Florida requested federal assistance in controlling future floods, and in 1954 the United States Congress authorized the canalization of the Kissimmee River.

It has since been realized that this project damaged the river, with the faster water flow leading to major environmental problems in the Kissimmee Valley and Lake Okeechobee.

[2] After the river channel was straightened, 40,000 acres (160 km2) of floodplain below Lake Kissimmee dried out, reducing the quality of waterfowl habitat by ninety percent, and the number of herons, egrets and wood storks by two-thirds.

Efforts to restore the Kissimmee River to its original flow were approved by Congress in 1992, and began with modification to the headwater lakes in 1997.

[7] In 2006, the South Florida Water Management District had acquired enough land along the river and in the upper chain of lakes to complete restoration.

[9] Lake Kissimmee is expected to rise one and a half feet, restoring water sequestration functions and easing seasonal droughts.

The species included pink-tipped smartweed, horsetail, sedges, rushes, arrowhead, duck potato and pickerel weed.

Flooding and continuous flow increased levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, creating near perfect conditions for aquatic invertebrates such as insects, mollusks, works, crayfish and freshwater shrimp.