Friday, November 7, 2014

Dying Mangroves

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:

Andy said...

Good reason for a environment assessments before construction.

Luis Gomez said...

Hopefully the project can be found long-term. So sad.

Mersad said...

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

VP said...

A sad image for a strange cycle of mother Nature...

Sharon said...

Another strong case for environmental impact studies.

Birdman said...

Thank you Mr. Science!
Next time I drive by a grove, I'll know what's up.

Sylvia K said...

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!!

jennyfreckles said...

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.

Malyss said...

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 .

RedPat said...

And hopefully they will plant more mangroves!

Michelle said...

Always sad to see, "improvements", ruin nature.

William Kendall said...

Too often places like this are cast aside by political interests who are more invested in "improvements", with no regard of the consequences.

cieldequimper said...

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.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

I also say ditto to the above comments. Very sad.

Kate said...

More money and lots more time and effort required to reverse this trend. Man has done it again!!

Randy said...

Nice shot, bet it would look even better as a b&w.

Unknown said...

Your photo is beautiful and eerie at the same time. I am glad that they are trying to take measures to reverse the damage.

Fun60 said...

How sad they didn't work that out before building the road. Great photos though.

'Tsuki said...

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.

Taken For Granted said...

Hope this infrastructure project can be accomplished. Over the years construction has done damage to the environment, and this is another example.

SRQ said...

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.

Linda W. said...

I love the patterns all the tree trunks reflections make on the water.

CaT said...

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...