These pictures were taken by my husband, Ed Lippisch, on 10-27-21. It was such a busy few days, that I really did not get to look at them until now. The first thing that struck me was the beauty and the interesting geometric shapes. We certainly live in a gorgeous place. This year the river has suffered from tremendous run-off from the C-23, C-24 and C-44 canals as well as stormwater runoff from all of our yards, driveways, and streets. Fortunately, we did not have major, long lasting, discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Fortunately, we were not struck by a hurricane!
-10-14-21 SFWMD Ecological Update, Laurence Glen
I wanted to share this entire series of aerials as I think they complete a picture and give one the feeling of flight. The St Lucie Sailfish Flats look beautiful but please keep in mind that although you will see some dark areas on the sandbars that look like recovering seagrass, reports from Indian Riverkeeper, Mike Connor, and others, report various clinging algae more than lush seagrass beds. My brother, Todd Thurlow, has been reporting on the phenomenon of seagrass loss at recent Rivers Coalition meetings by comparing Google Earth images. You can go to his website eyeonlakeo.com to view in detail.
The St Lucie/Southern IRL has not had a “major event” since 2018 and worse, 2016, when the entire rive became a toxic soup due primarily to the discharges from Lake Okeechobee over an already impaired system. The ACOE and SFWMD continue to move forward on exciting projects that will help improve the river’s woes. The first of these to come on line will be the C-44 Reservoir in Indiantown. This ribbon-cutting will happen this month. I will be reporting on it and other components of CERP’s Indian River Lagoon South that are in motion. With Indian River Lagoon South and the EAA Reservoir there is hope. Actually there is more than hope. Our river one day, shall recover. Please do your part to refrain from fertilizers, and if you have one, keep a clean septic tank until you can go to sewer. Agriculture, too, must do its part, as we continue our journey to build a healthy water future.
