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Habitat Restoration and Flood Control Protection in the Kissimmee River

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Abstract

The Adaptive Hydraulics (AdH) code was applied to simulate the hydrodynamic conditions along a stretch of the Kissimmee River in an effort to determine the impacts associated with possible system restoration alternatives. The Kissimmee River Basin flood control project, completed in 1971, had a negative impact on the ecosystem of the Kissimmee River and the adjacent floodplain by reducing floodplain inundation. This numerical model study investigated the expected inundation amounts associated with two restoration alternatives with the first being a return to the historical system and the second being a restored system that would maintain some flood control measures. The model simulations indicate an increase of anywhere from 12 % to 33 % in the floodplain inundation associated with system alternatives when compared to the existing conditions. This indicates that implementation of either of these alternatives would improve the ecosystem productivity for this portion of the Kissimmee River with the restored alternative also providing some flood protection.

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Acknowledgments

The work described and results presented in this paper were obtained through research sponsored by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Jacksonville District. Permission to publish this paper was granted by the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. The authors would also like to acknowledge the contributions of three anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that improved the quality of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Physicist, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA

    Tate O. McAlpin

  2. Research Hydraulic Engineer, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA

    Jeremy A. Sharp & Stephen H. Scott

  3. Research Water Resources Engineer, Dynamic Solutions LLC, Onsite contractor, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA

    Gaurav Savant

Authors
  1. Tate O. McAlpin
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  2. Jeremy A. Sharp
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  3. Stephen H. Scott
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  4. Gaurav Savant
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Correspondence to Tate O. McAlpin.

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McAlpin, T.O., Sharp, J.A., Scott, S.H. et al. Habitat Restoration and Flood Control Protection in the Kissimmee River. Wetlands 33, 551–560 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-013-0412-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-013-0412-2

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