Saturday, March 15, 2014

Notes from Broward County, infrastructure edition



As I noted before, there is vital infrastructure that crossed into the Glades, and even though the restoration is in it's second decade, they can't be moved. High and medium voltage lines crisscross the Glades, moving power from generating stations to end users. Power lines are almost always laid in the most direct, "as the crow flies" line, even if it crosses a protected wetland. Just like the canals, it's benefit and necessity outweighs the restoration process.


Saturday, March 01, 2014

Notes from Broward County, Kendall



Kendall (Or Kendale, depending on the subdivision) butts up against the park. There's no over way I can describe it; the roads and canals that border it are the hard lines between man's encroachment and the Everglades. 

To your left, houses. To your right, the Everglades.


 Kendall, from the Everglades.

The Everglades, from Kendall.

Infill, even though I expected this place to already be 100% built out, considering it's location and the scarcity of land in the immediate area. Again, power lines cutting into the park, that can't easily or practically be moved.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Notes from MDC County, canals edition








One thing I never really considered about the Miami is the sheer quantity and length of the canals. I'm used to canals being small waterways, intended for minor water runoff and (advertised, at least) for boats to get out to the gulf. In Miami-Dade, they're everywhere, shuttling water from the Glades to wherever it needs to go to keep it from causing flooding. 

I found this one canal, not named on a map, but since it runs along Okeechobee Road, and runs all the way from the lake, I'm guessing it's called the Okeechobee Canal. It terminates into the Miami River, which dumps into Biscayne Bay. It's pretty damn epic to have a navigable waterway that runs all that way, but that's how the Glades where carved up before restoration began. This canal will never go away; it's too important to maintaining MDC to not have it. There's a lot of infrastructure like that in the Glades; an obvious spoil on the landscape, but too important to remove.

Headed away from downtown Miami:


Headed towards downtown Miami:

This canal follows a similar path, although it goes east-west into the Glades, following the Tamiami Trail deep into the Glades, past the Seminole and Miccosukee reservations and gaming establishments. It also meets up with the Miami River and dumps into Biscayne Bay.




Saturday, February 01, 2014

Notes on SFWMD

I've been going back and forth with various folks at SFWMD trying to get levee access. I think I may be close, but it's crazy expensive. Oh well. I need to be on the levees, to see the swamp and the suburbistan in Broward and MDC Counties.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

notes from Broward County, part 1

I'm in the Miami area for the next couple of days, mainly doing some site visits and getting the lay of the land in anticipation of further visits. I'm trying to take a few pictures too, but I'm not pushing myself when the real challenge is just boots on the ground type observations, figuring everything out and correlating the countless satellite views with what it looks like through the camera.

Navigating the photography of the areas where the Glades back into the world is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare. Some of the canals and levees are controlled by SFWMD, some by USFWS, some by NPS. There's going to be a lot of phone calls.

And here's a preview:


And some maps of locations:

There's some dredging/land construction going here:

View Larger Map


And two levees, one controlled by SWFWD and the other USFWS. 
View Larger Map


And this looks nothing like this now: 
View Larger Map

More tomorrow, unless a 300 lb, 18 foot long python eats me.