A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist has found uses for the muck that workers scraped from the Lake Okeechobee lake bed during the recent drought.
Don Fox, who fights a relentless battle tending to the lake's health, has discovered the muck is suitable for constructing new islands. He said a variety of plants grow well on the man-made islands and wildlife - such as turkeys, turtles, mammals and, in one case, a covey of quail - has taken up residence on them.
"The animals are finding food and cover they need on the islands," Fox said. "This is a kind of laboratory. We see what grows well here, and we can transplant it to other small islands we've made."
A nearby farmer covered some land with the muck and found it makes an excellent peat for South Florida's sandy soil.
"He's growing a healthy crop of black-eyed peas," Fox said.
In the past, restoring ailing lakes required removing the muck and finding a spoil site to put it. Muck is not healthy habitat for plants or fish when it's spread over a lake bottom, but once it's dried out, it can support life.
Meanwhile, stripping away the layer of muck on the lake bed exposes sand and seeds that germinate and establish the healthy plant life that's a crucial component of the food chain that nurtures a world-class fishery and other nature-based recreation.
FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said folding the island-building project into the lake-restoration project reflects the innovative approach it will take to maintain the natural character of Florida over the next half-century.
"The FWC's new report, 'Wildlife 2060: What's at stake for Florida?' explains the pressures Florida's natural systems will be under during the next 50 years as the state's population doubles to 36 million," Barreto said. "We will have to be diligent and creative and develop alternative protection and management ideas, because we can expect development to take over wilderness and wetland habitats equal to the entire land area of Vermont."
The recent rains from tropical storms have brought water levels back up on Lake Okeechobee, and with that, Fox is pleased to see that plants, such as the native submerged plant coontail, is coming back in healthy, sustainable amounts.
"This is good stuff," Fox said.
