Lake Miccosukee
Encyclopedia
Lake Miccosukee is a large swampy prairie lake
Prairie lake
A prairie lake is a somewhat shallow lake that will empty naturally during dry periods allowing a variety of land plants to flourish in the rich nutrients on the lake bottom. The lakes eventually fill up with water returning to their previous state. In northern Florida, a Flatwoods/Prairie Lake is...

 in northern Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Florida
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population is 12,902. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 14,490 . Its county seat is Monticello, Florida....

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, USA, located east of the settlement of Miccosukee
Miccosukee, Florida
Miccosukee is a historical small unincorporated community in northeastern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is located at the junction of County Road 59 and County Road 151...

. A small portion of the lake, its northwest corner, is located in Leon County
Leon County, Florida
Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...

.

Characteristics

Lake Miccosukee forms the northern border between Jefferson
Jefferson County, Florida
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population is 12,902. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 14,490 . Its county seat is Monticello, Florida....

 and Leon
Leon County, Florida
Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...

 Counties. The lake is controlled by an active sink hole located in the northern end and water represents the actual surface of the Floridan Aquifer
Floridan Aquifer
The Floridan Aquifer is a portion of the principal artesian aquifer that extends into Florida and is composed of carbonate rock and located beneath the coastal regions of the Southeastern United States and is one of the world's most productive aquifers. It is under all of Florida as well as ...

 as the caverns beneath the sink reach into the aquifer.

Early history

Lake Miccosukee was a natural prairie lake
Prairie lake
A prairie lake is a somewhat shallow lake that will empty naturally during dry periods allowing a variety of land plants to flourish in the rich nutrients on the lake bottom. The lakes eventually fill up with water returning to their previous state. In northern Florida, a Flatwoods/Prairie Lake is...

 prior to the settlement by caucasians. Thousands of years ago, the lake connected directly with the St. Marks River
St. Marks River
The St. Marks River is a river in the Big Bend region of Florida. It has been classified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Outstanding Florida Water, and is the easternmost river within the Northwest Florida Water Management District....

 on the south end. Today, that connection is underground and reappears above ground in Wakulla County
Wakulla County, Florida
Wakulla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 22,863. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county was 28,212 people...

. The shores of the lake attracted ancient Paleoindians and the Apalachee
Apalachee
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...

 later on. From the 1830s to 1860 the land around the lake was home to a few cotton plantations.

Later history

Lake Miccosukee's descriptions have changed through time, particularly in regard to coverage of the lake's surface with aquatic plants. Like Lake Lafayette
Lake Lafayette, Florida
Lake Lafayette is a prairie lake located in the coastal lowland in eastern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida with US 27 / State Road 20 running close on its south side.- Prehistoric :Lake Lafayette is the remnant of a Pleistocene river delta...

 and Lake Iamonia
Lake Iamonia, Florida
Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States created during the Pleistocene epoch.-Forming Iamonia:...

 in Leon County, this was a prairie lake. In 1876, a plant-clogged Lake Miccosukee was described as being covered by maidencane, monocotyledonous and white bonnets. In 1914, a large amount of open water was noted, the lake was said to be covered with water to a depth of 2 to 5 feet. The southern end had grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

 and button bushes projecting above the water. Aerial photographs taken in 1976 and 1988 show a plant-clogged lake. Only 19.4% of the lake was open water.

Around the late 1940s, aquatic plant coverage of the lake's surface varied as the basin periodically emptied and refilled on a 10 year cycle. This is a natural cycle for lakes of this type in northern Florida such as Lake Iamonia and Lake Jackson
Lake Jackson (Tallahassee, Florida)
Lake Jackson is a shallow, prairie lake on the north side of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida with two major depressions or sinkholes known as Porter Sink and Lime Sink....

 in Leon County. As aquatic vegetation grew back, more and more of the lake's surface gradually became overgrown with plant life. More extensive restoration could have created deep areas within the lake and future open water habitats, but permits could not be obtained form the Forestry Service to allow fires to burn the muck deposits within the lake. There was concern that smoke from the fires could cause traffic accidents on Highway 90 which crosses the lake system at its south end.

In 1954, an earthen dike, concrete spillway, and gate was built around the sinkhole to keep the lake from drying naturally as it had done in previous years as a prairie lake. At the southern end of the lake, a wooden weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

 was built to keep the water from disappearing into the Lloyd Sink. Between 1954 and 1988, the lake was stabilized to the point that it only drained twice. Water level stabilization accelerates the aging process of lake by allowing build-up of excess plant life, sediment, and muck created from dying plant life. By the late 1990s the lake was almost completely covered with plant life and in essence turning the lake in to a marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

 good for alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....

s and waterfowl
Waterfowl
Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....

 but poor for sport fishing.

Restoration

In 1999, a drought struck northern Florida and part of the lake was allowed to drain in to the aquifer. The lake was excavate
Excavate
The excavates are a major kingdom of unicellular eukaryotes, often known as Excavata. The phylogenetic category Excavata, proposed by Cavalier-Smith in 2002, contains a variety of free-living and symbiotic forms, and also includes some important parasites of humans.-Characteristics:Many excavates...

d in many places and most of the lake bottom was burned during the drawdown to get rid of the muck
Muck
Muck can refer to:*Muck *Muck, Scotland, an island in Scotland*Isle of Muck, a small island connected by sand spit to Portmuck, County Antrim, Northern Ireland*Muck , a number of actions...

. Restoration provides for healthy populations of fish and other wild life. Further restoration could have occurred creating deeper areas within the lake. The Florida Forestry Service could not obtain fire permits with concerns of traffic accidents on nearby U.S. Highway 90.

Recreation

Lake Miccosukee provides some of the finest duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

 hunting in north Florida and has great scenic beauty. One endangered species of plant exists in only three places in the world. The Miccosukee gooseberry (Ribes echinellum) can be found on two places on the shores of Lake Miccosukee.
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