The Problem with Going Straight Will Okeechobee Be OK? Raising Cane Over Development Restoring Nature's Water Filters Chasing After Ghosts Bay Watch

Although a national park is named Everglades, the true Everglades spills far beyond bureaucratic boundaries. Its headwater is the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, which begins near Orlando. The Kissimmee once was a 103-mile long waterway that often flooded as it meandered toward Lake Okeechobee which, in turn, flooded and flowed southward through sloughs and sawgrass prairies before meeting the mangrove fringe of Florida Bay and heading out to sea. The Kissimmee was straightened when the Army Corps of Engineers dredged a deep canal to control flooding. As much as residents, cattle ranchers and water managers appreciated this, the side effects were detrimental to the entire ecosystem. Today, as a major feature of CERP, the Kissimmee is undergoing a remarkable restoration that will reverberate from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay.