Mallory Swamp

Mallory Swamp is a large basin or bog swamp in southeastern Lafayette County and northeast Dixie County in the Big Bend Region of Florida. Mallory Swamp includes cypress swamps, titi thickets, peat bogs, and upland habitats. It is part of the Mallory Swamp-San Pedro Bay-California Swamp system in Dixie, Lafayette, and Taylor counties. That system is the largest basin swamp in Florida, covering more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2). Mallory Swamp is the largest wetland in the San Pedro Bay geomorphological province. The California Swamp is in Dixie County to the south of Mallory Swamp, close to the Gulf Coast. The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge includes part of the California Swamp. In the 1950s through the 1970s land owners attempted to convert the Mallory Swamp-San Pedro Bay swamps to pine plantations. One study estimated that more than 9.000 acres (3.642 ha) of wetlands in Mallory Swamp were being converted to pine platantions per year. Hundreds of miles of drainage ditches were dug throughout the area. The flood retention capacity of the swamp was reduced by the drainage. Attempts to restore the hydrology of the swamp began in the 1990s. In 1997, the Sam Shine Foundation acquired 30,501 acres (12,343 ha) of the Mallory Swamp that had been converted to pine plantation and started a restoration project. A separate tract of 800 acres (320 ha) was also acquired. The la

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