Salt, Storms Stimulate Trees and Vegetation
Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 00:00 CDT
Aug. 22--They may not look pretty, but experts say broken and brown trees left lying in the wake of hurricanes are just a part of nature's process.
"We have some of the most natural scrub environments around here," said Sonya Scalf, Henderson Beach State Park's assistant park manager. "Salt pruning keeps growth low."
On normal days, wind carries salt from the gulf inland and some gets deposited on vegetation, causing brown spots and stunting growth. Combine that salt with hurricane-force winds, such as those from Ivan or Dennis, and the results can be substantial.
Scalf said the park will lose some trees after this hurricane season, but the benefits are greater than the loss.
"It gives trees that twisted-and-bent look," she said. "It's nature's way of providing balance. I don't question what nature does."
Trees on Okaloosa Island got a double dose of Dennis' damage. Salt pruning and overwash from the Gulf of Mexico left much of the vegetation on the island dead or dying.
"It's just part of the barrier island function," said Riley Hoggard, natural resource specialist for Gulf Islands National Seashore. "Those populations will come back strong."
Hoggard said sea oats and other plant life had stopped producing seeds sometime before Hurricane Opal in 1995, but damage from the storm sparked new life.
"It really stimulates and regenerates the island," Hoggard said. "Most of our plants have evolved with periodic hurricanes and flood waters."
There are still nesting trees for Blue Herons on Okaloosa Island, and Hoggard said Ospreys seem to prefer the bare branches of dead trees.
"Something will always benefit," he said.
Trees north of Scenic U.S. Highway 98 and Holiday Isle in Destin haven't taken a big hit this hurricane season.
Although some homeowners choose to wash their trees immediately after a storm, Destin Public Works Director Tim Shockley said the damage is usually already done.
"Most people accept it as being on the coast," Shockley said. "The brown will fall off and the green will come back."
As for replanting in Destin and on Okaloosa Island, the agencies said nature will take care of itself.
"From the human standpoint, it is going to look terrible for a while," Hoggard said. "But the island system knows what it's doing."
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Source: Northwest Florida Daily News
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