Voices: A fragile environment pays the price for Miami's growth spurt

Alan Gomez | USA TODAY

MIAMI — It's sometimes difficult to realize that my hometown is such a young city.

In the late 1890s, as New Yorkers welcomed the newly installed Statue of Liberty and Chicago hosted its World's Fair, the city of Miami was incorporated with more than 300 people living amidst the swamps.

Much has obviously changed since then as Miami became an international mecca for tourists, artists, models, business owners — and the occasional miscreant. Today's gleaming, glass-lined skyline is unrecognizable from the modest one I grew up with in the 1980s. You can't drive around this sun-soaked city without crossing under the shadow of a massive construction crane as the city core grows higher each day.

In our rush to grow, I worry that we're losing what made this place so special to begin with: its fragile environment.

Miami rests on one of the most complicated ecosystems in the country: an ocean to the east, the Everglades to the west, our drinking water in an aquifer a few feet below us. Far too often, in our hurry to become bigger and better, we've watched as those precious gifts have been plowed over in the name of progress.

At PortMiami, government officials just completed a deepening of the channel to accommodate giant cargo ships that will soon cross through an expanded Panama Canal. Business and political leaders say the deeper channel will lead to an economic boom. It comes at a heavy cost underwater, damaging coral reefs critical to the health of marine species and popular with divers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the complicated process of excavating portions of the seabed and dumping sediment farther out to sea. Before work started in 2011, the corps agreed to move nearly 1,000 corals out of the danger zone. After environmental groups sued, claiming a wider area was being damaged, the corps agreed in 2014 to spend $400,000 to relocate more coral colonies and closely monitor the area.

As the digging neared completion this year, more bad news: The National Marine Fisheries Service warned that the damaged area "greatly exceeds" what was predicted, a blanket of silt and clay covering more than four times the expected seabed.

Things don't look much better above the waterline.

Across Biscayne Bay, workers have been prepping a piece of shoreline for February's Miami International Boat Show. The annual event has become world-renowned, drawing buyers and builders of yachts, fishing boats and all kinds of pleasure crafts. This show has become the source of intense controversy because of its new location on Virginia Key, an island that not only offers a glorious view of the Miami skyline but also serves as protection for the bay.

This year, workers illegally tore down more than 1,700 square feet of mangrove trees next to the site of the show. For you Northerners who've never heard of a mangrove, they are incredibly important trees that grow mostly along coastal shorelines, half in the water, half out. I'm not exaggerating when I say that even my 7-year-old niece understands their importance, from slowing water erosion to serving as a safe place for wildlife to reproduce.

In recent weeks, citizens and environmentalists have complained at public hearings about the damage that could result from hundreds of boats and thousands of people gathered on the island. Water taxis shuttling people to the show will travel so close to manatees, dolphins and other protected species that a "spotter" boat will be on hand to keep them on the right path. More than 1,000 pilings will be driven into the seafloor to create temporary boat slips for the show, only to be removed and replaced each year.

The boat show organizers and Miami officials say they can put on the show, help the economy and minimize environmental damage. From what we've seen, I'm not so sure.

Lee Hefty, assistant director of Miami-Dade County's Division of Environmental Resources Management, told me he doesn't have the manpower to monitor the vast stretches of coastline, marshes and waterways that make Miami so unique. "We rely on residents to keep an eye on things and help us," he said.

As Miami continues its march toward mega-metropolis, I hope all of us here do just that.

Gomez is USA TODAY's Miami-based correspondent.