Steps away but worlds apart from the asphalt ribbon of US 27 near the Palm Beach-Broward County line, flocks of wading birds work probing the shallow waters for tiny crustaceans. Here, at the edge of the Florida Everglades, wildlife abounds, while trucks zoom by largely oblivious to nature’s sideshow.
The dichotomy of worlds isn’t lost on Sandy Scheda, SCHEDA’s President and Project Manager. “We’re so focused on making it to our next destination that it’s easy to miss out on what’s happening around us,” she says. Sandy hopes to change that with a roadside recreation area SCHEDA has designed for the South Florida Water Management District. The Harold A. Campbell recreation area, named in memory of a District employee, will give visitors a close-up glimpse of real Florida in all its wild splendor. The recreation area fronts one of two massive stormwater treatment areas (STAs) managed by the water management district to cleanse waters flowing from Lake Okeechobee.
SCHEDA designed the native landscaping to complement amenities such as information kiosks, a wheelchair-accessible pedestrian bridge, composting toilets and a motor boat ramp providing access to the STA and surrounding canals. Creating the passive recreational site involved excavating rock piles near the boat launch to utilize along the water’s edge as a safety and aesthetic feature. At the entrance to the STA, exotic plants were removed to establish a rich soil bed in which leather fern, pickerelweed and other native wetland plants can thrive. Slated to open in fall 2007, the recreation area is one of two SCHEDA is helping to design for the water management district.
“Fast food in the Everglades is an apple snail plucked from the mud by a hungry bird,” says Sandy, who would swap a quarter-pounder any day of week for a picnic in Florida’s watery paradise. “Now, people won’t have to stray far from the beaten path to experience nature’s hidden treasures.”
