Everglades have been around for thousands of years before any human settlement; “The Sea of Grass” has a delicate and critical ecosystem with influence on not just flora and fauna but also for humans residing there. Primarily a subtropical wetland, the everglades region is part of a lager watershed with its unique niche containing several plants and animals exclusive to it. With a total area of 4000 square miles prior to human squandering, it’s part of a larger water system consisting of Kissimmee, Lake Okeechobee, Everglades and finally the Florida and Biscayne bay. Because of its nutrient deprived environment in general, the species which evolved in this area have low nutrient consumption and can survive on occasionally excess water supply
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Starting from reclamation projects consisting of digging canals during early twentieth century for agriculture, Everglades were exploited for their ample water supply and vast cultivatable land (Hollander, 2008). Following devastating hurricanes and floods from 1920-1950, military built a dike surrounding the Lake Okeechobee hindering its free and spontaneous drainage into Everglades region. The normal flow of water is gradual and varies drastically around the year because of the lack of any natural reservoirs in the course of water flow. Following the floods and a drought however, a network of canals, reservoirs and drainage ways were built to funnel water into Florida and Biscayne Bay directly to ensure both a steady water supply and prevention of flooding (Davis, …show more content…
The two main consequences were water pollution and vanishing populations of endangered species. The solutions sought by congress and state were quite different, where the federal government focused on funding a long term program with 7.8 billion dollars in funding over a period of 30 years, state government initially promised a quick fix by purchasing 187,000 acres via payment of 536 million USD in form of bonds. Ultimately both legislative echelons failed to deliver their promise because of funding cut backs. The congress failed to sustainably deliver its promised aid while the state of Florida missed its shot at a major acquisition and ended up settling for a much smaller deal acquiring only 26,790 acres after paying 200 million dollars (Cave,
Starting from reclamation projects consisting of digging canals during early twentieth century for agriculture, Everglades were exploited for their ample water supply and vast cultivatable land (Hollander, 2008). Following devastating hurricanes and floods from 1920-1950, military built a dike surrounding the Lake Okeechobee hindering its free and spontaneous drainage into Everglades region. The normal flow of water is gradual and varies drastically around the year because of the lack of any natural reservoirs in the course of water flow. Following the floods and a drought however, a network of canals, reservoirs and drainage ways were built to funnel water into Florida and Biscayne Bay directly to ensure both a steady water supply and prevention of flooding (Davis, …show more content…
The two main consequences were water pollution and vanishing populations of endangered species. The solutions sought by congress and state were quite different, where the federal government focused on funding a long term program with 7.8 billion dollars in funding over a period of 30 years, state government initially promised a quick fix by purchasing 187,000 acres via payment of 536 million USD in form of bonds. Ultimately both legislative echelons failed to deliver their promise because of funding cut backs. The congress failed to sustainably deliver its promised aid while the state of Florida missed its shot at a major acquisition and ended up settling for a much smaller deal acquiring only 26,790 acres after paying 200 million dollars (Cave,