THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THE GLADES IS UNATURAL WATER FLOW. Two roads the TamiAmi Trail and Alligator Alley act as two HUGE dikes crossing right across the Glades with only small bridges and canals allowing the water to flow south as it historically did. It was changed from the Pay-ha-okee or what we call the River of Grass to a series of fast moving canals. Water flow used to flow south at about a mile or so per day with the average depth at 6"-12". Add in the channelization of the Caloosahatchee River, the Hillsboro Canal, and other diversion canals flowing into the Gulf Of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean has made Florida Bay bloom with algae with disasterous effects on the ecosystem. Then throw in the Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee coupled with the channelization of the Kissimmie River feeding into Lake Okeechobee from the north and you have a disaster that today we call the Everglades. I almost forgot about BIG SUGAR just south of the lake taking all the excessive nutrients south in the water flow. Some of these things you may not fully understand the how's and why's but I'm a slow typist and it would take pages to explain when, why, and how this adversly affects the Everglades. If you research these terms I gave you it will become much clearer to you. To make a long story short the sheet flow is almost destroyed and fresh water is not in sufficient quantity to wash out Floriday Bay making the Glades somewhat sterile...That's a lot of history going back over 100 years. The villians are Government Organizations. Early on it was the Army Corps of Engineers and later S W Florida Water Management . The government has been on a mission to drain and destroy the Glades since the late 1800"s. Other factors involving plants like Melaleauca, Cassurina, etc that were deliberately introduced by the government as well. I'll shut up for now BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE...Sorry for the rant...Thanks
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

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