A World Before Us

The lagoon before development: Five hundred years ago — before European settlement, before causeways, before canals — the Indian River Lagoon was one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in all of North America. A place of abundance: The water was clear enough to see the bottom in many places. Seagrass meadows covered the shallows. Oyster reefs lined the shores. Mangrove forests grew thick along every edge. The lagoon teemed with fish, crabs, oysters, clams, manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, and countless birds. A natural system: Nothing was engineered. Water flowed in from natural creeks and springs. Tides moved through natural inlets. The lagoon breathed with the rhythm of the tides and the seasons — and it had done so for thousands of years. The people: The Ais people lived along this lagoon. They fished, gathered oysters, and paddled dugout canoes. They took what they needed and the lagoon provided, season after season, century after century, without being depleted. This lesson is about that world — the lagoon as it was before we changed it. Understanding what it was is the first step to understanding what we've lost, and what we can still bring back.