Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Environmental Issues
Florida's environmental problems are the inevitable result of its century-long love affair
with land development, population growth and tourism, and addressing them is especially
urgent given Florida's uniquely diverse natural world. These complex, intertwined envir-
onmental impacts include erosion of wetlands, depletion of the aquifer, rampant pollution
(particularly of waters), invasive species, endangered species and widespread habitat de-
struction. There is nary an acre of Florida that escapes concern.
In the last decade, Florida has enacted several significant conservation efforts. In 2000,
on conservation program that in 2008 was renewed for another 10 years. It also passed the
multibillion-dollar
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
(CERP;
www.evergladesplan.org
)
and the associated Central Everglades Planning Project. Unfortu-
nately, implementation of the latter plan has been delayed due to a lack of approval from
Federal agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers.
Signs of other progress can be encouraging. For instance, phosphorous levels in the
Everglades have been seriously reduced, and the Kissimmee River is a model of restora-
tion: within a few years of backfilling the canal that had restricted its flow, the river's
floodplain is again a humid marsh full of waterbirds and alligators. Also, in 2010 the state
completed a purchase of 300 sq miles of Lake Okeechobee sugarcane fields from US
Sugar, intending to convert them back to swamp. Along with plans to bridge 6.5 miles of
the Tamiami Trail, the lake may once again water the Glades.
However, Lake Okeechobee, controlled by Hoover Dike since 1928, is full of toxic
sludge which gets stirred up during hurricanes and causes 'red tides,' or algal blooms that
kill fish. Red tides occur naturally, but they are also sparked by pollution and unnatural
water flows.
Studies have found that half of the state's lakes and waterways are too polluted for fish-
ing. Though industrial pollution has been curtailed, pollution from residential development
(sewage, fertilizer runoff) more than compensates. This is distressing Florida's freshwater
springs, which can turn murky with algae. Plus, as the groundwater gets pumped out to
slake homeowners' thirsts, the springs are shrinking and the drying limestone honeycomb
underfoot sometimes collapses, causing sinkholes that swallow cars and homes.
Residential development continues almost unabated. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West
Palm Beach corridor (the USA's sixth-largest urban area) is, as developers say, 'built out,'
