CLEWISTON, Fla — For years, underwater vegetation in Lake Okeechobee has been disappearing, but now it’s making a comeback!
Fox 4’s Hendry County Community Correspondent, Austin Schargorodski, works in the area daily and has done a number of stories on the lake’s health. One local angler tells him this new growth is a big deal.
Watch to hear what the lifelong Lake O angler tells Austin about the SAV comeback:
Anglers for Lake O sent Schargorodski video showing eelgrass and other native subaquatic plants starting to grow again. Founder Scott Martin grew up fishing here and says this used to be normal.
“This lake back then was just amazing. The vegetation grew out in the lake more than a mile. The water was crystal clear,” Martin said.
That vegetation once spanned 30,000 acres but dropped to under 500 over the years. Because of that, Martin said he started Anglers for Lake O to fight for the lake. So, he says seeing this return really hits home.
“That feeling that you would have if your mother or father was ill in the hospital and they rebounded. It’s that — that’s what I have,” Martin said.
Martin says the vegetation helps filter the water and provides crucial habitat for fish and birds. But keeping it alive means managing lake water wisely.
Schargorodski has shown how releasing too much floods the Caloosahatchee with phosphorous, fueling blue-green algae. Releasing too little makes the estuary too salty, hurting sea life like oyster beds. And if not enough water is released, lake levels stay high, blocking sunlight and killing the vegetation.
"You cannot keep an unnatural water level in a natural lake and expect the vegetation and habitat to be natural,” Martin said.
But that could be changing. Last week, Schargorodski was at the ribbon cutting for the massive C-43 Reservoir in LaBelle., one of more than 70 Everglades restoration projects. It’s designed to store lake water during the wet season, remove phosphorous, and send cleaner, balanced flows downstream.
South Florida Water Management District says it will also help control lake levels, improving conditions for vegetation to grow. They confirmed SAV is coming back strong, with new data expected at their next board meeting.
“I think once all the projects are done - east, west, north, south of the lake - it’s going to greatly benefit Lake Okeechobee,” Martin said.
