Photo of unrestored section shows C-38 canal and portion of remnant natural channel.

It was the big flood control story of the 1950s, taming the Kissimmee River—cattle ranchers and politicians argued that it just had to be done.

It was the big environmental story of the 1970s, restoring the Kissimmee River—conservationists and politicians argued that it had to be done.

So we did both, first turning a winding river into a straight-as-an-arrow canal, and now turning a canal back into a winding river. The Kissimmee River drains 3,000 square miles of Central Florida between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee. Rain falling in the upper basin collects in a chain of lakes, flowing from one to the other until entering the river at the lower end of Lake Kissimmee. From there, the river once traced a slow, undulating path south for 103 miles to Lake Okeechobee.

All that changed in the 1950s, when humans began tinkering.

By 1971, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had sliced a canal, 50 miles long, 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep, straight through the meandering river and floodplain.

As some experts had warned, 31,000 acres of marsh dried up. Wildlife populations plummeted, and the numbers of wintering waterfowl, estimated at 12,000 birds a year, fell by more than 90 percent.

The once beautiful Kissimmee River, now more accurately known as the C-38 Canal, had been turned into a drainage ditch.

Even before the project was completed, scientists and conservation groups were lobbying for restoration. But it was a presentation before Florida’s governor and cabinet in 1972 by noted scientist Art Marshall that is often cited as a political turning point.

It wasn’t until 1992, however, that the Army Corp of Engineers was finally ordered to proceed with the largest river restoration project ever attempted. Twenty-two miles of the canal would be backfilled, restoring 43 miles of natural river channel and re-flooding 27,000 acres of marshlands.

Phase I of four backfilling phases was completed ahead of schedule in March of 2001.

Numbers of wading birds like egrets and herons increased six-fold, and wintering waterfowl returned to the wetlands in a big way.

“There’s definitely more game out there, especially for duck hunters,” said Byron Maharrey, a member of the Florida Sportsmen’s Conservation Association in Palm Beach County.

Overall the project includes the public acquisition of around 110,000 acres of land, much of which has already been purchased and is now open to the public as Wildlife Management Areas.

Bass fishing in the restored area also seems to be on the upswing.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) levels should improve in the restored river, reversing a general decline brought about by the 1950s channelization. Largemouth bass had largely been replaced by species such as garfish and bowfin (mudfish) that can better survive under low DO conditions.

A restored Kissimmee should also result in cleaner water delivered to Lake Okeechobee. The wetlands can assimilate nutrients out of the water column and reduce turbidity. It won’t take the place of a badly needed “Zone D Diet” for the Big O, detailed in the September issue, but it should help.