WCA - Everglades
Conditions Update 28 April 2009
Rainfall:
Bands of heavier
rainfall occurred in the southeastern Greater Everglades (see Raindar image and below). Basin totals last week
ranged from 0.06 in WCA-2A to 1.00 in WCA-1:
Rain:
WCA-1: 1.00
in
WCA-3A: 0.05 in
WCA-2A: 0.06
in
WCA-3B: 0.38 in
WCA-2B: 0.15 in
ENP:
0.16 in
Water
Conservation Areas:
The high rate of
pan evaporation (1.80 in, see srs pdf)
continues to draw down water levels, which
are declining at rates considered Fair or Good for wading birds throughout the WCAs (see WCA Stages
spreadsheet), but were particularly high in WCA-2A and -3A, -0.30 and
-0.28 ft, respectively, last week. WCA-2A is dry (see attached WCA2A
photo)
Stage Change:
WCA-1: -0.17 ft
WCA-3A: - 0.28 ft
WCA-2A: -0.30 ft
WCA-3B: - 0.15 ft
WCA-2B: -0.18
ft
NESRS: - 0.03 ft
All WCAs remain far below their regulation schedules. The
WCA-1 marsh is about -0.5 ft below, WCA-2A canal stage has dropped to about
-1.4 ft below, and the WCA-3A marsh is about -0.5 ft below Zone E1 (see Reg schedule).
Twenty gauges in Big
Cypress, the WCAs, and in ENP have bottomed out (so
recorded water levels are incorrect). Gauges that are recording correctly
have been used to produce this weeks maps, but until water levels rise, map
areas representing Big Cypress are probably incorrect.
Water depths are below
ground in much of the Greater Everglades (see attached map). Except for
coastal areas,
The driest areas of the WCAs are now in the High risk category for muck fires (see
muck fire risk map), and most of the Greater Everglades at Moderate risk.
The wetter sections of WCA-1, WCA-2A, and WCA-3A and -3B, and coastal ENP
are still in the Low muck fire risk category.
Wading bird feeding
conditions remain good in parts of WCA-1, -3A, and -3B (see Recession Rates map). The rest of the Greater
Everglades are too dry, with a few areas still too deep for feeding. With
continuing high evaporation rates, these areas will continue to provide for
future foraging for a while.
Light rain fell across ENP
and
Stages continued to drop
last week (see Stages pdf). Water levels in
Shark River Slough and at the
Salinity (see Salinity pdf) was mostly steady or increasing in
Please contact Kevin Cunniff (kcunniff@sfwmd.gov) for questions about
ENP and
Fires:
The Deep Fire in Big
Cypress, near Corkscrew Watershed, has urned over
24,000 acres of land, with its cause attributed to a lightning strike (see Fire
Map). No fires have been reported in the WCAs or the
Park for the week.
Wildlife:
Large mixed flocks were
observed feeding in western WCA 1 in close proximity to Colony 99 (see flocks
map). A decrease in large flocks was observed in eastern WCA 1 from
several weeks prior. We have been monitoring the effect of predation on
the southwest portion of New Colony 4, and documented nest failures (at least
1000) of entire tree islands due to alligators and raccoons. A video
distributed last week shows what may be the first documented evidence of
alligator predation on an ibis nest.
Please contact James Beerens (jbeerens@sfwmd.gov) with questions.
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