Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge goes on offense to fight invasive Burmese python spread

It is the only intact remnant of the northern Everglades in Palm Beach County — an emerald marshland of peaceful blackwater where cattails ring vast wet prairies of spikerush, and teardrop-shaped tree islands give sanctuary to rabbits, otters, deer and bobcats.

The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge west of Boynton Beach is so far unspoiled by the merciless legion of invasive Burmese pythons that claim harmful dominion in the more southern reaches of Florida’s iconic river of grass.

And there is a desperate struggle to keep it that way.

A posse of biologists, bounty hunters, researchers and students toil to defend the 147,000-acre refuge from the slithering siege of apex predators. They stalk lands south of the refuge where pythons are more prevalent, sample streams for snake DNA, seed tree islands with game cameras, and this year, got a $125,000 grant that includes hiring two interns whose sole mission is python patrol.

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Unlike Everglades National Park, where a 2012 study suggested pythons were responsible for a decline of 85% to 100% of the population of medium-sized furry animals such as raccoons and rabbits, the Loxahatchee Refuge still has a fighting chance.

“We are doubling down and investing more in our surveillance,” said Rebekah Gibble, senior wildlife biologist at the refuge. “I don’t think there is a lot we can do to prevent them, but maybe we can hold them off until the science catches up.”

Four decades of wild Burmese pythons in South Florida

The Burmese python invasion started with releases — intentional or not — of captive snakes, which likely gained a foothold in Everglades National Park by the mid-1980s, according to the 2021 Florida Python Control plan. By 2000, multiple generations of pythons were living in the park, which is noted in a more than 100-page 2023 report that summarized decades of python research.

Haphazard pursuits were undertaken to cull the writhing herd, but it wasn’t until 2019 that federal, state and nonprofit officials launched a python management planning group. In 2021, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made Burmese pythons a prohibited species.

Today, there are no reliable estimates of python abundance in Florida, the 2023 report says.

And, the study added, “eradication of the entire population across the landscape is not possible with any existing tools.”

In Palm Beach County, 54 pythons have been captured since 2006, according to the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System, or EDDMapS. In addition, four have been found dead, and 24 sightings have been reported.

The 54 that were captured includes a 10-foot python caught and killed on an eastern levee at the Loxahatchee Refuge in 2016. Before that, one was found in a parking lot at the refuge. Another was seen in 2008 on a southern levee.

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In 2019 there was an unconfirmed python sighting inside the refuge.

“I would think there could be some pythons here because they have been seen in the area, but the last one we definitely found was in 2016,” said Rolf Olson, project leader for the refuge. “We are trying to be more aggressive in finding out if we have them or not.”

Python work can be tedious, disheartening

That’s where interns Jared Stroman, 22, and Casey Bradley, 24, are helping.

The duo, who started in September, make up the first team at the refuge solely dedicated to “all things python,” Gibble said. That includes day and evening surveys to count reptiles and mammals.

On a clear November morning, Stroman and Bradley hopped in a beefy F-150 to begin a 4-hour-long reptile survey from the L-40 canal. The night surveys are for mammals where spotlights reflecting from their eyes make them easier to count.

Their focus is largely on the east side of the levy, where a drier high-ground marsh is a more suitable habitat for pythons.

The surveys can be tedious, lengthy and disheartening. At the end of the recent trip, most of what they saw were invasive species — iguanas, curly tail lizards, brown anoles and brown basilisk lizards, also known as Jesus lizards because they can run on the surface of the water.

But they also recorded 15 native turtles and a striped Florida ribbon snake sunning itself on the levee.

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“The main thing is catching the pythons early because once they are established you are fighting an uphill battle,” Stroman said. “This is a buffet for them.”

Gibble said the interior of the refuge and levees to the north and east have healthy populations of furry critters, including marsh rabbits — a sentinel species whose decline in numbers can be a signal that pythons are present. However, as yet unpublished data from the southern border shows smaller populations of mammals than years before, she said.

"We definitely do not feel like we are in the clear," Gibble said.

Scientists hope higher water levels are a natural defense against pythons

Water samples taken from the refuge have tested positive for python DNA, but the water may have flowed into the refuge from other areas, said Mike Kirkland, an invasive animal biologist with the South Florida Water Management District.

The district employs 50 python hunters who earn $13 an hour plus bonuses depending on snake size. Patrolling in the refuge, where there is less python activity and fewer opportunities to earn bonuses, will earn a hunter $18 an hour. FWC also has 50 python hunters.

Kirkland said the refuge’s deeper water levels caused by a depression in the underlying bedrock may deter pythons, which need ample dry land for their nests, to find food and to control their body temperature by basking.

But he has hunters also patrolling heavily in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area south of the refuge to buttress defenses in a region most ripe for an assault.

He’s optimistic about the refuge’s odds.

“Signs point to no pythons in the refuge right now and I think the chances are fairly good that we are going to keep them out,” Kirkland said. “We are holding a line.”

Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Burmese pythons in South Florida have yet to overrun Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge