One of the biggest myths of the swamp …
Is that it’s a watershed untouched by time.

So the story goes:
Unlike the highly-engineered Everglades management system that depends on a complex operation of gates, pumps, water treatment areas and regulation schedules …
The Big Cypress escaped from drainage unscathed.

The true(r) story:
Yes, the swamp gets most of its water straight from the sky, but it relies on upstream flows too. And here’s the big catch: The size of its upstream drainage (or watershed) has shrunk over time.
Or in other words, the swamp is (primarily) rain-driven because all the other “pre-drainage” sources of water got drained away or boxed out.

The good news:
There are a lot worse fates that could befall an ecosystem than to become a watershed. And why cry over spilt milk of drainage past when there is a lot of work big and small that can be done to help achieve the goal of making the swamp the very best rain-driven work it can be.
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Quotable: “Myths that are believed in tend to become true.” Bernard Shaw