ABSTRACT
In the forgoing chapters, discussion of modern human environmental impacts has been largely avoided in an effort to describe the historic, natural ecosystem. This chapter is a departure from that approach. It is not feasible or useful to describe the historic condition of Lake Okeechobee and its headwaters separately from the modern condition because so little remains and, in fact, so little detail is known. Thus, the modern condition is interwoven with what is known of the historic condition. For most locations, only general historic conditions were documented. Many details of relevance to restoration can only be estimated forensically. Historic water quality is the most important example, but there are also few locations that now resemble the historic condition of vegetation and scenic character.
