The Big Cypress Basin Board along with officials from Collier County and Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary announced the completion of an upgraded water control structure in Naples that borders portions of the Bird Rookery Swamp and Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The completion of these upgrades allows for fully remote and automated control of more than 26 miles of canals in the Golden Gate watershed that reach from the headwaters of the system at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary down to the Gordon River and Naples Bay. Water managers can now immediately respond to frequent and intense rainfall over the region to improve flood control while balancing freshwater flood control releases to protect regional wetlands and ecosystems. The upgraded, fully automated control structure will provide enhanced structure control to closely manage upstream water levels including portions of the Bird Rookery Swamp and improved flood protection with enhanced flood control operations. In addition, it will provide reduced system response time to maintain flood control in a flash flood-prone system and enhanced operational flexibility with the ability to retain higher water levels when appropriate in the upstream watershed.