Tag Archives: aerial of C-44 STA

A Look Back to the Orange Groves of Today’s ACOE-SFWMD’s C-44 Reservoir/STA, 1964, SLR/IRL

C-44 canal with Coca Coal's Minute Maid Orange Groves, 1963. Photo Arthur Ruhnke courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
C-44 canal with Coca Cola’s Minute Maid Orange Groves, 1964. Photo Arthur Ruhnke courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
SFWMD including C-44 R/STA in blue, 2014.
SFWMD including C-44 R/STA in blue, 2014. This area was once Minute Maid’s orange groves.

The C-44 Reservoir and Storm Water Treatment Area has been in the news over the past few years. Once completed by the SFWMD and ACOE with help funds raised locally, it will clean water from the tremendous and polluting C-44 basin. It is one component of the  Indian River Lagoon South Project that is part of the Central Everglades Restoration Plan. But what was all that land used for in the past? That land was orange groves. Thousands and thousands of acres of orange groves! As far as the eye could see….

Today even with the area’s transformation to STA/Reservoir, “Coca Cola” and “Minute Maid” roads remain as reminders of an all too distant past…when oranges were healthy and the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon was not impaired.

Today I will share eleven incredible 1964 aerial Ruhnke aerials my mother stumbled upon while creating a presentation for the Martin County Property Appraiser’s office. Arthur Ruhnke photographs are so important to our understanding of our history and I thank my mother for sharing these treasures. Art was a well-known photographer in his day and my parents acquired many of his photos.

The following is an exchange with my mother, Sandy, and long time family friend Jack Norris, who was an executive for Minute Maid. In the exchange, they “talk”about these photographs. Their interplay tells the story best, so I have gotten permission to share.

—-Jack, Tonight Fred asked me if I had any images to illustrate the his Citrus Program. These are from a packet of 10 Ruhnke negatives marked Minute Maid Groves, Indiantown, 1964. Surely the canal shown isn’t C-44? Are those workers’ houses? Sandy 


—- Sandy”Hi Sandy – The barn, equipment storage & office are located in the NW  corner of the intersection,  the buildings in the SW and NE  are workers houses, and the buildings in the SE corner are supervisors houses.   The canal running N&S was the main source of irrigation, originating at the St. Lucie at the site of the rodeo bowl. It is now substantially enlarged by the SFWMD to carry water to the new reservoir. The NS canal and l the main drainage canal was owned and operated by the Troup – Indiantown Drainage District.”  Jack 

So then my mother sends this email to me:

—-Jacqui, I am working on my program for the Property Appraisers and thought I needed to say something about western Martin County. I thought I might show the old Minute Maid Grove and say it is now a reservoir. I couldn’t find my aerials. I have finally found them and thought I would share them with you. Understanding them would be an education. Jack Norris was in charge of planting all of those millions of citrus trees.

So I today I am sharing the photos and started researching Minute Maid and the land purchase for the C-44 STA/R; this is what I found: According to a 2011 Stuart News article bout C-44 R/STA by Jim Mayfield:

“The project site, 12,000 acres of former citrus land, was purchased in 2007 for $168 million, $27 million of which came from Martin County taxpayers through the one-cent sales tax for conservation lands, South Florida Water Management officials said. The property is south of the Allapattah Flats Wildlife Management Area near Indiantown. Over the last year, the water management district has spent roughly $5 million to remove trees and rid the topsoil of copper deposits, officials said.” Jim Mayfield

I hope you enjoy these historic photos today. I find these aerials amazing!  It is my hope that one day even more of this agricultural land will be converted to hold water as Nature intended. The C-44 STA/Reservoir is a great start.

Orange Groves and C-44 canal 1964. A Ruhnke.
Orange Groves and C-44 canal. All photographs below taken in 1964 by Arthur Ruhnke and shared by historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
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“Here is one of your pictures – here and now”
(Cool video with historic maps and Google Earth fly over by my brother Todd Thurlow: (https://youtu.be/i9h1d1pzfww)
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“Chapter in Citrus to Close,” Orlando Sentinel: (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-10-30/news/9310300750_1_coca-cola-juice-citrus)

ACOE C-44 final plan showing map and Minute Maid and Coca Cola Roads:(http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Portals/44/docs/review_plans/Review%20Plan_C-44%20-Final%20Version.pdf)

This ACOE sponsored video gives an artists rendition of what the C-44 R/STA will achieve for water polluted by agricultural runoff once complete:video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BsC0BoIPJ4)

TC PALM 2007: (http://www.tcpalm.com/news/ceremony-marks-start-of-work-on-c-44-project-in)

