Pa-hay-okee Overlook — The “River of Grass” Is Mostly About Flow
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Transcript
From Pa-hay-okee, the landscape can look flat enough to be static. Historically, it functioned as a broad sheet-flow system tens of kilometres wide.
Water moved south from Lake Okeechobee through sawgrass marsh and sloughs toward the coast. The gradient was so slight that small changes in elevation produced major ecological differences.
Canals and levees built for drainage, agriculture and flood control fragmented that flow. Some areas became too dry; others received water at the wrong time.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas popularised the phrase “River of Grass,” and it remains useful because it emphasises movement. The Everglades are not valuable merely because wetland vegetation exists here. They depend on water moving through the landscape in the right pattern and season.