Economic Survey of Ft. Pierce and St Lucie County, 1936. Shared by historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
Looking back at history is such an amazing thing.
It clearly allows us to see “where we have come from,” and “how we got to where we are today”–especially in regards to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon region.
In the early decades of the 1900s, Chapter 298 of Florida Statues allowed for Drainage Districts to be created, (most still exist today), by early settlers across the state so they could begin the hard work of “settlement.” These early Floridians often chose areas around rivers for their location, riches and soils.
Nonetheless, “drain baby, drain!” was the mantra.
Drainage of small tributaries of the forks of the rivers such as the St Lucie created rich farmlands and the ability to develop the lands. This was expected of settlers. During this same era, giant public works projects such as the St Lucie Canal, (C-44), linking Lake Okeechobee to the South Fork of the St Lucie River, were dug through the cooperation of state and federal governments to create what would become the Everglades Agricultural Area, or EAA, south of Lake Okeechobee.
“The rest is history…”
As we sit here today with news of a substantial blue-green algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee, and cringe as the ACOE dumps it into our estuary, I find this small booklet my mother came across recently “a through looking-glass” —–of the mentality of the times when all this over-drainage was the goal and the repercussions were not understood.
Counties all over our state had such little booklets. As you can read, this one is from St Lucie County connected to the North Fork of the St Lucie River. These hard-working people of the day dug their canal around 1936 so it would “veer to the southeast and then east to the St. Lucie River….” certainly they were not thinking about toxic algae blooms or water quality at this time. It did not even cross their radar. But it does ours….What will our little booklets look like for future historians to read ? Well, that’s for us to decide.
US Sugar ad, Stuart News, May 1, 2016.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
It’s easier to communicate your message when you have billions of dollars, but it is not a limiting factor if you don’t…
Today, I will share a “Draft Report” from Dr Gary Goforth. This report is a response he has created specifically to U.S. Sugar Corporation’s May 1st full- page ad in the Stuart News entitled: “The Water That Ends Up In Our Local Waterways.”
This is one of multiple full-page ads U.S. Sugar Corporation has run in the local Martin County paper over that past months trying to “educate” our citizenry. Why are they spending so much money doing this? Why all the propaganda? Because they know that though our advocacy for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, we are changing the course of human events. For the first time, many people and some important politicians and are looking at South Florida and saying “It needs to be re-plumbed…..”
Dr Goforth (http://garygoforth.net) is no stranger to these water issues, nor to the controversy and ability to manipulate the numbers complicated by the historic and supportive relationship between those doing business in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of the lake and today’s South Florida Water Management District. Thus the intertwined propaganda.
So here we go, each idea is presented on a separate slide. You can click the slide to enlarge if you need to. Thank you Dr Goforth!
DRAFT COMMENTS ON U.S. SUGAR AD—G.GOFORTH 5-4-16
12.
3.4.5.6.7.8.9.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
Today, I was looking though my family library of photos and saw one from 2005, the year Ed and I got married.
“Boy we looked young,” I thought…”We have really changed…”
Then I noticed these SFWMD nutrient loading maps in the same file, as they were “published” in 2005 as well. These awesome maps were shared by SFWMD’s Boyd Gunsalus, such a helpful and smart person when it comes to water.
These SFWMD maps were very helpful to me when I was first learning about phosphorous and nitrogen loading by basins and Lake Okeechobee. The lake’s cumulative pollution is even higher than the different canals/basins. I would bet these numbers have not changed much. The state’s approach with BMAPS and TMDL’s is to be appreciated but just too slow.
Well, Ed and I have clearly aged and changed… but the maps–I bet if they made new ones for 2005-2016, the numbers would look about the same. I can’t say I’m envious. We are meant to change. To get better.
___________________________________________
Maybe a scientist will chime in and let me know???
Comparison of Lake Okeechobee releases to the St Lucie River & Estuary 2016, Dr Gary Goforth.
This year, the Army Corp of Engineers– with input from the South Florida Water Management District, and other stakeholders— has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River and southern Indian River Lagoon since January 29th, 2016. Today will review an April update.
We as citizens must pay attention and know what is happening to the river so that we can intelligently fight for its future.
Dr Goforth’s chart above gives a good visual comparison of 2016’s discharges, thus far, compared to those of 1997/98, another El Nino year with fish lesions, fish kills, and toxic algae reports. This chart also compares 2013, our recent “Lost Summer,” when toxic algae blooms filled the river, on and off, for about three out of five dumping months. (–Running May through October, 2013.)
One can see, that Lake Okeechobee’s 2016 discharge amounts are quickly approaching the total numbers released in 2013— although well below those of 1997/98.
Although discharges have been lessened lately, with the Army Corp of Engineers reporting a possible La Nina indications for the 2016 Hurricane season, (4-26-16 ACOE Periodic Scientist Call) considerably more rain could be on the way.
With the lake sitting at 14.29 today, —a high level going into “wet season,” starting June 1st—we should all be watching the situation very closely. Hopefully 2016’s total Lake O release numbers will be nowhere close to 1997/98.
We must continue to advocate hard for a third outlet, and land purchase south of the Lake Okeechobee, as this is the only way to spare our rivers’ repeated total destruction.
Thank you to Dr Goforth for his contribution today.
The following is from an email dated from Dr Gary Goforth on April 26, 2016 including the slide used for today’s blog and others of interest. Click on image to enlarge.
Hi all,
Attached are
1. Summary of the 2016 Lake discharge event to the St. Lucie River and Estuary.
2. Preliminary Water Year 2016 (May 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 – missing April 2016) summary, including a. Inflows to Lake Okeechobee by basin, with comparison to last year b. Outflows from Lake Okeechobee by region, with comparison to last year c. Flow diagram for Lake releases, with comparison to last year d. Lake releases to STAs, with comparison to last year e. Nutrient and TSS load from Lake discharges to the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuary f. The graphs are shown for both acre feet and billion gallons
I don’t know about you, but I love maps! As a visual person, a map helps me understand more than words…
In his “Student Guide to Map Making” Ralph Ehrenberg writes:
“Maps are one of the most important types of documents associated with exploration. A map is a graphic representation that facilitates a spatial understanding of things, concepts, conditions, processes or events in the human world. They are used by explorers to help find their way. They are also prepared by explorers to document or record what in fact they discovered.”
It may not be the 1800s, but we are still explorers. We are trying to find a way for a better water future. One of the best ways to achieve this is to study the past. Over the weekend Facebook friend, Jim Wilson, discovered a very interesting 1866 map of Florida and the Everglades:
I emailed Dr Gary Goforth about it and this is what he said: “Portions are accurate, but feel that other portions are not accurate, e.g., the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee. Regardless, it is an amazing compilation of “known” information from 1866!”
In spite of perfection or imperfection, the map has the ability to inspire and give us a visual of what the lands and area south of Lake Okeechobee may have looked like—-I have studied many maps, but I had never had a way to envision the rivers/rivulets running south to the Everglades—–yes, the multiple “fingers” so often reported by early explorers. For me the 1866 map, in one form or another, was an “ah-ha” moment. Thank you Jim!
Maps give “vision…”
We are still explorers…
—I think we should create a “map” of what we would like to see in the future for the waters of our state, particularly south of Lake Okeechobee. Not a drawing, or a satellite, but a good-old map.
Lake O has been drained and lowered so that it is approximately 250 square miles smaller than it was in the mid 1800s. (SFWMD) Florida became a state in 1845.
“Navigable waters of the state” are protected under Florida law. They cannot be sold–they cannot be owned. They belong to the public…
Although the Swamp Lands Act of the 1850s allowed for drainage of Florida’s swamp lands, in some instances the drainage and claims may have been overdone. In accordance with state law “you can’t convey what you do not own.” This is part of what is known as “The Public Trust Doctrine.”
Hmmm? In all the excitement to develop, did the state break its own rules in conveying lands south and around the lake? Certainly powerful entities own those lands today.
—–That would be a bite wouldn’t it?
Let’s look a bit closer….
It is common knowledge that Lake Okeechobee has lost a tremendous amount of its former self, and that large portions of the lake have been drained and diked for agriculture and development.
Just recently while attending a University of Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute presentation in Clewiston, Jeff Summers of the South Florida Water Management District gave a Power-Point presentation using the slide below. It shows the natural vs. altered conditions of the lake going from approximately 1000 sq miles in the 1850s to 750 square miles today. –Thus the approximate water stage has gone from 20 feet to 14 feet. Definitely a loss of navigable waters–don’t you think? Today those lands around the lake are used for growing mostly sugarcane. Today most of those lands are “owned.” How could this be as they were once under water enough to be “navigable waters of the state?”
Slide from Jeff Summer’s power point presentation SFWMD, 2016.
The excerpt below is straight out of the “Florida Bar Journal” as shared by my brother Todd. After reading the paragraph, click on the link below to read the entire article. It is certainly worth thinking about…The maps below show land ownership.
Florida Bar Journal’s article conclusion:
The Public Trust Doctrine imposes a legal duty on the state to preserve and control title and use of all lands beneath navigable water bodies, including the shore or space between ordinary high and ordinary low water, for public use and enjoyment. The people of this state have raised the protection afforded by the doctrine to constitutional stature. In the most recent challenge to this doctrine, the Florida Supreme Court relied upon this constitutional provision in reconfirming longstanding Florida law that swamp deeds do not create a private property interest in sovereignty lands. Attempts to use swamp deeds as a justification to legislatively redefine the ordinary high water boundary and thus transfer all or part of the shore to the adjacent private owner are similarly inappropriate and unconstitutional.
Map of land ownership south and around Lake O TCRPC 2016. Key below.Key to above map, 2016 TCRPC.The bigger picture: Lake O used to flow to the Everglades but is now directed to the northern estuaries St Lucie/IRL and Caloosahatchee causing great destruction. Google Earth, 2016.
Seagrass….it has had a rough few years in the Indian River Lagoon-south,central, and north. Seagrass is a flowering plant, and just like plants that grow on land, it “comes and grows” with the seasons. We are just going now into spring…maybe it hasn’t flowered yet? Maybe it really grows in summer? Anyway…
My husband, Ed, brought home these photos yesterday of the area between Sewall’s Point and Sailfish Point. The area looks pretty naked to me. Ed will fly over again and we will watch whether the seagrass comes back or not. At least these are good baseline photos for 2016.
We all know the seagrasses have been terribly compromised throughout the years of due to agriculture and developments’ rampage in Florida, and Mother Nature’s too. For instance, 2004 and 2005’s hurricanes, 1998 and this year’s El Nino…Tough times were especially visible in 2013 with the toxic Lake O “Lost Summer,” and again this year in 2016—-with the constant releases from Lake Okeechobee since January. But even with these tough conditions the seagrass usually comes back, although weaker than before.