Former blog post with comprehensive info on C-44 STA/R: (http://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2015/09/15/reaching-the-finish-line-c-44-storm-water-treatment-areareservoir-slrirl/)

ACOE C-44 R.STA fact sheet:(https://einvitations.afit.edu/attachments/IRL_FactSheet_October2015_webview.pdf)

Seeing Results, C-44 Storm Water Treatment Area/Reservoir, St Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon

This aerial shows where the C-44 STA/R. project's intake canal has been built to the right of Indiantown Airport. The immense lands beyond and east of this area will become the STA and Reservoir.
This aerial shows the area of the future almost 10,000 acres that will become the C-44 Storm Water Treatment Area and Reservoir. A landmark of this area is Indiantown Airport, a grass strip located above and north-east of the lake in this photo. So far the C-44 STA/R. project’s four mile intake canal has been built. The immense lands beyond, east, north and west of this area will become the STA and Reservoir.

I spend a good amount of time studying the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon; nonetheless,  I am constantly amazed to learn what I don’t know. In a nutshell, the C-44 storm water treatment and reservoir is part of the Indian River Lagoon South Project to clean up the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon by storing and cleaning water from our huge C-44 basin.

The project  is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and even though I have read about it for years, I did not know how or the order of it being built. Today I will share my experience in learning just the beginning.

(http://www.evergladesplan.org/pm/projects/proj_07_irl_south.aspx).

To look back a bit for the history, building the C-44 storm water treatment area and reservoir is combined effort of many years of work of local, state and federal governments and it is one of the most expensive water projects being built in the Florida, with an estimated costs of almost 4 million to complete.  

I wanted to SEE this because it is so hard to understand  it all.

So a few weeks ago my husband Ed, and his friend Shawn and I are flying over this area and I’m saying “where is it? It’s supposed to be here. I want to take some pictures. Hmmm? I don’t see anything…I was expected a big lake like thing off of the C-44 canal or something.”

Ed calmly, says: ” This is it Jacqui. Over the past years the ACOE has been working hard to build this new intake canal. We have seen it for years as we fly over. It must be built first probably; you can see the results.”

So we flew north over the four mile intake canal that finally stopped in a wilderness of agricultural lands.

Intake canal on east, agricultural lands on west.
Intake canal on east, agricultural lands on west.
End of canal.
End of intake canal.

The intake canal was completed in July of 2014 at of cost of 28 million dollars. This is huge accomplishment and this is only the beginning. This is what we can SEE so far.

So what will we SEE in the future?

To get an idea as seen below, the FPL cooling pond off the east coast of Lake Okeechobee is 5,000 acres. The C-44 STA/R. will be almost 10,000 acres. So in the future, when one looks at a Google Maps, there will be another gigantic lake looking thing consisting of the STA (6300 acres) and the reservoir (3, 400 acres) east, north and west of the Indiantown Airport, the red dot below.

Area from Lake O following C-44 canal to St lucie River in Stuart.
Area from Lake O following C-44 canal to St Lucie River in Stuart.
Indiantown Airport
Indiantown Airport along C-44 canal.
Map
Map of C-44 STA/R black. Basin in pink.
Map
Engineering map from ACOE/SFWMD showing where the cells of the C-44 STA/R. will be.

The monies and energy needed to build the C-44 STA and reservoir is and has been tremendous.  In spite of one’s political affiliations or the project itself, we must recognize those who have recently helped ensure the success of the project: the SFWMD, the ACOE, Senator Joe Negron, Governor Scott, Congressman Murphy, the Martin County Commission and the public. I am sure there are many others that I do not know. This gigantic project has taken many years and has been no easy feat. Kudos to the decades of people who have worked to make this first step of the intake canal possible. I recognize your efforts.

Yes it is good to be positive, the C-44 STA and Reservoir is a great start, but it is important to also realize that the resovoir will hold about 50,000 acre feet of water. During some storm seasons we get much more than that just from the C-44 basin alone, and that is NOT counting releases from Lake Okeechobee.

We have a lot more work to do, to get to where we want to be, but finally we are beginning to SEE RESULTS of something getting built to help improve water quality, and that is something more than Martin County has ever seen before in its long fight to save its treasured St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

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Video C-44 Project (http://www.tmba.tv/broadcastanimation/everglades-restoration/everglades-restoration/)

ACOE 2011: (http://www.sfrestore.org/tf/minutes/2011_meetings/27oct11/IRLS-C44RSTA_TF_27Oct2011.pdf)

SFWMD WRAC 2006 presentation C-44 STA/R. (https://my.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/pg_grp_sfwmd_wrac/portlet_subtab_wrac_archive_reportsdocs/tab772049/wrac_090606_c44_ray.pdf)