America's Amazon - The Story of the St. Lucie River

For more than 120 years, the St. Lucie River on the Treasure Coast of Florida has been subjected to dramatic changes brought about to increase commerce and flood control, with little if any thought given to the impact that those changes would have on the River's environment.
This film documents this history from the time that the river was called America's Amazon, a jungle river, till a time when toxic algae blooms have become so serious that people have been warned to not touch the water.

[@williamr.kirkland6317]

Thanks. As a native Florida resident, I most appreciate the history lesson. Not provided in my school.

[@JeffKraengel]

So very informative... but, sadly, "progress" always seems to win. Let's hope our leaders wake up and realize the real "right" is the respect and preservation of what God gave us, not the destruction.

[@simbaeast6846]

I lived in saint Lucie my entire life and I have watched. It completely be leveled for housing. And the river used as drainage for real estate. And it's just the saddest thing to watch. It was a beautiful river at 1 time, and now it's a mud hole. The marine life has been devastated along with the forest tree that surrounds it.

[@roberthamlin6638]

My family lived in Stuart from 1960-1969. Both my folks worked for Southern Bell. My mother had a sister who lived in town. She was an artist and her husband was a chiropractor. Stuart was a great place for a child to grow up. We were surrounded by places to fish. Sure miss those days.

[@Mv-Wildchild]

Born and raised in the treasure coast now living on north Carolina this was very enjoyable to watch thanks so much

[@howabouthetruth2157]

I've been living here in Melbourne Florida since 1969. I'm proud of the fact that I have never lived in a place where I needed to fertilize and water my lawn, because of having native grasses, plants, and trees. Throughout the decades, I have personally witnessed firsthand, the raping of our land and waterways by land developers. It has always angered me how people from all over who desire to "own a slice of natural Florida" turn right around and buy or have a home built where they dig up all of the native plants & trees, only to replace it with UN-natural grass species & plants that require continuous watering & fertilizing that is rapidly depleting our freshwater aquifer while destroying our freshwater lakes & rivers, as well as our brackish and saltwater rivers & lagoons, all at the same time. This is sheer insanity and VANITY. They literally want their homes to look like some kind of "high class resort". These types of residents don't want a true, beautiful native Florida, they want a faked image via their golf courses and a home & yard that doesn't even remotely resemble the real Florida. In recent years, a very small number of forward thinking land developers are proving that residents CAN own a home here in central & south Florida that uses NATIVE trees, plants, and grasses that cause little to no environmental impact. Nor does it deplete our precious aquifer.

[@billdiver1]

Moved here from new England in Feb of 72....Have lived in Jacksonville, Ocala, Deland ,Moss Bluff, Ocklawaha..(mostly due to 20 years in the USN) I've witnessed an incredible degradation of this fantastic state

[@johndoe-ek6vl]

My home is surrounded by palms, water oaks and live oak. The new development that's in my back yard now has NO tree. NOTHING. The mcmansion cookie cutter people DISGUST ME.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Oh man. I truly feel for you. It sure is saddening to see developments coming in and totally changing the landscape forever. Be that as it may, I really wish Florida law makers would pass laws where all developers MUST use methods that do the least change and harm to our natural land. As I had mentioned before, there are already a small handful of developers who do a really good job of this. The natural grasses like Bahia may not be as "green" as St Augustine grass, but it doesn't require the constant water & fertilizers that all of the "show off" grass species do. Besides, if the landscaping of plants, flowers, & trees is done in a strategic manner, the Bahia grass doesn't look bad at all, plus it can handle drought much better. Lastly, those "thick lush lawns" of St Augustine grass are SO thick, even when mowed, it's downright dangerous to run ( or even walk ) across, because an adult or a child can literally twist their ankle. Very hard to pull a wagon load of plants or push a lawn mower across that thick stuff too. I think it's ridiculous. We once owned a home that was among the very 1st in that entire area of West Melbourne Fl. It was a wonderful, peaceful neighborhood. There was a small orange grove directly behind our property and the neighbor's properties to either side of us. Flooding, even after tropical storms was never a real concern. Then finally, a developer came in, dug up the entire orange grove, trucked in countless tons of fill dirt so that their land elevation was way above ours. They built a dental complex there. During every rainy season, our entire property including all of the neighbors would flood SO bad, the entire street was completely underwater from ditch to ditch on either side. While driving, the only way we could tell if we were still on the paved road was by watching the mailboxes on either side. That's pathetic. Needless to say, my family and all of my neighbors were highly pissed off. Never the same after that. This happened way back in the mid 80's. Most sold their homes & moved elsewhere, including us. To this very day, that entire quiet, peaceful neighborhood gets flooded during periods of heavy rains. It's disgusting. @@johndoe-ek6vl

[@johndoe-ek6vl]

@@howabouthetruth2157 This has happened to me. The neighborhood they built behind me.. they tore down woods that had been untouched since the beginning of this planet and raised the ground level a good 4 or 5 feet. The city doesn't care, I suspect they're trying to push out the native communities to cater to the gentrification.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Yes Sir. I can vouch for that. @@billdiver1

[@boatsail1]

I'm 76 now. The St. Lucie River was quite nice when I was a kid; it does and never has conpaired to the Amazon. Both have their own merits.

[@dessiplaer]

Thanks for posting this video.

[@blakeshaw5272]

What an amazing video. So informative and important.

[@touchofgrey5372]

My great grandpa - on my Mother's side - was offered 40 miles of coast line back in 1910! Don't know for how much, though. Can't imagine what that would be worth nowadays! I once had a dream to build a real log home. Contacted a man somewhere in Florida and asked him if he could supply the 12-15 inch cypress logs. (They're called the "Eternal Wood"!) He said no problem. I said well don't you have to go into a Nature Reserve to cut them? Yeah, kind of! But, don't worry; no one will know! I thanked him for his time and never again called him! Thanks very much for this informative video!

[@briankraft1938]

They have ruined my home town ,port Salerno

[@johndoe-ek6vl]

the entire state is being demolished for these human farms (literally being done to gerrymander Florida into a blue state). They're building the apartment complexes and homes from the ground up out of oriented strand board.. lol

[@Mv-Wildchild]

I grew up in Martin county (palm city )but used to hang out in Salerno haven't been home in 20 years I bet I wouldn't recognize it

[@briankraft1938]

@@Mv-Wildchild YOU WOULD CRY 😢

[@Mv-Wildchild]

@@briankraft1938 that's sad cuz it was a beautiful place to grow up along of good memories

[@wc7430]

Great video!

[@aircrew705]

Undo everything that’s been done since the 1850s. Hamilton Disston started the destruction and the US Army Corps of Engineers finished it.

[@johndoe-ek6vl]

I grew up on the Indian River. The area isn't what it used to be..

[@paulknuff1555]

This video outlines the very reasons I left florida in 1975 and never looked back. The politicians in Tallahassee were owned by big agriculture and anyone who protested what was happening was steamrolled into submission.

[@greendeane1]

If National Propaganda Radio was involved in this video then that automatically makes it questionable.

[@FLWOD]

No, I personally spent 3 years doing the research for this documentary. I personally produced the film, wrote the script, and fact checked every statement made in the documentary. The fact is, I did pitch the project to NPR, but they didn’t take it. I’m very proud of the fact that absolutely no one was able to influence the facts in this documentary.

[@touchofgrey5372]

The only thing is questionable here is your comment!

[@benztech2262]

@@FLWOD Thank you for 3 years of work. This was excellent documentary!

[@ChatGPT1111]

@@FLWODwow, simply fantastic! I've lived in Brevard since '84 and seen major changes. This will no doubt lead you to bigger and better opportunities!

[@michaelreed4744]

Hello. Do you know why it is called the American Amazon?

[@whaleshrimp111]

Our entire federal government badly needs to have it's budgets and employee count reduced by 50% a year for the next 3 years. Then we should see if further cuts are needed. IMO

[@nomadichippie]

The Amazon is in America.there are over 33 countries in America

[@BIGDAVE5352]

I soaked through 2 Depends while watching this documentary!

[@ChatGPT1111]

That's why I watch all of em at 2x speed. I can make it to the canal to relieve myself that way.

[@jerrysullivan7223]

How about a story on the Suwannee river in north Florida

[@jamesrivers6853]

I’ve lived in Florida pretty much my whole life and I do remember and it still does occasionally get cold here in very cold. I live in central Florida. No I live on the Indian river in Sebastian no, I hear climate activist, telling me that climate change it’ getting colder. Well here we have records, talking about how the freeze is wiped out the pineapple and some of the citrus so this is been going on forever.

[@MsBaztastic]

11:30 Almost 200 years later, and we're still chasing roaches. 🪳 Don't even mention the mosquitoes. 🦟