Devastation on Big Pine Key

[kurt decker]

Today I paid my first visit to Big Pine Key since Hurricane Irma in 2017. What I found was a completely different island than the one I remember. Big Pine Key took a direct hit on the strong side of a category 4 storm, so roughly 130 mile an hour sustained winds. 6 ft of salt water covered the island. It killed ALL the pines. There are a few sickly scraggly looking ones up near US1, but the overstory is completely gone. All of the tall palms are gone. There are still good numbers of thrinax morrissii and coccothrinax argentata, but the serenoa repens was scarce, as was sabal palmetto. Nothing larger than about 10 or 12 ft. Mangrove and Poisonwood underbrush give the place the same look and feel as any other island in the Florida Keys. The place was really devastated. I don't know if they have any reclamation planned, but certainly replanting the pines should be a top priority. I didn't really stop to take pictures, but I did snap one of my friend Osman Vicente with a nice argentata, and a key deer with some serenoa.

Edited August 19, 2020 by kurt decker

[DoomsDave]

Sad to see, but, it's home to the denizens of it.

Another decade another storm.

So, @kurt decker how are you holding up in captivity?

[kurt decker]

Trying to stay outside as much as possible. The lockdown might be political, but the virus is real. I've had two long-time employees out with the bug, one of them got it real bad, he's been out 6 weeks, and my soil salesman and good friend Stuart Boyd of Southeast soil passed away this weekend. I was just texting him in the hospital last week. It never occurred to me he might not make it home.

[Meangreen94z]

This virus becomes very real once you hear someone you knew passed away. Sorry to hear.

[hbernstein]

Horrible. There were indications of salt water lingering longer after storms and the beginnings of pine die-off years ago. Big Pine Key is (was) a magical place. I wonder what has happened to the freshwater Blue Hole and its isolated gators?

The Florida Keys should have been declared a National Park, or at least a special conservation area, years ago. 

[Oviedo_z10b_lol]

I have a house in Cudjoe Key, and we took the direct hit. Not much in the way of palms damage. But I don’t have much there: an overgrown ravenala madagascarienisis right in front of the porch (leaves shredded), several cocos, queens and D. lutescens. I needed a new roof but overall, not bad. That being said, the drive to Winn Dixie or No Name in Big Pine is a bit more defoliated than I recall prior to 2017. The key deer seem to have thrived though!