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Associated PressPhase one of a project to reclaim 27,000 acres of wetlands and 43 miles of the Kissimmee River now is complete.
KISSIMMEE RIVER - On a former cow pasture near this meandering river, a flock of white ibis takes off from a grassy marsh filled with native plants like button bush and maiden cane.
The dramatic change in landscape - from a dry pasture to a thriving wetland leading into the Kissimmee River - comes after two decades of restoration efforts to reverse the consequences of a 1960s flood protection project.
That project drained the wetlands around the Kissimmee and forced the twisting and turning river into a straight canal - with devastating results.
It wiped out habitat for birds, fish, ducks and other wildlife and disrupted the flow of water that eventually reaches Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades and Florida Bay.
To reverse the damage, state and federal officials began filling in the 56-mile drainage canal, restoring the original flood plains and the natural flow of the winding river. The project eventually will reclaim 27,000 acres of wetlands and 43 miles of river at a cost of nearly $578-million.
"Delivering the right amount of water to the right places is restoring habitat and improving water quality," Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday at a gathering to celebrate the completion of the restoration project's first phase.
In the 11,000 acres of wetlands already restored, birds and ducks are returning in unexpected numbers.
"Where we saw 10 to 12 birds per acre, we now see 90 to 100," said Jennifer Jorge, the South Florida Water Management District's Kissimmee division director.
At least 10 shorebirds that disappeared from the area have returned, such as the spotted sandpiper and the black-necked stilt, which has been seen nesting on new sandy shores. Four duck species, including the northern pintail and the American wigeon, also have returned.
Along 15 miles of restored river, shorelines are thriving with native plants and wildlife, including the occasional alligator. The surrounding lands that were drained have become marshes full of the same bulrush grasses, button bushes and willow trees that existed before channels were cut into the Kissimmee and surrounding wetlands.
Dave Colangelo, a water quality scientist with the South Florida Water Management District, said none of the new vegetation needed to be planted. "The seeds in the soil from before the channelization were still viable," he said. Other seeds came downstream once the flow of water was restored.
As the headwaters of the Everglades, the Kissimmee River and its 20-year-old restoration is considered a model for the massive project to restore the Everglades, which is just under way.
Environmentalists, at times slow to praise the seemingly sluggish Everglades restoration, joined officials from the water management district and Army Corps of Engineers in calling the Kissimmee restoration project a tremendous success.
"I think this bodes very well for the future of Everglades restoration," said April Gromnicki, Everglades policy director for Audubon of Florida.
Because of its size and effect on a great number of species, the Kissimmee is considered one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in the world. Historical data suggests that 18,000 wading birds were year-round residents at the river. "After the channelization, they were just sterile grounds. They were barren. There was almost nothing that would grow on it," said Frances Coleman, who fought for the restoration along with her husband, Richard Coleman, for decades. "Now we're starting to turn back some of that damage. You come down a restored section of river and it's just marvelous."