What's not being addressed, Fox says, is the sustained high water levels of the lake, which have wiped out the all-important littoral zone, or marsh area, around its edges. The water levels are regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers, which built a levee and canals around the lake for flood control after hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 killed thousands. Some locals still recall seeing the bodies stacked up on the floor of the county courthouse and hearing the horror stories of fellow survivors as they identified parents, children, pets. The corps, in those days, were the guys in the white hats. They charged in to save the day with their massive system of canals, levees and dikes.
Memory is short.
No longer worried about drowning themselves, the people of Okeechobee are fighting nobly for the survival of the black crappie as well as the endangered snail kite. Farmers and developers hungrily consumed the drained wetlands. During the rainy seasons of a century ago, Okeechobee would spill over its rim, creating a broad perimeter of marshland all around. In the rainy seasons, Okeechobee rises and rises and rises against the levee. Water remains stored in the lake as a hedge against droughts.