THE DROUGHT CYCLE

By: Glenn Wilsey, Sr.

As you read through my past stories, you may notice that I have mentioned "flood" and "drought". To be honest with you, I went into my past stories to see what I have written about the drought. I was amazed at the number of stories I have written. I’m only amazed, because the web master of the airboat association, Scott, asked me to write one story for the web site and Alan, a board member of the airboat association, asked me if I would write him a story, also. That month Scott said that the web site got a lot of hits and he asked if I would write one more? I said, "Sure." That led to another, and yet another. UHH OHH I’m rambling, lets get back to the drought. THANKS!!! "Scott and Elmer".

If we look back to the past in the everglades, there is a pattern of drought and flood but never flood or drought for long periods of time. January is basically the high season, so some time before January we may have three feet of water. May is the low season. If we have 2 inches of water, we’re ok. Then every four to seven years (give or take a year or two) El Nino comes and brings us times of higher water. La-Nina comes and brings us times of low water. It took nature 10,000 years to build the everglades and El Nino has been a big factor in helping nature build the everglades.

Today is March 21, 2001. There is a drought going on now. My back yard has had water in it since 1992, our last drought. Now it is bone dry. The drought is good for the everglades. When the water goes away, it dries up and kills algae, aquatic plants and fish. This is fertilizer for the next four to seven years. While the everglades are dry, fire (set off by dry lightning) will race through the everglades and burn everything down in its path. Here, fire is nature’s lawn mower; it mows down the grass and leaves behind ashes. Ashes are nothing more than minerals that the everglades needs to exist for the next four to seven years. So when you do hear of the everglades drying up and burning down, tell everyone you know what a wonderful time it is for the everglades. It seems that some of the news agencies will try to sensationalize the drought and make it sound bad. The droughts have been coming and going for ten thousand years. Without the short drought, and or flooding, the everglades would die from lack of fertilizer and minerals.

When the drought is here the water tables fall and it makes it hard on an airboat tour guide. The drought will keep our airboats confined to the channels made by the Army Corps of Engineers. But if the water dries up much more, I will be out of a job for a month or two.

Please don’t worry about me because from reading my past stories you know I can wrestle alligators, do walking tours and do animal shows with my best friend John Jones (Wild Florida Productions).

At the present time we can still do airboat tours, but we cannot leave the channels. That’s not a bad thing because all of the animals, birds and reptiles have to come to the channels for water.

On tour I always tell tourists that you’ll never see alligators all bunched up and hanging out with each other until there is a drought. Well, the drought is here and the alligators are every where you look in the channel. As I untie the airboat and push it away from the dock, the tourists are pointing at four or five alligators on the shoreline on the other side of the channel. Now during the drought, I can point out 50 to 75 small alligators (three feet or less) in a small area only two hundred yards down the channel. When the water is high, I can see only 10 or 12 small alligators. I can see about 10 to 15 adult alligators approximately 5 to 12 feet long. In times of high water, I can see 4 or 5 adult alligators. When the water is high, the alligators are spread out into their own territories.

During drought we travel a mile and a half down the channel and back. We never leave the channel, but we see so much more.

Along with alligators, the fish are forced into the channels and that makes it easy to see them. The most common fish in the everglades are Garfish and they are everywhere you look. Most of the fish are close to the top of the water because there isn’t a lot of oxygen in the water. The wading birds are everywhere along the shoreline catching fish and it is easy for them because there are so many fish in the shallow water. The Great Blue Herons, American Egrets, Little Green Back Herons, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Night Herons and Little Blue Herons are all spearing fish as we pass by. We also see a lot of different birds that migrate here from other places in the United States, as well as from other parts of the world. We see American Wood Storks, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis and Roseate Spoonbills waving their beaks back and forth in what little water is left on the open flats. The snakes and turtles are lying out on tree stumps and dry mud humps close to the waters edge. The tourists are also getting to see the animals that do not come out much during the day. The tourists enjoy taking pictures of White Tail Deer, Raccoon’s, Opossums and even Otters. This is the best time to come to the everglades to see all of the birds, animals and reptiles.

Please be happy for the everglades during the drought because it will help the everglades renew itself in the future.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my story this month. Hope to see you again next month.

If you are a teacher or a student and would like to use this story or any of my stories to help you with a grade or a class project, just e-mail me and I will give you permission to use my stories. All I ask in return is that you e-mail me to let me know what grade you got and/or what the class thought of my stories.

REMEMBER "NATURE RULES"

BYE FOR NOW! GATORMAN (Glenn W. Wilsey Sr.)

*This story or any part of it can not be used or reproduced with out written permission of the author!