Send It South Challenge by Florida Bay Forever makes clear message about water needs

Sofia Figueredo, 11, of Islamorada, may be young, but when it comes to understanding the ecosystem of Florida Bay, she is wise beyond her years. 

Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15, Figueredo along with her mother and father, Elizabeth Jolin and Xavier Figueredo, participated in the Send It South Challenge — an event created by the Florida Bay Forever nonprofit to raise awareness for ecosystem restoration in the Everglades system.

Over 50 participants paddled on kayaks, paddleboards or canoes distances of 5 kilometers (about 3.5 miles), 26 miles (about the distance from Flamingo in Everglades National Park to Islamorada in the Florida Keys, or 99 miles through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness Waterway from Everglades City to Flamingo.)

Sharks and sheepshead

For Figueredo, she'll never forget paddleboarding alongside some of the marine wildlife that calls Florida Bay home.

"We boated to the Calusa Keys and paddled around them one day," Figueredo said. "We saw sharks, sheepshead, bonefish, herons, egrets and pelicans."

Her parents, both Coast Guard licensed captains, own Bay and Reef Co., a full-service charter business that takes people on fishing trips or eco-tours on Florida Bay waters. She said she literally is growing up with the famed waterway just outside her backyard.

More:La Niña portends dry winter, fiery spring for Florida

"My parents have taught me a lot about Florida Bay since I was little," she said. "What I know is, if Florida Bay is turned into a pond full of algae, the people who live in the Florida Keys couldn’t really be able to run their businesses."

Send it south

Emma Haydocy, executive director of Florida Bay Forever, said the seagrass meadows of Florida Bay are in good shape heading into the dry season. Fall rains in the southern Everglades helped nourish the bay with clean freshwater, something the ecosystem needs, but often does not receive enough of.

"The rain came this year, so that is good," Haydocy said. "It's such a testament to not having the water right. Leading into the wet season, we started to see fringe seagrass die-off. But then the rain came, hydrating us, and then the late season rain came and hydrated us to levels we haven’t seen in close to a decade."

More:Florida Senate president wants to nix EAA reservoir. Now what?

Florida Bay is a massive expanse of shallow waters at the southern tip of the state. It is situated between the southern edge of Everglades National Park and the Florida Keys.

The bay measures about 840 square miles, even larger than the massive 730-square-mile Lake Okeechobee about 125 miles to the north. Its tens of thousands of acres of seagrass habitat provide nursery and forage for hundreds of marine creatures ranging from fish such as mullet, pinfish, redfish, snook, tarpon and bonefish to protected sharks, endangered sawfish, manatees, dolphins and sea birds.

Florida Bay is the southernmost component of the Everglades system, which expanded over 4,000 square miles before population growth whittled it down to what it is now.

More:Army Corps: We are '100% committed' to EAA reservoir

Rains that fell on the fields and marshes south of Orlando eventually trickled south through the mangrove swamps along the bay's edge. Canals, dikes and roads that crisscross Central Florida now prevent that rainwater from reaching the bay.

When the waters get too salty — a condition called hypersalinity — it can kill seagrasses. In 2015, nearly 50,000 acres of seagrass died off because of too little freshwater from the north.

Groundhog Day

Haydocy said she was one of many who bristled at recent comments by incoming state Senate President Wilton Simpson, an egg farmer from Trilby, near Dade City. During the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation, Growth & Infrastructure Solution Summit online Dec. 8, Simpson said he thought the state should halt the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir project south of Lake Okeechobee.

The EAA reservoir is meant to store and clean excess lake water, then send it south to the Everglades and curb discharges carrying toxic algae blooms to coastal estuaries.

Simpson advocated instead for more water storage north of the lake, echoing similar sentiments the chamber and U.S. Sugar Corp. have voiced for years.

More:A state leader taking shots at water policy? Nothing new here

"It's a little distressing, like Groundhog Day again," Haydocy said. "One of the biggest problems we face in restoration is getting these projects funded so they can get done. His comments are worrisome, especially for those of us on the southern end. We need that water to come south in order to provide much-needed relief for our parched estuary."

Northern storage actually will hurt the waters of Florida Bay, she explained.

Challenge accepted

Haydocy said she hopes next year's Send It South Challenge can be a live in-person event.

"This was such a strange year and COVID made everything difficult," she said. "We planned it to be an in-person endurance paddle challenge launching from Flamingo and coming across to the Keys. We have our fingers crossed we can turn it into a live fundraising event."

Participants such as Scott Baste of Islamorada logged 99 miles on his paddleboard in just 48 hours, paddling the length of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Inland Waterway. Several families paddled 5K.

Figueredo and her family paddled 28 miles. Scott Gunnison of Chicago, who enjoys fishing and visiting the Keys with his family, sponsored Figueredo.

"There are fabulous supporters of this organization who are passionate about this place," Jolin said. "One of our customers texted Sofia and told her if she paddles 26 miles, he will sponsor her at $100 per mile, but she had to complete all 26 miles in order to receive the donation."

Gunnison donated $2,900 to the cause.

Jolin said she thinks the challenge could be a great way to make people, including legislators, aware of the water needs of Florida Bay.

"We’ll do it again next year and we're hoping it helps connect the dots between the estuaries and people who need to learn about them," Jolin said. "We’re hoping it is a tangible way for people to understand that the water in the Everglades system needs to come all the way down here."

Ed Killer is TCPalm's outdoors writer. To interact with Ed, friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.