For One Named Drainage Basin, discuss the Strategies and the Benefits of River Restoration or Ecological Management.

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For One Named Drainage Basin, discuss the Strategies and the Benefits of River Restoration or Ecological Management.

        

               The restoration of the Kissimmee river in Central Florida began in 1999.After a severe flood in the 1940’s a strategy was implemented in 1962 to use channelisation to straighten a 90km long drainage canal. Within the canal, there were storage lakes and various water control features. The aim of channelisation was to straighten the river, which reduced the length from 160 to 90 kilometres the effect of this is an increase in discharge and reduced flooding on the floodplain as water stayed in the drainage basin for eleven days and channelisation reduced it to one day. It was designed to control the river and prevent flooding. The channelisation had many effects on the ecosystem, which meant that its biodiversity decreased, for example, loss of wetland habitats causing 92% fewer birds in winter. Two thirds of the floodplain wetlands were drained and the nutrients were no longer absorbed. This had severe effects on the hydrosere such as the vegetation cover however; they quickly noticed that the wildlife habitats were being severely affected. As a result, the river had become stagnant thus causing a loss of animal species.

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               It was finished in 1971 but four years later in 1975, the Kissimmee Restoration Act was passed to help the area to be sustainable both environmentally and economically. This management strategy was not a holistic approach to river management as it focused on flooding and not on the ecological issues and conservation of species. This showed that hard engineering and structural defences do not always have a positive effect overall. The strategy included an estimated investment of $450 million, which is fifteen times more than building the canal. The strategy aimed to set ...

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