Everglades restoration: Connecting research and monitoring to decision making

The historic Everglades was a rain-driven, slowly flowing system, covering a majority of southern Florida, flowing into Florida Bay. Human impacts to the Everglades began with native Americans but landscape-scale impacts did not occur until centuries later when the desire became prevalent that water levels in Lake Okeechobee be controlled and the Everglades drained for agriculture.  This became a reality in the 1880s when canal construction was initiated to move the water of the Everglades to tide.  During the last century, the Everglades have been developed, drained and impounded so that less than 60% of the original area remains, including the Everglades Protection Area and the Everglades National Park.  Alligator Alley, the Tamiami Trail and a series of canals and dikes have significantly altered the hydropattern, and human development and agriculture have reduced the extent and altered the chemistry of the system.  Restoration plans include improving the hydrology (by backfilling canals and removing dikes where feasible) and cleaning the water.  The Everglades Division is conducting research into the restoration of the Everglades System to guide management decisions.  This includes manipulation of the landscape to enhance ecosystem structure and function, using natural processes such as fire to accelerate recovery, tracking vegetation change across the landscape in response to hydrologic manipulation and determining baseline conditions from which to evaluate restoration efforts.  These efforts will be discussed in the context of the ecological restoration of the Everglades and how the results will support the management of the system.