Page 40 - May-June 2025 Life In Naples Magazing

FGCU Plays Key Role

in Collier County Restoration Project

Bouncing slowly down a rutted Naples dirt road in his pickup truck, Florida Gulf Coast
University professor Win Everham foresees a unique future for Collier County.

“Any other place in Florida, arguably, if you’re on a dirt road, With permission from the Florida Forest Service, FGCU
you can look forward 10 to 20 years and this road will be paved faculty and students play a key role in researching Picayune’s
— that’s just the future of the South Florida landscape,” says restoration. Everham got involved early in the project when a
the professor of ecology and environmental studies in The Water former colleague helped set up baseline monitoring in the state
School at FGCU. forest before the four main canals were filled in. Since then, he’s
Ahead, an all-terrain vehicle searches for the best path through been continuously involved in monitoring the fish, frogs and
road-width pools of water. What would be sidewalks in the future insects — a sensitive metric for a wetland’s health. He and his
Everham outlined are overgrown with tall grass as untamed students compare data from multiple Picayune sites to reference
clusters of saw palmetto encroach from the edges. points in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the
Twenty years ago, this road was paved and on its way to being Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.
the main thoroughfare for sprawling real estate development. FGCU researchers aren’t the only ones working in Picayune
“And 20 years from now, this road won’t be here anymore,” Strand. As Everham drives down the dirt road, Mike Knight, a
Everham says. It seems inevitable that nature will reclaim this road biologist with the Florida Forest Service, approaches from the
— one of many returning to a natural state in the Picayune Strand opposite direction. Knight stops to ask if Everham and graduate
State Forest. student Charley Vance can look for evidence of black rails, a bird
The site of a failed real estate scheme in Collier County, the slightly smaller than a sparrow and listed as threatened under the
forest is now a cornerstone of the Comprehensive Everglades Endangered Species Act. Scientists are eager to confirm the marsh
Restoration Plan (CERP). According to the National Park Service, bird’s return to the state forest, and Everham quickly agrees.
CERP was authorized by Congress in 2000 as a plan to “restore, “Our job at FGCU is to meet research needs in the region, and
preserve and protect the South Florida ecosystem while providing sometimes that means helping to meet the research needs of our
for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply partners,” he says.
and flood protection.” Picayune is unique, according to Everham. “I don’t know any
The Picayune Strand Restoration Project, part of CERP, aims place else in Florida — any place else in the world — where they
to restore 55,000 acres of Everglades habitat in the state forest. were well down a path of putting in a community for maybe
Significant progress has been made since 2007, and Everham hundreds or thousands of people and then stopped. And then
estimates it’s more than 70% complete. someone else said, ‘Let’s dig up the roads and fill in the canals.’ I
Home to diverse wildlife, including the Florida panther and think the decision was brilliant, ecologically. It’s important to all of
wood storks, the area is being transformed from a grid of asphalt us who live in Southwest Florida to understand that development
roads and deep canals back into a thriving ecosystem. In 20 years, is continuing, and we should want to be a part of what is good,
as Everham predicts, this road will likely be washed away as healthful, sustainable development.”
restoration efforts return water flows to their natural patterns. For more information about FGCU research and other
university news, go to FGCU360.com

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