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Fr AUG 2 4 199 BOOK 90 PA. rF `3111 -7 I A ST. JOHNS RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT FACT SHEET Restoration helps heal river's headwater marshes A century ago, the vast marshes of central and south Florida were drained in the name of progress. Cities, towns, farms and citrus groves sprang up where wetlands had formed the headwaters of two major river systems in Florida—the St. Johns River flowing north, and the Kissimmee -Okeechobee chain flowing south to the Everglades. Restoration efforts to repair the unintended effects to the environment have begun. Planning is underway to restore the Kissimmee River -Lake Okeechobee - Everglades system. Meanwhile, a $165 million restoration of the St. Johns River's headwaters and marshes is more . than half complete. The St. Johns River Water Man- agement District, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is using one of the methods pro- posed by South Florida water managers to rescue the Everglades—the creation of marshy reservoirs to hold water and filter out pollutants. The Upper St. Johns River Basin Project is an ambitious flood control and river restoration effort that will more than double the functional wetlands in the river's headwaters region. When finished in 1995, the project will have restored more than 125,000 acres of marshlands to hold water for fish and wildlife and to feed the river in dry seasons. A 100–mile system of levees, spillways, weirs and culverts will divert polluted agricultural discharge into I arge reservoirs for reuse and will hold flood waters in the marshes for gradual release to the river. The project will serve as a national model of floodplain management, according to Maurice Sterling, assistant director of engineering for the water management district, who heads the Upper St. Johns Project. Located in east -central Florida, the project stretches north from the Florida Turnpike for 85 miles through Indian River and Brevard counties. A central feature of the project is Blue Cypress Lake and its surrounding marsh- es, now one of the top sport fisheries in the state. Much of the project area consists of old floodplain, almost two-thirds of which was diked off and drained in the early 1900s for agricultural development of the rich peat soils. After a series of floods in the 1940s, Congress created a flood control project for the 2,000–square mile basin. Dikes and canals were built to funnel water toward the Indian River Lagoon. Environmental concerns stopped the project in the early 1970s. The St. Johns River Water Management District took over the project area in 1977 and hammered out a plan to revitalize the river's flow by restoring drained marsh- lands, plugging canals and building reservoirs. As part of the plan, several water control structures will allow water to "sheet flow" unimpeded through the river's marshes. Farm drainage will go into reservoirs instead of the river or the marsh, and farmers will reuse the drainage water for needed irrigation. There are major benefits to returning the headwater marshes — the river's liquid heart and kidneys — to the upper St. Johns basin. The project will: • Reduce damage from floods • Improve water quality • Curtail freshwater flows to the Indian River Lagoon • Restore fish and wildlife habitat • Increase public recreational opportunities Water managers acknowledge that at best, their efforts are corrective surgery to restore the river to functional — not prime — conditions. But the project will help balance the special needs of the river, the people and creatures who depend on it for many years to come. 10