When the Everglades Agricultural Area was drained, the soil was exposed to higher levels of oxygen. 9. She wrote about an ecosystem inescapably connected to South Florida’s people and … Before the water level in much of the Everglades was lowered by drainage, the area was home to large numbers of herons, egrets, limpkins, mottled ducks, Florida Everglade kites (snail kites), and other birds. Historical predrainage Everglades landscapes, circa 1850 (left) and current Everglades footprint, including the EPA and EAA (right), modified from Hohner and Dreschel [2]. In just over a century, the landscape of south Florida changed dramatically, and the Everglades changed along with it. This period in Everglades history was all about "drain baby, drain". The Everglades' ecosystem is a delicate balance that can easily be altered by just a … The Everglades occupies a shallow limestone-floored basin that slopes imperceptibly southward at about 2.4 inches per mile (about 4 cm per km). Months after sheltering inland communities from Hurricane Irma, Everglades National Park is still in recovery. Drained: A Podcast About the Massive Plan to Save the Everglades December 8, 2020 In the final days of his administration, with the eyes of the world on Florida where the epic 2000 election recount was underway, President Bill Clinton quietly signed into law a plan to restore the Everglades. The drainage of the Everglades began in 1906 with the hope that at least 500,000 acres of wetlands would be converted to … Under CERP, the Corps and SFWMD, in … Only to discover that it was ALL WRONG ! Originally, the Everglades extended over 3,000,000 acres from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Just a century ago, water flowed down the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee, then south through the vast Everglades to Florida Bay, the ultimate destination of uninterrupted sheetflow. Marjory Stoneman Douglas was a remarkable woman who not only insisted on living life on her own terms but was determined to do her part to raise her voice and make a difference. Sugar cane is harvested in October, attracting cattle egrets in search of insects, near South Bay. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty “We still have so much more to learn about where restoration will take us,” Kominoski said. Hamilton Disston Attempts to Drain the Everglades. She describes the Everglades … These plants and animals either moved to other parts of the Everglades or did not survive. During the early 1900’s, two major hurricanes hit Florida, killing thousands of people. Decomposition of the plant and animal materials happens much faster with more oxygen. The Everglades once covered almost 11,000 square miles of South Florida. America's Swamp: the Historical Everglades Project: Governor Broward. The initial draining and dredging of the Everglades and the Cross-Florida Barge Canal project offer valuable insight into the history and effects of dredging in Florida. But starting in the 1880s, Americans determined to subdue Mother Nature started trying to drain the Everglades with canals, hoping to create a new paradise for agriculture and development. In the early decades of the 1900s, and even after the park’s creation in 1947, these wetlands were channeled, drained, dammed, and leveed in the name of flood control, the better to serve the state’s growing population. Much the original Everglades wetlands have been drained to create agricultural land, depriving the ecosystem of its natural water flow. For decades, the world's largest wetlands have been diked, dammed, diverted, and drained. Much of it is covered with saw grass (a sedge, the edges of which are covered with minute sharp teeth), which grows to a height of 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3 metres). Wetlands, specifically the Everglades, were seen as worthless, and it was thought if drained, the land could be put to better use. The … Extensive Florida Everglades was largely drained and most of the Florida peninsula became the world's largest most plumbed natural system. Settlers, who arrived in southern Florida in the early 1900's, drained much of the wetlands to build houses and plant crops. Drained lands were quickly taken over by agricultural interests, resulting in endless fields of sugar cane and rice. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) In this Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 photo, an alligator prowls Everglades … Decades of development have drained much of its water, diminishing its capacity to act as a buffer during hurricanes and storms. Because so much water was drained, many plants and animals lost their homes. A project to drain the Everglades was initiated in the early 1900's to allow cultivation of vast areas of fertile, organic soils for winter vegetables. I learned so much about the Florida Everglades and why this protected land is so vital and important. As a result, the wetlands of the Everglades have much gotten smaller. On this episode of Intersection, we do a deep dive into the Everglades with Amy Green as she explains the reporting that went into the podcast, Drained, which was produced in partnership with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. People have drained the water into canals so they could have dry land to build houses onto. Open water is sometimes found. I also loved the life lessons I learned from Marjory. 8. The Everglades is known as the River of Grass. An opponent of Everglades drainage, Stoneman published editorials that infuriated Governor Broward . In 2000, Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, to fix the damage done by the flood control system that was put in place to drain the Everglades for agricultural, residential and commercial development. During this time, extension of a railroad into south Florida along the east coast contributed to several cycles of land speculation followed by depression. “The Everglades: River of Grass” was published in 1947 and sold out in a month. ... To undo much of the environmental damage caused by the C&SF Project, Congress passes the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (WRDA 2000) and approves CERP. Attempts were underway to drain and farm large parts of The Everglades (a huge expanse of wetlands in southern Florida). The book’s first line, “There are no other Everglades in the world” is easily the most famous line written about South Florida. On this episode of Intersection, we do a deep dive into the Everglades with Amy Green as she explains the reporting that went into the podcast, Drained, which was … 1909: A preliminary (and flawed) draft of the USDA's report on the feasibility of draining the Everglades, prepared by James Wright, was released to the Internal Improvement Fund. Researchers will continue to study how much these continued releases of water change the Everglades for the better. By 1930, nearly all of the prairie wetlands in Iowa, the southern counties of Minnesota, and the Red River Valley in North Dakota and Minnesota were drained (Schrader, 1955). Much of the original everglades ecosystem has been drained to create farm land. The federal, multibillion-dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, ... before influxes of people to southern Florida drained much of it … What the Army Corps of Engineers calls a “highly managed system,” others have sardonically labeled a “Disney Everglades.” Nearly two decades and $4 billion into the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, an ambitious federal-state program adopted in 2000, new data about the pace of climate change have called into question how much of the Everglades can ever be salvaged … We know that most of iIt has to now be undone and Florida Everglades restored as much as possible. Water control has been achieved through the use of drainage canals and pumping stations throughout the Everglades region. Water Control. The Everglades have changed dramatically throughout history. Interest in draining and “reclaiming” land in the Everglades began as early as the 1880s, but major drainage activities were not undertaken until the first two decades of the 20th century. Too little or too much delivered at the wrong time could spell disaster for the animals living here in the Everglades. Much of Florida's early development was based upon draining and removing excess water from wetlands as quickly as possible. He takes photos of the Everglades to spread their beauty to the public. “Since the founding of Florida, the Everglades was viewed as something to be conquered by many in the name of progress, to be drained and developed,” Samples said. The trouble is that the Everglades needs a certain amount of water at certain times of the year. 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