Sunday Favorites: Researching Restoration in the Deep South

Adam Chasey at one of the fish traps Photo: Mac Stone

BISCAYNE BAY – Sunrise illuminates the vastness of the Everglades. Some of the state’s most unusual animals such as the American Crocodile and the Florida Panther emerge from their hiding places to bask in the warm rays peaking through the saw grass marshes, cypress swamps, mangrove forests, hardwood hammocks and rockland pines. Audubon employees Adam Chasey and Mac Stone hurry to set their fish traps before the light gets too far overhead.

Organizaions like SWFTMD (pdf) are working to restore a slow moving, river of grass that originally flowed from Lake Okeechobee.  The current area makes up several complex ecological systems that encompass the Everglades. All harbor different varieties of species and the two men encounter an assortment on a daily basis during fieldwork operations.

Some days, the researchers start at 4:00 a.m. They drive an hour in an SUV, take a boat trip across the bay, load gear into kayaks and finally paddle upwind through shark and reptile infested water to reach one of their 17 monitoring sites. Adam and Mac are participants of a project to observe the affects of the ongoing Everglades restoration.  The study focuses on the eating habits of the Roseate Spoonbill because it is a good indicator for progress. Strategically placed fish traps, set over an expanse between Biscayne Bay and Cape Sable, ensnare the Spoonbill’s sustenance.

A very long paddle Photo: Mac Stone

”Spoonbills are tactile feeders which means that they feed by feel. They need a lot of fish to be there in order to eat. They are more accessible than other animals to moniter so that is why we they study them. During the wet season, their food supply explodes --you know exponential growth. Then as the water level draws down, they are forced into smaller and smaller pockets," said Adam.

Though they encounter what many would consider dangerous animals, they don’t regard them as the most hazardous aspect of their occupation. Last week, an alligator swam off with one of Adams's fish traps.

”Crocodiles are never a real safety concern. The major factor that impacts the job is the weather,“ said Mac.

Up and coming wildlife photographer Mac Stone uses the opportunity to scout out new subjects – whether it is a breathtaking landscape or some elusive wildlife, he always has camera ready. He has never taken a photography class, yet his work has been recognized by many environmental organizations. The most recent being the Forever Florida Conservation Calendar that Legacy Institution of Nature and Culture put together as a fundraising effort for future preservation purchases of ecologically sensitive land that is not currently protected.

”The trend in my life has been that my jobs allow me to use photography as a garnish. It becomes a secondary trade complimented by my day job, and the later has lent itself nicely to the former. I encounter so many beautiful places in my job with the Audubon -- it has really been a gift,“ he said.

In this film, he featured his profession in order to give people an idea of the daily operations of an Audubon employee.

The undertaking of the Everglades restoration has been a long process (see timeline). Reversing a century of damage doesn’t happen overnight. The state legislature and federal government will split an amount of $10.9 billion before it is completed.

In the early twentieth century, canals were dredged to promote land development and provide crop irrigation. Congress formed the Southern Florida Flood Control Project in 1947, and built 1,400 miles of canals, levees and flood control devices to further endorse the effort. Since then, approximately half of the Everglades have been developed into urban and agricultural areas, according to a 1999 U.S. geological survey.

Daily boat trip Photo: Mac Stone

A portion of the everglades was protected as the Everglades National Forest in 1947, but the canals continued to drain sensitive marsh and the agricultural facilities discharged harmful pollutants which were dispersed throughout the area. In the 1980’s scientists found extremely high levels of contaminants like mercury in many species that inhabited the region, as well as other toxins in plants. In the 1990’s, a report commissioned by Governor Lawton Chiles found that the degradation of Everglades ecosystems was directly related to a declining quality of life in nearby urban areas. Water quality was predicted to worsen because of lost water filtration by marshlands and heightened levels of salinity.

In 2000, Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan that would help restore water quality for citizens at an initial cost of $7.8 billion. Water filtration and the filling of several canals would make it possible. Since its signing, the State of Florida reports that it has spent more than $2 billion on the various projects. Approximately 55 percent of all lands needed have been purchased, including U.S. Sugar in 2008, which will be dismantled in the next four years. The land will then be rehabilitated to a more natural state.

”We’re going to see what happens – that is what we’re studying. Hopefully the restoration efforts will hold some traction. I’m mainly happy that the public is backing it and the state is actually taking money to fund a project and preserve a land that doesn’t necessarily belong to anybody – yet it belongs to everybody,“ said Mac Stone.