The purported home of the origin of the phrase "I've got some swampland in Florida to sell you" is being celebrated as one of the nation's biggest wetland restoration efforts and part of the world's largest environmental restoration of its kind.
The Picayune Strand Restoration Project repaired 85-square-miles of distorted and drained wetlands in western Collier County and returned it to something close to its natural state.
Crews removed about 260 miles of crumbling roads, plugged 48 miles of canals, and built three massive pump stations to restore the natural flow of water across the landscape.
The project cost roughly $435 million and took more than 15 years.
The Picayune Strand is the first major tract of land to be repaired and reclaimed under the multi-billion dollar, multi-decadal Everglades Restoration.
The taxpayer-funded restoration is repairing as much of the River of Grass as is possible to its former glory now that more than 10 million people live along its edges in Miami, West Palm Beach, Naples, and Fort Myers.
Wood storks nest in the rehydrated wetlands. Florida panthers — among the most endangered mammals in North America — are hunting, living, and searching for mates in the restored habitat. So are black bears, bald eagles, and red-cockaded woodpeckers.
The more natural flow of water through the strand is improving the area's hydrology, allowing balanced plant communities to return, increasing fresh water for the aquifer and nearby estuaries.
Members of the Army Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, politicians, environmentalists, and volunteers are celebrating the official reopening of the Picayune Strand this week.
"Historic achievement. Monumental day. Collaboration at its finest. I am enormously grateful to every single person who worked on this project every step of the way," said Charlette Roman, chairwoman of the Big Cypress Basin and a member of the South Florida Water Management District's governing board. "We have worked for decades to get to the finish line of this vital Everglades Restoration project."
The benefits extend beyond the project boundaries. Restored water flows are improving conditions at Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Collier-Seminole State Park and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.
The mess began in the late 1950s when brothers Leonard and Julius Rosen bought roughly 175 square miles of the mangrove-filled swamp for about $678,000. They formed Gulf American Land Corporation and began marketing Golden Gate Estates as a tropical paradise.
Salespeople flew potential buyers over the property during the dry season, sold tens of thousands of lots by telephone to buyers who never saw the land, and neglected to mention that reaching most parcels required a boat by late June.
The company went bankrupt in the late 1970s. The Rosens, it is said, walked away with millions.
State of Florida taxpayers, and others throughout the nation, have been reclaiming the area east of Naples ever since.
"Completing rejuvenation of this natural wonder is a gargantuan challenge," Adam Telle, the assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said at a celebration at the strand Wednesday. "The result is a testament to the hard work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, our partners with the State of Florida, and everyone involved in making today a reality."
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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