Before Glades water flows, small community needs flood protection. This project is the hope
South Florida water managers on Friday broke ground on a 2.3-mile-long underground wall intended to protect properties in Las Palmas, a small community in far western Miami-Dade that runs an increased risk of flooding as more water starts to flow to Everglades National Park.
The additional, and long-awaited, flow is possible now as a result of two new bridges over Tamiami Trail and other projects that are part of a multibillion-dollar effort to restore the Everglades.
Las Palmas, a collection of small ranches and nurseries once known as the 8.5 square mile area, has long been considered by environmentalists and scientists as an obstacle to reviving the parched southern half of the River of Grass. The community, west of U.S. 27 and the boundaries of a flood-protection system meant to protect developed areas of Miami-Dade County, has suffered frequent flooding. That problem would only grow worse under plans to recreate something close to the original flow of the River of Grass.
If the seepage or curtain wall can resolve flooding concerns in Las Palmas, far more water from conservation areas north of Tamiami Trail will flow south through Shark Valley in Everglades National Park all the way south to too-salty Florida Bay, where a seagrass decline has affected fisheries. The wall will cost $15 million, according to the district.
“This project has direct benefits to the 8.5 square mile area, agreements that were negotiated three decades ago to provide flood mitigation and protect private property owners,” said Ron Bergeron, a district board member and longtime Everglades restoration advocate. “The seepage wall also helps retain water inside Everglades National Park, and that water goes directly to Florida Bay. And this project is important because north of here there’s more than $1 billion of infrastructure and until now we couldn’t utilize it,” he added.
Water managers and Everglades experts had complained for years that billions worth of projects to restore the Everglades would only achieve their full potential if water could flow unconstrained to replenish the park and revive Florida Bay.
One of the projects, a series of bridges designed to increase the flow of the Shark River Slough — the major fresh water artery for the southern Everglades — was completed earlier this month with the removal of six miles of old roadbed.
The trail, an engineering marvel that cut through wild marshes and connected Florida’s two coasts when it opened nearly a century ago, later became an environmental disaster by restricting the natural flow of the glades, leaving water too deep to the north and sending too little to the national park to the south.
Pedro Ramos of the National Park Service, who serves as superintendent for Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Park, celebrated the curtain wall because it “stops the bleeding” of precious water from inside the park.
“We have been losing as much water as we’ve been getting into the park, I’m not exaggerating. And that’s why so many of us have been pushing so hard,” he said in front of a massive trencher that will dig about 60-65 feet into the ground for construction of the seepage wall.
The project is expected to be ready in about a year, according to district Executive Director Drew Bartlett.
Las Palmas residents, who sued the state and accused agencies of using unfair tactics to push them out, were happy with the potential solution and hope the state won’t continue to pursue a buyout strategy.
“We are grateful the South Florida Water Management District chose the curtain wall,” said Alice Peña, president of the Las Palmas Community Association. “This will allow the farming community to continue agricultural production while being responsive to flooding issues and Everglades restoration.”
When the state of Florida and federal government began considering restoration work in the late 1980s, they first expanded the park borders, placing Las Palmas within the footprint of land where flooding would likely worsen when more water started flowing through Shark River Slough. So the state sought to buy out landowners, an effort that was aggressively fought by residents who demanded flood protection and the right to keep their properties.
But the seepage wall, designed to prevent underground water levels to rise in Las Palmas, will have to pass the real-world test of higher Glades water levels and also may be only a short-term solution. Much of the region is expected to face increased flooding from climate change changing rainfall patterns and sea-rise compromising South Florida’s network of drainage canals.
So the district is also still interested in buying out willing sellers in the area. During the district’s February and March meetings, Bergeron and other board members argued that the state should pursue a more aggressive strategy to remove home owners from the area as that’s the only long-term solution that wouldn’t require more flood protection projects in the future.
But just a handful of property owners expressed interest in selling their land after the district launched an outreach campaign in December.
“This isn’t going to resolve their problem; it will resolve the problem that Shark River Slough will create, but this community will still have a flooding problem,” Bergeron, said in February, noting that he supported a willing seller program, and not a strategy involving eminent domain.
The district late last year sent letters to 119 properties in the area inquiring about their interest in selling the land for market value. Out of about 60% of property owners who responded, a third indicated an interest in selling. Fifteen percent said no and 14% said maybe. The estimated cost of the acquisition of those properties would be about $25 million if owners were wiling to sell.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 7:14 PM.
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