Winter brings the dry months and a time for migrating and native birds to nest and reproduce. Naturally occurring fires clear out the dead wood from the system, offering new life room to grow. And less freshwater flow raises salt levels in coastal estuaries for fish to return from offshore to spawn. Every year as the population grows, as development sprawls, as agriculture encroaches, the natural system shrinks. And as the system shrinks, the problems that come with it become more severe.
Water is just as essential to human quality of life as it is to cypress trees and egrets.
Man, however, has more control over the quantity and quality of his water supply. How best to manage this life-supporting natural resource will be a deeply debated topic into the next millennium. Devastation from flooding in Bonita Springs in 1995 and the irony of water restrictions imposed less than a year later serve as two of the more exclamatory indicators that something is awry in this natural system. Less obvious are the declining bird and saltwater fish populations throughout this century. In years to come, signs of the problems will come not in the form of environmentalists expressing alarm.