The Restoration Project of the South Florida Everglades
William Blake once posited that the sides of a single grain of sand actually reflects the known
universe and the South Florida Everglades including its vast surroundings is the epitome of such
claims. The Glades is a reflection of how the environment has changed through the different
eras. From the distinctiveness of its landscape to the different species of plants and animals
that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet, and to the distinction of the Glades as North
America’s one and only wetlands, the Everglades of South Florida effectively mirrors the
constant struggle between man and environment and between utilitarianism and conservation.
On one hand, man has to look after his own welfare by utilizing, albeit aggressively and
wantonly, the vast natural resources at his disposal to serve the needs of the growing society.
On the other end of the spectrum is the need to recognize the limitations of the planet’s
natural resources and take concrete steps at restoring and revitalizing it for the purpose of
having something to handover to the future generations. All eyes are thus on the Everglades
Project watching in the sidelines just how destructive man’s enforced controls for over a
hundred years have affected the natural beauty of the Glades and anxiously waiting what the
public will do. Will the public remain a silent observer and passive destroyer of the environment
or will it take on a more active role in the remediation of such environmental tragedy?
It should be noted that restoration involves not only technical competence in environmental
planning and management. Of equal importance are economic and cultural factors especially
the identification of entities deemed responsible for the mistakes of the past. Also crucial is the
determination of entities who can play a role in the initiation of the Everglades restoration
plans without necessarily compromising the overall integrity of the already-fragile ecosystem.
Additionally, the project must be able to identify entities who can provide both the financial
and philosophical support for any water management schemes in the future. The Everglades
Restoration Project marks the first time that the environment has won precedence over man’s
activities. However, a more serious implication is being cited for the reversal of a public works
initiative and that is the growing distrust by the public of controls imposed by the government.
The public’s favorable impression of the project is necessary because of the very thin line that
exists between government controls that restrict the environment and government controls
that restore the environment. It is thus, not surprising that the restoration project is wrought
with so many controversies particularly legislative issues. Unfortunately, many of these legal
issues remain unsolved. The result of this legal tussle as well as its implications on other
ecosystems in other parts of the world remains to be seen.
The South Florida Everglades: A Backgrounder
The South Florida Everglades is the only subtropical wetland in the continental US. It covers
more than 4,000 square miles that stretches from the Florida Bay in the south to Lake
Okeechobee high up in the north. The Glades is officially part of the Everglades-Lake
Okeechobee-Kissimmee watershed which covers 11,000 square miles serving as one gigantic
natural drainage basin. Lake Okeechobee has a surface area of about 730 square miles.
However, despite this rather large swath of water, its depth is rather shallow by lake standards
averaging only 12 feet deep. The Everglades wetlands area is known for its very varied
landscapes that includes pinelands, coastal marine waters, freshwater marshes, mangrove
swamps, and islands of wetland trees. Regardless of how diverse the landscape is, its slope and
elevation are pretty uniform with a gradient averaging only about 3 to 6 centimeters per
kilometer.
One of the most obvious effects of the very unique water and land characteristics of the
Everglades is the proliferation of life forms that are unique and indigenous to the region. The
Glades is a showcase of great biodiversity with only the hardy species thriving in such a very
unique ecosystem. Nutrient levels in the water and soil of the Glades was traditionally low.
Much of it were derived from the rainfall that quenches the landscape. As such, the ecosystem
had to adapt to these soil and water characteristics with plant and animal species that require
very minimal nutrients and seasonal supply of water. Many of these life forms have become
indigenous to the wetland regions of the Everglades and as such, any changes in its already-
fragile ecosystem can further upset the balance of nature and threaten the very survival of
these life forms. In fact, ever since the government has enacted several water management
controls, 56 animal and plant species from the Everglades region have been reclassified under
the country’s Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered. Among the
endangered species indigenous to the Glades include the manatee, the snail kite, the Southern
bald eagle, the American crocodile, and the Florida panther.
The flow of water through the Everglades wetlands is greatly dependent on extreme seasonal
disparities. Typically, more than three-quarters of the region’s rainfall occur during the months
of May until October with an average precipitation of around 40 to 65 inches. However, this can
vary significantly because of the rather unpredictable nature of weather systems over the area.
Nonetheless, the inflow of water into the Everglades is dependent on the amount of
precipitation over the area. Close to 90 percent (89%) of the inflow comes from rainfall directly
in the region while the remaining 11 percent comes from the resulting water run-off after a
bout of precipitation in surrounding regions. There is a negligible percentage of water inflow
that has been identified to be sourced from groundwater accounting for less than a percent.
Because the Everglades is highly dependent on rainfall which is, itself highly variable, the inflow
of water is also variable. The Kissimmee River generally serves as the primary channel for the
inflow of water into the Glades watershed. Lake Okeechobee typically receives the water flow
from the Kissimmee River. In a heavy downpour, the lake’s southern end, which is unusually
shallow, usually overflows leading to flooding of the whole of its southern shore. The flood
water then creeps into the area of the Everglades. During incessant heavy rainfall, the flooding
of Everglades can reach up to 100 miles in length and about 50 miles wide at a steady daily pace
of around 100 feet.
One would wonder why water in the Glades is fast to dry up given the fact that heavy
precipitation can clearly inundate several hundred square miles of the Glades in a single day.
The main problem is in the topography of the Everglades itself. Because of its relatively flat
terrain, it is subject to high degrees of evapotranspiration. In fact, two-thirds of the Everglades’
water is lost through the process of evapotranspiration. Another 22 percent is lost as
tidewaters as the water from the watershed flows toward Florida’s coast. The remaining water
is lost through reabsorption by the subsurface. The South Florida subsurface is generally
composed of highly porous layers of limestone. It is this limestone layer that acts like one
gigantic natural sponge that absorbs all that water in the watershed of the South Florida
Everglades. This stored water is what’s slowly released into marshes, springs, and lakes. In
extremely dry periods, it is this same subsurface water that provides the region with its water
to maintain the balance of nature at a bare minimum.
Timeline of Water Management in the Everglades
Government controls on the Everglades were begun in the early 1900s. A variety of water
management plans, strategies, and practices were devised to make full use of the resources
that were plentiful in the basin. The result is a network of almost 1,500 miles of dikes, canals,
and levees becoming one of the world’s highly regulated and, unfortunately, heavily regulated
watersheds. Throughout the process of environmental utilization, 4 distinct eras can be
identified that coincide with the major watershed development and management initiatives in
the area. These 4 eras or time periods were lifted from the research article written by Lance
Gunderson studying the water management controls that have been initiated and completed in
the region of South Florida. The first two time periods describes the government initiatives to
control flooding in the area. The third time period or era focused on the management of
drought while the fourth and last time period described the current state of the Everglades and
the multi-sectoral approach that is needed to address the problems created by the government
controls imposed in the first three time periods.
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