Restoration Plan for Dade County's Pine Rockland Forests following Hurricane Andrew

Maguire, Joe

Introduction and Scope Hurricane Andrew crossed southern Florida on August 24, 1992 with sustained winds in excess of 145 miles per hour. Andrew's severest impacts were associated with the path of an intense eyewall, approximately 25 miles in diameter, which crossed Dade County between S.W. 120 Street and S.W. 408 Street. This region contains 4,400 acres of pine rockland forest, 99% of the acreage remaining in Dade County outside of Everglades National Park. Hurricane Andrew's destructive force exposed the fragile nature of Dade County's urbanized, highly fragmented upland forests. Initial damage assessments indicated that between 40% and 60% of the mature slash pine trees were snapped or uprooted by the storm. Seedling and sapling trees suffered less from direct impacts presumably because of their size and flexibility. The Florida Division of Forestry reported severe outbreaks of pine bark beetles (Ips spp.) and pine reproduction weevils in the year following the storm. Eighteen months after Hurricane Andrew, almost 90% of the mature slash pines had died as a result of initial and indirect (delayed) impacts. The loss of so much mature pine canopy in central and southern Dade has made reforestation of pine rocklands a high priority. Several local agencies, including the Florida Division of Forestry, Dade County Park & Recreation Department, Dade County's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management, and Fairchild Tropical Garden were involved in various aspects of pine rockland restoration before Hurricane Andrew. The restoration of Dade County's pine rocklands will require a sustained, cooperative effort by these agencies. The purpose of this plan is to establish the framework for future restoration activities. This document contains a summary of literature pertinent to the restoration of Dade County's pine rocklands and uses this information to build a comprehensive, long-term restoration and management plan. Section 3 contains a summary of pine rockland goals, objectives and recommended actions. This plan can be effectively implemented by using input and data from appropriate research and monitoring studies to build a baseline for decision-making. Research and monitoring reports on pine rockland restoration will be included as appendices to this document, so that future resource managers have a chronological record of restoration decisions and actions. Accomplishment of the restoration objectives for Dade County's pine rocklands will require continued interagency cooperation and support.