Landscapes and Hydrology of the Predrainage Everglades (review)

The Everglades restoration arena consists of many stakeholders with legal and legitimate claims on their respective use of the resource. The system has changed so dramatically since the mid-19th century that restoration, in the true sense of the word, is simply not feasible. When we speak of Everglades restoration, we are really talking about restoration of ecological function throughout the remaining system. Of course, this "restoration" must be done while providing for urban and agricultural water supply, as well as flood protection at a minimum. The recreation lobby, mostly hunters, fishermen, and indigenous peoples make up the remaining significant stakeholder groups. Balancing the goal of the restoration with the stakeholder needs is where the research and information contained in Landscapes and Hydrology of the Predrainage Everglades will prove to be very valuable. The authors' painstaking evaluation of what must be considered all available information on the topic provides an excellent framework with which to evaluate future restoration initiatives.

The book begins with a comprehensive description of the methods used in this publication. In reviewing works as old as 200 yr, the authors did a commendable job in reviewing the historical record to create an objective and consistent model of the predrainage Everglades landscape. The use of the historical township surveys provides a convenient tool for comparing areas between current and historical times, and it is quite remarkable how some fragments of the landscape have persisted through the decades.

The phases of drainage, covered in Chapter 2, have been described in previous books (Light and Dineen 1994, Grunwald 2006). McVoy and colleagues' effort compliments them nicely by focusing on the history and providing numerous firsthand accounts of the activities of the early drainage era. These anecdotes lend veracity to the work by providing an overwhelming amount of firsthand evidence supporting one of the main conclusions, that by 1940 significant changes had already occurred in the Everglades system. This is a significant conclusion in that many professionals involved in Everglades restoration view the system of the 1930s and 1940s as a restoration target.

There is a tendency for many to consider the 1943 vegetation survey by J.H. Davis as representative of the pre-drainage Everglades. In fact, Davis and colleagues (1994) refers to the 1943 vegetation map as representative of the predrainage landscape. However, the effects of drainage presented in Chapter 3 provide ample evidence to disavow this concept. The hypotheses suggesting fairly rapid and substantial changes to soil and vegetation put forward in this chapter are well supported with both scientific evidence and a wealth of firsthand descriptions of the landscape. Chapter 3 lays the necessary groundwork for the reconstruction of the Everglades landscape presented in Chapter 4.

Lake Okeechobee represents probably one of the most controversial issues for Everglades restoration. In this part of the system, the status quo condition of lowered lake levels has a large contingent of supporters. On the other side of the issue are those that feel that the connection between Lake Okeechobee and the remaining Everglades is paramount. Maintaining a lower lake level creates a substantial challenge for restoration efforts because it removes a substantial quantity of water storage from the system. Chapter 5 paints a vivid picture of predrainage conditions and provides strong evidence that initial drainage efforts in the 1880s were successful in lowering the lake by several feet. This is important in the context of restoration because it provides an estimate of the amount of water that was available to the system and for which must be compensated with storage elsewhere to achieve an effectively restored condition. The conclusion that the Everglades were effectively cut off from a continuous water supply from Lake Okeechobee as early as 1890 is remarkable and a testament to the resilience of natural systems.

The remaining landscape types of the Everglades, namely the Sawgrass plains, Custard Apple and Cypress swamps, ridge and slough...