| Radio programs for the week of 31 July 2000 (fe00731 - fe00804) | For more information: | ||
Restoring the Kissimmee River I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. It's been just over a year since work began on a half (b) billion dollar restoration of the Kissimmee River in south-central Florida. It is a man-made solution, to a man-made problem, which began in the 1960s when the winding river and its wetlands were turned into a deep-channel canal to reduce flooding risk. Lou Toth is the project's chief scientist (Lou Toth, Chief Scientist, Kissimmee Department, Watershed Research and Planning Division, South Florida Water Management District)... "The Kissimmee River was channelized between 1962 and 1971 to provide some level of flood protection primarily for the developing region in and around the Kissimmee chain of lakes." The flooding problem came during decade’s earlier hurricanes... "The major hurricanes that hit this region in the late 40s caused fairly extensive property damage -- no loss of lives, but did cause a lot of property damage." And though it turned out to be an environmental mistake, the canal did just what was intended... "All of the floodwaters that historically would have gone down the river and overflowed the river's banks are now entirely contained within the banks of the canal." For more information, visit www.floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
 fe00801A fight to restore a river Scientists are just over a year into a restoration project on the Kissimmee River that hopes to reattract wildlife chased away when the river became a flood control canal in the 1960s. This new effort comes as a result of objections to the flood control project that are almost as old as the canal itself (Lou Toth, Chief Scientist, Kissimmee Department, Watershed Research and Planning Division, South Florida Water Management District)... "The Kissimmee River restoration movement really began during or shortly after the river was channellized... if not during the latter stages of the channelization." Lou Toth is the senior scientist on the project designed to restore the river and its wetlands. He says initial protests against the channelized river, brought twenty years of studies to show its environmental failure... "These studies would subsequently show what some of the impacts of the channelization were." These included impacts against habitat... "...The loss of over 30,000 acres of wetlands which provided habitat for both fish and wildlife." And impacts against fish and wildlife... "...A 92% reduction in the use of the river by wintering waterfowl populations." For more information, visit www.floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00802 Early success in a river's restoration Far earlier than expected, scientists are tracking some success in their restoration of the Kissimmee River and its wetlands. Just over a year into a half (b) billion dollar project, scientists like Stefani Melvin have concrete evidence of wildlife's return to the Kissimmee area (Stefani Melvin, Senior Environmental Scientist, Kissimmee River Restoration Department, South Florida Water Management District)... "So far, since we started construction, I've recorded four new species of shore birds and a new wading bird species and a new songbird species." And it's not just birds returning... it's how the birds are using the newly restored wetlands... "Over the winter, I visited the river a few times and we had a huge response by wintering waterfowl... the Blue Wing Teal and Mottled Ducks and Green Wing Teal that were using the river during the winter. Which was totally different from what it was like before, where there virtually no ducks on the floodplain." While the birds' return is good news by itself, it also signals that the restoration is fostering the return of plans and other animals... " (Birds) are sort of at the top of the food chain, so not only can you look at the bird populations and get information about that, but you can also use bird populations as an indicator of what's happening with the lower species such as fish and invertebrates." For more information, visit www.floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00803 Restoring flooding while controlling floods I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. After dramatic floods on the Kissimmee River in 1940s hurricanes, the river was given a deep-water flood control channel in the 1960s. But to answer environmental concerns, the old river -- or parts of it -- are being restored. But is flood control is being eliminated? (Lou Toth, Chief Scientist, Kissimmee Department, Watershed Research and Planning Division, South Florida Water Management District) "The restoration project itself has one major constraint, and that is a constraint to maintain existing levels of flood protection." Project scientist Lou Toth says with that restriction, the project seeks to reflood areas that will benefit from the flooding... "We cannot restore the entire length of the channelized Kissimmee River. In fact we're only restoring about half of the historic river's length." Part of the project strategy seeks to put into state ownership the lands that will return to their original wetland condition... "Within that area, we are needing to compensate for the loss of flood protection by the acquisition of lands and to date, we have acquired... close to 90,000 acres of land to accommodate this restoration project." For more information, visit www.floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00804 A bright outlook for river restoration I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. As scientists finish the first year of filling in the deepwater, flood control channel of the Kissimmee River, restoring its shallow wetland system, they have early evidence of success. Plants, birds and other wildlife have begun their return to the system. And while thrilled with the early news, scientists like Stefani Melvin are cautious (Stefani Melvin, Senior Environmental Scientist, Kissimmee River Restoration Department, South Florida Water Management District)... "The Kissimmee is only the top part. You know we still have Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades which are in a terrible state right now and this is only going to fix part of the problem. We really need to look at this as a whole system." The restoration project's senior scientist is Lou Toth (Lou Toth, Chief Scientist, Kissimmee Department, Watershed Research and Planning Division, South Florida Water Management District)... "Because the entire South-Central Florida landscape has been so altered, the linkage between the Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades is certainly not what it was historically, but there still is a hydrologic linkage and an ecological linkage." And while the early results are impressive, the long-term benefits should be even more so (Melvin)... "After we have several years of wet floodplain we'll have a big change in the plant composition and that will have some effect on the bird communities. So we need to just wait and see how things develop and continue to monitor it in order to make any real conclusions as to how this has affected them." For more information, visit www.floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
