism for the purchase of a minimum of 200 acres of undeveloped properties in Unit 11 to provide mitigation for future wetland impacts in the Acreage. The mitigation funds taken in would be split into three accounts - one for land acquisition, one for perpetual management, and one for restoration/enhancement. The price per acre was initially established at $9,650. These funds were collected as a result of an Order of Delegation and Operating Agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to implement a general permit for wetland impacts within the M-1 and M-2 basins of the Indian Trail Improvement District. The tract was divided into eight acquisition zones, which ranged in size from 88 to 315 acres. Through a willing seller process, the County offered the property owners the appraisal price of $4,050 per acre for their land. The SFWMD and USAOE agreed to expand the buyout by allowing offsite mitigation funds to used to purchase more land in Unit 11. As of September 2000, 954.18 acres in Unit 11 have been acquired. The County intends to acquire all of Unit 11, using mitigation and matching funds. The County has approved the use of eminent domain, if necessary, to acquire the holdout parcels, and has begun eminent domain proceedings in Zone 1. Royal Palm Beach Colony initially cooperated with the buyout by selling the lots it owned in Zones 1 and 2. It refused to sell its lots in other acquisition zones, and has since filed suit against several government agencies, alleging that they cooperated to drive down the price of its land. The lawsuit seeks to have the courts set a price and has not yet been scheduled for trial. Each of the agencies has filed a motion to dismiss the suit. After it became apparent that the Gardens Country Club would never be developed, the owners of the O'Connell tract approached the County about buying the property. In August 1997, the County purchased this 730-acre site for $3,348,000. Royal Palm Beach Colony, despite its refusal to cooperate in the Unit 11 buyout, recognized that the buyout was moving forward, and there were few development options for its land lying north of the Unit 11 tract. It agreed to sell this land to the County and the County purchased this 445-acre tract for $1,339,810 in August 1999. When the County acquired natural area sites used by off-road vehicles such as the Pond Cypress Natural Area (formerly known as the Fox Property), Jupiter Ridge Natural Area, and Royal Palm Beach in the mid-1990s, it quickly limited ORV access. ORV users gravitated to the remaining sites that they could access and began to appear in increasing numbers at the O'Connell and Royal Palm Beach Colony tracts of the Hungryland Slough Natural Area. The Unit 11 tract was gated, ringed by a perimeter canal and patrolled by extra security, so ORV use was minimal. The northern portion of the natural area was known as"the Towers" (after the FAA tower access road) and Unit 11 was called "the Squares." The previous owners of the O'Connell and Royal Palm Beach Colony tracts did nothing to deter ORV use. An increasingly lawless crowd gravitated to "the Towers" and began to discharge firearms indiscriminately, shooting at the FAA tower and passing trains. Caloosa residents complained about the illegal discharge of firearms, and a short-lived law-enforcement crackdown followed. The County put in a guardrail gate at the FAA tower access road, but it was soon broken down. When the County acquired the O'Connell tract in 1997, it put in a heavy iron gate and limited access at the FAA tower road. ORVs continued to access the site, coming from the south through the Corbett WMA, from the west via the Pratt & Whitney entrance road, or driving across the CSX railroad tracks and shallow areas in the adjacent canal. They passed around the FAA gate by driving through the adjacent ditches. During this time, several stolen cars were taken onto the natural area and set on fire; one car fire resulted in a small wildfire just south of the FAA tower. The County's security efforts on the O'Connell tract resulted in increased ORV use on the Royal Palm Beach Colony tract. Prior to County acquisition in 1999, ORVs had eliminated the vegetation in most of the tract's wetlands and turned them into rutted mudflats. After the Royal Palm Beach Colony tract was acquired, the County blocked the Pratt & Whitney access point with a heavy metal gate and installed concrete barriers to prevent ORVs from driving around the gates. Access from the Corbett WMA has been blocked by rock piles, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is under contract with to provide extra security patrols and law enforcement sweeps. The CSX Railroad has arranged for a contractor to clean out the CSX Canal in order to make it harder for ORVs to cross the railroad tracks and the canal. ORV use