This video is a basic description of how the Everglades became dysfunctional and what needs to be done to restore the historic flows south, so that the flora and fauna desecrated by a lack of clean water and uncontrolled  invasive plants may thrive once again.

California governor Jerry Brown has ordered an historic 25% cut back in water usage throughout the State,  The drought has been deemed “catastrophic.” One water irrigation district has sued the State of California for state action which will ruin entire agricultural industries.  Calfornia produces over 90% of the Nation’s strawberries, brocolli, walnuts, and plums. The photographs below depict the topography of the land at Enterprise Bridge over Lake Oroville in 2011 and again, recently.  A San Francisco resident reports that he and his neighbors have taken out bank loans to drill 2,000 feet for water.  NASA predicts that California will be compleletly out of water by next year.

Palm Beach County’s 19 drainage districts represent the secondary tier in a complex system of drainage under the supervision of Florida’s South Florida Water Management District to mitigate flooding in the wet seasons and conserve water in the dry seasons so that the County has sufficient water to meet consumer, industrial, and agricultural needs all-year-round.

Congress began investigating the swampy marsh conditions of the federal lands in Illinois and Missouri in 1826. Members made several attempts at draining the lands. But it was not until 1849 when Congress passed the first Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act granting the State of Louisiana all federal lands in the state for its successful reclamation of the lands.

One year later, Congress passed the second Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act (1850) to grant to the new State of Florida all federally owned Swamp and Overflowed lands reclaimed and made usable.  By the early 1920’s, Congress had granted to the Sunshine State a total of 20 million acres of federal lands out of Florida’s 35 million acres –forty percent of the land area of Florida, except for Spanish, French, and Indian grants of lands, which constituted a small amount of land by comparison.

Congress’s land grants made possible the construction of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway when private individuals incorporated the Florida Coast Line Canal & Transportation Company to build the waterway in addition to Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway from Jacksonville to Miami. Still, little of the swamp lands had been reclaimed except those drained in the early 1880’s by Hamilton Disston, a Philadelphia saw manufacturer. Disston drained only some of the lands in southwest Florida before he gave up the project.

The pivotal date in drainage was to be 1905.  As if the stars had aligned, the election of President Theodore Roosevelt placed a new emphasis on the nation’s resources.  Roosevelt convened several assemblies like the National Drainage Congress and others emphasizing conservation and inland waterways.  The same year, Florida elected a progressive Democrat to begin a plan to drain the Everglades to create more land for the average farmer.  Broward also promoted legislation that permitted local areas within a city or town to form special drainage districts.  By 1935, more than 125 drainage districts like the Lake Worth Drainage District had been created to drain the lands within its boundaries and place liens on drained lands to enforce payment of the liens to pay for the projects.

Join the ‘Sail to the Sun’ southbound rally

Region: Chesapeake & Delaware Bays
Date Reported: Jun 10, 2015
Reported By: Mike Ahart, News Editor
Source: WG Staff

Waterway Guide is pleased to announce that it is sponsoring the “Sail to the Sun” ICW Rally this coming fall.

“Sail to the Sun” is the creation of cruising writer Wally Moran, who ran the original ICW rally last fall, safely guiding 16 boats south from Norfolk to Miami. Wally is also a Cruising Editor for Waterway Guide.

The “Sail to the Sun” ICW Rally will run from Deltaville VA all the way through to Miami FL, where many of the participants will jump off for the Bahamas or points south for the winter.

Waterway Guide will be providing logistical support for participants, arranging marina slips and sponsoring a variety of fun events on the way south. These events will include the kickoff party and seminars in Deltaville.

Waterway Guide will also be putting together an amazing Skipper’s Swag Bag, with a great variety of gifts and goodies for each boat. Also, each Captain will receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 Atlantic ICW Waterway Guide.

“Wally has extensive ICW knowledge and experience, as well as a great rapport with cruisers through his online blog and Facebook groups. Add the support from the whole Waterway Guide crew, and I think this will be a fantastic rally,” said Ed Tillett, Waterway Guide General Manager.

Courtesy: Waterway Guide

For at least 150 years, individual boaters have flown aft a rectangular, triangular, or swallowtail flag called a burgee to distinguish one boat from another.  More prevalent have been the burgees that distinguish one yacht club from another.  The earliest yacht club  is an Irish yacht club with its own distinctive colors, borders, and letters.

In America, the oldest yacht club is the the New York Yacht Club, which has the oldest burgee in America.  The burgee has but few colors, a Latin cross with the longer piece running horizontally and the shorter piece running vertically, along with a star.

Several years ago, a group of cruisers formed America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association.  Full-fledged members have transited the entire loop, within a given period of time, comprised of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Erie Canal, the Great Lakes, either the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Key West, returning to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  Whether or not a boat is entitled to fly one or the other of the two burgees of distinction depends upon completion of transits pursuant to the rules of the Association.