Miami's Community News, November 28. 2023
FIU’s leadership in the race to save the Florida Everglades received national attention earlier this month.
University scientists headed to the nation’s capital to discuss their critical work in front of government officials, policy advisors, tribal leaders and representatives from organizations such as the National Park Service, the Coastal Conservation Association and the Florida EPA. The high-level gathering was hosted by FIU and the Everglades Foundation at the university’s center in Washington, D.C., which serves as a hub for education as well as a place for convening leading voices on the most important issues of the day.
FIU has for more than two decades headed a $40 million water-quality monitoring project – the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program funding by the National Science Foundation – that is guiding restoration of the famed River of Grass: 1.5 million acres of threatened wetlands that provide nearly all of South Florida’s freshwater, serve as a buffer against rising seas and offer a source of livelihood to thousands and recreation to millions. FIU’s work, in collaboration with a network of other universities and government agencies, is vital to understanding how the freshwater marsh has changed over the years due to human activity.
Once extending from Lake Okeechobee in the middle of Florida down to the tip of the peninsula, the original wetlands have been reduced by half as an ever-growing population has bent the once-mighty watershed to its will. Water-drainage projects for commercial agricultural and residential development have interrupted the natural flow of the Everglades since at least 1900, and much of what is essentially a slow-moving river is today managed by a system of levees and canals.
“Social and economic resilience is derived from our environment,” said Meenakshi Chabba, a scientist with the Everglades Foundation. “Therefore, environmental resilience becomes a pre-condition to community resilience.” For example, the need for more housing in South Florida is very real, but the resulting stress of new construction on the local water supply and drainage systems could ultimately lead to large-scale, community-wide failure if all possibilities and all stakeholders are not considered. Conundrums such as these hint at the hard but necessary decisions ahead.
Comments