essentially finished at about the time of the Civil War. Subsequent to that era,
small subsistence farming was carried on, but above all, exploitation of the longleaf
pine (Pinus palustris) commenced. This involved the collection of turpenes,
logging for saw timber, and the extraction of tree roots for rendering into "naval
stores." This was a very typical pattern for land exploitation in the coastal plain of
the southeast and not unique to north central Florida.
 In the 1930s, the late Carl S. Swisher assembled a large tract of land,
including about 100 km2 of which the present preserve was a part. This land was
used in a recreational sense for fishing, but some attempts at agriculture also were
made, although not on a large scale. The pine uplands were burned on an irregular
schedule, as was customary to reduce fuel loads, thereby mitigating the affects of
lightning-induced wild fires. In 1980, The Nature Conservancy and the University
of Florida Foundation entered into a joint agreement for land management. The
main responsibility for management practices fell to the School of Forest Resources
and Conservation and the Florida Museum of Natural History.
 Although some ecological research was initiated on the Preserve as early
as 1981, a concentrated effort at research and management was initiated in 1983.
At this time, a rotational burn schedule was developed whereby selected tracts on
the uplands, ranging in size from 120 to 200 acres, were burned on a three-year
rotation. Vegetational measurements allowed us to ascertain the extent to which
the survivorship of longleaf pine seedlings was favored over that of turkey oak
(Quercus laevis) seedlings. The burning schedule was aimed at enhancing the
growth of longleaf pine to restore the upland tracts to a longleaf pine/wire grass
(Aristida sp.) savannah. After 10 years, it is clear that the burn treatment has
indeed enhanced the growth of longleaf pine, and in the uplands, we are gradually
observing a dominance of longleaf pine at the expense of the turkey oak.
 During the interval 1982-1992, numerous research projects were
conducted on vertebrates and invertebrates resident within the boundaries of the
Preserve. In this part of Florida, one is accustomed to annual variation in total
rainfall, but by 1987 it was clear that we were in an interval of rainfall deficit (Fig.
2). The drainage from Lake Melrose into the preserve derives from a wet prairie to
the west (Levi Prairie), and within the preserve, meanders in a northeasterly arc
via Mill Creek to exit at the northeast corner of the preserve from Putnam Prairie
to Goodson Prairie, and thence via the Etonia Creek system to the St. Johns River
(Fig. 1). Rainfall was below average for the years 1984 through 1987. Although
1988 was an excellent year, 1989 and 1990 were below average so that even the
rains of 1991 did not restore the lakes (Fig. 2). The smaller sandhill lakes not
connected with the major drainage system became dry by 1988. The larger lakes
within the major drainage system at the west end of the preserve (Rowan, Suggs,
Ross and Goose lakes) held water. Since many of the larger bodies of water, Lake
Ashley and Wall Lake, are shallow, the final drying of lakes once they had
achieved a critical level, was rather rapid.