Last Paper

School is getting crazy so I haven’t been able to leave campus at all, so I’ve been working on writing my term paper so that I can get a head start and not have to write it at the last minute. I’m going to be writing it on the Dona and Roberts Bay Watershed in Sarasota County. I came across it when browsing the Sarasota Wateratlas earlier in the semester when I reviewed the website; and found it interesting how much it has changed within the last century because of human activity.

I think I’m mainly going to be focusing on urbanization and agricultural development after the construction of the Cow Pen Slough and Blackburn Canal in the mid-20^th century. I guess there was a lot of flooding in the area and they weren't able to build or develop much on the land because the floods would destroy any buildings and kill crops. So they built the canals and drainage ditches to stop the flooding, which let them utilize the land without fear of flooding damages, but they never really thought much of the ecological damages they were causing. Especially in the bay estuaries since all the rainwater drained into them and disrupted their fresh and saltwater balance.