By the 1970s and 1980s, problems continued to steadily increase

1900 dominance of natural communities are in green (saw grass is

what the everglades are famous for)
Scrub area pines and other things that only get about 8 ft
high due to substrate limitations
Key West had largest population (20,000 ppl)
South Florida runs on a semi-monsoonal wet and dry season
1856: freshwater came down like a river form the everglades
area toward Key West
There were massive fish kills in Key West harbor, and the
water was fresh enough to drink from for 3 days
1900/Turn of 20th century: Flagler Railroad (Flagler was in charge of
transportation and moving oil around for Rockefeller got out at age
50 and developed a series of resorts in Florida Keys)
This is how the citrus industry got into Florida sold off the
land beside the railroad to citrus developers
Developed the overseas railroad that landed in Key West
Load up freight cars in Havana, but them on the barges, and
barge them across to Key West.
They would snap on to the ports, and ship on the line up to
New York
Good place for natural sponges*
Tried to fill in the places between the Keys
Four hurricanes in a row that completely wiped out everything
they had done
They then dredged up the mud, and would pile it up onto the
rocks. Acts as an incredibly good barrier to the storm didnt
lose until 1935
This however, impounded a lot of freshwater in the upper
keys area that was usually able to wash down and out
The sponges were then killed off
Oysters were scooped out of Zostera beds in the early 1920s, there
was a large bed of thalassia that was discovered off the SW coast of
the Everglades, and it was full of clams
Would have huge barges come into these areas and tong up
the thalassia beds to get at the clams
The clam bed lasted for 2 years
Thalassia is ruined by the tong method they dont like their
roots and rhizomes being messed with
Lake Okeechobee:
People started to develop in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, South
Beach, etc.
 Increased pressure for more farming and agriculture, and
more development along the coastline
Developed a series of canals leading from Lake Okeechobee
o Miami
o West Palm Beach
Bedrock of South Florida is solid rock, and the dredges that
they had currently, could only scrape the peat off.
1926: a major hurricane crossed over Miami and killed the first land
boom and then headed to lake Okeechobee
Storm pushed all the water to the far side of the lake, and
then it came roaring down after the storm and broke through
the levies
1953 Map of Florida: a lot less green. Purple development along the
Miami Coast
Red: Sugar cane (to the south of Lake Okeechobee) mucky,
deep soils were conducive to sugar cane growth
1973 Map of Florida: very little green
Cattle farms, vegetable crops, sugar cane (everglades
agricultural area EAA), development expanding
Big development started after WWII due to the creation of
home air conditioning and more efficient electricity grids
Traditional flow of water from Florida: Water was confined to the east
by the coastal ridge piney ridge (day county pines)
Shark River Slew when it was in its wild form, it was one of
the widest and shallowest rivers in the world
o But as development continued, the structures built
tended to pond the water when there was a big storm
Taylor Slew
What happened: in order to accommodate everyone, engineers
widened and cut larger pathways out to the ocean and the bay
They thought this would lower the level of the lake
To the SE of the river, they cut dozens of new waterways that
allowed escape to the ocean
Freshwater gushing out due to pressure in the karst
topography from the central area being taller.
New sinkholes in Florida because they have drained the
groundwater level so much, that the rock is no longer as
supportive
Water Management Districts:
A series of levies in the northern portion of the formation
store water in them for the dry season in order to repopulate
the wells
Oncoming of hurricane season, they would drop them out
 This completely reversed the water seasons dry became
wet, and wet became dry
C-1 11 Canal 100 ft from the gate of everglades national park
Deepest and widest
Bought them to test moon rockets barge them up, and then
flip them over and shoot them off
The most sensitive parts of the everglades national park are
in close approximation to the space launches, and the wind
blows the residues over the everglades.
When it is dried out, peat is spontaneously oxidized since the
draining of the area south of the lake, 5 ft has subsided