Cypress Slough Community

The central slough area has soil made up of sandy loam or silt material and is covered with water approximately four to six months of the year, during the wet season. The lush plant life in the cypress slough absorbs pollutants from the water while slowing the flow and allowing sediments to settle out. This process cleans the water as it flows southwest through the Slough and empties into the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve.

The dense forest canopy of the cypress slough community provides shade that helps to modify temperature extremes, thereby slowing the evaporation of the water.

Bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes have adapted to an aerial way of life where the conditions of shade and fluctuating water levels vary, as they do in the cypress slough .The trees of the cypress slough also provide shelter and food for many Slough residents.