Converted
04-14-2005, 02:21 PM
Jupiter Courier - April 13, 2005
Editor's note: The Lake Okeechobee Protection Program (HB 155/SB502) has been adopted in the Florida House (110-0) and has been placed on the calendar for the second reading in the Senate.
Across the entire United States, people of all age can identify Lake Okeechobee as the big body of water centered in the tip of Florida's peninsula.
Covering more than 740 square miles, the second largest fresh water lake encompassed entirely by American soil is aptly named after the Seminole word Okeechobee, meaning "Big Water."
To Floridians, however, Lake Okeechobee means more than just a big body of water. It provides economic stability for surrounding towns, creates some of the finest freshwater fishing worldwide, and most importantly serves as an environmental turnkey to improving the Everglades and South Florida's ecosystem.
Lake Okeechobee would remain virtually unscathed until the 1870s when Civil War debt left Florida no choice but to sell much of the land north of the lake. Hamilton Disston, the son of a millionaire saw manufacturer, invested in four million acres of the untouched land with a new vision of Florida's interior landscape.
Disston saw this land as an opportunity to create a cattle and sugar empire by draining the land to reclaim the majority of his purchased acreage. His actions would change Florida's natural environment forever.
The pattern of dredging and canal building became all too common throughout Florida's fragile ecosystems.
While the farming and cattle industries thrived, harmful transformations were taking place in Florida's freshwater ecosystem. A chain of environmental dissolution had begun to form from the Kissimmee River to the southernmost Everglades.
Lake Okeechobee over the past century has been brought to the edge of complete environmental failure. She's used for drainage, treated like a cesspool and viewed as a watering trough, yet against all odds, she continues to resist the worst man throws at her.
Marjorie Stoneman Douglass, one of Florida's most renowned environmental advocates, went on in her final chapter of the highly acclaimed "River of Grass," to say that the Lake Okeechobee's great size made it seem invincible. But she recognized, as we do today, that it was not so.
It is true that we have started to turn the corner in the ongoing battle to save Lake Okeechobee.
The federal and state governments have recognized the need to preserve the future of our lake. We suddenly realized that she is an economic lifeline of the region and the ecosystem lifeblood for South Florida.
Inevitably, where we fail with Lake Okeechobee restoration, we fail exponentially with the Everglades restoration.
The Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan, a 15-year plan initiated by the state was a major step in the right direction. Since its inception in 2000, we have strived to achieve continuous funding for the implementation of the plan.
Through this protection plan we are also continuing to promote the proven Best Management Practices that will assist business owners, regional farming operations, and local governments, to help avoid further pollutants directed into Lake Okeechobee.
We have come a long way in the fight to preserve our lake, but we are merely taking steps in the right direction. After five years of hard work towards the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan, we can say that progress has truly been made.
The $66 million that has been allocated since 2000 is but just the proverbial "drop in the bucket" of the total that will be needed to restore this majestic wonder. A partnership must continue among local businesses, governments, agricultural enterprises and all of those who resourcefully use the lake.
By coming together towards this ultimate goal, you can be assured that Lake Okeechobee will remain a priority to the Florida legislature.
An old Native American proverb says, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
The wisdom of this proverb applies to every aspect of Lake Okeechobee. We must remember that future generations are dependent on the actions we take now.
Editor's note: The Lake Okeechobee Protection Program (HB 155/SB502) has been adopted in the Florida House (110-0) and has been placed on the calendar for the second reading in the Senate.
Across the entire United States, people of all age can identify Lake Okeechobee as the big body of water centered in the tip of Florida's peninsula.
Covering more than 740 square miles, the second largest fresh water lake encompassed entirely by American soil is aptly named after the Seminole word Okeechobee, meaning "Big Water."
To Floridians, however, Lake Okeechobee means more than just a big body of water. It provides economic stability for surrounding towns, creates some of the finest freshwater fishing worldwide, and most importantly serves as an environmental turnkey to improving the Everglades and South Florida's ecosystem.
Lake Okeechobee would remain virtually unscathed until the 1870s when Civil War debt left Florida no choice but to sell much of the land north of the lake. Hamilton Disston, the son of a millionaire saw manufacturer, invested in four million acres of the untouched land with a new vision of Florida's interior landscape.
Disston saw this land as an opportunity to create a cattle and sugar empire by draining the land to reclaim the majority of his purchased acreage. His actions would change Florida's natural environment forever.
The pattern of dredging and canal building became all too common throughout Florida's fragile ecosystems.
While the farming and cattle industries thrived, harmful transformations were taking place in Florida's freshwater ecosystem. A chain of environmental dissolution had begun to form from the Kissimmee River to the southernmost Everglades.
Lake Okeechobee over the past century has been brought to the edge of complete environmental failure. She's used for drainage, treated like a cesspool and viewed as a watering trough, yet against all odds, she continues to resist the worst man throws at her.
Marjorie Stoneman Douglass, one of Florida's most renowned environmental advocates, went on in her final chapter of the highly acclaimed "River of Grass," to say that the Lake Okeechobee's great size made it seem invincible. But she recognized, as we do today, that it was not so.
It is true that we have started to turn the corner in the ongoing battle to save Lake Okeechobee.
The federal and state governments have recognized the need to preserve the future of our lake. We suddenly realized that she is an economic lifeline of the region and the ecosystem lifeblood for South Florida.
Inevitably, where we fail with Lake Okeechobee restoration, we fail exponentially with the Everglades restoration.
The Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan, a 15-year plan initiated by the state was a major step in the right direction. Since its inception in 2000, we have strived to achieve continuous funding for the implementation of the plan.
Through this protection plan we are also continuing to promote the proven Best Management Practices that will assist business owners, regional farming operations, and local governments, to help avoid further pollutants directed into Lake Okeechobee.
We have come a long way in the fight to preserve our lake, but we are merely taking steps in the right direction. After five years of hard work towards the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan, we can say that progress has truly been made.
The $66 million that has been allocated since 2000 is but just the proverbial "drop in the bucket" of the total that will be needed to restore this majestic wonder. A partnership must continue among local businesses, governments, agricultural enterprises and all of those who resourcefully use the lake.
By coming together towards this ultimate goal, you can be assured that Lake Okeechobee will remain a priority to the Florida legislature.
An old Native American proverb says, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
The wisdom of this proverb applies to every aspect of Lake Okeechobee. We must remember that future generations are dependent on the actions we take now.