Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History Paperback – November 2, 2021

Nathaniel Osborn has written a book that is likely to become the definitive book on the the Indian River lagoon, an environmental treasure that stretches from the the Mosquito coast and the Banana River to the Jupiter Inlet. Rather than treat humankind as the enemy, he traces the ecological history of the lagoon recognizing that human activity is as much a part of nature as the hurricanes and barrier islands. It is profoundly wise and hopeful. If you love the river READ THIS BOOK.

Wonderful book on a an area of the Florida east coast that has a lot of historical and environmental importance.

I got this at the library, another fine example of the recent output of the University Press of Florida.The author does a pretty good job of summarizing the nature of the hydrology and early native settlement patterns, then leads into the modern period beginning after the Civil War and up to the present day. It adds up to just one more example of how Florida really has nothing to offer except the weather and climate. Just about every effort to produce anything, has failed. The 19th and early 20th century settlers thought otherwise and struggled mightily to make it compatible with commercial/industrial agriculture. They dug canals and drained the 'uplands' to open fields which worked for a short while, until the unintended consequences became apparent such as peat-fires and sedimentation of the estuary, or a big freeze took out the citrus.Soon, same as everywhere in Florida, the realization came that the lagoon's highest and best use is recreation. No other commercial exploitation is sustainable. Too bad, we have to live with the legacy of those who came before us. We have over 5 million people in the Southeast Metro and we have drained our water supply. We dare not allow Lake Okeechobee to rise above a certain level -- 15 feet or so -- lest the cane fields suffer and so we use the canals to dump the water into the estuaries. The water is tainted, chock full of nutrients and sediment and contaminates both coasts as well as Florida Bay. It is really very sad. It took a century to get us into this mess and it will take another century to get us out. It is certainly possible to support the present population with available resources but only if we use them wisely, and don't use them up.The text is weak in a few spots, I thought. On pp 14 he has Florida rising and falling instead of the sea; on pp 20 he describes the environment as hostile right after calling it a paradise; on pp 23 he refers to the native economy, specifically the Ais Indians, collecting ambergris on the beach and selling it to the Spaniards -- that is post-contact and so not really native, is it? Listen to this, from pp 162: "While the Indian River's unstable nature and long, narrow coastal form largely determined and isolated the sailing and steam culture that developed in the nineteenth century, it became increasingly peripheral to society once trains and cars usurped the role once held by the liquid highway." When I first hit the word 'form' I thought it was a verb, had to backtrack, and then I hit the three 'ands' only to come to a dead end. The sentence is doing way too much work, combining three or four contradictory ideas. Break it up, make it crystal clear, take me somewhere. The author should work on mastering the simple declarative sentence, it can add impact rather than diluting it.I learned a lot here and I enjoyed the book, hope you do too.

fabulous book about where I live and what happened to this very special place before it was destroyed. Outstanding.

This is a high quality product, reasonably priced and delivered quickly.

Great read if you live or vacation in the area.

Great resource!

Good book