Located in Florida, the Everglades is one of the largest wetlands in the world - spanning 1.5 million acres. But it was once nearly twice that size before canals and dams altered its landscape. Meet the scientists and engineers bringing back its natural flow.

Everglades

The Everglades, known as the 'River of Grass,' is a vast and diverse wetland in Florida that supports over 2,000 plant and animal species. Decades of development and agriculture disrupted its natural water flow, leading to ecological imbalances and pollution. In response, the U.S. government launched the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, which includes 68 projects aimed at restoring water flow and improving water quality.

A key component of the restoration is the construction of a large reservoir in the Everglades Agricultural Area, designed to reconnect fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to the central Everglades. This project, expected to be completed by 2034, will work alongside stormwater treatment areas to filter agricultural runoff. Early results show increased bird populations and improved ecosystem health, highlighting the importance of balancing human activity with nature for long-term sustainability.

Restoring the ‘River of Grass’

Right now we're standing in the Everglades. It's the largest tropical wetland in the United States and it's an incredible diverse habitat. This ecosystem is home to more than 2,000 species of plants and animals. Known as the River of Grass, the Everglades begin at Lake Okeechobee and flow south through cypress swamps, sawgrass marshes and mangrove forests before spilling out into Florida Bay. This is peat soil, unique to the Everglades, and it functions to capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it. It's one of the most important features of the Everglades and something that we work hard to protect. Natalia Aguirre is a scientist with the Everglades Foundation, one of many groups working to restore and protect this iconic wetland. At the end of the 19th century, as people started moving to South Florida, they started agriculture, building roads, cities, and all of that diverted the natural flow of the Everglades. Decades of human development drained the Everglades, polluted its waters, and threw its delicate ecosystem off balance, impacting many plant and animal species along the way. That's when we started realizing that all of this water is connected and that something needed to be done to restore this ecosystem. In 2000, the U.S. government established the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to remove barriers and bring back its natural flow. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan involves 68 different projects across South Florida. It's a very complex project, but the benefits are worth it because we need enough fresh water coming south to maintain the biodiversity and the other functions that the Everglades provide us. It protects us from hurricanes and storms, it helps us with flooding, and it provides drinking water for nine million South Floridians. Just south of Lake Okeechobee, the crown jewel of the restoration plan is taking shape in the Everglades Agricultural Area, or EAA, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The EAA reservoir is a mega civil works project. It reconnects the fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to the heart of the central Everglades. It holds water so that it can be re-delivered back to the Everglades in the right distribution with good quality. Basically, all this area where we're standing right now will be full of water. What you see around us is limestone that is natural from this location. We're repurposing it and making it engineering material for the construction of the reservoir. Expected to be completed by 2034, this reservoir will work in conjunction with stormwater treatment areas, or STAs, that filter out excess agricultural runoff, like phosphorus, which can lead to harmful algae blooms and negatively impact wildlife. While restoration is in various stages, and there may be decades to go before total completion, Natalie says they're already seeing the positive effects of their work. There's ongoing scientific investigation to understand truly the impacts that more fresh water has on the system. So scientists are already reporting countless more birds and other organisms compared to years past. The lesson we've learned over time is that for all of us to live here, we have to be in balance with nature because nature is our path to our sustainability and our future for all of our communities.

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