Kissimmee River Project, Florida

A 103-mile stream and wetland area that was turned into a canal in the 1960's, which is now being returned to its natural, meandering state. The river was straightened and dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a massive project, completed in 1971, to drain the marshes for farmers and developers, and to make a navigable waterway. Soon after this was accomplished, public sentiment turned against the project due to an emerging environmental movement, and a proposal to restore the damaged ecosystem in the impacted wetland began to form. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the South Florida Water Management District filled in the canal they made more than 25 years ago, and is cleaning up the source of the stream, Lake Kissimmee, as part of a major regional restoration project with the goal of restoring around 40 square miles of river/floodplain ecosystem.