The Southwest Florida/Big Cypress Basin (SW/BCB) extends north from Everglades National Park (ENP) to the Caloosahatchee River watershed, and east from the Gulf of Mexico to the L-4 and L-28 canal systems and Lostmans Slough. It includes southern Lee and Hendry, all of Collier, and small portions of western Broward and Dade, and northwestern Monroe counties.

The region provides significant habitat for many threatened and endangered species and species of special concern, including the American bald eagle, Florida panther, woodstork, snail kite, snowy plover, Florida sandhill crane, red-cockaded woodpecker, Big Cypress fox squirrel, Florida black bear, alligator, limpkin, Everglades mink, crocodile, Loggerhead sea turtle, West Indian manatee, snook, jewfish, gopher tortoise, Eastern indigo snake, many species of wading birds and migratory shore birds and songbirds.

The slash pine forests of southwest Florida have been identified as an endangered ecosystem. This sub-region, along with the western Greater Okeechobee sub-region, may have the State's greatest acreage of hydric pine flatwoods, which have significant ecological and hydrological value. Plant species diversity is high, with over 900 species, including 85 protected species. At least 21 Federal and State listed animal species are supported by the flatwoods communities important to groundwater recharge.

The sub-region also encompasses tremendous acreages of ecologically valuable wetlands. Big Cypress National Preserve (BCNP) and its Addition Lands, is approximately 728,000 acres of swamplands. It is dominated by seasonally flooded cypress savannas and freshwater marshes interspersed with islands of slash pine and mixed hardwood hammocks. The BCNP is about one-third covered with cypress trees, mostly dwarf pond cypress. The few remaining giant bald cypresses, escapees of the lumber era, may be 600-700 years old.

Fakahatchee Strand, over 74,000 acres in size, is the center of native U.S. orchid species diversity. The Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) is more than 58,000 acres of mostly functional wetlands. It supports North America's largest nesting colony of endangered wood storks and largest remaining stand of virgin bald cypress. Within CREW is the 1,500-acre Lake Trafford, the largest freshwater lake in the region. Lake Trafford supports significant bass and other fish, invertebrate, and bird populations. The CREW provides habitat for about 75 protected plant and animal species, as well as having significant hydrologic importance by conveying water to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Rookery Bay, and Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and Buffer Reserve watersheds. Okaloacoochee Slough encompasses approximately 140,000 acres of mostly priority 1 habitat for Florida panthers. Other significant wetland areas lie within the Big Cypress Area of Critical State Concern (ACSC); Belle Meade and Southern Golden Gate land acquisition projects; Picayune Strand State Forest; the Florida Panther and 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuges; and Collier-Seminole State Park.

The coastal areas in this subregion are characterized by mangrove dominated estuaries with salt marsh habitats occurring landward of the mangrove zone. They generally provide a rich and abundant fish and shellfish nursery, as well as supporting bottlenose dolphin, the endangered West Indian Manatee, and an abundance of wading and shore bird species. Seagrasses, oyster bars, and mudflats are common benthic habitats. Beaches and dunes provide critical nesting habitat for many species of protected migratory shore birds and the threatened Loggerhead sea turtle. Important protected beach/dune and estuarine areas include Delnor-Wiggins Pass and Barefoot Beach State Recreation Areas; Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and Buffer Reserve, Rookery Bay Aquatic Preserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Ten Thousand Islands Aquatic Preserve and National Wildlife Refuge; the Estero Bay Tributaries and the Wiggins Pass/Cocohatchee Estuary Outstanding Florida Waters (OFW), and the Little Estero, Caxambas, and Big Marco Critical Wildlife Areas.

Water from the basin flows south and southwest to provide freshwater for the estuaries along the southwest coast, including the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Aquatic Preserve, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Aquatic Preserve, southwestern Everglades National Park (ENP), and indirectly to Florida Bay. The basin also provides water for several southwest Florida communities. Ecological connections between Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress basin are evident, resulting in similar concerns and scientific needs for both sub-regions. The extensive, contiguous areas are distinguished by the large proportion of officially designated wilderness area (in ENP) and by Federal ownership for controlled-use purposes of most of the southern and eastern portion of the BCNP. Development impacts in the remainder of the subregion have a direct effect on ecosystem health within the Everglades basin.

Southwest Florida is undergoing tremendous development pressure and has had the highest growth rate in Florida during the last ten years. During the 1950s-1970s, several large-scale residential developments along with major road and drainage projects were constructed throughout the region, causing loss of both wetland and upland habitat, lowering of the water table, and impacts to the region's rivers and estuaries. Incorporated cities include Naples, Ft. Myers Beach, Marco Island and Everglades City. Rapidly developing areas include northern Collier County, northern Golden Gate Estates, Estero, Immokalee, and Bonita Springs.

Recent plans for expanding the Southwest International Airport and constructing Florida Gulf Coast University has spurred development pressure to new levels. Agriculture is a major industry in the area, especially citrus and winter vegetables. Until recently, conversion of natural lands to agriculture occurred at an even greater rate than residential and commercial development in some areas of the basin. There is concern about potential effects on plants, wildlife, and their habitats and on surface and ground water quality and quantity. Some citrus development projections estimate that up to 50% of available Florida panther habitat in the Immokalee Rise area may be lost. Citrus also uses more water per acre than any other type of agriculture, except plant nurseries. There is concern over the potential impacts for water table drawdown.

