95

oak hammock. Pinelands are covered with water infrequently

and only for brief periods, and palmetto and oak hammock

are almost never flooded. Area covered by water was

calculated at each foot increment in water depth. An area-

volume curve was constructed based on volume estimates

calculated from the areas under the hypsographic curve.



Area of Seasonally Drying Marsh at Lake Okeechobee

 A depth-area curve of Lake Okeechobee by the U. S.

Army Corps of Engineers (from Meyer, 1971) was used to

determine the number of acres of seasonally drying marsh

under the present stage regulation schedule and to estimate

the change in acreage with the new stage regulation

schedule, which is approximately 2 ft higher. High water

for the estimate of present area of seasonally drying marsh

was taken to be the actual average high water stage for the

past few years, approximately 14.4 ft MSL, and low water

was taken to be the extreme low water stage for the past

few years, or approximately 10.4 ft MSL (U. S. Department

of Interior. Geological Survey. 1972 -1975). The

difference between the area covered by water at average

high water and the area covered by water at extreme low

water (from the curve) was the estimate of present area of

seasonally drying marsh, which is the area of marshland

available to feeding wading birds. To estimate the acreage

of seasonally drying marsh under the new regime, it was

assumed that prevailing average high and extreme low stages