Travel - Visit Tourist Holiday Vacation Destinations around the World

The Kissimmee River and Fisheating Creek watersheds are adjacent basins that both flow into Lake Okeechobee and are part of the greater Everglades ecosystem. The Kissimmee River Basin extends from Orlando southward to Lake Okeechobee.

The largest source of surface water to Lake Okeechobee, this basin is about 105 miles long and has a maximum width of 35 miles. The northern portion of the basin, referred to as the Chain of Lakes, contains many lakes, some of which are interconnected by canals. The Chain of Lakes is bounded on the southern end by State Road 60 where the largest of the lakes, Lake Kissimmee^Wiki, empties into the Kissimmee River^Wiki. The southern portion of the basin includes the Lake Wales Ridge lakes, the Kissimmee River itself, and its tributary watersheds (including flow from the Istokpoga watershed) between Lake Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. The Kissimmee River was originally a 103-mile-long shallow, meandering river that was reconfigured in the 1960s into a 56-mile-long canal (renamed C-38) for flood control. As a result, 45,000 acres of wetlands was turned into pastureland. Today, large sections of the canal have been filled in, restoring the river's curves and wetlands

The Kissimmee River restoration preceded the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), and therefore is not part of CERP. The Lake Okeechobee Watershed component of CERP assumes the River is restored, an assumption that has not been fulfilled yet. Because the Kissimmee River provides about one half of Lake Okeechobee's annual inflow, it is critical that the hydrological patterns and the water quality of the river are appropriate for the lake's health.

It has been suggested that the Kissimmee River restoration project might serve as an
example of how CERP goals can be fulfilled.


Efforts to restore the Kissimmee River to its original flow were approved by Congress in 1992, and began with modification to the headwater lakes in 1997. The United States Army Corps of Engineers currently hopes to complete the project in 2011. In 2006, the South Florida Water Management District had acquired enough land along the river and in the upper chain of lakes to complete restoration. In all, 43 miles of the Kissimmee River will be restored.

Already, wildlife is returning to the restored sections of river. When flooding began again, muck and smothering aquatic weeds were flushed out. Sandbars reemerged. Encroaching dry land trees began dying back. Once dormant plants began to reestablish themselves. The species included pink-tipped smartweed, horsetail, sedges, rushes, arrowhead, duck potato and pickerel weed. Flooding and continuous flow increased levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, creating near perfect conditions for aquatic invertebrates such as insects, mollusks, works, crayfish and freshwater shrimp. This, in turn, boosted fish populations and it led to a rise in bird and alligator populations. The entire food chain benefitted. This is one reason that the Kissimmee River restoration is considered to be the largest true ecosystem restoration project in the world, attracting ecologists from other states and countries.