At the end of the blog I linked a post from August 2015, where you can see the seagrasses here in 2015 that looked dark and full of algae but were visible.
Just in case you don’t know, the location between Sewall’s Point and Sailfish Point is considered the cradle of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. For years it has been labeled the “heart of the most biodiverse estuary in North America,” with more fish species that any other, over 800 (Grant Gilmore, formerly of Harbor Branch).
What a crime to allow this fishery to go into to such demise. A nursery that affects all of Florida’s east coast. An engine for our economy and quality of life for all species.
To conclude, the photos Ed took below are in two groups: taking off from Witham Airport in Stuart (1-11) and then from Jupiter Island over the waters of Sewall’s and Sailfish Point (12-26). Parts of these waters are known as the Sailfish Flats. You will notice the waters of Lake O slowly exiting the St Lucie Inlet.
Sewall’s Point is the peninsula between the SLR/IRL and Sailfish Point is the ball like formation at the south end of Hutchinson Island (R) Atlantic on far R. Stuart is far left with Witham Field clearly in center. (Google Maps 2013) This is the southern IRL.
Yes, this morning was not unlike many others, here in Sewall’s Point, between the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon…
I get up, walk down stairs, pour a cup of coffee and ramble out into the darkness of a rising morning. The song of a bird calls through a new day. I am hopeful. I lean down and pick up the Stuart News looking for signs of sunrise east over the Indian River Lagoon. Beauty abides. Once inside, I open the paper looking through every page, and there on the back cover of Section A, yet another full-page ad from U.S. Sugar Corporation entitled “Here are the facts about moving Lake Okeechobee water south.”
“It is unbelievable how much effort U.S. Sugar is making to reframe the Lake Okeechobee discharges issue. “95% of water coming into the lake is from the north”…yes…and what else? Why is it so important for them to push this message here?
Maybe I do know why….
I go to my computer and look at my Facebook news feed. Immediately Bullsugar.org comes up.
This organization rising out of Martin County ‘s 2013 Lost Summer has gone from 0 to 61,355 friends in really less than a year. Their goal is to send the water south and fight the message that water can’t go south, especially the message of U.S. Sugar Corporation.
Interesting….is one message a reaction to the other or visa vera?
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people will see U.S. Sugar’s ad in the Stuart News today. Hundreds, and maybe thousands of people will see Bullsugar’s active Facebook page today.
One thing is for certain, the Bullsugar advocacy group is gaining strength and sophistication. They may not be able to afford full-page ads in the Stuart News, but by using social media they are giving one of the most powerful corporations in the world a “run for their money.” There is a momentum across the state for the first time in many years. Fascinating to watch. Sometimes as much as we don’t like to admit it, there’s nothing like a good fight.
Looking at Lake Okeechobee from Port Mayaca in Martin County-sky and lake are one. (Gary Goforth)
Today I am going to share an adventure of engineer and St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon advocate Dr Gary Goforth. I will tie in his Lake Okeechobee experience with a few wonderful historic postcards from my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow. Although you couldn’t get my mother on a motorcycle if you paid her, there is a common thread. The lone cypress…
“The Lone Cypress…” You may have heard of it? As we know, cypress trees live for thousands of years. There were large forest of these magnificent trees prior to their being cut down around the turn of the last century. But a few still stand. Like this one in Moore Haven.
Dr Goforth’s account of his ride around the lake is inspirational. I have done it a couple of times by car, most recently during the final session of my UF Natural Resources Leadership Institute in Clewiston. During Dr Goforth’s ride, he visits the ancient cypress tree–the one in my mom’s historic post cards. I find this really cool. I hope you do too!
Historic map from 1948 book “Lake Okeechobee” written in 1948 by Alfred Jackson and Kathryn Hanna as part of the Rivers of America Series gives some idea of where the many cypress tree forests and others natural systems were once located.
“Hi Jacqui – I know you’re very busy as always – in fact more so these days I imagine. I got around to reading a recent blog of yours entitled “Taking the Emotion out of “Clewiston”-UF’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute, SLR/IRL.” I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share a trip I took on Sunday afternoon – a motorcycle ride around Lake Okeechobee.
It started out as a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride around the Martin County countryside. When I got to Port Mayaca I decided to head south for a couple of mile to the trailhead of the Lake to Ocean Trail – a 55-mile hike I’ll get around to tackling during cooler weather. When I got to the trailhead, I said what the heck – might as well circle the Lake. I’ve done the route before, and love to roll through the small towns that we are linked to primarily because of the Lake releases. Probably my favorite stretch is along the eastern shore of the Lake where the old-growth linear forests still remain – the magnificent cypress, bay, and others. My companion for the entire way around the Lake was the Herbert Hoover dike – almost always in sight off to my right along the small roads I took. Before I knew it I was passing through Sand Cut and Pahokee on my way to Belle Glade with their motto “Our Soil is our Fortune.” I thought of my Dad’s cousin Jack Fullenweider who was a general manager of the old Talisman sugar mill (bought by the State prior to construction of STA-3/4), and whose son, Jack, Jr. was a sheriff’s deputy in Belle Glade. I thought of Fritz Stein – a former District Board member from Belle Glade and all around good guy.
The traffic was light and the weather was beautiful. Before long I was riding along US 27/SR 80 with the big dike/dam to my right. The site of the 1928 breach and untold deaths. Along this stretch the ground level is the lowest of the entire lake’s perimeter; the Lake’s water level that day was a foot or two above ground level, which has subsided more than 6 feet since records began decades ago due to the drainage canals and ag practices. Around the rest of the Lake, the actual lake level is below the surrounding ground level.
Soon I was in Clewiston where the banners were hung announcing the upcoming Sugar Festival (today through Sunday). I thought of the many good folks who worry about the State purchasing US Sugar lands with the purported 12,000 people who would be out of a job – the folks that get angry at the estuary folks – and wonder who they turned their anger toward when US Sugar announced they had struck a voluntary deal to sell the land to Gov. Crist. What a missed opportunity, and to think the Legislature and Gov. didn’t go through with the deal – likely out of spite towards Gov. Crist – they didn’t want anything to do with extending his legacy. Deplorable. I put that out of my mind as I rode through Clewiston – a lovely little town.
Lone Cypress as it appears today.Picture taken in 1917 showing Lone Cypress tree as it appeared during the construction of Lock No. 1 in Moore Haven. (via Gary Goforth)
Before long I was in Moore Haven and thought about the big history of that small town – the early Indian canal excavations, the early dredging/draining activity of Hamilton Disston connecting the big lake to the Caloosahatchee, the farming community, the devastating hurricanes and the Lone Cypress Tree which has stood as a sentinel along the Caloosahatchee Canal since the days of Disston. The Lone Cypress Tree! I have always wanted to find that tree! So I rode around till I found it along the banks of the river/canal. It was beginning to send out the bright green needles and was remarkable in its majesty!
A few more miles on US 27 and I turned north onto SR 78 – a pleasant ride along the west side of the Lake. Pretty soon the road drops onto the floodplain of Fisheating Creek – the only unregulated tributary feeding Lake Okeechobee. I was reminded how the flows into the Lake from Fisheating Creek increased 6-fold this dry season compared to last year. All along the west side of the Lake are small mobile home and RV communities enjoying the good life!
Before long I crossed the Kissimmee River and was into the south side of Okeechobee. White pelicans ushered me along the road lined with hotels filled with seasonal fishermen and women. On around the lake and passing J&R Fish camp – busy with Sunday afternoon bikers. Many days I’ve enjoyed the free hot dogs and music. Before long I passed alongside of the FP&L cooling reservoir – site of the levee failure that occurred just before midnight in October 30, 1979.
Then I crested the bridge over the C-44 Canal with Port Mayaca off to the right. The calm water belied the massive and destructive discharges that were occurring, sending tons of sediment, algae and nutrients on their way to the troubled St. Lucie River and Estuary.
A quick turn back to the east onto SR 76, past DuPuis (my favorite public land to hike), past the sod and cane fields where once there was citrus and before long I parked the bike in the garage – it was a good ride.
Enjoy!
Gary
The attached photo of me on the motorcycle was taken on a post card perfect day in 2009 at Port Mayaca – the wind was calm, the Lake was still and the air was so clear you could see all the way across to Moore Have, some 30 miles to the southwest! I love how the water and sky blend together on the horizon.
…..Dr. Gary Goforth ready to tour Lake Okeechobee.
_______________________
After reading Gary’s account I kept thinking about that lone cypress standing like a sentinel as all has changed around it… I wrote my mother to see what she had in her history files. She sent the following four postcards from her historic collection:
We should all go ride and see it and make post cards or Facebook posts of our own!
1. Postcards courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.2.3.4.
And yes, in recent years, Florida has had a record numbers of tourists visit. In fact, tourism is the state’s #1 industry.
With Florida’s present water woes, one wonders if tourism can hold its # 1 place for our economy.
The life blood of this state has always been its waters, and right now the waters of our state are running with blood…but our government does not see this, nor are they listening, not empathically anyway.
This disconnect is clear by the Governor’s response to the recent Central Indian River Lagoon fish kill that lauds state agencies for their clean up work rather than noting the severity of the situation:(https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLDEP/bulletins/13f39d0)
Yes the Governor’s office and the state legislature are “working hard, “but a 30 year “Best Management Practices –Total Maximum Daily Load” plan and a watered down Amendment 1 compromise are not enough. The status quo response is trashing tourism. It is trashing the waters of the state. Let’s get to work and show a sense of urgency so people will continue to visit Florida in the future.
Same photo with additions. John Moran, Central IRL 2016.
This weekend I received an on-the-ground account of th Central IRL from blogger Jansen Jones : (http://phostracks.com/). Thank you Jansen.
Thank you John Moran for allowing his photos to be shared and making a special trip to the IRL to photograph. Mr Moran can be contacted at (http://springseternalproject.org)
Today I am writing to ask you please sign a petition that was put together by a young attorney I very much admire. He has been working hard for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Please read below and sign if you wish. If you have never signed an electronic petition before, you can check it out.
P.S. Thank you to the young people holding the torch and shining the light on water issues and bringing the new technologies and opportunities to the movement.
“Explain how & confirm that Army Corps discharges into the St. Lucie & Caloosahatchee Rivers comply w/environmental laws.”
The discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie & Caloosahatchee Rivers by the US Army Corps of Engineers are a national environmental disaster; public safety hazard; threat to the health, livelihood, & well-being of many Floridians & Florida communities; deterrent to visitors from across the country; & are devastating to the complex ecosystems of the Indian River Lagoon, Jupiter Inlet, Pine Island, Sanibel Islands & others. Moreover, the discharges are appallingly indifferent towards stewardship of Florida’s most precious resource: its environment.
How are these discharges compliant w/environmental laws? What oversight actions have your Administration & EPA Administrator McCarthy taken to ensure that these waters are protected pursuant to law? What actions are presently underway?
________
“We the People” (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov) allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the administration will issue an official response.
Photo 3-20-16 Facebook, SWFL Clean Water Movement- Sarah Joleen / Cocoa Bch.
North, South, East, West….
You know I have really just about had it. I know you have too.
I am so tired of posting and writing about the sad state of affairs of our state waters. Every direction one turns!
This weekend many photos showed up on Facebook reporting an enormous fish kill in the Central Indian River Lagoon near Melbourne and Cocoa Beach. These photos of hovering and floating fish are very disturbing.
What is even more upsetting is when one considers the state of just about all of Florida’s waters. Is this the same state I grew up in as a child. Really?
To summarize a few recent, ongoing situations:
CENTRAL INDIAN RIVER LAGOON-experiencing “brown tide” and fish die off…
NORTHERN LAGOON: 2011-2013 Super Bloom, morality events (both north and central), 60% seagrass die off…
–ST LUCIE RIVER/S. INDIAN RIVER LAGOON: repeated discharges from Lake Okeechobee and area canals have destroyed the heath of the river. It was declared “impaired by the state in 2002. State of Emergency due to Lake O called in Feb. 2016).
—-CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER (The western outlet for lake Okeechobee discharges, the river has been straightened, and connected to Lake O. Sometimes suffers from too little fresh water/high salinity. State of Emergency due to Lake O called in Feb. 2016)
—FLORIDA BAY: over the past few years has lost massive amounts of sea-grasses due to high salinity. When I was just there with my UF NRLI class this year, the bay looked murky. This bay historically received the fresh waters from Lake O.
—FLORIDA SPRINGS– Some have gone dry and others are lacking sufficient flow due to aquifer withdrawal. Many have experienced algae blooms. Photographer John Moran has documented their decline.
–LAKE OKEECHOBEE–deluged with water from the mostly straightened Kissimmee River and others. It has been dammed and directed to the northern estuaries.
Florida is like Africa. We have a wet season and a dry season. This dry season has been very wet!
In today’s blog, I will share the most recent update by Dr Gary Goforth sent to Martin County on 3-13-15 entitled: “Summary of Dry Season Flows, November 1, 2015 – February 29, 2016.” Dr Goforth gives a summary and provides wonderful visuals. The “pages” he mentions in his summary for this post have been converted to slides. (Please view slides from left to right.)
Thank you Dr Goforth. (http://garygoforth.net)
Are are an integral part in helping us understand why we must sent the water south…
Engineer, Dr Gary Goforth.SFWMD satellite map, S.Fl. Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) are below the Everglades Ag. Area (EAA) which is just under Lake O.
” All,
Thought you might be interested in this comparison of dry season inflows to, and discharges from, Lake Okeechobee. Inflows to the Lake were 79% higher this dry season (Nov. 1 2015 – February 29, 2016) compared to a year ago, but Lake discharges have only been 1% higher due to the inability to send water south. Hence Lake stages have increased more than a foot above the level it was at this time last year.
The basins with the biggest increases in Lake inflows are those along the north and northwest shores of the Lake – but not the Upper Kissimmee, which exhibited a 50% reduction in flows to the Lake compared to last year.
As we’ve seen, because of the heavy rains south of the Lake and the agencies delay in moving water out of the Water Conservation Areas, WCAs, the estuaries have taken the brunt of Lake releases this year.
The flow estimates on the first 5 pages are in acre feet and in billion gallons on the second 5 pages.
Gary Goforth
Dry Season Summary slides Dr. Gary Goforth 3-15-16.
Thank you to my husband Ed for taking these photos once again of our east coast Indian River Lagoon inlets: Sebastian, Ft Pierce, and St Lucie– in this order. He took them Saturday, 3-12-16, around 4pm.
How to recognize a photo up close if you are not sure? Sebastian is recognized by its bridge over the inlet, Ft Pierce by the discharges exiting C-25 into the IRL at Taylor Creek near the marina, and Stuart’s St Lucie by “ball-like” Sailfish Point and undeveloped Jupiter Island south across the inlet.
Each inlet is unique, but all share that destructive channelized discharge waters running through them to the Atlantic Ocean—carrying sediment covering seagrasses, oysters, and reefs—too much freshwater for healthy fisheries and wildlife….and over nutrification—–
The rare, old-fashioned, 1987 “IRL Joint Reconnaissance Report “map below shows the Indian River Lagoon basin as a whole all the way from Ponce de Leon, in Volusia County to Jupiter Inlet, in Palm Bach County. The image shows the various freshwater discharge points into the Indian River Lagoon “basin.”
Yes, the Florida we know was “built on drainage” of the lands, but if the Florida of tomorrow is going to thrive, this system must be re-plumed/reorganized.
As we are aware, and have been aware, we are slowing killing our treasured ecosystem with these discharge outlets. It is time to rethink the drainage equation. Hopefully, in the future, “the canal map” will not look like this, nor will the aerials. To view series of aerials below, please click image and then direct with arrows.
Source: Indian River Lagoon Joint Reconnaissance Report 1987 as shared by Gary Roderick.
Aerials of Sebastian, Ft Pierce and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlet 3-12-16 Ed Lippisch.
Clewiston, Scott Kuhns 2013.A developed Lake Okeechobee. Clewiston and the EAA lie south of the lake. Google maps.….
I am part of Class VX for the University of Florida’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute. It has been an incredible journey, and I have learned so much. It has been both exhausting and rewarding. As I am on the campaign trail running for Martin County Commissioner, and a sitting commissioner for the Town of Sewall’s Point, leaving for three to four days every month is difficult. When I get home I am behind and worried I will not meet my fundraising and outreach goals for the month….My husband, Ed, has been supportive, but it is an additional challenge for our family balance and my responsibilities.
Last year Ed and I really talked it through. “Go!” He said.
“You need to learn what they are teaching, Jacqui. You need to learn how to take out the emotion and deal with these political issues objectively…”
Hmmmmm? OK.
And I have been learning….
I have been learning “leadership.” I have been reading. I have been building relationships with others in agencies and government positions across our state. I have been practicing… And most important, I am learning to apply a “framework for understanding conflict,” to resolve conflict together–collaboratively.
—-I keep my notes on my dresser and look at them every morning. Recently, it has all has begun to make sense.
My notes summary notes from the NRLI program.
This journey to study some of Florida’s top resource conflicts began almost one year ago and reads like a “Who’s Who”of Florida issues: Titusville, NASA: Indian River Lagoon–Space Port in National Wildlife Refuge; Apalachicola, Water Wars/Dying Historic Oyster Industry; Silver Springs, Aquifer Recharge/Springs Health; Jacksonville, Wildland Interface (where the state burns wooded areas within feet of people’s homes due to rampant development); Key Largo, Sea Level Rise; Crystal River, Manatees/Endangered Species, Recreation/Protections; and finally our last stop tomorrow before graduation in April: Clewiston, Agriculture South of Lake Okeechobee….
I have been to Clewiston before, but that was a few years ago to protest at the “Sugarland Rally.” Remember the Sugarland Rally that statewide paddle-boarder Justin Riney organized during the “Lost Summer of 2013?” When the St Lucie and Indian River Lagoon were toxic for three months with overflow waters of Lake Okeechobee?
The red colored blocks south of Lake O. are the EAA-700,000 acres of sugar lands and vegetables. South of the EAA are the STAs and water conservation areas .(SFWMD map, 2012.)
This time I will visit not to protest but to study the situation objectively using my new tools. It’s of kind of ironic that Clewiston is my last stop, isn’t it? The final test. My class will be meeting with stakeholders and touring US Sugar Corporation’s headquarters in Clewiston.
Gulp.
I am excited to learn. I am excited to see it up close and hear their side of the story on their home turf. To be fair, this is a historic issue. But whether I can take the emotion out of it or not….that I’ll have to let you know.
Speaking at the Sugarland Rally, Clewiston 2013.….Clewiston’s Sugarland Rally, 2013.…..with Mayor Phillip Roland of Clewiston, 2013.
FLASH FORWARD TO TODAY:
2016 with Class VX NRLI. Learning skills to deal with conflict. My classmates are from all over the state. It is a great group!
Today I am sharing a “gallery” of discharge photographs from my husband Ed’s flight over Ft Pierce, Sebastian, and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlets. The photos were taken yesterday, March 6th, 2016, around 2pm.
A picture speaks a thousands words…(In this case through about 106 frames.) Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, yet area waters estuarine and ocean were not necessarily so. —-Certainly not those surrounding the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon near the St Lucie Inlet.
The discharge levels and reports for Lake Okeechobee can be reviewed at the Army Corp of Engineer’s Jacksonville website here: http://w3.saj.usace.army.mil/h2o/reports.htm. Lake Okeechobee is reported at 15.68.
The ACOE will be releasing less according to a recent press release.
Ft Pierce, Sebastian, and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlet, 3-6-16, Ed Lippisch
Homes of Mr and Mrs S.F. Webb, and Capt. John and Annie Miller–Eden, Florida, along the ridge of the Indian River Lagoon, 1910. Pineapple fields in foreground. (Photo Patty Childs via Sandra Thurlow’s book Eden and Jensen.)
Today I am sharing a historic photograph from my mother’s book “Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River.” It is a remarkable photo that takes us to another time and place. Looking at the river viewed from the ridge, we witness our region’s pioneer history when hard-working people like Mr and Mrs S.F. Webb, and Capt. John and and Annie Miller bought acreage along the Indian River Lagoon, cleared the land, planted pineapples and built a school.
My mother writes: “Jensen Beach evolved from the historic communities of Eden and Jensen perched beside the Indian River. This estuary beginning above Titusville and stretching south along the Florida east coast for more than 140 miles to the Jupiter Inlet, served as a highway for early settlers when sailboats were the primary mode of transportation.” –Sandra H. Thurlow
The river may not be our primary mode of transportation today and the pineapple fields are long gone, but it is certainly the reason why many of us are here. The river continues to be our path…the way…
…Book page 64 from Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River, by Sandra Henderson Thurlow available at the Elliott Musem and Stuart Heritage.
This morning I went searching for inspiration so I visited the “Florida Memory Project” and typed in Lake Okeechobee. A variety of historical photos came up. So interesting. Old photos of an ancient shoreline rimmed with pond apple, cypress trees, white sandy shorelines and loads of fish. Photos of building the dike and dredging around Lake Okeechobee…even some in another section of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. And then this aerial from 1968 of a VMCJ-2 squadron EA-6B Prowler photographed over Lake Okeechobee. I was captivated looking at this photo. The early days of color photography …dreamlike…
And the lake is so large– over 35 miles long and 28 miles across –70% its original size–still enormous! You can tell the pilot flying next to this airplane took the photograph. Skill. Teamwork. Belief.
1968— This was a time of great social change and struggle in the United States, but also a time of great determination. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969, shortly after this photograph was taken. This EA-6B jet is not a space ship, but it too represents the technological capabilities of the United States. Our ability to achieve when we believe.
When this photograph was taken, I was four years old. I remember this time in spirit if not in memory. Nonetheless, it is ingrained in me, as in all Americans, that we can accomplish anything if we put our minds to it. This photo is an image that remind us that we CAN fix water in the state of Florida if we take the wide view and the high view of Lake Okeechobee. And if we believe.
Dr Gary Goforth has been kind enough to update his “Flows South Comparison”report. I posted his previous one just this week on 2-22-16. His most recent comparison is included below in slide format. Please click on the slides to enlarge and view information.
The numbers are staggering.
At this point, more than 171,000 acre feet (55.99 billion gallons) of Lake Okeechobee water (blackwater) has been dumped to the river/estuary during just the first 26 days of the 2016 Lake releases; this is equal to 41% of the entire 2013 releases and 16% of the 1997/98 El Nino event. …
We are in for a very difficult, long year of discharges for our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon; and they have more than likely “just begun.” We must remain updated, educated, and vocal —and documenting–take photos share what you see. Last night I was told there are dead fish in the area of Sailfish Marina. If you see such a thing take a photo and post it or send it to me with location etc….(jthurlow@me.com) Also continue contacting our state and federal partners and advocating that land be purchased south of the lake to offset these type of events. We shall and are turning this Titanic.
“Clam Diggers” Gloucester, MA by Emile Gruppe as shared by Gloria Fike from a Christmas card years ago sent by Frances Langford.
Water…and the gifts of life from the water….
Today I am sharing a beautiful work of art that is connected to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon by the late, famous, and long time resident, Frances Langford. She resided most of her life along both rivers’ shores.
Kimberly Falconer is a friend of mine that I grew up with here in Martin County. Kim now lives in Miami as owner of “Ocean Adventures.” After reading my blog post a few weeks back about the famed Gruppe collection of Frances Langford, she wrote:
“—-thought I would share a few images with you. This one is of artist Emile Gruppe’s painting entitled“Clam Diggers Gloucester, MA.” It was reproduced as a Christmas card by Frances. Feel free to use it however you wish. Credit for sharing should go to my mother, Gloria Cabre Fike.” (Kim’s family was great friends with the late Mrs. Langford.)
Today is supposed to bring heavy rains again due to the El Nino conditions. Our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon will continue to be destroyed by releases from Lake Okeechobee and the area canals. I though this image might be of interest and inspiration and a break from the aerial photos. Think of it as an early Christmas card from Frances Langford.
I think the image says a lot about the intricate relationship between man and water whether it be in Massachusetts or Florida.
…..Dead pelican floating in discharge water, recent photo from Jupiter Island’s, photo credit: The Guardians.
These aerial photos were taken around 4PM by my husband, Ed Lippisch, this past Sunday, 2-21-16. They show the Lake Okeechobee/area canals’ plume moving south along Jupiter Island over nearshore reefs. There are photos of the exclusive neighborhood, Sailfish Point, at the mouth of the St Lucie Inlet as well.
High levels of Lake Okeechobee and canal discharge water (7000 cfs +/- at S-80) continue to decimate the seagrasses, oysters, fish, and bird life of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Our reef communities and property values are also affected.
Unfortunately, even with unprecedented state and federal actions of the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corp of Engineers to “move water south” from the Water Conservation Areas to Everglades National Park, there is presently no end in sight for the northern estuaries.
There has to be a better way. “Finishing the projects” is not enough….
Over the weekend at my niece Julia’s lacrosse game I ran into a former fellow commissioner, and long time Martin County resident, Dr Paul Schoppe.
“Hey Jacqui,” he said. “I was just thinking about you…”
“Oh really, ” I replied.
“Yes. I was thinking about you when I went down to my dock and saw a dead Snook floating in the foamy dark water….. What are we doing about this river…..?”
Yesterday, I received a call from a Sewall’s Point resident informing me of a phone call he got from a friend in real estate. The friend was photographing the water at his listing on the St Lucie River and forwarding the photos saying: “I hope the buyers don’t cancel when they see the water. They are doing their walk through today.”
At Publix, that evening, I ran into an old-timer of Stuart. He said to me: “Jacqui of course there have been releases from the lake for years…the difference now is that the water is so polluted….”
Today I am sharing in full Dr Gary Goforth’s ( http://garygoforth.net/resume.htm) note and summary of Lake Okeechobee releases for 2016 compared to 2013 and the last big El Nino event (1997-1998) as presented to Martin County. Please click on slides for larger view and thank you Dr Goforth for helping us with the numbers.
….Slide 1
From the desk of Dr Gary Goforth regarding slide presentation:
1. More than 113,000 acre feet (36.9 billion gallons) of Lake water (“blackwater”) has been dumped to the River/Estuary during the first 20 days of the 2016 Lake releases; this is equal to 27% of the entire 147-day 2013 event, and 11% of the 1998 event.
2. The 2016 average daily rate of Lake releases is slightly less than the average 1998 rate, and more than twice the 2013 rate.
3. A distinguishing feature of the 2016 event is exceptionally high rates of C-44 Basin runoff in combination with the high Lake releases.
4. The 2016 average daily C-44 Basin runoff rate is 4 times the runoff rate of 1998, and more than twice the 2013 rate.
5. The 2016 average daily rate of combined flows through S-80 is more than the 1998 rate, and more than twice the 2013 rate.
6. The 2016 maximum daily rate of combined flows through S-80 is less than the 1998 maximum flow, but more than the 2013 maximum flow.
7. The 2016 Lake releases have already contributed more than twice the annual TMDL for phosphorus and nitrogen.
2016 data are preliminary and subject to revision.
I was on the IRL yesterday and travelled from the St. Lucie Inlet to the Ft. Pierce inlet – I saw no pockets of clear water and visibility was only 6 inches – 18 inches. I can’t imagine the sea grasses are getting any sunlight; I certainly didn’t see any sea grasses from the surface.
Gary
SLIDE PRESENTATION:
….Slide 1
Notes: 1. More than 113,000 acre feet (36.9 billion gallons) of Lake water (“blackwater”) has been dumped to the River/Estuary during the first 20 days of the 2016 Lake releases; this is equal to 27% of the entire 2013 releases, and 11% of the 1997-1998 event. 2. The 2016 average daily rate of Lake releases is slightly less than the average 1998 rate, and more than twice the 2013 rate. 3. The 2016 average daily C-44 Basin runoff rate is 4 times the runoff rate of 1998, and more than twice the 2013 rate. 4. The 2016 average daily rate of combined flows through S-80 is more than the 1998 rate, and more than twice the 2013 rate. 5. The 2016 maximum daily rate of combined flows through S-80 is less than the 1998 maximum flow, but more than the 2013 maximum flow. 6. The 2016 Lake releases have contributed more than twice the annual TMDL for phosphorus and nitrogen. 7. 2016 data are preliminary and subject to revision.
Blue line 2013 releases into SLR/IRL, red 2016. It is only February and we are 1/3 there. Discharge amounts are much higher this time. Slide, Todd Thurlow.Cumulative 2-18-16 Slide created by SFWMD data via Todd Thurlow. Click to enlarge.….
“—Here it is graphically vs 2013 – The year of ‘The Lost Summer.’ As you can see, as we approach 75 billion gallons we are already one-third of the way to the amount released in of all of 2013. It took us until July 30, 2013 to accumulate 75 billion gallons of discharges in that year.” —-Todd Thurlow(http://www.thurlowpa.com)
Today I am sharing numbers from my brother, and photos from my husband. Documenting the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is a family effort. I am very fortunate to have such help.
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is not so fortunate. Right now as you can see from the two slides above, the cumulative discharges into the rivers are already one-third the total amount released by the ACOE/SFWMD into the estuary during 2013’s “Lost Summer.” We are experiencing another complete ecological disaster and rainy season doesn’t even begin until June 1st…
Sometimes I am speechless… Sometimes my eyes swell with tears thinking about all this and the sun hasn’t even risen….but I take a deep breath and know my duty.
We will not give up. We will shine a light on this issue for all the world to see; and for us to change. And we will.
….SLR approaching SL Inlet. (All photos, Ed Lippisch 2-17-16)…Sewall’s Point once surrounded by rich seagrass bed much fish and wildlife. Years of destruction from discharges especially has taken a great toll.….Sailfish Point…..Crossroads–seagrass beds covered in silt and viewed through blackwater.….Jupiter Island….….Plume leaving inlet. This year Ed says it is skinnier going further south than in 2013. It is reported about 2 miles out the inlet on outgoing tides.…..Jupiter Island….Jupiter Narrows, Jupiter Island…Jupiter Island….Jupiter Island beach
Map of earliest canals built in 1911. The SL Canal was built in 1915-1923 and was then widened and deepened in the 1940s. Florida Archives.Close up of SFWMD map today showing S-structures south of LO. See rim of lake.South Florida has many “S” structures and S-333 is one of a few furthest south, south of WCA 3, allowing water to enter the Everglades and other areas.
Today’s blog will feature a common sense question. The question is basically why isn’t the dumping into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon being alleviated by the large canals south of Lake Okeechobee, specifically the Miami and New River? Those two rivers were used before for drainage before our St Lucie canal was even constructed. The Miami River naturally had rapids before they were blown up with dynamite…Mother Nature had her way of dealing with the some of the spillover waters of Lake Okeechobee. Why aren’t we following that model?
I think a recent exchange between my brother Todd and Dr Gary Goforth gives insight into this question. I learned from it and the conversation is not yet over, thus I am posting it today.
By the way, just in case you don’t know, “S” means “structure” for water releases…. There are hundreds of structures that allow water to drain Lake Okeechobee and thus South Florida. The SFWMD deals with the structures south of the lake and the ACOE deals with the larger structures that go east west to the our northern estuaries.
Here we go:
TODD: http://www.thurlowpa.com/news.htm
“Right now… I am looking at the status map asking: “Why are the WCAs rising while very little water, if any, seems to go out to the New River (S-34) and the Miami River (S-31), which are historical tributaries of the Everglades (they even had rapids!) ?— all while we are getting dumped on because the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) are over schedule?”
Recently, S-34 flowing into the New River was at 0 cfs. Now I see that it is at 233 cfs. A drop in the bucket compared to the 7523 cfs that has been hitting the St. Lucie for days.
That S-333 doesn’t seem to flow to the Park but instead to the Miami River also. (Someone correct me if I am wrong.) It was at 0 cfs on the 4th and is now at 1200 cfs. Even if that water isn’t going to the Park, at least it is going south and not east/west – but why the wait? The system is more complex than we will ever understand but the more we understand the better. Thank you, Gary, Mark Perry and others for keeping everyone informed.
DR GOFORTH:http://garygoforth.net
Todd – you’re absolutely correct – the New River and Miami Canal were historical tributaries of the Everglades.
“Why are the WCAs rising while very little water, if any, seems to go out to the New River (S-34) and the Miami River (S-31)?”
The short answer is that flood protection for the suburbs of Ft. Lauderdale and Miami takes precedence over conveyance of floodwaters from the water conservation areas. The intervening canals are operated to provide flood protection to the urban areas between S-31/S-34 and the tidal structures (S-26/ – similar to S-80 in the C-44). When heavy rains occur in the suburbs, the canal capacity is primarily devoted to moving the stormwater out of the basin. After the storm events and water levels in the canals subside, S-31 and S-34 can be opened to move so-called “regulatory releases” out of the water conservation areas. This is similar (although not exact) to how S-308/S-80 and the C-44 Canal is operated – flood protection of the local basin takes precedence over Lake releases.
“why the wait?”
Opening S-333 allows water from WCA-3 to move into the Tamiami Canal (aka L-29 Canal); the one-mile bridge along Tamimi Trail allows water from the Tamiami Canal to enter Northeast Shark River Slough (see the map). S-333 couldn’t open without special authorization from the Corps to allow the water level in L-29 Canal to rise, which Gov. Scott requested in his letter last week, and the corps granted this week.
Gary Goforth S-333.
Interesting to think about…maybe there is more to explore here….
Contact the SFWMD should you wish to get a Facility and Infrastructure Location Index Map: (561) 682-6262. The person at this number should be able to direct you.
Water Conservation Areas as seen below the Everglades Agricultural Area. South Florida is compartmentalized to control water to “protect” farms and people ….this does always work.
We are in rain-year not seen before….
The state is overflowing…..
Our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is again being destroyed by too much fresh, dirty, water….
Why is it so hard to send this water south?
It is “so hard to move water south” because the state of Florida has been compartmentalized to protect the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee and to keep-dry much of the lands that we live on. And now our waters are polluted…
Imagine, if you would, what would be going on here in South Florida now if modern man had never “conquered” it….Basically it would be a clean free-flowing marsh all the way from Shingle Creek in Orlando through Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades.
Well that it is no longer the case, is it? Since the 1920s, and more so since the 1940s, these lands have been drained, and diked, and altered, so that humans can grow food, and live here –inadvertently polluting the system. It is an imperfect situation and we must try to understand it, so we can make it better as we all need clean water.
1850s map of FloridaToday’s flow into SLR and Caloosahatchee from Lake Okeechobee used to flow south.
So for the everyday person trying to figure out “what is going on” right now, let’s take a look at “today:”
It has been raining lot. Since the end of January, the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee are being destroyed once again as the state of Florida and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dump incoming waters out of Lake Okeechobee so that the Everglades Agricultural Area south of the lake and surrounding communities are not flooded. Drainage and property in our area is part of this too.
A rare situation occurred this past week where Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, issued an order to release water south through a canal into the Everglades. He had to confer with the US ACOE to do this. (Due to poor water quality and safety, just “sending water south” is not allowed. But now with so much water, it is an emergency.)
The Water Conservation Areas south of the EAA, —these gigantic areas (see bottom slide) that are considered part of the Everglades and full of wildlife and in some places sacred Native American tree islands, are so full of water that they have to be dumped first. If they are lowered, then more water can enter from the Everglades Agricultural Area and hopefully Lake Okeechobee itself. Then, and only then, would there be less dumping into the St Lucie River/IRL and Caloosahatchee. We have a long way to go and its not even “rainy season.”
I commend all those working hard to alleviate the overflowing system and I encourage investment in working to improve this relic as well as investment in the children who must be part of the goal to re-plumb this system. Dr Gary Goforth shows us how it is working right now as I asked for a simple explanation to share with the River Kidz.
Gary Goforths’ image to explain “water going south.”
“Jacqui—
Due to increased stormwater pumping from the EAA and surrounding areas and direct rainfall, the water levels in the WCAs are too high. Last week the Gov. sent a letter to the Corps requesting authorization to raise water levels in the Tamiami Canal allowing increased flows into the Park through Northeast Shark River Slough. Yesterday the District began making those increased discharges through structure S-333. Whether or not the District will send additional Lake water south is yet to be seen – lowering the stage in the WCAs should help. See the map above. (from page 2 of the attached).”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2016
CONTACT: GOVERNOR’S PRESS OFFICE
(850) 717-9282
media@eog.myflorida.com
DEP and FWC Issue Orders to Allow Army Corps of Engineers to Ease Effects of Flooding
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued orders that will allow the U.S. Army Corps to move more water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in South Florida. Click HERE (http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/FFWCC.pdf)
to see the orders.
Earlier today, Governor Scott sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take immediate action to relieve the flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and the releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries. To read the letter, click HERE (http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2.11.161.pdf).
Just last year, Florida Realtors, “The Voice for Real Estate in Florida,” published a final report on the impacts of water quality on Florida’s home values. “March 2015 Final Report.”
The first page of the executive summary states:
“There has long been a belief that there is a connection between home values and the quality and clarity of Florida waterways. The objective of this study was to determine whether that belief is in fact true.
We examined the impact of water quality and clarity on the sale prices of homes in Martin and Lee counties over a four-year period, from 2010-2013. What was clearly found was that the ongoing problem of polluted water in the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie rivers has indeed resulted in a negative impact on home values.
In addition, the study found a significant economic impacts resulting from improved water quality and clarity. Lee County’s aggregate property values increase by an estimated $541 million while Marin County’s aggregate property values increase by an estimated $428 million. These increased property values also provide additional revenue for city and county governments.”
…..
Unfortunately this report, very much like the University of Florida Report, was basically ignored by the South Florida Water Management District and the state legislature when speakers came before them last year using this document and asking for relief.
As we enter yet another long summer of water pollution, may we re-familiarize ourselves with this report; we are going need to reference it again. Even though this is certainly “common sense,” it helps to have the formal report in hand when speaking.
Here is the full document for your reference. Reading through you will see the story of Lake Okeechobee’s worsening polluting discharges and our property values’ decline.
Martin County Fair 2016Since my childhood the Martin County Fair has been one of my favorite times of year. US Sugar was not an advertiser when I was growing up here.First sign displayed upon entering fairgrounds., 2016
At the chance of sounding like “a sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal,” I would like to share my experience yesterday at the Martin County Fair.
Mind you, for me, the Martin County Fair is as apple pie as a once clean river. Growing up in Martin County the fair was THE event of the year. We waited all year for it to come to town!
It was the one place our parents would set us “free” to run around and visit our friends, go on the ferris wheel and the Zipper!—-Scrunched together in the gravity of middle school, this was about as much fun as could possibly be attained…..I have wonderful memories of the fair.
Most recently, I have gone to the Fair with my nieces, and last night by myself. My husband, Ed, wanted to piddle around at the airport just across the street….Well, yesterday when I walked through the fair’s gate there was a most prominently posted sign that read: “U.S. Sugar.”
Sign….
This surprised me. This bothered me.
I knew they were a sponsor for the fair but I was taken aback that this was the first sign one would see upon walking into the fairgrounds from the entrance gate. Thousands of parents and children saw that sign right before they had a ton of fun…
Hmmmm?
I complained to Ed later. “Jacqui are you really surprised?” he asked….”The fair needs sponsorships. U.S. Sugar is marketing…”
Maybe my eyes are not totally opened, but I do find a U.S.Sugar banner prominently displayed at the Martin County Fair odd and ironic.
I find this ironic as at this very moment the gates of S-80 are at “maximum capacity” forcing the polluted waters of the Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. The lands of U.S. Sugar are blocking the flow south to the Everglades.
Often I hear that the fault lies north as those waters are coming from the Kissimmee basin not south of the lake. To me that is like stopping in traffic and blaming a car two miles up the road for the traffic jam.
Last year, U.S. Sugar did not support the purchase of option lands that could have eventually alleviated this problem. I don’t think it is morally right for them to advertise at our fair until they take leadership on this issue…but then…
—-“all is fair in love and war.”
And I will speak for love…
The red colored blocks south of Lake O. are the EAA-700,000 acres of sugar lands and vegetables. South of the EAA are the STAs and water conservation areas .(SFWMD map, 2012.)The big picture…the EAA blocks the water from flowing south into the Everglades. EF. The water is directed to the coasts through the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee.S-801st area to enter upon entering fairgrounds, with US Sugar banner prominently displayed. 2016.
History, “being changed,” is always uncomfortable….
—-Kudos to Adam Putnam, and —-Kudos to the River Warriors…
This is not an easy video to watch, and I apologize for the foul language, but I do think it is important we document this movement. Yesterday evening Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, and more than likely our next Governor, stood in a sea of angry River Warriors at an Economic Council dinner at the Elliott Museum in Martin County, Florida.
The crowd angry over the discharges once again killing the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon as well as their way of life and their businesses… –We see here how volatile and political the issue has become.
That Adam Putnam tried very hard to talk to the crowd and remained amongst them for such a length of time is to his credit. It is well-known that in the past politicians have run away. I do believe there is a silver lining here. I do believe this means that someone may have been found who is brave enough and versed enough to tackle this issue beyond “finishing the projects.”
For all involved, this is hard to do, but can be done.
We must find a way to sit at the table together to begin to solve this issue . May this difficult day have been the beginning. —-Hope.
Chart by Dr Gary Goforth accompanying his letter comparing pollutants into SLR/IRL from Lake O and C-44 basin area 1980-2015For many years Dr Gary Goforth led STA projects for the SFWMD. He is now independent.
“Death by the numbers”…
Simply click on the image above to view 1980-2015. Numbers showing Lake Okeechobee and C-44 Basin flow rates and pollutants into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon as presented by Dr Gary Goforth in his letter to Martin County dated February 9th, 2016.
