Marjorie Symone Swamp

The Panama City crayfish is an endangered species and some were found in this wetland. This animal depends on open wetlands and because of over fifty years of fire exclusion this pond was almost entirely canopied over with ti-ti and other hardwoods. We went in and removed the canopy with hand tools, leaving only cypress and tupelo. We treated the cut stumps with herbicide and a few weeks later burned the site. The results were amazing. The burn and sunshine released an explosion of native grasses and wildflowers that had been dormant for decades.