Morning mist rises off a California Delta waterway called Whiskey Slough, about 10 miles west ... out of place — more like the swampy Florida Everglades than arid California.

In a region of Florida known as the River of Grass, John Kominoski plops into hip-deep waters. Blobs of brown periphyton – a mishmash of algae, bacteria and other organisms – carpet the surface. The ...