Look out of your window as you drive along Scenic 30A, that is, if you are on a road trip along the Emerald Coast in NW Florida. Or you could be hiking or bicycling alongside, on the Timpoochee Trail. To the southwest side of Deer Lake you can see deer lichen (commonly called deer moss) growing a few feet from the road. In 2007, Scenic 30A is in the process of upgrading from state road, county road, or coastal highway to scenic corridor. This deer lichen is in the corridor. I propose we take the health of these plants as a gauge of the environmental conservation success of the corridor.
Deer lichen is vulnerable to air pollution. The existence of deer lichen by the two-lane road, with traffic increasing daily, indicates that the air has been pretty good. Beyond air, is the deer lichen physically respected? I discovered this patch of old growth deer lichen on March 27, 2007. The GPS coordinates are N 30°18'29.9" W086°04'49.1". On July 1, 2007, large truck tire tread marks arced up the bank and over about a meter of moss. I took this movie the next morning. It is about 1.5 minutes long. Some of the moss appears broken, but generally it is springy. I tentatively call these plants Cladina evansii and Cladina subtenuis based on web research.
- QuickTime (28.3 MB)
I will keep watch. On the Lookout 2000 celebration page there is a timeline. I added a five-year item for the deer lichen, to be reinspected with the condition reported in the year 2012.
2008: another mowing destroyed more of the deer lichen. The tire tread went beside and below last year's track. See a closeup of the damage, comparing healthy to crushed growth (site3.3a).
For information about the corridor, see Scenic Highways Program or Florida Scenic Highway.
Deer lichen site 3.1. Scenic 30A Deer Lake State Park. See also images. Back to deer lichen or Lookout.
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