Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

All the otters were hiding in Otters Pond and there were no alligators in site among the cypress. The only creature in site was the destructive wild pig and it would not even look up at me so I could get a good picture.

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It is funny how the sites closest to our home are the ones we ignore the most. Just a few miles from where I live, is a place I have driven by a hundred times. I had always been curious about it, but I guess since it was so close, I always put off visiting this site.

The place is the “Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve” in Fort Myers. I finally made the turn on the road and paid this site a visit. It is unusual to have this big expanse of undeveloped land so close to the city and yet surrounded by so much development. I found out that it exists thanks to a high school teacher named Bill Hammon, who got his students interested in ecology back in the 1970s. They wanted to save the slough and went to other high schools in an effort to stop the logging of the area where the slough is located today. They formed an environmental education group called the “Monday Group.” It is thanks to the efforts of the Monday Group, that the city put together a referendum and the city fathers bought the land on which the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve is located.

The Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve is approximately 9 miles long and 1/3 mile wide. The reason it has the word “six mile” in the title, is an interesting one. Back in the days of cattle drives across Florida, cowboys knew they had 6 miles to go before they reached the dock at the Caloosahatchee River when they reached the slough.

The slough gets an average annual rainfall of about 80 inches, in addition to storm water runoff from 33 square miles of watersheds. This runoff gradually releases its sediments into the slough, which absorbs the pesticides and fertilizers that might exist in the runoff. Slough water seeps into the ground replenishing our water aquifer. If we did not have the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve our water aquifer would be greatly affected.

The varied weather in Fort Myers, as far as wind, rain and dry conditions go, can help the slough in different ways. Hurricane winds blow down dead trees, which eventually rot. This provides nutrients for the soil and enables plants to grow. Fallen trees offer shelter for wildlife.

Drought can be beneficial to cypress tree seedlings. Single new cypress tree seeds need to sprout in the ground to become established. Drought allows them several years to grow tall enough to get their heads above the flood waters.

Lightning often starts fires, but cypress swamps are generally fire tolerant during the wet season. However, during the dry season they are susceptible. Fire does help to clear out underbrush, and most fires burn out when the fuel is eliminated. Healthy trees are often left unharmed. As new seeds are dropped, they will have more room to grow.

The slough is home to many species of animals, such as the American alligator, Barred owl, Bobcat (Lynx rufus), Cottonmouth frog, Eastern mud snake, Raccoons, Softshell turtle, otters, squirrels, and various types of birds, just to name a few. The slough is especially important for migratory birds. It is a resting place for birds flying south in the winter, and some birds actually stay there all winter long. Some of the plants species are cabbage palms, cattails, duckweed, red maple, and lots of cypress. Unfortunately, when I visited, the only animals I saw were a squirrel and the one animal they consider a destructive pest, the wild feral pig.

It is a wonderful thing for Fort Myers that a high school teacher got a group of high school students interested in the environment and saving a very special piece of land back in the 1970s. If they had not organized themselves into the “Monday Group” and decided to make a difference in the world, the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve would most likely be covered with housing developments today, our water aquifer would not be as well replenished, and many animals would not have found a safe refuge.