In a region of Florida known as the River of Grass, John Kominoski plops into hip-deep waters. Blobs of brown periphyton – a mishmash of algae, bacteria and other organisms – carpet the surface.
The air is thick and sticky as Kominoski, a Florida International University professor, pushes a rod to secure a tube that collects timed and continuous water samples that will help his team investigate the impacts of climate change and freshwater flows in this unique, sensitive ecosystem.
The Everglades ecosystem was degraded and transformed when a highway connecting Tampa and Miami was built in 1928, cutting through a mosaic of prairies, sawgrass marshes, freshwater ponds and forested uplands. Sections of the road are now being elevated to restore water flows into the Shark River Slough – a vital restoration area deep in the Everglades National Park.
“This is the biggest, most complicated and most expensive ecosystem restoration project in the world,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “It’s really important that we get it right.”
Once about twice the size of New Jersey, today only half of the Everglades remains. Home to endangered and threatened species, the area buffers storms and is a vital source of drinking water for millions of Floridians. Decades of engineering projects for development and agriculture partitioned and drained water that once flowed freely from the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Invasive species have transformed the land, and pollution from agriculture – primarily phosphorus – has impoverished water quality.
“I think that preserving and conserving wildlife and wildlife areas is some of the best and most useful uses of our taxpayer money,” Kennedy-Yoon said, sweat glistening on his face. “Something has to change or else we’re going to lose areas like this.”
But it’s more than just restoring and protecting the Everglades for recreation and its wildlife. As Samples from Friends of the Everglades notes, it’s also about building climate resiliency in Florida.
She quoted the famous words popularized by author and conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas: “The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.”
Faced with development pressures and climate change, Samples said those words are more true today than ever.
Read the full article here / By Dorany Pineda and Rebecca Blackwell
Courtesy of AP
