‘We are restoring history’: Allapattah Flats wetlands restored in Martin County
By Max Chesnes, Treasure Coast Newspapers, January 21, 2021
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday announcing the completion of the Allapattah Flats Wetland Reserve Project in western Martin
Photo:
South Florida Water Management District
County marks the preservation of about 13,000 acres of land.
About 51% of that land — 6,700 acres — is restored wetlands, according to the South Florida Water Management District. The marsh can clean and store about 3.7 billion gallons of water per year.
“Today, we are restoring history,” SFWMD district board member Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch said before the ribbon-cutting. “It will cleanse water of high nutrients benefiting our St. Lucie River.”
The project’s completion means improved water quality, decreased runoff and curtailed ecologically harmful freshwater flows to the St. Lucie River estuary, SFWMD spokesperson Sean Cooley said.
The water level was raised on the property and restored to its natural state as a wetland habitat. It also now stores stormwater runoff, Cooley said.