September 24, 2025 -Ridge and Slough Landscapes Workshop

ridge and slough Restoration science (dAY 2)

Science Coordination Group (SCG) Sponsored Workshop

tuesday, september 24, 2025
time: 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM

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CLICK HERE to view the recorded webcast.

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Workshop Summary

Restoring Florida Bay requires increasing freshwater flows, especially through Taylor Slough, by 1.5–2 times to reduce salinity and stabilize ecosystems. Key findings highlight the importance of flow volume, timing, and sea-level rise impacts. Management efforts focus on enhancing upstream flows, modeling flow-salinity relationships, and addressing hypersalinity events caused by droughts and hurricanes. A strong consensus in support of these findings about Taylor slough among the participants.

WORKSHOP HANDOUTS AND PRESENTATIONS:

1. Agenda

2. Everglades pre-drainage hydrology and vegetation

3. Current vegetation and drivers of vegetation dynamics

4. What we’ve learned about Tree Island ecology/water management linkages from the LILA project

   • Tree Island Structure and Composition in Water Conservation Area 3

   • LILA Lessons: What we’ve learned about ecology/water management linkages

5. Tree Island Performance Measure status

6. Flow velocity, water depth, and landscape pattern indicators of a functional ridge and slough ecosystem

7. Incremental Change to Recreate Critical Adapative Capacity in the Everglades