Death of a Swamp

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted April 12, 2011262 views9 comments

Due to the careless redirection of water flow this is all that is left of what just a few years ago was a beautiful mangrove swamp.
5d II, 17-40 lens, iso 100
just made a quick pano of the mess that once was home to all kinds of wildlife

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on April 12, 2011 at 5:53 PM

Makes you wonder. Where were all the "Save The Everglades" people when they drained this? Seems these things have to get into the news media before enough people ban together and then its way too late.
About three weeks ago I called the Fisheries people because airboats were plowing through the middle of thousands of feeding migratory birds. The boats did this all morning every morning for about 2 weeks, even university researchers. Did Fisheries stop it? No. Didn't even pretend interest.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Hank Pennington on April 13, 2011 at 10:55 PM

Egad. Where is this located Don? It's so austere I had no clue it was mangroves!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 226 Posts, 1532 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Myers on April 14, 2011 at 6:31 PM

Sad to look at; sadder to contemplate. Pano is very effective for focusing on the issue.

Registered on September 1, 2008, 85 Posts, 757 Comments

Comment posted by Don Mc Donald on April 15, 2011 at 9:34 AM

It's in marco island, florida, on the road from marco island to the fishing village of goodland. There was a condo project on one end and a verrrrrrrrrry wealthy gated community on the other end. Someone??? blocked the culverts that went under the road and first the water went stagnant and then everything started to rot and die. 5 years ago this was beautiful green mangroves with lots of bird life and animals. Now that this has finally come to public attention all parties involved are going "oh my how could this have happened" and we need to rectify this problem. I believe this happened because these areas wanted to control the mosquitoe population in the summmer as salt marsh mosquitoes breed in mangroves. Glad there are some of us that are still interested.

Registered on December 3, 2009, 25 Posts, 67 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 20, 2011 at 4:30 PM

Very compelling image - congrats on the WP!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on April 20, 2011 at 4:34 PM

So sad - well documented Don. I wish there was a good answer for this, but unfortunately MONEY TALKS in Florida, and most everywhere else too. Congrats on the EP!

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on April 20, 2011 at 4:43 PM

Don, congrats on the EP.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Zachary Lake on April 20, 2011 at 6:56 PM

If the death of all these trees and the forced relocation of countless wildlife caused the death of a few mosquitos, it was definitely worth it. I hate squeets!!!

Just kidding. You did a great job of documenting a very sad situation. Congrats!

Registered on July 1, 2008, 24 Posts, 120 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 22, 2011 at 8:39 PM

wow... The image saysalot. Well done and congratulations

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments