A major goal of the Florida Coastal Everglades LTER research program is to investigate how changes in freshwater flow related to Everglades ecosystem restoration will impact ecosystem processes, specifically in the Shark River Slough/Gulf of Mexico and the Taylor Slough/Florida Bay ecotones of Everglades National Park. This research is as much a question about natural processes as it is social processes. Everglades restoration - a biophysical and social process driven by ecological science, politics and cultural constructions of nature - has the capability to extensively influence the FCE site and FCE research. Everglades restoration should be viewed as an important socio-ecological force affecting ecosystem structure and function within the FCE study area.

One restoration project in particular will significantly shape the future of FCE research and of freshwater flows into Everglades National Park: Tamiami Trail. The Tamiami Trail (the Trail) is a historic roadway constructed in the 1920s to link Miami to Tampa, which runs along the northern boundary of Everglades National Park. Because it bisects the Everglades, the Trail impedes adequate freshwater flows from entering the Park. Restoration practitioners, environmental NGOs and scientists recognize that bridging the Trail is needed to rehydrate Everglades National Park and revive its natural systems. Yet, bridging the Tamiami Trail remains one of the most controversial restoration projects. Heated debates over the cost, configuration and impacts of bridging have delayed and complicated bridge construction, which was first authorized by Congress in 1989. This poster highlights the ongoing conflicts over Tamiami Trail restoration and demonstrates the relationships between FCE ecological and social research.