This letter indeed helped the Martin County Commission decide to call a State of Emergency and perhaps Senator Joe Negron shared it with the Governor as well, inspiring the Governors’ call to the Asst. Secretary of the Army Corp of Engineers to “stop the discharges.” Great requests.
It would probably be easier for the ACOE to achieve such with some significant land south of the lake…..
Hmmmmm?
Anyway—-
The state knows it. The federal government knows it. We all know it. The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon have been sacrificed —–not for the common good, but for the interests of agriculture and development.
It is “death by the numbers” and it should stop.
Excerpt from Dr Gary Goforth letter to Martin County, 2-9-16.:
1. The intentional destructive Lake releases knowingly cause environmental and economic damage to the region; the State of Florida and US government intentionally cause these by sacrificing our region in order to protect the area south of the Lake, and should therefore, the Lake releases should be considered Emergency Operations. The BOCC should declare a State of Emergency and ask the State/feds to do the same. This may free up funds to help the region’s businesses and residents that will suffer losses as a result of the discharges.
2. In addition to water, the Lake releases carry significant amount of pollution and sediment/muck – the amount of nitrogen from the Lake over the next few months will likely dwarf the amount coming from septic tanks, and greatly exceed the TMDLs for nitrogen and phosphorus.
3. We can’t forget that the River & Estuary also receive local basin runoff in addition to Lake releases, so the Lake releases are destructive above and beyond impacts from local runoff. The “local” watershed is more than twice the natural drainage due to addition of C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44 Canals.
4. The BOCC should ask the State and Corps to stop the releases immediately. They should ask that inflows to the Lake be reduced, that the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes be operated per their regulation schedules and NOT FOR USFWS purposes, that Holey Land and Rotenberger be used to the maximum safe depth (temporarily exceeding their 0-1 ft operating schedules), that the STAs receive as much Lake water as possible – based on hydraulic not water quality criteria, allow the WCAs to temporarily be operated above the regulation schedules up to maximum safe depths to allow Lake inflows, and that the District temporarily put water on as many public lands (e.g., a portion of DuPuis) as dispersed water management.
2-10-16, 9AM Looking at peninsula of Sewall’s Point, SLR/IRL. Photo by Dave Stone and Ed Lippisch. Incoming tide pushes plume back into IRL and SLR. Witham Airport seen beyond in Stuart/Martin County.
Today’s first photo was taken by Dave Stone a good friend of my husband and a professional pilot. Taken with an iPhone it shows and incoming tide yesterday, 2-10-16, over the once seagrass rich Sailfish Flats.
The video below the photo shows yesterday’s Lake O/canals/run-off plume having traveled out the St Lucie Inlet moving along Jupiter Island south of Bridge Road far past Peck’s Lake. The video is taken using a Go-Pro by Ed Lippisch.
These videos and photographs are helpful tools of understanding and documentation. Recent others are included below.
Thank you to my husband and the pilots of Witham Aero Club.
2-7-16 Ed Lippisch view of SL Inlet Hutchinson and Jupiter Island from ocean.2-7-16 Ed Lippisch SL Inlet and Sailfish Flats.SL Inlet looking north from Jupiter Island, Ed Lippisch.
SLR/IRL St Lucie Inlet 2-7-16 by Ed Lippisch.SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44’s S-80 is the canal most southerly in the image.SFWMD 1955-2015 history of discharges at S-80.
The idiomatic expression “death by a thousand cuts” has been used by many people in many situations…but the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is the expression’s poster child…
Idiom: Death of a thousand cuts Idiom Definitions for ‘Death of a thousand cuts’
“If something is suffering the death of a thousand cuts, or death by a thousand cuts, lots of bad things are happening, none of which are fatal in themselves, but which add up to a slow and painful demise.”
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon has been dying, has been “being killed” by our local, state, and federal governments since before I was born. Since the 1940s when the 1915 “slice” between Lake Okeechobee and the South Fork of the St Lucie River was deepened, widened and made permanent by the ACOE as requested by a state protecting agriculture and development interests.
Does this make it “right?” —That it has been happening for so long? Does this mean we should have nothing to say about the present very high level discharges killing our estuary? Absolutely not.
As in most instances righting cultural wrongs takes time. It takes many years of pain and realization. And then it takes people rising up for change.—- It takes bravery, determination, and exposure.
For instance, it wasn’t until the first TV stations in the 1960s showed black Americans displaying non-violence in the face of attack dogs and beatings; it wasn’t until a few brave women spoke out publicly and were arrested as displayed in the first newspapers of the day that these hundred year old issues began to change.
…….……
For Florida, we are that new issue. Our river is that “new issue.” Without the advent of social media and Go Pros allowing a pilot, like my husband Ed, to attach a camera to his plane and share formerly unseen images with the world, the cuts of Lake Okeechobee and area canal discharges at S-80 would happen again and again and again. But since 2013 images have been shared, social media has ripped through the hearts of people who want something different. Not just here but on the west coast and all across our state. The River Warriors, the Rivers Coalition and thousands of others have stood up. We are primed to do this again but even more effectively. Film it. Share it. Expose it.
The SFWMD chart below, found by my brother Todd, shows the Lake Okeechobee and C-44 area canal releases from Structure-80 displayed from 1955-2015. Dr Gary Goforth has shown us in a blog I wrote in 2013 that in the 1920s the release levels were even higher. We can see the destructive releases have happened many times at horrific levels. They are going down. Now they must stop.
These red lines are the historic destruction that is driving our actions today. Each line a new cut causing a weaker estuary. ——-We are the chosen generation to change this. We are the chosen generation to save the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
Yesterday, after the vocal encouragement of the River Warriors and others our Martin County Commission unanimously voted to send a resolution to Governor Scott asking for a “State of Emergency.”
In my opinion, this means that not some, but every commissioner must support the purchase of land south of Lake Okeechobee. Because the propaganda of “finishing the projects” as the answer— just isn’t going to cut it.
River Warriors protesting before the MCBOCC 7-9-16. Photo JTL.SFWMD 1955-2015 discharges at S-80.With SFWMD info on bottom of slide.Plume, Ed Lippisch 2-7-16.SL Inlet, 2-7-16, Ed Lippisch.Plume, Sailfish Flats discharges, photo 2-7-16 Ed Lippisch 2016.
Sunrise over the St Lucie River’s Willoughby Creek, by John Whiticar.
Today, I will once again feature the work of local photographer and famous Stuart boat building family member, Mr John Whiticar. I have shared his gorgeous photographs many times, but this time may be the most important.
This morning, as I walked to the mailbox—- in the darkness of Sewall’s Point—-the peninsula lying between the two massacred rivers of St Lucie and Indian, I saw the “rosy-fingered dawn” rising— silhouetted— against arching gumbo limbo and ancient oaks trees.
I thought to myself, “you know, on this day I shall not share more photos of destruction, but rather the recent sunrise photos of Mr Whiticar…..”
In the face of the present destruction, we will find inspiration for our rivers. We must not despair but be the light for a new generation.
St Lucie River, John Whiticar.St Lucie Sunrise, John Whiticar.Mangrove Indian River Sunrise, John Whiticar.
Mr John Whiticar, Feb 4th, 2016.
“The mangrove island is on the Indian River. The sad part is the water was finally starting to clear up only to get trashed again by new releases from the c-44 canal. The last release was bad but this may be the worst ever. Massive back-pumping to save crops from record-setting rain yields higher amounts of sediments and nutrients.
The second panorama was taken…on the St. Lucie… The location is a few blocks north of the (Whiticar) Boat Yard… sunrise was taken at the Boat Yard on Willoughby Creek.”
JW
Thank you to Mr Whiticar for his beautiful and inspirational photographs and for allowing me to share.
View of convergence of SLR/IRL between Sailfish Point and Jupiter Island. Plume from Lake O discharges flowing out into ocean. Photo 2-7-16, Ed LippischCanals in Stuart, C-23, C-24, C-25 built in the 50s and 60s. C-44 connected to Lake Okeechobee constructed in the 1920/expanded in 1940s. The natural basins of the SLR have been tremendously enlarged plus Lake O water. This is killing the SLR/IRL. More water must go south.
It is important to know how to “speak the language” of the ACOE and SFWMD.
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is once again under siege. The Army Corp of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District are doing the will of the reigning powers and discharging tremendous amounts of water and pollutants from Lake Okeechobee and altered surrounding lands (basins) into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
We must learn how to interpret this destruction and how to use their language of “cubic feet per second,” (cfs), when talking about discharge amounts from Lake Okeechobee and area canals into the SLR/IRL.
I am not good at this interpretation, but someone I know is….
As in most families, each chid in my family was born with different talents. My brother, Todd Thurlow, got all the number and sharp analytical skills that I did not. I am very thankful to him for helping with my St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon educational efforts.
Todd has created a VERY EASY way to convert cubic feet per second (the language of the ACOE/SFWMD discharges) into gallons. All you have to do is click on this link below and put in the numbers. Seriously.
For instance if you click on the link today, it will show that S-80 is last reported to be releasing approximately 6800 (cfs) cubic per second, down from just under 7600. Just enter 6800 in the top box and it will be converted to 1. gallons per second; 2. gallons per day; and 3. “olympic size swimming pools” (in honor of Stuart News reporter Tyler Treadway’s common example for communicating with the public.)
Go to this link now, and try it! You will be amazed at how east this is. To win this war, we must be able to speak “their” language and to understand.
Click on chart below to get started. Save the link to have it handy for this year. It is going to be a difficult one and we are going to need to know what we are talking about in order to negotiate and to communicate.
Clewistons’ US Sugar Corporation refinery with fields surrounding, 2013. (Aerial, Dr Scott Kuhns)Sugar refinery with cane in foreground, public photo.Land ownership
U.S. Sugar Corporation…..I always think of them as a giant corporation “south of the lake,” blocking the waters of Lake Okeechobee causing the waters to be redirected to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon…Well “they” are no longer just south of the lake….
“They’re here”———and I am not speaking about cane fields.
“They’re here.” Poltergeist 1982.
I have been thinking about writing this blog post since October of 2015, but waited. It was in October of 2015, from a very reliable source, that I first heard that U.S. Sugar Corporation had become a member of the Martin County Economic Council. I was surprised. This is a game changer for Martin County in my opinion. And then I started looking around and realized that they had been here to influence for a while and I just had not noticed…
US Sugar listed as a trustee member on the Economic Council of Martin County’s Website’s 2016
For instance a couple of months ago, my husband Ed and I attended an event at the historic Lyric Theater. My husband, Ed, started donating in both our names to his beloved Lyric Theater shortly after our marriage in 2005. About two months ago we attend an event and when we sat down to have our picture taken against the newly designed Directors’ Circle Donor Wall, I notice that our name is right up there “in bronze “with US Sugar Corporation. “This is new,” I thought to myself….”Wow.”
