Charley. Frances. Ivan. Jeanne.
It’s probably a safe bet that very few children born unto Floridians over the next several years will bear these names. But, as unlikely as it may seem, this series of hurricanes that cut a swath of destruction across Florida in 2004 actually had a positive impact on at least part of the state: areas of Lake Tohopekaliga and other bodies of water in the Kissimmee chain of lakes.
A little help from friends
According to one biologist with the Kissimmee, Fla., field office of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, having a hurricane blow across the central part of the state once every decade could benefit Lake Toho and other lakes in the Kissimmee chain. The string of named storms that passed across this fine fishery last year actually helped remove some unwanted plant life by virtually scouring certain areas.
FFWCC Biologist Adriene Landrum said, “Mother Nature really cleaned up the lake.”
In fact, the hurricanes became part of a perfect-storm scenario that helped clean unwanted vegetation like thick mats of hydrilla from a majority of lakes in the Kissimmee chain and, specifically, from the middle and southern portions of Toho.
Not long before the hurricanes, in spring 2004, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission enhanced Toho by removing approximately 8 million cubic yards of noxious and invasive aquatic vegetation and associated organic material from the lake’s near-shore areas through the Lake Tohopekaliga Extreme Drawdown and Habitat Enhancement Project. Under this state project, the city of Kissimmee furthered enhancement efforts on the north end of the lake by scraping the bottom of the fishery over 127 acres in the Mill Slough area.
“(The city) did a muck-removal project last spring,” Landrum said. “They had cleared that out … it was completely grown in.”
Landrum said the north lake area had become overgrown with exotic, nonnative plant species along with dense, thick stands of other types of plant life, which choked native flora. The overgrown species – including Chinese Tallow, willow tress, wax myrtle, Brazilian pepper trees, cattails and tussocks – not only crowded out natural vegetation, which can lead to detrimental changes to the local ecosystem, but also kept anglers from fishing in the shallows around Mill Slough.
“Now that (the city) has cleared it, they want to maintain it,” Landrum said.
Enter the FFWCC’s $100,000 revegetation project – being managed by Landrum – with the state of Florida, the city of Kissimmee, the South Florida Water Management District and FLW Outdoors splitting the bill. The project, which should be completed by the end of May, will focus on 30 acres of Lake Tohopekaliga in the Mill Slough area north of Neptune Road.
“(The city) came to us to administer the revegetation … since we have more expertise to that end,” Landrum said.
Back to basics
The project has two primary focuses: revegetating the fishery and beautifying the lakeside land. Native vegetation will be reintroduced to the area, both aquatic species and some that will flourish on land nearby. The hurricanes may have set back the independent growth of native species in the northern Mill Slough area after the muck removal, so revegetating the area with desirable species is important, Landrum said. After the drawdown project and any benefit from the action of the hurricanes in 2004 set the stage for revegetation, implementation of similar projects on other parts of the lake may follow.
Cypress trees and stands of bulrushes will be planted at the edge of the lake as well as on three small islands that were created from the muck removed from the lake bottom. The trees will be planted to beautify the area, as they will be visible from lakeside roads, but they will also provide habitat for birds on the islands and other wildlife, Landrum said. A side benefit will be noise mitigation.
Pepper grass, eel grass and Kissimmee grass are some of the native aquatic species to be planted in an effort to take back the native ecosystem from the stranglehold of nonnative plants. The native plants will also create habitat for various types of wildlife, including Florida’s highly sought big bass.
“I’m sure the fish will utilize it as it gets established,” Landrum said.
North Toho now open to anglers
The takeover of nonnative species on the north end of Lake Toho, which squelched other types of vegetation, also prevented anglers and other boaters from accessing various parts of the lake. The seed base still exists for the exotics, so Landrum said it is imperative to reintroduce native species so they can take hold and help keep the undesirable species at bay.
“It will become a monoculture,” Landrum said of what happens when a certain plant species takes over part of a lake. “You won’t be able to fish it or navigate it.
“Now that the area is cleared out, I’m seeing anglers up in there; before, there wasn’t. You’ll see more usage.”
Plants form natural filter
The revegetation project will have yet another benefit to the north end of Toho. Reintroduced native vegetation will naturally filter water flowing from the East City Ditch, Mill Slough and Judge’s Dairy property into the lake.
Other native species that may be planted to aid the filtration efforts are pickerel weeds and cattails. They will help reduce the amount of sedimentation that can congest the shallows of the north end of the lake.
“When you have a direct flow of particulate solids into the lake, you have a water-quality issue,” Landrum said. “We are going to try to create a natural storm-water drain for water-quality reasons.
“It’s tied together with the enhancement of that area,” she said. “Anglers are using it now; the project will shelter the sound pollution from the city coming toward the lake; it will improve the area aesthetically; and it will provide wildlife habitat.”
FLW Outdoors has donated $5,000 to the Lake Toho revegetation project through the FishAmerica Foundation. As it has in the past, FLW Outdoors will continue to donate $5,000 at each of its seven Wal-Mart FLW Tour events in 2005 as well as at a variety of its other tournaments.
In 2000, FLW Outdoors announced its partnership with the FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation arm of the American Sportfishing Association. Since then, FLW Outdoors has directly donated more than $250,000 and helped to generate more than $1 million for local conservation projects.
