what we are dealing with in lee county... year after year.

[OldSkool67]

This is what's going on in our area.

We have some the of the best fishing in the country right here in swfl from Estero bay, Pine Island Sound, Caloosahatchee River, Matlacha, Charlotte Harbor and all of our barrier islands like Sanibel, Captiva and Cayo Costa. I've lived here since 1984. I've fished, camped and waterskied the waters since I was 4 years old. Years ago the good old Army Core of Engineers or the Jackwad Idiots as we have come to call them have decided they needed to drain Lake "O" through the Caloosahatchee River. Every year they do this and every year it kills our fishing and ruins the beaches, the water is murky and down right gross. Here is a picture from this week, you can see the nasty water just pushing out at the Sanibel lighthouse.  

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll25 ... a25f8e.jpg


We also never had red tide till they started the draining of the lake, though they can not find a direct link to the draining.

Our economy thrives on the beaches, tourism and fishing. Not to mention the residents like me who spend endless amounts of our money on boating and living in a waterfront community. Our money isn't important enough I guess. Would they do this to the Keys during lobster season or anytime for that matter? The best part is as someone who alligator hunts they tell us each year the counts are down due to draught conditions in Lake "O", really? What if you stop draining it all summer long and let the level increase like it has for hundreds of years prior.

So that's the end of my rant. I guess it could be worse, I could live in Detroit.

Carry on  

[fitz73222]

The only reason that we have drain Okeechobee is so we don't flood our precious sugar cane fields to the south. So Lee county, St. Lucie county and the Everglades get to bare the brunt of that industry at the expense of the environment and local residents. Its a damn shame. Just a few people with the right influence with the right government bottom feeders who continue to destroy a beautiful and delicate ecosystem. But since this country is addicted to sugar and ethanol production not much will change I'm afraid...

[Georgie]

X2 Farley -

All that water used to run straight south out the bottom of Lake O and slowly march it's way through the greater everglades system, ultimately pouring out through the Shark River and Taylor Slough into the north shore of Florida Bay.  Once the levees were constructed around Lake O to protect the lucrative sugar cane fields (which destroyed TENS OF THOUSANDS of acres of wetlands btw), then alternative discharge routes were needed.  The Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers drew the short straws and now both sides experience this same effect during hurricane season each year.  For what it's worth, the CERP project (Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan) was conceived to help restore SOME of the historical sheet flow southward from the lake which is necessary to improve the health of the Everglades and Florida bay.  While the project is undoubtedly a partial failure b/c private subcontractors siphoned off HUGE portions of the funding, and the feds rescinded some of the money they originally promised to contribute, it still should help alleviate the seasonal degradation of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.  Fingers crossed.

[dirtwheelsfl]

Almost brought some bass n crappie gear out the inlet the other day    

[Capt. Bob]

X2 Farley -

A Once the levees were constructed around Lake O to protect the lucrative sugar cane fields (which destroyed TENS OF THOUSANDS of acres of wetlands btw), then alternative discharge routes were needed.

One must remember Florida history. The original canal was dug by a Yankee business man and real estate developer with the idea of draining the Everglades for farming and land development. This occurred almost 40 years before "Big Sugar" showed up in the region.The area water development district dug additional canals to encourage farming and to protect the area from flooding. Brilliant idea in retrospect  but not uncommon during the turn of the century and beyond.

When a hurricane drained the lake and killed several thousand people living and working in the area, the dyke came into existence. That was in the early 1920s and continued for years. This was an ACOE undertaking. Sugar was a Depression era crop and the Feds spent a good deal of money to get it off the ground. Sugar cane soil conditions in Cuba are very different than the original Everglades "muck" and it took huge amounts of chemicals to get it to grow here. It was the Cuban Embargo that allowed the Feds to pump huge resources into Big Sugar and put the last nail in the coffin that started 70 years earlier. The dyke is old and ACOE pumps out the water to avoid another Katrina type incident (which would be yet another black eye on the agency) while providing the "cloaked" element of  protection to the sugar industry land. Smoke and mirrors for sure.

All the drainage canals need refilling and the dyke system rebuilt to protect the area. Filling in the canals would eliminate the farming element (ground water table would rise) and turn the area into a giant ghost town. :|

 It seems impossible to reach point where the Everglades ecosystem returns to its original state. Remember, in South Fla. the edge of the glades reached the karst line running  along the coast. That entire coastline staring just north of the Card Sound Bridge in Dade County all the way to Palm Beach County is covered with development. Covered with drainage canals, it can never be restored but even if we could get a large section with traditional flow, there still is the Aerojet canal, the "Alley" and the "Trail" to deal with.

The way it was:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LyraEDISServle ... sion=42850

Sounds "shovel ready" to me except that the spoil which sat on the bank for so many years went into yet another project rather than back from were it came.

