....The Kissimmee River
To go back to home page
The effects of C-38
Long before the canal was finished, the loss of biodiversity became a concern. The transformation by the Corps of Engineers caused between 12,000 and 14,000 ha of wetland to dry up, with a consequent loss of flora and fauna. (http://riverwoods.ces.fau.edu/kissimmee/). The changes in water flow allowed invasive plant and animal species to enter the ecosystem and upset equilibrium.
While the Corps of Engineers recognised that their work would alter the natural world, they had not predicted the devastating effects. As the water was drained away from the wetlands the salinities rose and the birds left. While the wetlands are dry, the anoxic conitions threaten fish in Florida Bay and salt-water intrusion puts 55 endangered or threatened species at risk. (Culotta, 1995).
Throughout the Everglades wading-bird populations are down by 90%. All other vertebrates have decreased by 75-95%. "The animal life in many places is no better than you'd see in roadside ditches in Florida in the summer" says ornithologist John Ogden (in Culotta, 1990). Ogden also says of wood storks "they tried to adjust and failed. Man-made changes in water-flow have caused the storks to postspone nesting" (in Duplaix, 1990). The sensitive Everglades have also been affected by human land use decisions. "In drought, cities and tomatoes drank first and the Everglades withered" (Duplaix, 1990).
Restoration
The hydrological damage may be reversible. Experts believe that all that is missing is the water; the wetlands should revive when fresh water returns. The Kissimmee River Restoration Act of 1976 initiated a series of state and federal initiatives to restore the integrity of the river in order to retrieve some of the lost benefits. (http://riverwoods.ces.fau.edu/kissimmee/). The Corps is slowly "putting the kinks back into the Kissimmee" (Culotta, 1995). The aim of restoration is to take engineered dry-land full of canals and levees and transform it into wetlands that "flood and drain in rhythm with rainfall" (Culotta, 1995).
The objectives for restoration are: to restore the rivers meanders and wetlands; to improve water quality and recharge the Kissimmee basin; to maintain flood protection; provide surface water supply; and meet recreational demands. (http://www.eng.fiu.edu/evrglads/engineer.kissimme.htm). Attempts to twist the starightened Kissimmee River will cost an estimated $276 million, over eight times the cost of the original starightening project. Much of the cost involved is due to land acquisition problems, owners of land within the Kissimmee watershed insist on compensation for their land. (http://www.eng.fiu/evrglads/engineer.kissimme.htm).
Before restoration plans were put into practice, years of physical and mathematical modelling studies were carried out. The ecology of the region is so complex it is acknowledged that 'scientific uncertainty' plays a leading role. (Culotta, 1995). Wetland managers all over the world are watching the Everglades scheme in anticipation, because if it works it will become a world model. (Culotta, 1995).
Tiny parts of the Everglades did survive the 1960's straightening. Parfitt (1993) desribed finding a surviving area "I turned a corner and slipped into an intimate world of overhanging red maple trees and flocks of white ibis. This was what the river once looked like, and what some of it will look like again". The area was a demonstration section of the restoration scheme, which bodes well for the future of the river.
The Kissimmee River acts as a lesson that we can not control water with bulldozers and concrete. The results can be catastrophic. Parfitt (1993) accurately and optimistically summarises:
"The hydrological cycle is ultimately a system of rebirth -
the Sun blazes, thunder roars, and water comes around again.
Human beings, too, come around, to new ideas, new understanding,
New hope".
to go to Bibliography & Weblinks
to look at photos of the Kissimmee River
Back to home page
