AN OVERVIEW OF PEAT IN FLORIDA AND RELATED ISSUES



 by
 Paulette Bond, Kenneth M. Campbell and Thomas M. Scott

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 Peat is a deposit of partially decayed plant remains which accumulates
in a waterlogged environment. It may contain some proportion of inor-
ganic material which is referred to as ash. Ash content is a critical param-
eter if peat is to be used as a fuel and may not exceed 25 percent of the
material by dry weight. In addition, fuel grade deposits must be at least
four feet thick with a surface area of at least 80 contiguous acres per
square mile. Fuel grade peat must yield at least 8000 BTU per moisture-
free pound.
 Peat is removed from the ground in an excavation process. The proce-
dure is alternatively referred to as harvesting or mining. "Harvesting"
when used in conjunction with peat correctly refers to the nearly obso-
lete practice of harvesting living Sphagnum from the surface of a bog. In
this process, the Sphagnum was allowed to grow back so that repeated
harvests were possible in a given area. Very little or no true harvesting
occurs today. Thus, the extraction of peat is properly termed mining.
 An important implication of the definition of peat is peat's classifica-
tion as an agricultural resource as opposed to a mineral resource. This
classification may have ramifications with respect to the sorts of regula-
tions which are applied to peat mining. Peat does not comply with the
conditions set forth in the academic definition of the term mineral. It is,
however, considered a mineral resource by the United States Geological
Survey and the United States Bureau of Mines. Peat may be ancestor of
the mineral graphite and is also viewed by earth science professionals as
nonrenewable. Thus it is considered appropriate to term peat a mineral
resource.
 Peat accumulates and is preserved in wetlands, such as the Ever-
glades, marshes and mangrove swamps, river-valley marshes (St. Johns
river-valley marsh), and in sinkhole lakes. This strong association of peat
with wetlands occurs because the presence of water serves to inhibit the
activity of decomposing organisms which would normally metabolize
plant matter and prevent its accumulation.
 Earth science professionals consider peat to be nonrenewable. In Flor-
ida an average rate of peat accumulation is 3.62 inches per 100 years.
Using this average rate, a deposit 4 feet thick (minimum thickness of a
fuel grade deposit) could accumulate in approximately 1,326 years or
approximately 18 human lifetimes (average lifetime of 72 years).
 Florida is estimated as having 677,688 acres of fuel grade peat or 606
million tons. This estimate is based on material thought to contain no