The Kissimmee: A River Recurved

"It sounds almost superhuman to try straighten a river and then recarve the curves."

"That's what federal and state officials did to the Kissimmee River in central Florida. They straightened the river in the 1960s into a canal to drain swampland and make way for the state's explosive growth. It worked — and it created an ecological disaster. So officials decided to restore the river's slow-flowing, meandering path."

"That billion-dollar restoration — the world's largest — is a few years from completion. And so far, it's bringing signs of new life, especially on a man-made canal that was dug through the heart of the river."

"'Birds are back, both wading birds and ducks. They're all over the place' says Paul Gray of Audubon Florida. 'The oxygen levels in the river are better. There's a lot more game fish in the river like bass and bluegill and stuff. Most of the biological perimeters, the goals of the restoration we've already met.'"