Did you know the Picayune Strand Restoration Project will restore over 55,000 acres of native wetlands and uplands in Southwest Florida? Major progress continues to be made on this key Everglades restoration project, which improves natural sheet flow and rehydrates drained wetlands.
Restoring this natural area is all about removing the footprints of the past. To date, 90% of the old roads and 98% of the logging trams are degraded. In addition, over 60% of canals are backfilled. Three pump stations are also complete to rehydrate drained wetlands.
In the 1960s, more than 85 square miles of wetlands in western Collier County were drained for a failed real estate development called Southern Golden Gate Estates. Road construction and new canals negatively impacted the area, reducing aquifer storage, increasing beneficial freshwater flows near the Ten Thousand Islands, disrupting native plant communities, and increasing wildfires.
Today, crews from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are actively removing the development’s crumbling roads, plugging the canals, and constructing other conveyance features to restore the natural flow of water, and in turn, support wildlife habitat, water quality improvements, and overall ecosystem restoration. The Picayune Strand Restoration Project is an important component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), and construction is expected to be complete in 2025.
Progress on the project over the last year includes:
- Continued removal of roads and logging trams.
- Plugged the upper three miles of the Faka Union Canal.
- Began construction on the Southwest Protection Feature levee to maintain existing levels of flood protection.
- Began construction on the project’s conveyance features.