A Good River Runs Through it

Welcome back to the Kissimmee River

Since I don’t know when rivers and their flooding has had consequences. The Nile’s flooding born civilizations and (directly or not) the pyramids. The river management here in the American Southwest has led to lawsuits, river reductions and bonkers interstate water-sharing agreements.

And then there’s Florida.

Up until the mid-20th Century the Kissimmee ran through South-Central Florida, constituting much of the Northern end of the Everglades. It’s floodplains home to birds, trees, plants and fish. Then in the 1940s, in response to hurricanes (and flooding associated with hurricanes) an effort began on state and federal levels to reduce future flood damage.

Enter The Army Corps of Engineers who turned the meandering Kissimmee into a 30-foot-deep, channelized canal driving water to a nearby lake or into the ocean.

Within a few years, the wetlands were suffering and populations of waterfowl dropped by 90 percent, bald eagle numbers by 70 percent, and some fish, bird, and mammal species vanished.

To correct this environmental impact, the Army Corps and a variety of state, federal, and local partners started to formulate plans to undo the damage in the 1990s.

July 29, 2021, after years of dedicated efforts, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project culminated in the breathtaking rebirth of 40 miles of river and nearly 25,000 acres of vital wetlands. This ambitious undertaking, hailed as the largest true ecosystem restoration project in the world, promises to breathe new life into the once-depleted river and its surrounding environment.

The Kissimmee River is expected to rise by one and a half feet, reclaiming its crucial role in water storage and mitigating the effects of seasonal droughts. The reintroduction of natural flooding has cleansed the river of harmful muck, invasive aquatic weeds and encroaching dry land trees. They have been again replaced by the reemergence of pristine sandbars and the flourishing of native plant species who are reclaiming their rightful place in the ecosystem.

Furthermore, the restoration project has spurred a remarkable revival of the river's aquatic life including insects, mollusks, worms, crayfish, and freshwater shrimp. This abundance of food has fueled a surge in fish populations, further attracting an array of birds and alligators.

And there are reestablished robust flood plains, because stopping flooding is a good cause.

And a robust Florida Everglades is a very good thing.