Tate's Hell State Forest
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Tate's Hell State Forest is 202,000 acres (819 km²) of land in
Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
and
Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
counties in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The forest is located near Carrabelle off
US 98 U.S. Route 98 (US 98) is an east–west United States Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs from western Mississippi to southern Florida. It was established in 1933 as a route between Pensacola and Apalachicola, Florida, and has sinc ...
along the Gulf coast and on
St. James Island St. James Island is an inhabited area along the Florida Panhandle surrounded by the Carrabelle River, Crooked River, Ochlockonee River, and St. George Sound in Franklin County, Florida. It is more than long and averages wide. It is separated f ...
. At one time, Tate's Hell supported at least 12 major habitats including: wet
flatwoods Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fire an ...
, wet
prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
, seepage slope,
baygall A bayhead or baygall is a specific type of wetland or swamp habitat.Watson, Geraldine Ellis (2006) Big Thicket Plant Ecology: An Introduction, Third Edition (Temple Big Thicket Series #5). University of North Texas Press. 152 pp. Natural Communi ...
,
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
forest, floodplain
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
, basin swamp, upland
hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
forest,
sandhill A sandhill is a type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem. It is not the same as a sand dune. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo ecological succession and be ...
, pine ridges, dense titi swamp thickets and scrub. Tate's Hell State Forest is an important
hydrologic Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
area and includes a section of the New River (Florida Panhandle). The park's watershed provides fresh water into the
Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola may refer to: * Apalachicola people, a group of Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida Places *Apalachicola, Florida *Apalachicola River *Apalachicola Bay *Apalachicola National Forest *Apalachi ...
, the
Carrabelle River Carrabelle River is located in Carrabelle, Florida, and flows into St. George Sound in Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely ...
and the
Ochlockonee River The Ochlockonee River ( ) is a fast running river, except where it has been dammed to form Lake Talquin in Florida, originating in Georgia and flowing for before terminating in Florida. Background The name is from the Hitchiti language words ...
. During a 40-year period of private ownership prior to the state's acquisition in 1994, over of forest roads and ditches were constructed on the property to accommodate intensive commercial forest management operations. Most of the area was planted with pine
monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...
and the drainage canals dried what had been previously wetlands. There was extensive
loss of habitat Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
and wildlife. Apalachicola Bay suffered from the loss of the previously continuous fresh water flow into the bay provided by the wetlands, adding to the effect of loss of water flow into the bay from the
Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its fa ...
. Causes include surface water use upstream of the
Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its fa ...
basin, such as supplying drinking water to the city of
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, and agriculture use in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. Debate over the use of water in this basin is the subject of a long-standing feud among the three southern states over which use or which user takes precedence over the others. A recent court ruling sets forth the history of water use in the upper reaches of the basin.


Name

Local legend attributes the forest's unusual name to Cebe Tate, a local homesteader who became lost in the woods in the mid 1870s. He had ventured into the woods with his hunting dog in order to shoot a panther that had attacked his livestock. The legend is often recounted with Tate becoming separated from his dogs and lost for seven days and seven nights before coming to a clearing near Carrabelle, where he lived only long enough to say to a passerby, "My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from Hell," before collapsing.


Restoration

Since its acquisition by the State of Florida Department of Forestry in 1994, 12 restoration projects have been undertaken to restore some of the natural drainage and natural communities. These projects include removal or planting of some road beds, restoring natural water flow, and alteration of planted species. As of 2007, eight of the 12 projects had been completed at a cost of $1.446 million and affecting of the State Forest. It will however, take a much longer time for the forest to return to a more natural state. The Florida Department of Forestry and North West Florida Water Management District continue to study and plan for future restoration of the Forest.


Animals and plant life

Many endangered or threatened animals live in Tate's Hell State Forest, including the
gopher tortoise The gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide ...
and
red-cockaded woodpecker The red-cockaded woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus borealis'') is a woodpecker endemic to the southeastern United States. Description The red-cockaded woodpecker is small to mid-sized species, being intermediate in size between North America's two ...
. Some rare plant species living in the forest include thick-leaved water-willow (''
Justicia crassifolia Justicia may refer to: * ''Justicia'' (album), by Eddie Palmieri, 1969 * Justicia (Madrid), a ward in the Madrid city center * ''Justicia'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae * Justicia mayor, a 19th century Spanish ...
''), white birds-in-a-nest (''
Macbridea alba ''Macbridea alba'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name white birds-in-a-nest. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is found in four counties in the Florida Panhandle.USFWS''Macbride ...
''), Florida bear grass (''
Nolina atopocarpa ''Nolina'' is a genus of tropical xerophytic flowering plants, with the principal distribution being in Mexico and extending into the southern United States. They are large, dioecious plants. Some botanists have included the genus '' Beaucarn ...
''), Chapman's butterwort (''
Pinguicula planifolia ''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition ...
''), and small-flowered meadow beauty (''
Rhexia parviflora ''Rhexia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. ''Rhexia'' species are commonly called "meadow beauty" and 11 to 13 species of ''Rhexia'' have been recognized depending on different taxonomic treatments. Distribution ...
''). Common animals such as
alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
s and wild
cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
s are found in the area as well.


References


Recreation: Tate's Hell





FL-dof.com
{{coord, 29, 55, 13.52, N, 84, 49, 29.11, W, scale:200000_region:US, display=title Florida state forests Protected areas established in 1994 Protected areas of Franklin County, Florida Protected areas of Liberty County, Florida 1994 establishments in Florida