“I didn’t see that last time we were here….Interesting.”
Bronze walled sponsors for the Lyric. Look left third up.Ed and I have been list on the wall since 2006.Lyric booklet of Director Circle Donors
OK let’s continue ….
So then yesterday, I go to Office Depot to get a special pen, and while I am standing in line a nice lady hands me the brochure for the upcoming Martin County Fair. I have attended the fair since middle school—an iconic event. I smile, thank her, open the brochure, and guess who is one of the sponsors?
Yes. US Sugar Corporation.
Martin County Fair brochure 2016
When I really think about it, I guess this is no surprise as US Sugar Corporation has been very visible trying to improve their image locally in the Stuart News after 2013’s “Lost Summer” toxic algae fiasco spending $100,000s of dollars on ads like the one below. I wonder where their influence will show up next?
In any case they are not just south of the lake, “they’re here.” This is becoming more and more obvious. Look around.
— The good thing is we’ll have a chance for conversation a little closer to home…I look forward to it.
S-153 drains this area.S-153 drains into the C-44 canal and then the St Lucie RiverSFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. See S-153 northeast of the C-44 “basin” area.
Water, water everywhere….
The ACOE and South Florida Water Management District are scrambling….they will have to start dumping from the lake and the local basin runoff is exceeding targets ….But is all the runoff into the C-44 really from a local basin? No it’s not.
Let’s drill down a bit.
The ACOE’s recent press release reads:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Corps to increase flows from Lake Okeechobee
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District intends to release
more water from Lake Okeechobee starting this weekend as it continues to
manage the lake level in the midst of El Nino conditions.
Starting Friday (Jan. 29), the new target flow for the Caloosahatchee
Estuary will average 2,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) over seven days as
measured at W.P. Franklin Lock (S-79) near Fort Myers. The new target flow
for the St. Lucie Estuary is a seven-day average of 1,170 cfs as measured at
St. Lucie Lock (S-80) near Stuart. However, runoff from rain in the Caloosahatchee or the St. Lucie basins could occasionally result in flows
that exceed targets as the water passes through the spillway gates at the
Franklin or St. Lucie structures…”
What we have to remember is that the “basin,” the lands that water runs off of into the St Lucie River has been altered by agriculture and development ….so to call “all the water” going into the St Lucie its own basin water is really misleading and not respectful of history….
Let’s look at S-153 for instance, a spillway that is presently dumping approximately 1.2 billion gallons into the C-44 which then goes into the St Lucie River. If man had not altered this area, much of this water would naturally be flowing back into the lake…so again we really should not refer to it as “basin runoff” that belongs to the St Lucie River. Today large portions of this area are agriculture fields and an FPL energy plant so the run off water of this area has been redirected from the lake to us.
S-308 drain LO; S-153 drain area around FPL plant.
Hmmm?
Let’s reflect for a moment on this information from my brother Todd:
“Jacqui,
According to my C-44 page the gates at the locks are up 2ft and dumping 4451cfs which equals 2.8 billion gallons per day.
Nothing is coming from the lake so they will say that this is all local runoff because S-308 at Port Mayaca is at 0? That S-153 spillway is dumping 1.2 billion into C-44. It seems to pull water west of Indiantown that would have otherwise gone into the lake not to the St. Lucie?
Todd of course is right. And 1.2 billion gallons of extra fertilized, dirty water is worth noting. Don’t you think? The least they could do is filter it!
Todd and I will look into this further with historic maps of the old creek and ridge system prior to development and how the water historically flowed prior to S-153 flows, etc—– but for now, let’s not entirely be sold “up the creek,” by believing the all this water is “local” basin runoff.
Because it’s not. 🙂
Other basin changes are also bringing excess water into the river right now. This map shows general drainage changes to the SLR. Green is the original watershed. Yellow and pink have been added since ca.1920. (St Lucie River Initiative’s Report to Congress 1994.)
Map of our area in the 1982 Coastal Management Zone document showing heights. in MC. (Mark Perry)
Yesterday’s conversation regarding Sewall’s Point’s Mount Pisgah, at 57 feet, in the area of Frances Langford’s former estate got people talking about many things. One of the less controversial, but interesting was “heights.” My brother Todd wrote:
“Jacqui, with respect to Mt. Pisgah being the highest point, I think you are correctly specifying “along” the rivers (e.g. adjacent to the water). There are higher points listed in my video below. But all the ones on the waterfront are less than 37ft. The highest waterfront in Hobe Sound is 50ft and we ran US-1 over it!”
Mr Don Quazzo in his comments noted the even higher heights than Mt Pisgah of the inland sand hills in the Skyline Drive area….interesting. Fascinating. Talk about history!
Today I will transcribe a piece of “Martin County’s 1982 Coastal Management Zone” shared with me years ago by Mr. Mark Perry. It talks about high places, ancient sand dunes, through out our county.
View Todd’s Time Capsule Flight video “The Hills of Sewall’s Point and Jensen Beach 1950 USGS Topo Map”: (https://youtu.be/fIwsz5grVg0)
More detail of height in MC. Figure 3
Here we go:
The 1982 Coastal Zone Management Study of Hutchinson Island, Martin County, Florida, 1982, wa written by Florida Oceanographic Society and the Martin County Development Department.
Part II is entitled “Natural Geologic History.” It reads: “Just before the most recent Ice Age, the Wisconsin, which lasted from 100,000 to 11,000 years before present, the sea level was approximately 25-35 feet above the present mean seal level…At that time the sea was covering most of Martin County except for the Orlando Ridge, which was a narrow peninsula or series of islands and shoals, and the Green Ridge which was an offshore bar with the crest at sea level…The sea beating against the much smaller Florida coast formed, by erosion and deposition, a broad terrace of Pamlico sands.
These sands were composed of mostly quartz, fossils and some carbon materials. The Atlantic Coastal Ridge was of pre-Pamlico origin was altered by an advancing Pamlico sea. This is evident by the south and north boundaries of the Jensen Beach and Jonathan Dickinson Sandhills which have spit-like structures projecting westward, as shown in Figure 3. (above)
The tall sandhills together with Sewall’s Point and Rocky Point form the backbone of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. It is breached by the St Lucie River between Sewall’s Point and Rocky Point. During times of high sea level, like the Pamlico Period, the drainage basins of the St Lucie River and Loxahatchee River probably formed and ancient lagoon such as the Indian River Lagoon does today, with the older sandhills of Jensen Beach and Johnathan Dickinson acting as the barrier islands and dunes of that time. It was also during this time when Hutchinson and Jupiter Islands began forming as offshore bars….
—-Excerpt from MC 1982 Coastal Zone Management Study
Whether it is 100,000, 11,000, or 60 years ago, the more we know about the history and formation of Martin County the more likely we are to respect our natural resources.
Map showing Big Cypress Swamp next to the Everglades. Also note Lake Okeechobee.
The maps and information in today’s blog is taken from an article entitled “Big Cypress Swamp,” by Benjamin F. McPherson, that is included in the 1974, “Environments of South Florida Past and Present,” complied by Patrick J. Gleason. As I have mentioned previously this week, this text was lent to my by Dr Gary Goforth who gives insight into understanding our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon system and our Lake Okeechobee and canal issues.
….cover….The Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp.
This above map gives one an idea of how far east the Everglades used to go and how much development has crept in (see below)….how come agriculture and development didn’t totally take over Big Cypress? Well, perhaps they could not stop the water….
West of the red lines shows the edge of what was once the Everglades in South Florida. Development has crept and continues to creep over this edge. (Photo/map courtesy of Chappy Young,/GCY Surveyors, 2014.)
Big Cypress Swamp…we may not think of it too much over here on the east coast but we should study it as well. It is sister to the Everglades and people fought to save parts of it and were successful. It became one of our nation’s first national preserves in the same year Patrick Gleason’s text was published, 1974. I was ten years old and my family had just moved to a very undeveloped Sewall’s Point.
Today I will transcribe from the parts of the summary from McPherson’s work. I like reading the old texts. Sometimes they seem more clear and easier to understand. It helps us understand how things have changed looking an old book like we grew up with instead of today’s electronic media.
Excerpts from “Big Cypress Swamp,” by Benjamin F. McPherson
“The Big Cypress Swamp differs form the adjacent Everglades in topography, soil, water quality, and vegetation. Because the swamp has relatively more high land, inundation soil deposit are less extensive in the swamp than the Everglades. Soil in the swamp is usually a thin layer of marl sand or mixture of the two or is absent where limestone crops out where as soil in the Everglades is usually deeper organic peat. Vegetation in the swamp is closely associated with typography, water inundation, and soils, and is more diverse and forested than in the Everglades…
Big Cypress Swamp is a flat, swamp area of about 3120 square kilometers in SW Florida. It is seasonally inundated over as much as 90 % its surface area. Water moves slowly to the south by overland flow toward the estuaries. Fifty -six percent of the surface water that flows into Everglades National Park comes from the Big Cypress. A substantial amount of water also enters Conservation Area 3 from the Swamp. The western part of the Swamp is drained by canals and no longer floods extensively…
The quality of water in the big Cypress, particularly in the untrained parts is in generally of better quality that the water in the Everglades. Some contamination by metals pesticides and other potentially toxic chemicals does occur however….
Up close map 2 drainage of Big CypressFull summary from article
This week we will take a look back at Lake Okeechobee, a lake that since 1923–via the C-44 canal, has been connected to the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
Information for these posts is made possible through a book entitled “Environments of South Florida–Past and Present,” by Patrick J. Gleason. This text was lent to me by Dr Gary Goforth. I will transcribe portions of this rare and amazing text in order for us to contemplate the changes that have occurred and how those who first documented this once remote area experienced our region.
It continues to amaze me—the ability of the early map makers and surveyors who functioned without today’s technology.
For me it is noteworthy to notice how the original map of the lake “veers off to the south-east.” Looking below one can see that today this area is today’s Bell Glade and South Bay. These lands are the richest in “black gold” as they have the accumulation of thousands of years of muck. Now we can see why. Tremendous amounts of sugar and vegetable products are produced in this area. Also, I believe these lands are most valuable because they are less likely to freeze due to their proximity to the lake.
As we can see, although we must take the Captain’s map with a grain of salt–interestingly enough—this area was once the lake…
Today’s Google map, 2016.
