Mangrove trees provide nursery habitat for fish and shellfish, and foraging spots for wading birds.
They sit in brackish water and take oxygen through their roots. They need a flow
of water. Mud build-ups deplete the oxygen and kill the mangroves.
75 years ago a state highway was built through a big stand of mangroves, southeast of Naples.
The roadway has stopped the flow, drainage is poor, and more than 100 acres of mangroves
have died. A study proposes to elevate the highway, cut culverts under the highway,
dredge trenches, and take other actions to flush the area and restore the ecosystem.
There is funding for early phases but a lot more money is needed.
You can see more photos with reflections at James' blog, Weekend Reflections.
23 comments:
Good reason for a environment assessments before construction.
Hopefully the project can be found long-term. So sad.
We really need to stop and pay attention to nature. I also hope that the money for the project will be raised.
Mersad
Mersad Donko Photography
A sad image for a strange cycle of mother Nature...
Another strong case for environmental impact studies.
Thank you Mr. Science!
Next time I drive by a grove, I'll know what's up.
That is SO sad!! And it happens everywhere these days!! I do hope we see more time and money being invested in environmental studies in the future!!
I think we are probably better, on the whole, at avoiding such mistakes with big infrastructure projects nowadays than we were 70 years ago. But this is a sad sight.
In France, , we made such an "elevating" around the Mount St Michel ; It needed a lot of money, yes , but the result is Worth of it .
And hopefully they will plant more mangroves!
Always sad to see, "improvements", ruin nature.
Too often places like this are cast aside by political interests who are more invested in "improvements", with no regard of the consequences.
Ditto what's been said.
Now I'm going to have to Google to make sure there aren't any you-know-whats lurking under the surface.
I also say ditto to the above comments. Very sad.
More money and lots more time and effort required to reverse this trend. Man has done it again!!
Nice shot, bet it would look even better as a b&w.
Your photo is beautiful and eerie at the same time. I am glad that they are trying to take measures to reverse the damage.
How sad they didn't work that out before building the road. Great photos though.
I feel bad to see those mangrove being asphixiated by all this mud. Things have been put in motion and it is going to be impossible to reverse the effects of their decision. I hope birds and all of the animals / plants depending on this ecosystem will be able to evolute and find other way of happiness.
Hope this infrastructure project can be accomplished. Over the years construction has done damage to the environment, and this is another example.
I wonder what the Army Corps of Engineers' involvement is with this project. There should be federal funding for a restoration project of this magnitude.
I love the patterns all the tree trunks reflections make on the water.
we had a tour through the everglades through these mangroves. but actually it was bad, with the oil-slurping machine.... sitll it was so impressive...
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