Oh by the way, that original Yankee built canal ended in the head waters of the Caloosahatchee River.
The very first to be violated. :x

Good read.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw349

Wiki read for what it's worth. I have been to the "Jet Port".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_a ... Everglades

As a Florida native since 1951, it is very sad. :cry:

[Capt Matt]

The army core does more damage to pine island sound than the BP oil spill could have ever done, at least we could sue BP
As much as I would like to blame all on the lake O water  a lot of the problem water is from the river due to leaky septic tanks, fertilizer run off from homes, golf courses, farms etc
if you use Fertalizer on your yard your part of the problem, everything is going to run off and end up in the canals then the river, then its all just  pushed down the river like a toilet getting flushed by the lake o releases
The last few years I have spent lots of time on the lake and am always amazed how pristine this lake is
Something has to give here, I fish in this cola colored water daily, the damage this crap water does  to our grass flats is terrible
I did see a gator in the sound today, after almost 35 yrs that's a first for me
Capt Matt

[Georgie]

Here's a rather pertinent follow up article.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-lake-okeechobee-drainage-20130729,0,160000,full.story

[OldSkool67]

Capt Matt, I agree there are multiple factors for sure. I remember some years after the big dumps of water we loose the grass in a lot of places which effects our fishing and god knows how many other things. Its got to suck when your living depends on it.  

When I was a kid we would put in at Pineland and run to the fish houses and that general area and we would fill bucket after bucket of scallops. I cant remember the last time I even heard of a scallop around here. It may have nothing to do with it but it sure seems like it does. I have seen so many changes here since I was a kid and not for the good that's for sure. Other than Charlie's pass giving me a new place to drink beer I can't think of any that were for the better.

[Capt Matt]

Scallops really are a good gauge of our water quality, this past weekend they had the annual FWC scallop count off of pineland, numbers where at a all time low
This last few days water north of redfish pass got a whole lt clearer, if your heading out go north
Capt Matt

[DOCREED]

Capt Matt, I agree there are multiple factors for sure. I remember some years after the big dumps of water we loose the grass in a lot of places which effects our fishing and god knows how many other things. Its got to suck when your living depends on it.  

When I was a kid we would put in at Pineland and run to the fish houses and that general area and we would fill bucket after bucket of scallops. I cant remember the last time I even heard of a scallop around here. It may have nothing to do with it but it sure seems like it does. I have seen so many changes here since I was a kid and not for the good that's for sure. Other than Charlie's pass giving me a new place to drink beer I can't think of any that were for the better.

I read somewhere the people on the east coast are complaining about the all the water being sent out their way.  apparently they normally only send to the west coast.

[Capt Matt]

They only get 25% on the east coast we get 75%
Seems it would flush faster into the Atlantic than the gulf as its a shorter run
Despite the dark water the fishing in the mouth of the river was on fire last week during the big high tides
30+ redfish days
Some of the best fishing I can ever remember was right after hurricane charley when they had record releases
It's not pretty out there but the bite is on
Capt Matt

[FJStretch]

Things are tough right now. Rainfall in the Kissimmee watershed (north of Lake O) is at or breaking records. Lake O can only hold so much safely. All the canals and lakes are higher than typical for this time of year. There is no place to put the water, so its sent out to the ocean via the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie by system design. It stinks but there are no viable alternatives at this point. Basically, every alternative implemented is met with lawsuits from multiple entities, including environmental, agricultural, commercial, and other organizations. Political gridlock. It's frustrating!

There are numerous problems that contribute to our current predicament. A lot of it has to do with past drainage projects executed by various entities, including your "Yankee" (Hamilton Disston who was from Pennsylvania), the Corps of Engineers, and many other past regional and local drainage projects. But don't get too down on Disston. It was the late 1800's and the State and the Federal government were paying him with land in exchange for his drainage efforts. The goal being economic development in Florida. Peninsular Florida was mostly swamp then. Disston's family business was a large industrial company and his lack of success in draining parts of Florida contributed greatly to his ultimate bankruptcy and possibly his death (rumored suicide). However, he wasn't a bad guy. He was a philanthropist and was credited with treating his employees very well in an age where that was uncommon.

Update 8/28/2013 - Good news. FL Gov. Rick Scott just committed $90M to bridging a 2.6 mile segment of Tamiami Trail. The purpose of this project is to allow more water to enter the Everglades and would reduce the amount of high-nutrient water from entering the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries. It won't solve the problem but it will reduce the problem.

[Capt Matt]

I don't put much faith in gov Rick Scott, the main reason the east coast gets so much less water than west coast is a political thing more voters with more money on the east coast
5 or 10 years ago everything was set up for a huge Everglades restoration project to make the water flow to the south how it should, funds where used for other things and it just never happened,
Capt Matt

[FJStretch]

The reality is that originally the Caloosahatchee never connected to Lake O. Or it was a very very small connection at best.

We are better at screwing it up than fixing things.

[Capt Matt]

Dry out the Everglades for farm land, sounds like a plan
Water looked much better today up by redfish pass, looks like things are slowly  getting better
Capt Matt