Following the Falling Water
During
the last six years, high water levels in Lake Okeechobee have resulted in a
number of adverse impacts on the lake's plant & animal communities and
water quality. District scientists have documented a number of problems.
Submerged beds of eelgrass and peppergrass along the south and west lake
shore have been nearly eliminated. Phosphorus concentrations and turbidity
(a measure of water clarity) levels in the water have become very high, and
the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has documented negative
impacts on bass and black crappie populations. Stands of bulrush, an
emergent plant that provides good fish habitat, also have declined in recent
years.
Here is a great
site by SFWMD to keep abreast of all the information that pertains to
Lake Okeechobee and the watershed surrounding it.
Managed
recession of the lake (lowering lake levels) is anticipated to have a number
of substantial benefits for the ecosystem, including:
- Re-establishment
of submerged plant beds along the south and west lake shore
- Improved water
quality (lower phosphorus and high water clarity) in the lake's
near-shore region where wildlife habitat, recreational uses and water
intake structures are located
- Increased size of
bulrush stands
- Benefits to the
lake's recreational fishery
- Establishment of
conditions that allow for more successful control of exotic plants
(especially torpedograss) in the lake's littoral zone
- Breakdown of
accumulated dead plant and algal material in the littoral zone, and
subsequent improvements of the quality of the habitat for fish and
wildlife