of the natural area has declined to a few hard-core users with special equipment that can cross canals and police scanners that can be used to elude police. The remaining ORVs have mostly moved into the vacant parcels and wetlands at the Palm Beach Park of Commerce north of the natural area. ORV-damaged areas at the natural area are beginning to revegetate now. A lightning-caused wildfire burned much of the Royal Palm Beach Colony tract over a two day period in June 1998. Several wildfires occurred in the Unit 11 tract about the same time, but were limited to small areas by the road and canal system that provided ready-made firebreaks. In 1999, Charles Vavrus logged all saleable slash pines from the northern 237 acres of his ranch adjacent to the eastern border of the natural area. He did this without getting the required permits from the City of Palm Beach Gardens and ignored stop work orders from the City. He is currently involved in legal actions with the City concerning the legality of his actions and the City's regulations. The land that was logged and roller-chopped had been previously targeted for acquisition as the missing link in a greenway that connected the natural area to the NCGA A preserve. Negotiations to purchase this land failed when the County and Mr. Vavrus could not reach agreement on price and access issues. Also in 1999, Pratt & Whitney, citing reduced government jet engine purchases, downsized its jet engine operation and moved the design and manufacturing of these engines to Connecticut. Parts of the Pratt & Whitney facility adjacent to the natural area may be leased or sold. Despite having an extensive internal drainage system, the natural area also experiences periodic flooding because the western leg of the C-18 Canal is too small to handle all the stormwater generated in its basin. It is designated as a restricted capacity basin. In October 1999, Hurricane lrene dumped 10 inches in the vicinity of the natural area on land that was already saturated by normal wet season rains. Runoff from the Corbett WMA and the Pratt & Whitney property began to arrive at the C-18 Canal in larger amounts than could flow over the C-18 weir north of the Bee Line Highway. The C-18 Canal backed up to an elevation approaching 23 feet. Because the Corbett Area and the Pratt-Whitney complex are at a higher elevation than the natural area, sheetflow began entering the site from the west. Within the natural area, water was arriving at the C-18 project culverts and the unpermitted culverts faster than the culverts could drain it away. The water backed up and began to flow through culverts under the CSX Railroad tracks and the Bee Line Highway into the Caloosa development to the north. Water also was flowing out over the C-18 levee at several locations south of the CSX Canal. Meanwhile, the C-18 Canal in the southern and southeastern portions of the natural area had backed up to the point that the water direction reversed in the various drainage culverts and water began to flow into the Unit 11 tract and the southern portions of the O'Connell tract. The water also breached low sections of the C-18 levee and flowed into the natural area. It took approximately three weeks before the outflows from the natural area exceeded the inflows and water levels began to drop. The Unit 11 portions of the site were completely impassible except for high-clearance 4-wheel-drive vehicles during this period. This storm event was classified as a 1 in 10 year storm by SFWMD criteria, although the peak water levels matched those predicted for a 1 in 100 year storm (SFWMD 1988). In April 1998, the County submitted an application to the FCT for matching funds through FCT's Preservation 2000 Program for the purchase of the O'Connell tract (as the Hungryland Slough project) and for the northern four zones in Unit 11. The FCT Governing Board gave conceptual approval for $330,224 in matching funds for the Unit 11 project in December 1998, and for $1,694,964 in matching funds for the Hungryland Slough project in May 1999. The County submitted an application to FCT in May 1999 for matching funds for the purchase of the Royal Palm Beach Colony tract and the southern four zones in Unit 11 (as the Bee Line Corridor Natural Area - Phase II project) . The FCT Governing Board gave conceptual approval for $1,662,400 matching funds for the Phase II project in November 1999. |
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 Coastal Resources |
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Lakes,
Estuaries and Lagoons |
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Mosquito Control |
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Natural Areas |
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Permitting and Regulation |
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