The Challenges of Restoring the Everglades Ecosystem

TERRENCE "ROCK" SALT, STUART LANGTON, AND MARY DOYLE

One of the most complex, challenged bioregions on Earth, South Florida covers the lower third of the Florida peninsula, encompassing the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, and the Florida Keys. A rare combination of elements—slow and vast water flow, high annual rainfall, low elevation, underlying limestone configuration, and proximity to the ocean—has made the Everglades a diverse, unique ecosystem, rich in 2,000 plant species, 45 mammal species, 50 reptile species, 20 species of amphibians, hundreds of fish species, and 350 species of birds.

To get a glimpse of the Everglades, try to imagine this kaleidoscope of flora and fauna: Caribbean pine, palmetto, yellow tea bush, tiny wild poinsettia, live oak, resurrection, maidenhair, and Boston fern (among 50 species of ferns), strangler fig, red-brown gumbo limbo, ilex, Eugenia, satinwood, cherry laurel, Florida boxwood, more wild orchid varieties than any other place in the United States, brown Florida deer, wildcat, diamondback rattler, otter, Florida panther, alligator, and crocodile. Add flocks of water fowl and birds: least and great blue heron, glossy, Louisiana, and great white heron, snowy egret, the warblers (pine, myrtle, black-throated, blue, and redstart), brown and white pelican, roseate spoonbill, and white ibis.

As pioneering environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas observed, "There are no other Everglades in the world" (Douglas, [1947] 1974, 5). Despite being diked, dammed, and polluted, the Everglades is like no other place on Earth. In recognition of its rare beauty, the United Nations has designated Everglades National Park (ENP or the Park) as a World Heritage Site and a World Biosphere Reserve.

Quantity and Quality of Water

While the Everglades clearly merits preservation for its natural beauty and unique ecosystem, it must also be protected because it is a primary source of the region's water. As a result of the natural system's deterioration, water shortages are not uncommon for South Florida's communities. In the past, the limestone rock beneath the soil absorbed rainwater like a sponge, replenishing the natural aquifer, but human-made changes now divert the flow of freshwater before it soaks into the ground. Miles of paving, brought on by development of the human habitat, also prevent rainwater from penetrating the soil and entering the aquifer. Restoration efforts require more effective diversions and conservation of water to make it available to the ecosystem and for local water supplies.

Quantity is not the only issue: water quality is also of great concern. If less freshwater enters the aquifer, the probability of saltwater intrusion is increased, and agricultural runoff, including varying levels of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, nitrogen, and phosphorous, contribute to the degradation of the water's purity. The fate of South Florida's water supply is directly related to the quantity and quality of water in the natural Everglades. Thus the long-term survival of all species in the region depends upon successful Everglades restoration.

The Larger South Florida Ecosystem

South Florida covers 18,000 square miles and supports a rapidly growing population. The region's landscape contains significant protected natural areas, surrounded by a large rim of urban, suburban, and agricultural development. This rim includes the Florida Keys, urban east coast, agricultural lands south and west of Lake Okeechobee, and lower west coast. Over 98 percent of South Florida's population lives along this 600-mile swath of land that is seldom wider than 20 miles. Inside the rim are several million acres of protected land. One of the paradoxes of South Florida is that large segments of the population live in congested areas, and yet the same region contains the largest remaining wilderness east of the Mississippi River.

Diverse land areas and habitats surround the Everglades. The slightly elevated Big Cypress Swamp, located to the northwest, serves as a natural levee. The Big Cypress region, 2,800 square miles in area, contains the largest variety and concentration of wildlife in South Florida, including endangered species such as the large black bear, Florida panther, and West Indian manatee. In 1974, the federal government established the Big Cypress National Preserve to protect the area.

South of the Everglades, at the point where its freshwater mingles with the saltwater of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, is located the largest strand of red, black, white, and buttonwood mangroves in America. Stretching for several hundred miles around the tip of the Florida peninsula, this mangrove wilderness, rich in bird life with an abundant fishery, is interspersed with bays and rivers that continue inland for many miles. Fallen mangrove leaves nourish young shrimp and other estuarine life. Although much has been done to protect this area, the Florida Keys and Florida Bay are under considerable environmental stress. Florida Bay has suffered algae blooms, hypersalinity, loss of sea grass, and reduction in pink shrimp and fish stocks. On the Atlantic side of the Keys, coral reefs show signs of degradation, though restoration efforts under way since 1992 appear to have stabilized some of them.

East of the Everglades, the coastal ridge originally contained all of the upland plant communities found in South Florida, including some that are indigenous only to the ridge. Miles of attractive sandy beaches border the ridge, as does Biscayne Bay, around which the cities of Miami and Miami Beach are built—the most intensely developed area of Florida, home to nearly one-third of the state's population.

The headwaters of the Everglades lie in the Kissimmee River valley, a 3,000-square-mile area that includes the Chain of Lakes region south of Orlando. The...