SCCF traveled to Everglades National Park on May 30 to attend a ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of the Taylor Slough Improvement Project, an important restoration effort to restore natural freshwater flows.

Taylor Slough, located in the southeastern Everglades, was historically an important freshwater conduit to the Florida Bay before the construction of Old Ingraham Highway in the 1920s. This highway and other infrastructure changes have reduced and redirected freshwater away from the slough.

The Taylor Slough Improvement Project installed a series of 18 culverts in nine locations along the Old Ingraham Highway to allow water to pass beneath the old roadbed and rehydrate the slough, thus redirecting more water to the Florida Bay. The project was completed in just four months.

“Seeing progress being made this quickly is astounding,” said SCCF Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis. “It really shows the ability of the South Florida Water Management District to push projects forward when the right pieces are in place.”

The project is one in a series of flow-improvement efforts that will eventually allow water to pass from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida Bay, restoring the River of Grass.