Construction of the Tamiami Trail in 1928, the first east-west road across the basin, altered the natural timing and distribution of surface water flow. Since then, other residential road and canal systems have altered natural freshwater sheetflow patterns to the estuaries, resulting in increased rates of runoff and substantial point loads of contaminants. As a result, salinity patterns have changed, the estuarine nursery value for fish and shellfish has decreased, fisheries and seagrass abundance have been reduced, and nutrient loading has increased. One of the most significant examples of this was the development of Golden Gate Estates in the 1950s, which includes approximately 200 square miles of road and drainage canal development in wetlands east of Naples. This project continues to cause drawdown of the water table, impacts to wildlife habitat, increased fire, and unnatural discharges of large volumes of freshwater into the Ten Thousand Islands estuary.

Water quality in the urban estuaries continues to decline as a result of non-point source discharges. Nutrient and turbidity levels are on the rise in the estuaries, and concentrations of heavy metals indicative of polluting conditions (including cadmium, lead, copper and zinc) are found in the sediments. Fresh water systems have suffered a swell. The once sandy substrate of Lake Trafford, which had supported important submerged aquatic vegetation, is now buried under 7 million cubic yards of muck caused by nutrient-rich runoff and chemical aquatic weed control practices. The high biochemical oxygen demand of the muck causes periodic massive fish kills in the lake. Water quality within the BCNP is generally considered to be good to excellent. However, runoff from citrus and other farming operations upstream of the BCNP has long been a concern. Indian lands of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes, an important component of the basin, receive surface water that is contaminated with high concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, and other pollutants. These pollutants are generally attributed to intensive upstream agricultural development and other anthropogenic activities.

This pollution has resulted in contaminated fish and wildlife, which tribal members consume as part of their traditional subsistence hunting and fishing lifestyle, and significant economic and recreational fisheries and ecotourism for urban/rural communities. The pollution has resulted in conversion of wetlands to areas lacking the natural plant and animal diversity of the past. The subsurface strata contribute nutrients to the groundwater affecting the surface flora and fauna. Subsurface investigations are needed to provide the required data to understand the subsurface stratigraphy and its groundwater impacts to the South Florida Ecosystem.

Vegetation in conservation areas of the Big Cypress Basin has not been substantially altered compared to other sub-regions, but is threatened by the invasion of a variety of exotic plants. Melaleuca, in particular, now occupies about 6% of the BCNP and resists control efforts. This and other invasive species may lower the water table and hasten extinction of native species. Non-native fishes have colonized natural and disturbed habitats during the past three decades. Documented impacts include predation, nest-site competition, and habitat disturbance. Without strict border controls, relevant legislation, and support from the nursery industry, more exotic species will invade with unknown ecological consequences.

Continued loss of floral and faunal diversity from upland communities is of great concern. Though issues of biodiversity are frequently discussed in relation to wetlands, many of the known and imminently threatened losses of species in the basin appear to be associated with uplands.

Slash pine forest ecosystem acreage in Southwest Florida declined 88% from 1900-1989. Large acreages of hydric pine flatwoods have been lost to logging, development, and agriculture activities. Habitat destruction from residential and commercial development continues. Agricultural conversion has abated, but there are many large permits pending. Approximately 130,000 acres of citrus exist, with approximately 500,000 acres currently permitted. Melaleuca and other invasive exotic plants are a serious ecological problem.

Principal threats to survival of the Florida panther are habitat loss, automobile traffic, and inbreeding. Survival of Florida's state mammal is dependent on stabilizing the extant population, genetic restoration, and reintroduction elsewhere in its historic range. With the exception of the well-studied panther, black bear, and white-tailed deer, there is only limited information on the biology or population ecology of most native mammals. In addition, the ecological consequences of an expanding population of feral pigs have not been measured.

The total number of wading birds nesting in the Big Cypress and Everglades Basins has declined by more than 95% from peak estimates of nesting birds in the 1930s. Impacts of altered hydropatterns include (1) reduced number of birds attempting to nest, (2) relocated colonies, (3) changed timing of nesting, and (4) fewer years of successful nesting.

Several initiatives with public and private interests have formed to address the problems associated with the intense development pressure being experienced in this environmentally sensitive region. Some of these include the Southwest Issues Group of the Governors Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, Southwest Coast Ecosystem Management Team, Estero Bay Agency for Bay Management, Southwest Focus Group, Panther and Private Lands team, Lake Trafford Restoration Task Force, Southern Golden Gate Technical Committee, Big Cypress Basin Science Steering Committee, Greenways and Trails, and others.

The restoration objectives of critical importance for Sub-region 5 have been identified by the Working Group and are listed as follows:

- Restoration of more natural distribution, timing and quantities of fresh water into the coastal estuaries.
- Improvement to water quality by addressing point source and non-point source discharges.
- Restoration of degraded habitat, and minimization of further habitat loss.
- Protection of flood plains from further development to minimize needs for additional drainage projects.
- Improvement of aquifer recharge, and protection of ground water from pollutant loading, saltwater intrusion.
- Promotion of best management practices to agriculture, development, local governments, and the general public.
- Protection, buffering, and management of existing public lands.

Important restoration projects in progress or proposed for the Sub-region are identified on the following pages: