South Florida Information Access - Virtual Tour
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Welcome to SOFIA's South Florida Virtual Tour.Grab your camera as we take a tour around beautiful south Florida. We'll head to places like Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Park, and the Florida Keys. We'll also visit places you might have never heard of, like Corkscrew Swamp, Fern Forest, and "Alligator Alley" - just to name a few. You'll see mangroves, alligators, deer, birds of all kinds, and a few other surprises! But First a Bit about South FloridaSouth Florida's climate is subtropical and humid. Average annual rainfall in South Florida is between 40 to 65-inches (19). More than half of the rainfall occurs in the wet season, which is June through September (19). Historically, rainfall from the Kissimmee Valley filled Lake Okeechobee during the summer rainy season and excess water spilled out along its southern shore. Some of the waters were absorbed into the soil, converting decaying plant materials into rich, fertile mucky soils; the rest were released to the beginning flows of the
In 1926 and 1928, hurricane waters destroyed the dikes on Lake Okeechobees southern edge causing thousands of deaths. This prompted the state of Florida to ask for help from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE). As part of the Central and Southern Florida (C&SF) Project, the USACE constructed about 1,000 miles of canals, levees, gates, dams and pump stations. While the C&SF Project was successful with providing flood control, the natural flow of water to the Everglades was greatly affected.
Restoring South FloridaTo determine what was needed to restore the Everglades and Florida Bay ecosystems, Congress authorized a Comprehensive Review Study (Restudy) of the C&SF Project in 1992. A 20-year Central and Southern Florida Project Comprehensive Plan was presented to Congress in July 1999. With estimated costs of $7.8 billion, the Plan is the most expensive ecosystem restoration plan in U.S. history (35). Today, the USGS (through the USGS South Florida Place-Based Studies Program) along with more than 30 other Federal, State, Local and Tribal government agencies are providing the scientific research needed to restore the South Florida environment.
Come along with us and tour the drained and developed areas in and around Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades Agricultural Area, the Water Conservation Areas and Alligator Alley. Also, come and see the more natural areas of Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Blowing Rocks Preserve, Fern Forest, Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Biscayne National Park, Everglades National Park, Florida Bay & the Keys, and the Ten Thousand Islands. As we guide you through South Florida, we will tell you about its natural systems and about some of South Floridas water management history and how it has affected the present-day South Florida ecosystem.
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov
/virtual_tour/index.html
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster (hhenkel@usgs.gov)
Last updated:
April 06, 2007 @ 01:20 PM
(TJE)