Draining and development of the Everglades information
Development of the Florida Everglades
Satellite image of the northern Everglades with developed areas in 2001, including the Everglades Agricultural Area (in red), Water Conservation Areas 1, 2, and 3, and the South Florida metropolitan area Source: U.S. Geological SurveySatellite image of the southern Everglades with developed areas in 2001, including Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Bay and the southern tip of the South Florida metropolitan area Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A national push for expansion and progress toward the latter part of the 19th century stimulated interest in draining the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, for agricultural use. According to historians, "From the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, the United States went through a period in which wetland removal was not questioned. Indeed, it was considered the proper thing to do."[1]
A pattern of political and financial motivation, and a lack of understanding of the geography and ecology of the Everglades have plagued the history of drainage projects. The Everglades are a part of a massive watershed that originates near Orlando and drains into Lake Okeechobee, a vast and shallow lake. As the lake exceeds its capacity in the wet season, the water forms a flat and very wide river, about 100 miles (160 km) long and 60 miles (97 km) wide. As the land from Lake Okeechobee slopes gradually to Florida Bay, water flows at a rate of half a mile (0.8 km) a day. Before human activity in the Everglades, the system comprised the lower third of the Florida peninsula. The first attempt to drain the region was made by real estate developer Hamilton Disston in 1881. Disston's sponsored canals were unsuccessful, but the land he purchased for them stimulated economic and population growth that attracted railway developer Henry Flagler. Flagler built a railroad along the east coast of Florida and eventually to Key West; towns grew and farmland was cultivated along the rail line.
During his 1904 campaign to be elected governor, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward promised to drain the Everglades, and his later projects were more effective than Disston's. Broward's promises sparked a land boom facilitated by blatant errors in an engineer's report, pressure from real estate developers, and the burgeoning tourist industry throughout south Florida. The increased population brought hunters who went unchecked and had a devastating impact on the numbers of wading birds (hunted for their plumes), alligators, and other Everglades animals.
Severe hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 caused catastrophic damage and flooding from Lake Okeechobee that prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build a dike around the lake. Further floods in 1947 prompted an unprecedented construction of canals throughout southern Florida. Following another population boom after World War II, and the creation of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, the Everglades was divided into sections separated by canals and water control devices that delivered water to agricultural and newly developed urban areas. However, in the late 1960s, following a proposal to construct a massive airport next to Everglades National Park, national attention turned from developing the land to restoring the Everglades.
^Meindl, Christopher, et al. (December, 2002). "On the Importance of Claims-Making: The Role of James O. Wright in Promoting the Drainage of Florida's Everglades in the Early Twentieth Century", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92 (4), p. 682–701.
and 24 Related for: Draining and development of the Everglades information
push for expansion and progress toward the latter part ofthe 19th century stimulated interest in drainingtheEverglades, a region of tropical wetlands...
TheEverglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands in the southern portion ofthe U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large...
still underway. Draining and developmentoftheEvergladesDrainingofthe Mesopotamian Marshes in the 1990s DuPont dumping of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)...
damage inflicted during the 20th century on theEverglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental...
decades and created entire new cities out oftheEverglades land that remain today. The story includes many parallels to the real estate boom ofthe 2000s...
Following the crisis, much public support was aroused pressuring the construction ofthe EAA to be moved ahead. DraininganddevelopmentoftheEverglades § Everglades...
Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent ofthe original Everglades in Florida. The park is the...
Before drainage, theEverglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, were an interwoven mesh of marshes and prairies covering 4,000 square...
pigeon Wholesale hunting of American Bison Logging of old growth forests Mountaintop mining DraininganddevelopmentoftheEverglades Game wardens or conservation...
The indigenous people oftheEverglades region arrived in the Florida peninsula of what is now the United States approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago...
the developmentof Florida's Everglades, and transferring some 20 million acres (31,000 sq mi; 81,000 km2) of land in theEverglades to the State of Florida...
2 km) east ofthe city of Naples. The forest can be accessed via Everglades Boulevard from the north, Jane's Scenic Drive from the east, and Sabal Palm...
completion ofthe West Palm Beach Canal (which connected to Lake Okeechobee, draining land west of West Palm Beach as well as theEverglades) in 1925 resulted...
the state. His related efforts to draintheEverglades triggered the state's first land boom with numerous towns and cities established through the area...
then to Palm Beach and Miami. The efforts to draintheEverglades lacked an understanding ofthe geography and ecology oftheEverglades.: 687–688 Scientists...
by logging, drainage and levee construction. Other famous swamps in the United States are the forested portions oftheEverglades, Okefenokee Swamp, Barley...
1902. It was also Jennings idea to drainand develop theEverglades by cutting the natural rock dams in the rivers of south Florida. His term ended on January...
reliability, and repeatability. The CERP is a multi-billion-dollar plan approved by the U.S. Congress in 2000 to save the wetlands oftheEverglades in southern...
The 26,000 acres (10,400 ha) of muck left over is the largest concentration of such soil in the United States outside the Florida Everglades. The area...
Menja; Rushton, Steven; Angerbjorn, Anders; Magnusdottir, Rannveig (c. 2007). The impact of climate change on the American mink in Iceland. Wildlife Conservation...
At its capacity, the lake holds 1 trillion US gallons (3.8×109 m3) of water and is the headwaters oftheEverglades. The floor ofthe lake is a limestone...
into theEverglades to land unwanted by American settlers. Taken together, the Seminole Wars were the longest, most expensive, and most deadly of all American...
Global Information
