Col. Brandon Bowman is taking over the world's largest ecological restoration project and is now in charge of the Jacksonville headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the cost share federal partner for the multi-billion-dollar Everglades restoration.
The Everglades restoration is the most nation's most extensive regulatory program, and the hundreds of water projects that make up the restoration effort will take decades to complete.
Bowman will oversee Lake Okeechobee operations during a critical phase as the agency is adopting a new lake management plan, which will guide how and future lake discharges to the Caloosahatchee River and south through a series of water treatment areas and, finally, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
The Caloosahatchee runs through Lee County and into the Gulf of Mexico and is often plagued by upstream pollution from Lake Okeechobee and farms to the north and west of the lake.
Collier County contains millions of acres of the historic Everglades system, like the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park.
They're part of a 16-county water management area that's now considered the Everglades system.
A civil engineer, Bowman worked in the agency's emergency management wing during disasters such as hurricanes, the deadly fires in Hawaii last year and the Frances Scott Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore. He also worked in the White House Military Office.
He replaces Col. James Booth, who is retiring soon.
With hurricane forecasters calling for one of the most active seasons on record, Bowman may be thrust into the fire early as Lake Okeechobee management is critical during large tropical storms and hurricanes that hit the lake or the Kissimmee River, which drains into Lake O from the north.
Peak hurricane season coming mid-September
"The forecast for this year is one of the worst forecasts we've had and we're already tracking the next tropical wave, and it depends on where that goes and then the next one," Bowman said during a media call Friday. "And peak hurricane season will happen around mid-September, and we'll know more about Lake Okeechobee then."
Bowman said he's been meeting with various groups and agencies to prepare for his new role.
"I do have a lot to learn here in Florida," Bowman said. "And I've been reading a lot of books and one of the big things I needs to understand is how we got to where we are now. And that will help me make decisions for the future."
He said the top priority for the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary is to insure there is clean water, which will come as Everglades restoration projects are completed and utilized.
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"Getting the flows right and getting as clean water as we possibly can in there is important, but it going to take a while before we get all the (Everglades) projects in place. There are lots of stakeholders and people who want water and people who don't want water"
Bowman will also work closely with the South Florida Water Management District, the 16-county the represents the modern Everglades system. The district is the state sponsor for Everglades restoration projects like the C-43 reservoir along the Caloosahatchee River.
Eve Samples is the director of Friends of the Everglades, and she met with Bowman over lunch recently to discuss the Everglades.
"I found it encouraging that he was already going to Lake Okeechobee and the C-44 canal (on the East Coast) on his third day on the job," Samples said. "He went to the St. Lucie lock and dam to see firsthand where the Okeechobee discharges move through."
Caloosahatchee River needs Lake O discharges at times
Unlike the Caloosahatchee River, the St. Lucie River and estuary does not need water from Lake Okeechobee and is harmed by all discharges from the lake.
The Caloosahatchee River, however, needs freshwater flows from Okeechobee during the dry season to offset a lack of flows coming from the river's watershed.
Much of the water that once sat on the landscape for months now flows to the river and the Gulf of Mexico as quickly as gravity will allow.
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Without a constant feed of freshwater from its watershed, the Caloosahatchee estuary would become too salty, which would kill off key indicators like oysters and submerged grasses.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," Samples said of the transition. "We're hopeful that Col. Bowman will prioritize the needs of the environment and public health in a way that we need the Army Corps to do. Col. Booth moved in that direction and he's retiring to Florida. Col. Bowman is not from Florida, and we hope he can see the system through the eyes of the people who have been harmed over the decades."
