‘A fantastic day’: Kissimmee River restoration project complete after 22 years

Max Chesnes
Treasure Coast Newspapers

What once was natural is natural once again. 

Twenty-two years after construction began to correct the straightening of Florida’s winding Kissimmee River, federal and state environment officials celebrated a long-anticipated milestone Thursday. 

The Kissimmee River Restoration Project has restored over 40-square-miles of river floodplain ecosystem, 20,000 acres of wetlands and 44 miles of river channel, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Tim Gysan. 

That comes five decades after the federal completion of the C-38 Canal, which morphed the bending river into a straight-lined canal to serve as a human-engineered vehicle for flood control.

In the 1970s, polluted water was given a 30-foot-deep, 100-foot-wide express lane into Lake Okeechobee, where it hindered the lake's ecology and excesses were discharged east and west to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. 

Soon after the channelization of the historic Kissimmee River, it quickly became apparent there was detrimental effects on its natural ecosystem:

  • Over 90% of waterfowl species disappeared
  • Bald eagle nesting territory decreased by 70%
  • An oxygen-depleted system dramatically changed fish and invertebrate habitat. 

The deterioration of the meandering river — once sandwiched between a 2-mile-wide floodplain bustling with wildlife — sparked federal, state and local officials to begin one of the world's largest river ecosystem restoration projects in history. 

On Thursday, decades of reversing course lent itself to celebration. Top Army Corps brass stood shoulder-to-shoulder with state water managers and federal wildlife officials in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to recognize the restoration progress.

"It's a fantastic day," said Florida commander Col. Andrew Kelly. "Today, we celebrate the completion of the construction phase, with many of the people we've worked so hard to maintain the momentum on this project for more than 30 years." 

U.S. Army Col. Andrew Kelly, commander of the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, addresses a crowd of federal and state environmental officials during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, July 29, 2021, to celebrate the completion of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project near Lorida. The project consisted of filling in a portion of the C-38 Canal to return the river to its natural, winding path.

What's been done to restore the river?

When Congress authorized the Kissimmee River Restoration Project, George H.W. Bush was nearing the end of his sole term as U.S. president. Boyz II Men topped the nation’s music charts. It was four years before this reporter was born.

The ambitious plan to restore one of Florida’s most iconic rivers was approved in the 1992 Water Resources Development Act, and construction began in 1999. The fourth phase of construction was completed in 2010, when 19 miles of the river's flow was restored. 

Since then, the feds have worked alongside the South Florida Water Management District to backfill the C-38 Canal, remove two water control structures, reconstruct remnant channels and acquire over 100,000 acres of land to restore the river and its floodplain. 

In his hand, Kelly held a shovel used in the original groundbreaking over two decades ago. "It's not a sprint, it's a marathon," he told the crowd.

There's enough water storage north of Lake O now to fill the 2-mile-wide Kissimmee River floodplain with about 2 feet of water, Gysan told TCPalm. That's ultimately about 3 inches less water off Lake O's level, a main factor in when and how much excess water is released to coastal estuaries.

The marshes of lush grass now in the Kissimmee River's floodplains and oxbows will help clean the water laden with nitrogen and phosphorus from rainfall runoff that feed harmful algal blooms that have plagued Lake O for decades.

"Not only are we keeping water in the watershed and delivering it in the right volumes and frequencies, we're also connecting with the floodplains where it cleans the water before it heads down into the lake," said South Florida Water Management Executive Director Drew Bartlett. 

"From a (water) quantity standpoint, it's a home-run," he told TCPalm. "From a quality standpoint it is, too." 

Guests are given an air boat tour of the newly finished restoration project of the Kissimmee River on Thursday, July 29, 2021, after a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by federal and state environmental officials. The Kissimmee River Restoration Project has restored more than 40-square-mies of river floodplain ecosystem, including 20,000 acres of wetlands and 44 miles of the historic river channel. The restoration effort comes five decades after the federal completion of the C-38 Canal that turned the winding Kissimmee River into a straight line to serving e as a vehicle for flood control.

Mission isn't accomplished yet 

There's two phases to complete Kissimmee River restoration, said Lawrence Glenn, director of the SFWMD's water resources division. The first step, construction, is now complete. Next is what Glenn calls "the restoration of hydrology." 

Standing from the bow of an airboat, Glenn pointed to the meandering grassy waters behind him. In the exact spot where the C-38 Canal once flowed, there was now an abundance of birds flying overhead. The next step is managing the quantity, timing and distribution of the river's water, to ensure the ecology thrives, he said. 

The Headwaters Revitalization Schedule will increase storage in the headwaters lakes to mirror how water historically flowed, according to the SFWMD. This second phase is expected to be fully implemented by 2026, with phased-in sections beginning next year.

"I firmly believe there's nothing that's going to undo what these people have worked through an entire generation to do," said Shannon Estenoz, the U.S. Department of Interior assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. 

"They have made a more resilient river," Estenoz told TCPalm. "A river that is restored is a river that is resilient against external forces." 

The restoration completion comes at a pivotal point in the history of managing Lake O. The Corps expects to polish off a new lake management plan, called the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), by early August. The agency will complete a draft environmental impact statement by February and finalize the plan by November 2022. 

Gysan, who is the project manager for the LOSOM process, also leads the Kissimmee River restoration project. It's been a busy few months, he said. 

"It shows what we can do when we all come together across different interest groups and across the agencies to really fix a big environmental issue like this," he told TCPalm. 

There also needs to be a continued focus on Everglades restoration, said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Interim Secretary Shawn Hamilton. 

"While today represents a tremendous achievement, the state of Florida is not — I repeat, is not — declaring 'mission accomplished,' " Hamilton said. 

Similar sentiments were echoed by Cara Capp, the senior Everglades program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

“As the headwaters of the Greater Everglades, the health and resilience of the Kissimmee River impacts the entire downstream ecosystem," Capp said, calling the restoration's completion a tremendous milestone.

Now, Congress should fully fund the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a suite of 68 projects "to restore the entirety of this iconic American landscape for future generations," Capp said. 

There's a lot of work still left to do, Kelly said. 

"But it's a good time to pause and just show the work that we've been doing so far." 

For more news, follow Max Chesnes on Twitter.

Max Chesnes is a TCPalm environment reporter covering issues facing the Indian River Lagoon, St. Lucie River and Lake Okeechobee. You can keep up with Max on Twitter @MaxChesnes, email him at max.chesnes@tcpalm.com and give him a call at 772-978-2224.

Read more of Max's stories.