Tears for the Magnificent and Shrinking Everglades, a ‘River of Grass’. Funding has been secured to raise the Tamiami Trail, reroute water into Shark River Slough and mitigate damage near the Taylor Slough. The state of mourning began at least as far back as the 1920s, when the botanist John Kunkel Small recorded his observations during an expedition, listing the Latin names of hundreds of plants and recording everywhere signs of their degradation and demise, from the “approaching extermination of native coral life” — which has come to pass around the Keys — to the ground itself “being drained and burned until it is unproductive.”, His panic is palpable in the exclamation points and capital letters he deployed in his report on the Lake Okeechobee area. The fresh river flows.”. Dredging, levee building, pumping water in and out, more than 2,100 miles of canals, 2,000 miles of levees and hundreds of floodgates, pump stations and other water-control structures, usually initiated with a blind zeal for progress and indifference to — or ignorance about — the fact that engineers were playing a game of Jenga on an interconnected fragile system. Kirby Storter Roadside Park in Big Cypress National Preserve. By then, dredging and pumping and draining of the sloughs — the technical term for the shallow, slow-moving water under the grasses — and species decimation was well underway. Dry and high, prime real estate for mammals — of course man claimed it first. Nina Burleigh is a journalist and the author, most recently, of “Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump’s Women,” due out in paperback later this year. I know by the way eyes fill with tears when people get to talking about the glades. The Everglades formed 5,000 years ago. He picks up clients barefoot — in a 12-person Ford van in the parking lot of a fruit stand outside Homestead city limits. But the ecosystem today is half the size it was before development. Today it remains one of the biggest  environmental restoration efforts in the world, but even with a price tag that will be around $17 Billion when it’s all finished, the project remains underfunded and behind schedule. Sky and grass. All of New Jersey could have fit into the pre-drainage Everglades. Here … DRAINAGE and FIRE! In a promising development, Congress just authorized $200 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Everglades restoration. The Everglades were designated a national park in 1947, the same year that its most ardent fan, the environmentalist Douglas, published her book. Hammocks are visible for miles on the flat grasses. Published December 11, 2020 at 12:10 PM EST, One Of A Kind Shelter Helps Traumatized Dogs Learn To Trust Humans Again, Detroit Pistons Owner Urged To Sell Team Over His Investment In Prison Telecom Firm, Trump's Threat To Veto Latest Pandemic Relief Bill Leaves Congress In Chaos, U.K. And EU Agree To A New Free Trade Deal, As U.K. Finalizes Brexit, A Soggy, Stormy, Flooded South Florida And Increasing COVID-19 Infections, U.S. Army Corps Warns Lake Okeechobee Could Rise By 10 Inches As Eta Crosses South Florida, Everglades Marshes Contain Mercury That Can Poison Birds. There are success stories. We hiked thigh-deep in cafe latte-colored water, slogging to explore the mysteries of the cypress domes. The Republican governor was there to watch Clinton, a Democrat, sign into law a bipartisan bill, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, aka “CERP,” hailed as the largest environmental restoration project in the planet’s history. Twenty years on, a few of the … Republican Congressman Brian Mast of Stuart says H.R. In just two days, we saw two giants caught by the roadside in the area, and heard tell of a third. We got up close to them as they dozed dry and oblivious in the sun, alongside roads or paths. Paddling in Florida Bay one night at twilight, Garl trailed his hand in the warm salty water and pulled up some gray muck, let it drip back into the murk. An American alligator on the shore of the Turner River in Big Cypress National Preserve. Alligators were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1960s but surged back after restrictions. Without Everglades restoration, Florida’s tourism-based economy is at risk.”. Humboldt never visited the Everglades, but it is surely one of the best places on earth to observe nature’s complex harmony up close. Knowing all that, I wasn’t so bothered by the legendary Everglades mosquitoes that came out with the spectacular sunset (“You can set your watch to that,” locals say). “Sneaky, she’s around here somewhere.” “I saw Croc-zilla out here last week.” He is encyclopedic on the flora, pointing out plants like the lemon bacopa that the Calusa and Tequesta tribes used as mosquito repellent, and the saltwort, a pale green crunchy plant great as a snack or in a salad. It once covered most of the peninsula of Florida, from Lake Okeechobee (the 10th largest fresh water lake in the United States) down to Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. She said the slog was the high point of the day. On Dec. 11, 2020 it’ll be 20 years since Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to restore, protect and preserve South Florida’s ecosystem while providing for water-related needs of the region. They look to be on high ground but signal areas of deep water formed by dips in the limestone bedrock. Over the last year, with different family members as companions, I made several visits deeper into the Everglades than I’d ever been. “Here we were again very