FLORIDA 1776 AND 1856 MAPS
 Lake Okeechobee's earliest recorded name was "Mayaimi”
 In 1840's adopted Seminole tribe's Hitchiti dialect name - "Oki (water)-chubi (big) transcribed as Lake Okeechobee
HISTORIC FLOW
 Southern Shoreline elevation: About 21 ft
(NGVD 1929)
 Lake stage likely rarely dropped much
below shoreline elevation
 Primary outlet from Lake Okeechobee
was into Everglades
 Zero flow E;only indirect to W
 Lowering began 1882
1914 VEGETATION MAP
CUSTARD APPLE
EARLY DRAINAGE EFFORTS
 1890’s canal constructed connecting Lake
Okeechobee with Lake Hicpochee, the
headwaters of the Caloosahatchee River,
providing the lake’s first outlet to tidewater via the
Caloosahatchee River
 1900’s Everglades Drainage District constructed
several other canals to drain the northern
Everglades for agricultural purposes and to
prevent the crops from flooding
HURRICANES 1920S
 In the 1920s, two major
hurricanes struck south
Florida, flooding coastal areas
and areas to the south,
resulting in approximately
2,000 deaths
HERBERT HOOVER DIKE
 After Hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 Herbert Hoover Dike constructed along Lake’s south
shore and on the north shore
 1937 Cross-Florida Waterway (C-43 Canal) and St. Lucie Canal (C-44 Canal)
Central and Southern (C&SF) Flood Control project
Constructed:
 1,800 mile of canals and over 200 water control structures
 143 miles of embankment around Lake Okeechobee
 No overflow capability
 Navigation channel and locks
KISSIMMEE RIVER CHANNELIZATION 1962-1971
 Doubled Phosphorus Loads
 Elevated Concentrations of
Resuspended Sediments (Mud) in
Pelagic Zone
LITTORAL ZONE FORMED AFTER DIKE CONSTRUCTION
LORS 2008:
 Developed to Protect the Herbert Hoover Dike While Undergoing Repair
 Reduces Lake Stage and Frequency of High Stages
LAKE OKEECHOBEE EXOTIC SPECIES CONTROL
 1990 Melaleuca Management Plan
 1994-98 Over 4,000 acres of Melaleuca Treated
 Lake Okeechobee Protection Act – 2000
 Required a Restoration and Protection Program
for Lake
 Lake Okeechobee Protection Program – 2001
 Required Development of Exotic Species
Control Program
 Lake Okeechobee Exotic Species Control
Program – 2002
*Over 65,000 acres of Exotic and Nuisance
Species Treated Since 2000
LAKE OKEECHOBEE EXOTIC SPECIES CONTROL
 2015 Treated more than 3,000 acres of cattail in Moonshine Bay
Followed by prescribed burn
LAKE OKEECHOBEE LOW LAKE STAGE RESTORATION PROJECTS
Drought of 2007-08 Provided
Opportunities for Lake Habitat
Improvement
Projects Identified:
 Muck Scraping and
Disking/Plowing
MORE THAN 1.9
MILLION CUBIC YARDS
OF PHOSPHORUS-RICH
MUCK REMOVED
 Native Aquatic Plant
Enhancement
 Exotic and Nuisance Plant
Control
 Recreation and Navigation
Area Enhancement
 In-Lake Debris Removal
 Apple Snails
Enhancement
APPROXIMATELY 5,000 TIRES
(50 TONS) WERE REMOVED
LORS SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION (SAV)
LORS:
Annual SAV Cover
 Emergent Vegetation Moves
Offshore, Replacing SAV
Habitat
60000
 Performance Target Met Once
40000
Acres
50000
30000
20000
10000
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
Target
2011
2010
2009
2008
SAV Cover
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
0
LAKE OKEECHOBEE SNAIL KITES
 1999-2002, 2006-2009: no
observed nesting
 Since 2010, consistent increase
in nesting efforts until 2014
 2016: Large nesting effort
• 2013-86 nests (29 successful)
• 2014-52 nests (22 successful)
• 2015: 57 nests (18 successful;
32%)
• 2016: 179 nests* (100
successful; 56%)
References
Barnett, Ernie. 2016. Lake Okeechobee Presentation. Florida Land Council, Inc.
Fletcher, Robert, Brian Reichert, Ellen Robertson, Caroline Poli and Brian Jeffery. 2016. Update on Snail Kite Population Monitoring.
Snail Kite Coordinating Committee Meeting Presentation.
Glenn, Lawrence. 2008. Overview of Current Kissimmee Basin Projects: How the Pieces Fit. Presentation. SFWMD.
Glenn, Lawrence. 2016. Lake Okeechobee Low Lake Level Projects-Past Actions and a Look Ahead. Public meeting Presentation.
SFWMD.
Gray, Susan. 2015. Implications of Lake Okeechobee Water Management Schedule Alternatives for Restoration. Committee on
Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress Presentation. SFWMD.
Harwell, Mathew C and Bruce Sharfstein. 2009. Submerged aquatic vegetation and bulrush in Lake Okeechobee as indicators of
greater Everglades ecosystem restoration. Ecological Indicators, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. S46–S55.
Military map of the peninsula of Florida south of Tampa Bay. 1856. Downloaded from Maps ETC, on the web at
http://etc.usf.edu/maps [map #f3793]
Pesnell, G.L., Brown, R.T., 1977. The major plant communities of Lake Okeechobee and their associated inundation characteristics
as determined by gradient analysis.
Sharfstein, Bruce and Joyce Zhang1. 2017. South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I. SFWMD.
The Peninsula and Gulf of Florida, or New Bahama Channel, with the Bahama Islands. 1776. Downloaded from
http://www.davidrumsey.com/maps6470.html.
Vearil, James. 2008. History of Lake Okeechobee Operating Criteria. GEER Presentation.
Willadsen, Timothy D. 2016. Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation Project Public Meeting Presentation. U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.