Okeechobee Waterway of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages five locks and dams along the Okeechobee Waterway. The St. Lucie lock was built in 1941 for navigation and flood-control purposes. In 1944, the connecting spillway structure was built for flood and regulatory flow control through the St. Lucie Canal to manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. The Port Mayaca Lock and Dam was built in 1977 for navigation purposes, to permit the raising of water levels in Lake Okeechobee, and to moderate the
Lake Okeechobee far is one big hassle / wish I was camped out on the Okeechobee'". Lake Okeechobee is featured in the first episode of "". In 2007, PBS's Earth Edition produced a 27-minute video titled "Lake Okeechobee: Big Water, Big Trouble". Earth Edition's description of the video follows: During the past 125 years, a series of well-intentioned decisions, actions and policies have turned what should have been one of Florida's greatest natural treasures into an environmental villain. Six thousand years later after it was formed, residents and agencies across the state are now raising the questions: Is it too late for