forcibly impressed with the terrible destruction which is returning Florida to its primitive geological condition, namely a barren desert. SOUTH FLORIDA — Founding leaders of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan initiated a monumental project 20 years ago by gaining national recognition of the need for more freshwater to reach the southern portion of the Everglades and Florida Bay. Worse, as sea levels rise around Florida, increased salinity on the edges of the Everglades is killing the saw grass, setting off a cycle of damage to the sediment, allowing even more salty water farther inland. Read: Massive Everglades restoration project in Picayune Strand more than two thirds complete Both projects, which are still in the planning stages, should be … We’re in a dead zone now.” As he spoke, a full moon rose behind us and roseate spoonbills sailed in V-formation across pink cumulus clouds fading into periwinkle to the west. During the dry season, from December through April (when most tourists visit the glades because it is virtually bug-free), these stands of swamp cypress rise, leafless and bone white above the grass, visible for miles. News Everglades Restoration Takes Three Big Steps Forward. “When I first came down, this water was clear, and I used to dip my hand in here and pull up a handful of sand and sea grass and find dozens of baby clams and tiny living shells,” he said. The state’s top Republican leaders — including Gov. Even a large mama-gator surrounded by about a dozen babies, sprawled lazily by the cycling path at the National Park’s Shark Valley, as groups of tourists five feet away recorded the family on their iPhones. What’s gone is gone, and what’s still there is threatened by invasives like the cattails and the ornamental plant Brazilian pepper that leapt from people’s manicured gardens and into the Everglades. Saw grass at sunset in the Everglades National Park.Credit...Erik Freeland for The New York Times. The experience can be transformative. "The president has already in the past couple of years supported Everglades restoration and putting it in his budget, so there is the expectation that that would continue," Perry said. Florida Bay has not recovered from a great sea grass die-off in 2015 because of unusual salinity caused by the man-made diversion of fresh water away from the bay. Filed Under: Everglades Restoration, Local TV, Miami News, Tamiami Trail MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Florida’s efforts to restore the Everglades received a … Roseate Spoonbills in Big Cypress National Preserve. “The dome felt otherworldly, calm and peaceful. What We Mean When We Talk About Everglades Restoration March 21, 2017 There’s a lot of attention - and a lot of money - going towards restoring the Everglades. The USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Program provides science to support management and restoration of America’s Everglades. Viewed from above, they are teardrop shaped, narrow at the top and bulging at the bottom, marking the shape of the water flowing in and around the holes. Twenty years on, a few of the major infrastructure projects have been built, but most are still on the drawing board, awaiting money. Two big sugar companies now control 500,000 acres; today, more than eight million people also depend upon the glades for their drinking water. Critics Say The State Isn't Equipped To Do The Job. … Thus the magnificent monument that took ages to construct has been wrecked within the fraction of a generation!”. Like everything in Everglades restoration, which aims to re-establish the natural flow of water through the unique ecosystem after decades of draining and canal-cutting, BBSEER has lofty goals. Twenty years ago this month President Bill Clinton signed into law a plan to save the Florida Everglades. Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world. Nothing else. sometimes pulling ourselves through dense mangrove tunnels with our hands. I am here to attest that it is possible for a non-Floridian to get acclimated to alligators. This program supports multi-year monitoring, modeling, and research projects that span the entire range of scientific disciplines. These islands are historical hide-outs for pirates, hermits and criminals. Florida Gov. Mysterious ploppings, splashings, groanings and crashings emanated from waters shrouded by the dense stands of palm and mangrove, and blue herons and great white egrets soared and settled again in the pink tinted vapor rising around us with the sun. They wiped out 99 percent of the marsh rabbit and the raccoons, decimated the otters and are now setting their sights on the birds. “The Everglades is such a finely tuned machine, I guess you would say, that inches of water make profound differences in the landscape and the vegetation and the wildlife,” says Green. For 175 years, the drive to control the flow of water was planned, plotted and executed with devastating results for the native inhabitants — flora, fauna and human. Today it remains one of the biggest environmental restoration efforts in … (The winner of the 2020 “Python Bowl” gets a truck.). Every few feet of elevation produces a discrete ecosystem with its own animals and plants that are not only adapted to but maintain the systems as well. Twenty years ago this month President Bill Clinton signed into law a plan to save the Florida Everglades. The Everglades Foundation is among many area nonprofits studying the effects of human activity on the fresh water flow, and advocating efforts to restore the ecosystem. At least one river, the Kissimmee, straightened by the Army Corps of Engineers to benefit the northern farms, has been returned to its natural bed. FWF Challenges Water Management District Sugar Leases Florida’s freshwater wonder is threatened like never before with a rising sea level as restoration efforts lag. But, I told them — and I really mean it — that experience will really stick with me.”. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that anything in Florida — with its postcard palms plastered against postcard sunsets, its coconut tanning oil and Lily Pulitzer pinks and greens, its schmaltz and buffoonery and hanging chads and “Florida Man,” with his love of Styrofoam, weapons and monster trucks — affects me this way. Where it’s not diverted or blocked by human engineering, the water still trickles south at the rate of a quarter mile a day, as it has for millenniums. Along with the plants, the Burmese python is an unwelcome invader, probably introduced into the habitat first by pet owners when they got too big to keep in the condos. Everglades' Restoration. Tomorrow, December 11, the Everglades Foundation is virtually hosting the 4th annual John Marshall Everglades Symposium–featuring our own Tom Rosenbauer as one of the moderators. Twenty years ago, the original Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan envisioned more than 300 underground aquifer storage recovery (ASR) wells north of Lake Okeechobee. Alligators were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1960s but surged back after restrictions. “To me it’s just a fascinating thing and I just want to learn everything I can about it.”. The bromeliads in the trees and the variety of plant life was fascinating. All Florida shores have also been plagued by a series of deadly red tides caused by fertilizer and other pollutants. Since 1845, when Florida became a state, man has been refashioning the glades, chiefly, to dry, build on, farm and make money off the land, some of the most fertile in the world. As salt water breaches the limestone bedrock around the Florida peninsula and enters the aquifer, this natural freshwater wonder is threatened like never before. Naples Daily News. The Victorian taste for big hats with plumage led to near extinction of the Everglades’ snowy egrets and other wading birds, with more than five million birds killed annually by 1900. WMFE environmental reporter Amy Green has spent some 10 years looking into the progress- and this year she produced a podcast to explore some of the details behind this mind bogglingly complex plan to restore the River of Grass. Getting into and out of these domes can be a nerve-pricking enterprise, not for the faint of heart. Martha Calloway of San Antonio was touring the Everglades for a day while her husband fished in Key Largo. An American Crocodile basks in the sun at Flamingo, the southernmost point in the Everglades National Park. 07/21/18. Kayaking at sunset in the Florida Bay, the Everglades National Park. Yet after almost two weeks I still barely scratched around the edges of more than a million acres of wetlands with nearly 300 species of fish and about 360 bird species and more than 700 kinds of plants. Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Filter. I am not alone. But it is profoundly imperiled by pollution, human schemes to drain and control it, animal and plant invasives and sea level rise. Most of the old pine woods are paved over with towns and apartment complexes and strip malls whose names — Pine Crest, Pine Heights, Pines — refer to what was there. “It’s all gone. The snakes grow to tremendous length and weights — 15-foot 90 pounders have been found. In 2000, the state and federal government agreed to a $4 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. She describes the Everglades as ‘beautiful but confounding.”. This significant law would not have been achieved without the broad … Researchers from FIU’s Institute of Environment and the South Florida Natural Resources Center of Everglades National Park have been tracking the flow of water here as part of the federally and state funded Everglades restoration efforts. An 8.5 square-mile community in South Florida has stymied Everglades restoration for years by blocking water flow to parched areas at the tip of the state, but new plans ranging in … Copyright 2020 WMFE. As the legislative session gets started in Tallahassee this… "Funding for Everglades restoration, South Florida ecosystem restoration, our waterways funding as a whole." Governor, Please Veto Two Bad Bills May 14, 2019. Learn more about the Everglades’ restoration. Lots of them. The Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir water reservation regulations, the completion of the S-333N water control structure, and the award of a contract for construction on the L-67A levee will improve water flow in the River of Grass. As of 2015, in the Everglades, 60 plants were listed as endangered. “We know what the consequences of inaction are, because we’ve already experienced it: polluted waterways, toxic algae, sea grass die-off, continued habitat loss, and even threats to imperiled species,” said Stephen Davis, a foundation scientist. Ron DeSantis headed off an attempt to kill the reservoir planned for south of Lake Okeechobee and President Trump signed a … Pot-smuggling on local boats was so common here through the 1980s that locals nicknamed the illicit cargo “square grouper.” Today, sport fishermen ply the waters for boasting rights to the Grand Slam — hooking one