Hydrologic Manipulations of the Channelized Kissimmee River Implications for restoration

H istorically, much of 50uthcentral Florida was dominated by a contiguous wetland system that extended from the headwater lakes of the Kissimmee River basin to Florida Bay. During the past half century, this wetland landscape has been compartmentalized with a network of canals, levees, and water-control structures (gated spillways; Figure 1). This network is used to manage hydrologic regimes of the regional hydrosystem, primarily for flood-control purposes (Light and Dineen 1994, Toth and Aumen 1994). Modifications of the physical configuration and hydrology of the South Florida. landscape have affected the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, and the 7800 km2 Kissimmee River basin, where an extensive flood-control project was constructed from 1962 to 1971. Lakes in the river's headwater basin were connected by canals and partitioned into floodstorage reservoirs; a 90 km long, 9 m deep, and 100 m wide drainage canal