Welcome

to The South Florida Watershed Journal

Every week a few thousand people tie up their boots to head in to work, play, or think about various parts or issues of the greater Everglades watersheds. There are also the Everglades enthusiasts both near and far that daydream of their adventures past and future in the uncharted watercourses and wetlands of south Florida.

They need a place they can quickly glance at and digest the numbers -- just like looking at a watch -- in a way that keeps them in tune with the constant tick of South Florida's water cycle and watersheds.

Rain or shine, week in and week out, South Florida's water cycle continues to turn. The South Florida Watershed Journal (SFWJ) is there to tell its story.

What is SFWJ

It's your passport into the inner realm of south Florida's water cycle and interconnected watersheds -- a narrative voice into the watery wilderness of aquatic south Florida.

It’s a hydrologic Rosetta Stone that let's you see the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, Big Cypress Swamp (and more) through the eyes of a hydrologist ... past, present, and future.

The journal makes no claim to know everything, just enough worth sharing.

The journal is organized under several pages (as they are called in the newspaper industry) -- or "labels" as they are called in the world of blogs, as described below.

Rain Or Shine Report

This page is my (+ or -) weekly attempt to shine light on -- illuminate --the water cycle as it unfolds, trying to make sence of our interconnected watersheds, in a way that's fun, empowering, and connects us -- at the event horizon -- with the historical parade of data that came before.

As the names would suggest, its focus is on rainfall ... or lack thereof.

It's not the Heat

... it's the humidity (to finish the well-worn phrase that Floridians know so well).

I like to say that Florida's climate is its "cool aid": it's easy to complain about, but equally hard to leave.

And isn't it fun to compare our temperatures to up north, and watch the cold fronts come in. That's what these posts do, with fun-to-read graphs that you won't find on your local weather station.

Vortex into Water Data

This page swirls you into the inner realm of the water data, usually related to stream flow or water stage.

Graphs are just plain fun to look at.

They can get you "lost in the moment" and transport you back in time, all at the same instant.

Tales of the Water Cycle

... are not quite "tall tales," but they are light hearted in nature while also trying to be informative.

They may be philosophical, or elaborate on topical issues covered in a recent newspaper article, or contain a literary or historical allusion.

We may not have the dramatic turn of the season's that they do up north, but make no mistake: our water wheel is continually turning and spinning out many a good yarn.

Native Plant Photos

This page features photos and short descriptions of native plants and flowers one may encounter -- with a watchful eye -- during a walk out in the watershed.

Sailing Uncharted Waters

These posts turn the hydrologic eye "outward" in attempt to frame south Florida's prodigious water cycle with hydrologic processes in other parts of Florida, the nation, and world.

At some level, all hydrology is comparative. It's just a refreshing exercise to transport one's mind into a distant waterway.

But don't be fooled, the earth is enveloped by the "giant water wheel" which connects us all. We can learn a lot about our home watershed by what's going on upstate, cross country, or over seas.

Water in Motion

This page features a short movie or a slide show of some aspect of the water cycle. The water cycle is truly "the show that never ends:" these movies and slides provide brief glimpses of it, not to mention the "sound" of water in its many forms.

Ripple on Still Waters

These posts feature collages and panoramic views of the water cycle at work. We live in a digital age where it's no longer a question of taking the right photo, it's trying to organize the vast milieu and overflowing archive of photographs we all have.

Ghosts of Watersheds Past

This page features historical signs and structures that are tucked away across the watershed, often hidden in hard to reach spots. I love reading the narrative on the signs, and thinking what it was like decades or centuries ago when the "words" on the sign were people in motion.

Swampulator

Have you ever been in the middle of the swamps, confronted with a water question of baffling proportions (and unit conversions)? That's why I invented the Swampulator. This has all the buttons that your normal calculator lacks, but always wish you had -- for example, how many water barrels does it take to fill your swimming pool with water.

Tidal Undulations

You can't live in Florida without wondering about the salty stuff at lands end. I'm not a marine biologist, but I frequently visit our local beach in Naples. Normally I can kick my shoes off and relax, but on occassion, as hydrologists do, water questions beckon.

Journal Funding

The journal has been built with heaping doses of humanities most precious commodity -- time -- and a lot of hard work, but at the bargain-basement price tag of $0.

I've joked that the journal is the cattle egret on the back of the hippo. Who are the hippos? They are all of the agencies and organizations that support hydrologic monitoring and data dissemination in their part of the south Florida waterscape.

I would like to thank all the agencies and all the aquatic professionals in those agencies that I have worked with over the years to bring the journal to life. Many of these people are on the journal's advisory board.

Journal History

The larval form of the journal began to take shape in 2003 as way to keep the multi-agency Big Cypress Watersheds Team better in touch with hydrologic numbers unfolding in the Big Cypress area, and how those numbers fit into the rest of the south Florida water picture.

In the past, Southwest Florida's Big Cypress corner had developed a reputation -- or cloaked aura, especially its wilder eastern half -- of lurking in the shadows of the larger south Florida waterscape.

That's what motivated Mike Savarese, science faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University, to partner with the Big Cypress Basin (SFWMD) in 2000 to build a watershed team that would build a bridge among the aquatic professionals spread across the watershed.

So Enjoy

reading The South Florida Watershed Journal.

My hope is that it provides a friendly voice to the unfolding saga that is south Florida's rich and abundantly interesting water cycle, and makes us all collectively and individually better denizens of our interconnected watersheds.


Sincerely,
Robert V. Sobczak
National Park Service hydrologist
at Big Cypress National Preserve