each of a redfish, snook, tarpon, trout and spotted sea trout in a single day. What’s going on with Everglades restoration? Tears for the Magnificent and Shrinking Everglades, a ‘River of Grass’ Florida’s freshwater wonder is threatened like never before with a rising sea level as restoration efforts lag. FIU experts are available to discuss the … At night, only their eyes glitter in the beam of a flashlight. The man to see for that is the Everglades guide Garl Harrold. To see more, visit WMFE. In the imperiled Everglades, cormorants nest for the evening in Ten Thousand Islands, a maze of mangrove and shallow salt water off the coast of Everglades City. We have got to be more careful with the earth.” Her cousin Carrie LoBasso agreed: “When I told all my friends I slogged through a swamp, traveled with a python, and went hunting for ‘alligator eyes’ in the dark night, most of them called me crazy. The cypress domes are worth the challenge. The C-43 Reservoir will be a large water basin that will collect water that is released from Lake Okeechobee and purify it before it … All over the Everglades, efforts to save something rare are underway. From afar and in the water, these dinosaur relics resemble half-submerged junked tires. “We simply cannot afford to wait any longer. The state sponsors annual python-killing competitions. The highest elevations in the Everglades are called pine rockland, and they are considered endangered habitat. If doubt remains that Eden and the Fall coexist here, consider that the name of the author who extolled the wonders of this paradise is affixed to a school — the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland — forever associated with the 2018 school massacre that left 17 people dead. Everglades restoration needs to do more to account for climate change. I also thought about the animal life that we weren’t going to see because of the invasive species problem, and that humans are the worst invasive species of all. One, visible as a hump of trees from the main park road, is so cinematic on the inside that it is named “The Movie Dome.” It is a set-designer’s idea of a storybook tropical paradise: sunlight shafting in, white branches festooned with proliferations of flowering epiphytes or air flowers, including rare orchids like the ghost orchid, plumed birds beating their wings so close you can feel the air move, all of it mirrored and doubled in crystal water around our knees. Depending on time, I drove as deep into the saw grass void as I could, parked, got out and gazed up at tropical clouds racing unimpeded by tree or building. Slightly lower are the hardwood hammocks, just a few feet elevation above the river of grass but still in it. The long-awaited stimulus package approved by Congress Monday night includes $250 million for Everglades restoration. “There are no other Everglades in the world. Shovels hit dirt on the first contract for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) South, which calls for the construction of culverts and a gap […] The Everglades is recognized both nationally and internationally as one of the world's most unique natural and cultural resources. We took kayaks and a skiff out into a maze of mangrove and shallow salt water called the Ten Thousand Islands, on Florida’s southwest edge. For years, whenever I found myself in Miami with an afternoon to spare, I sneaked off west to where a road abruptly separates the urban grid from the Everglades. Sections of Tamiami Trail — the main east-west road connecting Miami and Naples — are being turned into bridges to allow water to flow back into the sloughs to the south, bringing back native vegetation for the first time in a century. The Palm Beach Post. Researchers chip male pythons and track them to the nests of huge mother snakes, removing hundreds of eggs. Distant rain over the saw grass in the Everglades National Park. He has silly nicknames for the monsters he claims lurk near his walks. It is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles coexist. But it does. That’s the headline of a report released Wednesday by a Congressionally-appointed committee of scientists. Of course we saw alligators. So have the birds. Good news on the Everglades restoration front. 2020 is time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the authorization of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). 1520 includes a record-setting $250 million in funding to restore the Everglades. “The grass stays. Ron DeSantis and Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott — had urged President Donald Trump for the spending. Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. But There's A Fix: More Water, Federal Judge Orders Army Corps To Study Toxic Algae In Lake O Releases, Florida Wants To Control Wetlands Permitting. Anti-plumage campaigns at the turn of the 20th century stopped that. In a series of trips to South Florida in the last year, I explored the interior of the River of Grass, the only subtropical wilderness in North America, plunging into microclimates and diminishing habitats, traversing slices of the Everglades National Park and its adjacent neighbor, Big Cypress National Preserve, by car, kayak, foot and even looking down from a small plane. A project designed to improve water flows south to Everglades National Park is underway following a groundbreaking ceremony among federal and state officials on Oct. 21 in western Miami-Dade County. It is overrun by invasive plants and animals. 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