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do 4W 40 NPS form 10900.6 � 18-8tt) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 4INU ApMvil No. 107.4.0019 Section number _F_ Page Indian River Narrows Cultural Resource District animals, such as white-tailed deer (Odocaideus virginianus) and black bear (Ursus americanus) and would have had a ripple -effect upon other species dependant upon the natural environmental balance. The Spanish also introduced European crops such as the orange (Curies sinensis) and other staples. Orange groves thrived in Florida and they were planted throughout the state by both Indians and colonists. Bartram notes that orange trees could be found throughout his travels along riverbanks and provided a ready source of food (Bartram 1928). Nonetheless, the cumulative effect of these early changes paled in comparison to the environmental changes which began to occur along the Indian River and on Orchid Island with the arrival of permanent white settlements in the mid to late nineteenth century. Though a fuller account of the history of white settlement in the area is provided below, the anthropogenic changes which occurred following American pioneer development were dramatic. Changes included dredging the Indian River channel and redepositing spoil, clearing the land for agricultural purposes and constructing homes, filling wetlands, and digging drainage and mosquito ditches. On t! -e north end of the island at Sebastian Inlet, which had periodically opened and closed naturally, was first artificially re -opened in 1886 at the location of a former natural inlet (Woodward -Clyde 1994:2-26), Later, between 1919 and 1927 the area"s water control district began the excavation of drainage systems which significantly altered natural watershed patterns into the Indian River lagoon (Woodward -Clyde 1994:240,241). From the 1920s -1960s mosquito control ditches and dikes were also built to restrict lagoon to slough water movement and impair mosquito breeding (Kanaski 1997:2). Erosion of the Fishing Flat Site (SIR848) along the shoreline of the East Channel is severe and has worsened since the 1989 freeze kiI led much of the mangrove cover. Tice site contains oyster shell and closely resembles the Grapefruit Site. This site shows good preservation ever: after 70 years of cultivation. With white settlement camp introduced agricultural and aesthetic exotic: vcgelation, including Austi'nhan pine (Casuarina equisitifolia), Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebindufolius), Canary Island date palm (Phoenbc canariensi.$), grape€i uit (C aria paradisi) and additional orange varieties ("Thomas 1994:24). Other plants native to Florida but not typical to Orchid Island, such as the Florida royal palm (Roystonia elata), also were propagated, typically as ornamentals on home sites. Many of these plants now dominate over native plants on large parts of the island either through intentional planting (i.e., orange groves), landscaping (Australian pine, date palms, and royal palms), or through escape and propagation by birds eating the fruit (Brazilian pepper). .Modern development of the island for recreational and home use began in earnest in the 1970s and continues to the present. The modem construction of roads, large housing tracts and golf courses has tremendously altered the island's remaining natural geological and ecological features and has detrimentally affected many of its remaining; archaeological sites. Of great importance is the Blue Goose Midden (81815), which has been damaged by land dcE°dopment. Mickel tI99w: 208) excavated wic lust pit to tirtil uadistuibed pn,-naiy deposition. Attttacts recovered from this test and others from the site meld by collectors show a great variety of faunal materials and ceramics. These findings alone allow the cultural period designation of at least Malabar 11 through protohistoric and European