MAMMALS Bobcat, deer, gray fox, marsh rabbit, opossum, cotton rat,
 raccoon

 BIRDS Bobwhite quail, cranes, egrets, herons, ibis, meadowlark,
 red-shouldered hawks, snipe

 REPTILES Cottonmouth moccasin, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, pigmy
 rattlesnake, ringneck snake, yellow rat snake

 AMPHIBIANS Frogs (chorus, cricket, grass, pig), salamanders

 Information on animals known to occur in specific ecological communities
 is in Appendix C.

 LAND USE INTERPRETATIONS

 1. Environmental Value as a Natural System

 Sloughs serve as natural drainageways during high water periods. As such,
 they have great value in improving water quality by natural processes.
 They also retain water, help slow down water flows, and thereby increase
 water quantity and improve water quality.

 Fire and artificial water level fluctuations are the major factors
 affecting these areas. Variations in the natural sequences of either
 event will change the slough's diversity and productivity. With the
 exclusion of fire or permanent water level reduction, the plant succession
 will be to a wooded community.

 Native forage production is good with proper management. Use for
 rangeland has only a slight effect on the community if properly managed.
 The community has good wildlife values, especially with proper management.
 The installation of water control practices have facilitated the use of
 some sloughs for improved pasture, vegetables, and citrus.

2. Rangeland

 This ecological community has the potential for producing significant
 amounts of high quality forage such as blue maidencane, chalky bluestem
 and bluejoint panicum. For sites in excellent condition, the average
 annual production of air dry plant material varies from 3,000 to 6,000
 pounds per acre. This variation depends on plant growth conditions. From
 4 to 16+ acres are usually needed per animal unit depending upon amount
 and type of forage available. The relative percentages of annual
 vegetative production by weight is 85 percent grasses and grasslikes
 plants, 15 percent herbaceous plants.

3. Wildlifeland

 This community is productive in regards to food for bobwhite quail, deer,
 and wading birds. Its low growing vegetative growth provides poor cover
 for most wildlife species, but this is often offset by the "edge effect"
 of this community when it is located with flatwoods.

4. Woodland