Annual NLCD Land Cover and railroads in central Florida

Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2023 Land Cover in central Florida, with black lines representing railroads that crisscross the region. Railroads are integral in the phosphate mining process. As mining expands, railroads are extended to the new mine areas to facilitate movement of ore to the fertilizer processing plants, and fertilizer to distribution sites. In Bone Valley, fertilizer production plants are located near mines, and railroads are a main source of transportation of the phosphate rock to processing plants.