Here are the words of Captain Backus for us to ponder as I transcribe:
In 1838 map produced by Captain E. Backus had produced a map of Lake Okeechobee, which for a long time remained buried in the national archives records of the Seminole War. It reveals the knowledge of the lake that time, and his version of the lower Kissimmee River shows graphically how that crooked meandering stream flowed thirty-five miles from Fort Basinger to reach the lake only eighteen miles away– as the crow flies… In a brief statement in the lower left portion of the map, Captain Backus writes: “Many small streams flow into the Okee-cho–bee on the North-East and West side and also on the South- East side, but it is not known that it has any outlet, and probably has none, except at the high water when Grassy Lake (The Everglades) and Okee-cho-bee are united, and probably empties thought some streams into the Atlantic. This is corroborated by the statements of different indians and negroes who profess to have crossed from one side to the other in a canoe at high-water, and to have carried and dragged a canoe many miles over the portage at low tide.”
I wonder how we would have seen the lake had we been there? Would you have crossed it in a canoe? What would you have dreamt it to become?
….The handwritten text….Book information and inside cover.
There are only a handful of people who are qualified to help us navigate the turbulent and murky waters of Lake Okeechobee and its effects on our beloved St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon….
One of these rare individuals is Dr Gary Goforth. “Gary” has more than 30 years of experience in water resources engineering, encompassing strategic planning, design, permitting, construction, operation and program management.
For the last 25 years, his focus has been on large-scale environmental restoration programs in the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem. He was the Chief Consulting Engineer during the design, construction and operation of the $700 million Everglades Construction Project, containing over 41,000 acres of constructed wetlands.
With all this experience Gary spends a tremendous amount of time at River Coalition and SFWMD meetings, and with every day people, advocating to local, state, and national officials telling the story in a manner that the average person can understand but with the power and expertise of a scientist.
Dr Goforth teaches us that we CAN HOLD THE ACOE, AND ESPECIALLY THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ACCOUNTABLE.
We can ask such questions as “are you sending the maximum practicable amount of water south?” “Is it 28% more than in 1994 as required by the Everglades Forever Act?” ” Is an average per year of 250,000 acre feet going south from the lake to the Everglades as required by the Everglades Forever Act?” “Are the Storm Water Treatment Areas being used to full capacity?” “Is the truth of the destruction of the estuaries being reported?” “Should 2008 LORS, Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule, been revised?” “Should the Everglades Settlement’s Q-Bell (limit of Phosphorus) be reviewed-is it realistic?” “Is a large reservoir being created in the Everglades Agricultural Area as is called for in the Central Everglades Restoration Plan?” “Who are the Lake and the STAs really serving?”
In order to hold the agencies accountable we must be educated! We must ask questions. We must look at the figures for water flowing south of the lake every year and compare.
Dr Goforth provides regular public updates on these issues, directly and indirectly holding the fire to the agencies. Today I am publishing in full his DRAFT–WET SEASON 2015 LAKE DISCHARGE report.
Please read it, study it, familiarize yourself with it. Dr Goforth has a website if you have any questions. Thank you Dr Goforth for the gift of shared knowledge. It is the greatest gift of all.
Draft – Wet Season 2015 Lake Discharges by Dr Gary Goforth:
Goforth – December 18, 2015
Flows into and out of Lake Okeechobee were examined for the period May 1, 2015 – October 31, 2015, corresponding to the first half of the annual water year (May 2015 to April 2016), and roughly corresponding to the south Florida wet season. The flows and associated Lake water levels were compared to same period from last year. In light of the influence of the current strong El Nino, Lake water levels were compared to the levels that occurred during May- November 1997 which preceded over 1 million acre feet (347 billion gallons) of destructive Lake releases to the St. Lucie Estuary between December 1997 and May 1998.
Flows into Lake Okeechobee – excluding rainfall. For the period May 1 to October 31, 2015, surface inflows to Lake Okeechobee amounted to 1.43 million acre feet (466 billion gallons) (Table 1). This is 20 percent less than for the same period in 2014 (Table 2 and Figure 1).
Flows out of Lake Okeechobee – excluding evapotranspiration. For the period May 1 to October 31, 2015, surface outflows from Lake Okeechobee amounted to 780,000 acre feet (254 billion gallons) (Table 3). This is 37 percent more than for the same period in 2014 (Table 4 and Figure 2). Approximately 30 percent more Lake water was sent to the EAA and L-8 Canals during 2015 than 2014, likely in response to higher water supply demands (due to lower rainfall than in 2014).
Lake Okeechobee water levels. The level of Lake Okeechobee varied from 13.81 ft on May 1 to 14.55 ft on October 31, 2015, reaching a low level of 11.96 ft on July 16 (Figure 3). For 2014, the level of Lake Okeechobee varied from 13.07 ft on May 1 to 15.85 ft on October 31, reaching a low level of 12.32 ft on June 11. Lake water levels rose only 0.74 feet during the 2015 wet season compared with a rise of 2.78 ft during the same period in 2014. The Lake level on October 31, 2015 was approximately 1.3 ft lower than it was a year earlier, and approximately 0.5 ft lower than October 31, 1997 (Figure 4). In addition, the Lake level on November 30, 2015 was approximately 1 ft lower than it was on November 30, 1997, which preceded over 1 million acre feet (347 billion gallons) of destructive Lake releases to the St. Lucie Estuary between December 1997 and May 1998. Two important differences between 1997 and today that could influence Lake discharges to the estuary include rainfall over the Lake Okeechobee watershed and the regulation schedules governing Lake operations. According to the South Florida Water Management District (District), November 2015 was the wettest November since 1998, indicating inflows to the Lake over the next month may be substantially larger than average. Additionally, the Lake is currently operated under the LORS2008 schedule which was anticipated to result in increased frequency and magnitude of Lake releases to the estuaries compared to the regulation schedule in place during 1997-1998.
Lake flows to the STAs. Beginning in August 2015, the District began operating the EAA A-1 Flow Equalization Basin (FEB), which is approximately 15,000 acres in size and can store water up to 4 feet deep. The FEB can receive Lake releases and EAA runoff, and distribute flows either to STA-2, STA-3/4 or to the EAA for irrigation. At this time incomplete flow records are available to the public through the District’s DBHYDRO database to fully account for the various flow paths, and until additional data are available, the estimates of Lake releases and runoff to STA-2 and STA-3/4 will be subject to revision. Using these preliminary estimates, approximately 13 percent less Lake water has been sent to the STAs in 2015 compared with 2014 (Figures 5 and 6 and Table 5). During the same period, approximately 32 percent less basin runoff was sent to the STAs, reflecting less wet season rainfall in 2015.
Flows to the estuaries. Lower rainfall in 2015 resulted in less basin runoff to the estuaries for the period May to October than occurred in 2014 (Table 6). However, due to the Lake releases that occurred during January through May 2015, Lake discharges to the estuaries in 2015 far exceeded Lake releases during 2014.
SUMMARY. Lower rainfall during the May to October 2015 period resulted in about 20 percent less inflows to Lake Okeechobee than in 2014. However, outflows from the Lake increased compared to 2014, likely in response to higher water supply demands (due to lower rainfall than in 2014). Lake water levels rose only 0.74 feet during the 2015 wet season compared with a rise of 2.78 ft during the same period in 2014. The Lake level at the end of October 2015 was about 1.3 ft lower than in 2014. In addition, the Lake level on November 30, 2015 was approximately 1 ft lower than it was on the same date on November 30, 1997, which preceded over 1 million acre feet (347 billion gallons) of destructive Lake releases to the St. Lucie Estuary between December 1997 and May 1998. However, differences in rainfall and Lake regulation schedules prevent a forecast of potential 2016 Lake discharges compared to the 1997-1998 discharges to the estuaries based on Lake levels at the end of November.
Dredge and fill, public photo, 2015.A multi-image of the area in the 1887 NOAA map, the 1925 shot (partially), 1940, a 1958 NOAA map, 1970 and today by Todd Thurlow.
Today’s blog is a full expansion of the 1925 aerial photo I wrote about last Friday.
My brother Todd took this photo creating a time line flight of 1925 and 1940 views of the Sailfish Flats, the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers, and the St. Lucie Canal (C-44).
Todd’s video is a history lesson in “dredge and fill” which was very common throughout all south Florida and the United States until national laws in the 1970s required more scrutiny and often no longer allow such due to heavy impacts and damages on waterways and the natural environment.
Our Martin and St Lucie County canals dug by the ACOE and water management entities C-44, C-23, C-24, C-25 are dredge and fill. Sailfish Point, Sewall’s Point, and Indian River Plantation, just to name a few, have large portions that are dredge and fill. The dike around Lake Okeechobee and the work abound the FPL plant in Indiantown by Barley Barber Swamp are dredge and fill. At the time, it was “how it was done.” People did not foresee the ramifications to the environment or to people living in these areas in the future.
The land was our Play Doh…
1925 aerial by Bob Higgins shared by Sandra H. Thurlow. SLR/IRL
I know you will learn a lot and enjoy watching Todd’s video. The link is above.
—My questions to Todd after I saw the video included:
Jacqui: “So Todd, what are the white lines on the edge of Stuart, Rocky Point etc…more piled white sand? Looks like Jupiter Island was smaller at one point…across from Sailfish…
So how in the world did they dig out the Sailfish Point Marina and what about the straight marina of Sailfish Point that was already there from the days of Mr Rand? Also what about the FPL Pond in Indiantown? Where do you think they put that fill? Holy cow! That’s a lot of fill!
(I have adapted Todd’s words after checking concepts with him so I could present info in a simple manner.)
Todd: “The lines on the edge of Rocky Point were probably a beachy shoreline. With it being more open water at the time and more exposed to the inlet; I’m sure there was more of a beach there. That shoreline matches perfectly the shoreline shown on the early NOAA maps – even before the inlet was there.
With respect to Jupiter Island, you are probably referring to all the spoil that was piled up at the entrance to the Great Pocket – some of that was put there when I was in middle school. The main part of Jupiter Island is more to the east and is now gone – and earlier connected to Hutchinson Island. The old Gilbert’s Bar Inlet was south of that point.
The marina on Sailfish Point was dredge fill. We have some aerials of it in the making. As was the case in areas of Sewall’s Point, the sand dug to build small marinas or subdivisions was piled on the land (Archipelago, Isle Addition) to make the land higher or to create completely new lands.
As far as the giant FPL pond, they probably just dug with a dragline and used the fill to make the dike around the outside of the pond and also to build up the land around FPL.”
Hmmm?
So we live in an environment altered by our forefathers, and now we are experiencing unintended consequences to the health of our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. We must assist the next generation in understanding the past so that we and they can create a better water future. And that we can!
