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Think Florida is wild now? Of course you do. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to trade so many Florida man stories of chaos at the pub. But try to imagine Florida in the 1970s. The Sunshine State was a wholly different spot, but no less capable of some bonkers thinking. In the early 1970s, an ecological operation sought to create artificial reefs off Florida's east coast. Instead, the initiative led to an underwater vulcanized rubber wasteland with very little marine habitat value. And while sinking millions of discarded tires into the waters off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sounds like a wild idea, the minds behind the madness swore there was more to it than ridding Floridian ground of Goodyears.

Ever heard of an artificial reef? Building them is the reason the U.S. Navy has a propensity to sink its unwanted ships on purpose. Well, the fine folks of Broward Artificial Reef Incorporated decided the way to dispose of ugly, used, and unwanted tires while encouraging marine life to thrive off the coast of Florida was to mobilize a volunteer navy and submerge the rubber. Let's just say it didn't go as planned. In reality, the move was an environmental disaster with impacts that lasted decades after the dumping.

Good intentions, catastrophic outcome

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Now, artificial reefs aren't a new concept. They weren't even new in the early 1970s, really. As early as the 18th century, people have been sinking objects with the intent of encouraging marine life. Mind you, those efforts weren't focused on environmental reasons. It was all about the fishing. Fast forward two centuries, and fishermen were still at it, this time seeking to add to the population of game fish east of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Enter Broward Artificial Reef Incorporated and professor of ocean engineering at Florida Atlantic University, Ray McAllister.

McAllister — one of the founding members of BARINC – gained the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a sprawling artificial reef as part of the Osborne Reef project. To accomplish the task, BARINC assembled a volunteer flotilla of over 100 privately owned boats to accompany the USS Thrush in submerging over two million tires in thousands of joined bundles. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but much to the dismay of McAllister, BARINC, and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the initiative failed. Miserably. Yes, that Goodyear — one of the few tire brands still making tires in America.

Very little marine life – coral or fish — paid the tires any mind. Worse yet, the nylon and steel couplings that bound the tire bundles failed over time, releasing tires into the current. Pair that with storm activity, and the wayward tires were free to do their best wrecking ball impression against the existing coral. If that wasn't bad enough, some tires came to a rest on the nearby coral, inhibiting further growth and harming marine populations.

A difficult idea to re-tire

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So, what started as a well-intentioned strategy turned into a tire-based tragedy. How bad was it? William Nuckols, one of the coordinators involved in cleanup efforts, told CBS News that the tires were a "constantly-killing coral-destruction machine." Needless to say, the removal and cleanup process has been anything but smooth sailing. Between 2007 and 2009, U.S. Navy, Army, and Coast Guard divers recovered around 72,000 tires from Osborne Reef. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, cleanup efforts have rid the disastrous site of over 586,942 tires and executed a $5 million contract with Schlueter Vessel Management & Consulting to continue cleanup. Still, projections put total tire removal at shy of 1 million tires by 2033. This is going to take a while.

Get this: It's not the first time people have attempted to make artificial reefs out of tires and failed. Decades ago, the state of Virginia submerged tires to create artificial habitats similar to the Floridian endeavor. A 1998 Category 3 storm had little respect for the initiative, ripping the tires loose and dispersing them on various North Carolina beaches. If that wasn't enough, New Jersey scientists had the bright idea of sinking 1,000 or so tires, this time weighed down with concrete. In that case, shreds of tires washed up on the Garden State's beaches. While most states are (thankfully) done with tire reef initiatives, cleaning up after these well-intentioned-yet-bone-headed ideas is an ongoing process.