Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park
FL State Parks Quest [13/174]
Milton, FL
Summary:
While overtaking the Blackwater was a lot of work [Relevant Post Coming Soon], I decided to visit some pitcher plants. Backstory: When I was checking into my campground and getting my stamps for Blackwater River State Park and Blackwater Heritage State Trail, the ranger asked if I would like the stamp for Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park. He explained that there would be no ranger at that park and the only place to get it is here. I said sure, and then I was committed. I refuse to have a stamp for a park that I didn't earn!
Little did I know that I was on the adventure of a lifetime and that I will be telling my grandkids [errr.....grandkittens?] about it in the future.
The Story:
To find this state park, do not use Google Maps by entering in the park's name. I ended up taking a tour of Milton's northern backroads, then Milton downtown, and finally to Garcon Point. Anyone else have Pierre Garcon on their fantasy team? The map above marks the first location I tried. It was close enough and on the way to my next destination. I even clicked on the link that led me to the official park's website. When Maps informed me that I had arrived, there was nothing there!
I tried entering Yellow Marsh Preserve again, and it gave me a new location [marked point on the map to the right]. I traveled South of Milton to Garcon Point peninsula on 281. Maps told me to turn left off 281 to arrive at my destination. I obeyed and was greeted by very welcoming DO NOT ENTER and PRIVATE PROPERTY signs. I examine my park passport to see what's up. It just gives me an intersection: Dickerson City Rd and Garcon Point Rd [purple star on the map]. I make my way there by traveling Northbound on Garcon Point Rd then turning right onto Dickerson. Then onn the left side of the road, I officially arrived at my destination. It is by far the most jaw-dropping entrance to a park that I have ever seen. It's a beautiful unpaved lot surrounded by a stunningly crafted wooden fence.
At this point I should just go home. How could anything get better than this? I'm the only vehicle in the lot meaning I get this luxurious scenery all to myself! I'm in shock that I wasn't developing severe road rage fighting for a parking spot. What better things could people be doing?
But boy am I glad I stayed. I started my Garmin watch to record my walk. Much to my amazement, the scenery kept getting better and better! I'm serious y'all. There were some cool plants growing including one of my favorites - pitcher plants. There were red and blue berries. Shockingly, there was an abundance of pine trees. You don't get to see one of those every day! This park is spoiling me. Time to build a treehouse and refuse to leave. I can become the park's first full-time ranger!
After a strenuous walk of about 100 meters to this sign, pond, and view, I decided to turn off my GPS watch. I didn't want anyone to get jealous of how much hiking I got in. The quantity of pitcher plants tripled.
The Florida State Parks website's first fact about the park is: "The Yellow River Marsh Preserve protects one of Florida's last remaining tracts of wet prairie, including the largest community of pitcher plants in the state." Time to break this down because learning is fun!
What is a 'wet prairie'?
Time for a fun facts list!! Source: Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Wet Prairie
- Wet prairies are herbaceous communities that are found on continuously, BUT NOT inundated, soil, usually sandy.
- Typically found on small slopes between depression marshes, shrub bogs [Try saying that 10 times fast], or dome swamps.
- Dryer portions contain:
- Dense wiregrass (Aristida stricta) - Dominates this portion
- Foxtail club-moss (Lycopodiella alopecuroides)
- Cutover muhly (Muhlenbergia expansa)
- Yellow butterwort (Pinguicula lutea)
- Savannah meadowbeauty (Rhexia alifanus)
- Wetter portions contain:
- Wiregrass is found with or replaced by a species in the sedge family, such as plumed beaksedge (Rhynchospora plumosa), featherbristle beaksedge (R. oligantha), Baldwin’s nutrush (Scleria baldwinii), or slenderfruit nutrush (S. georgiana), plus longleaved threeawn (Aristida palustris)
- Pitcher plants (Sarracenia spp.)
- Sundews (Drosera spp.)
- Butterworts (Pinguicula spp)
- Bladderworts (Utricularia spp.)
- Northern Florida wet prairies have very diverse communities. They average 20+ species per square meter.
- "Factors contributing to this diversity include subtle spatial differences in moisture conditions across the wet prairie and temporal differences in fire and flooding regime from year to year, which favor different species and prevent any one species from excluding the others."
- The South Florida variant of North Florida Peninsula wet prairies are calcareous.
- Calcareous: containing calcium carbonate, calcium, or limestone
- Panhandle contains 25/30 rare wet prairie specifies. 12 are endemic to the Panhandle
- Community is called "pitcher plant bogs" outside of Florida. Really omg that sounds so much more exciting than wet prairie.
- Soil is acidic, saturated, and lacking in nutrients - why there are so many carnivorous plants.
Pitcher Plants
Peter Piper picked a peck of pitcher plants;
A peck of pitcher plants Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pitcher plants,
Where's the peck of pitcher plants Peter Piper picked?
Except Peter Piper didn't pick any pitcher plants because that is unethical and disrupts nature.
Fun facts list #2! Source: UF Knows a Thing or Two About Pitcher Plants
- Tubular leaves modified into traps "pitchers" to catch insects, which will slip on the waxy opening and fall in. It just slid in!
- Florida's wetlands have the most species of carnivorous plants in the USA
- 6 Sarracenia species exist here
- Needs the sun, which is why they are found in wet prairies where there is not much shade. Unfortunately this habitat is dwindling due to infrequent fires, getting drained to grow more pine trees, etc.
- Whitetop Pitcherplant - As seen in most, if not all, my pitcher plant pictures below
- Sarracenia leucophylla
- Endangered-state
- Only found along the Gulf Coastal Plain
- Green base that fades into wide with red and green venation at its opening
- Leucophylla comes from the Greek words leukos and phyllon "white leaf"
- Gulf Coast Redflower Pitcherplant - I grow it at my house!
- Sarracenia rubra (ssp. gulfensis in the Florida Panhandle)
- Threatened-state, increasingly isolated populations
- Larger population range, not just coastal. In NC, SC, GA, FL Panhandle, and AL
- Green or orange-red with red venation
- Oval or rounded lid
- The one I have is pictured to the right. I brought it inside and of course set it in front of my workstation. I purchased it from Native Nurseries in Tallahassee - along with my Torreya tree. I'm still determining the best permanent locations for each.
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| Gulf Coast Redflower Pitcherplant |
They kind of look like open mouths with an eye and nose, which is essentially true-ish due to pitcher plant's carnivorous nature to get the nutrients they need.
They are awesome photogenic plants. For realsies.
Below shows Dickerson City Rd. Pitcher plants grow on the roadside along the entire stretch of the road towards Dickerson City Boat Ramp. I took a picture of the intersection sign for reference because I know everyone will be requesting PTO to visit the pitchers by the time they finish reading this post. I'm feeling generous, so here are the GPS coordinates: 30.484346, -87.071456.
As I tearfully drove away Northbound towards Milton, I passed the state park sign. I hadn't seen it because I came from the other way. I'm relieved to say goodbye now knowing that YRMPSP has its own sign.
As much sarcasm as there is in this post, I'd like to note that I really did enjoy this park and appreciate that it is a preserve for an endangered habitat. It was a great photography opportunity too. It's just kind of a dinky park without much glory, and I'd love to see it transformed into more someday.
