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Good practice Imported

Kissimmee River Restoration — Reversing a Flood-Control Canal Back Into 44 Miles of Meandering River

United States of America · Okeechobee · See the United States of America profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 18% 60/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A 50/50 USACE-SFWMD project backfilled 22 miles of the C-38 flood-control canal and re-carved 44 miles of the Kissimmee River's original meanders, rehydrating nearly 20,000 acres of Florida wetlands and lifting wading-bird density to 57.9±31.7 birds/km² by 2014-15.

22 miles
Canal backfilled
44 miles
River channel re-carved
~20,000 acres
Floodplain reflooded
>$1 billion
Total project cost
57.9 ± 31.7 birds/km2
Wading-bird density, 2014-15 season

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers & South Florida Water Management District
Period
1999-2021
Keywords
river restoration, wetland rehabilitation, flood risk reduction, biodiversity, water quality

Context

The Kissimmee River was channelised into the 90 km C-38 canal in the 1960s for flood control, draining its floodplain and causing waterfowl populations to fall by more than 90% and bald eagle nesting territories by 70%.

Activities

Authorised in 1992 and built mainly 1999-2021, the restoration backfilled 22 miles of the C-38 canal and re-carved 44 miles of the river's historic meandering channel, reflooding nearly 20,000 acres of floodplain, at a cost exceeding $1 billion split equally between USACE and SFWMD.

Results

Under the dedicated Evaluation Program, dissolved-oxygen levels have consistently exceeded pre-restoration levels, and monitoring recorded a mean wading-bird density of 57.9±31.7 birds/km2 in the 2014-15 season, with roughly 50 fish species and 70 wetland-dependent bird species now documented.

Conclusions

At over $1 billion and roughly three decades to reverse works built in a fraction of that time, Kissimmee is also a cautionary illustration of how costly it is to undo hydrological engineering once floodplain wetlands are drained.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Florida Water Management District, Kissimmee River Restoration Evaluation Program monitoring team

Conditions for success

  • 100,000+ acres acquired for the project
  • dedicated long-term monitoring program

Common failure modes

  • extremely high cost and multi-decade timeline to reverse 1960s-era channelisation

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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