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An ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted during the 20th century on the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
, a region of
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s in southern
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct an
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the airport would have destroyed the ecosystem in
South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
and
Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east ...
. After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the
natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...
in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in and near the Everglades. In response to floods caused by hurricanes in 1947, the
Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
(C&SF) was established to construct flood control devices in the Everglades. The C&SF built of canals and levees between the 1950s and 1971 throughout South Florida. Their last venture was the C-38 canal, which straightened the
Kissimmee River The Kissimmee River is a river in south-central Florida, United States that forms the north part of the Everglades wetlands area. The river begins at East Lake Tohopekaliga south of Orlando, flowing south through Lake Kissimmee into the large, sh ...
and caused catastrophic damage to animal habitats, adversely affecting water quality in the region. The canal became the first C&SF project to revert when the canal began to be backfilled, or refilled with the material excavated from it, in the 1980s. When high levels of
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
and
mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...
were discovered in the waterways in 1986,
water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...
became a focus for water management agencies. Costly and lengthy court battles were waged between various government entities to determine who was responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality standards. Governor
Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States ...
proposed a bill that determined which agencies would have that responsibility, and set deadlines for pollutant levels to decrease in water. Initially the bill was criticized by conservation groups for not being strict enough on polluters, but the
Everglades Forever Act The Everglades Forever Act is a Florida law passed in 1994 designed to restore the Everglades. The law recognized, the “Everglades ecological system is endangered as a result of adverse changes in water quality, and in the quantity, distribution ...
was passed in 1994. Since then, the
South Florida Water Management District The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving w ...
(SFWMD) and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
have surpassed expectations for achieving lower phosphorus levels. A commission appointed by Governor Chiles published a report in 1995 stating that South Florida was unable to sustain its growth, and the deterioration of the environment was negatively affecting daily life for residents in South Florida. The environmental decline was predicted to harm tourism and commercial interests if no actions were taken to halt current trends. Results of an eight-year study that evaluated the C&SF were submitted to the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
in 1999. The report warned that if no action was taken the region would rapidly deteriorate. A strategy called the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is the plan enacted by the U.S. Congress for the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem in southern Florida. When originally authorized by the U.S. Congress in 2000, it was estimated that CERP ...
(CERP) was enacted to restore portions of the Everglades,
Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...
, the
Caloosahatchee River The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
, and
Florida Bay Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. It is a large, shallow estuary that while connected to the Gulf of Mexico, has limited exchange o ...
to undo the damage of the past 50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7.8 billion to complete. Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by political and funding problems.


Background

The Everglades are part of a very large watershed that begins in the vicinity of
Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
. The Kissimmee River drains into
Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...
, a lake with an average depth of . During the wet season when the lake exceeds its capacity, the water leaves the lake in a very wide and shallow river, approximately long and wide. This wide and shallow flow is known as ''sheetflow''. The land gradually slopes toward Florida Bay, the historical destination of most of the water leaving the Everglades. Before drainage attempts, the Everglades comprised , taking up a third of the Florida peninsula. Since the early 19th century the Everglades have been a subject of interest for agricultural development. The first attempt to drain the Everglades occurred in 1882 when
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
land developer
Hamilton Disston Hamilton Disston (August 23, 1844 – April 30, 1896)"He Died Without Warning", ''The Washington Post'' (May 1, 1896). was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of Florida land in 1881, an are ...
constructed the first canals. Though these attempts were largely unsuccessful, Disston's purchase of land spurred tourism and real estate development of the state. The political motivations of Governor
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (April 19, 1857 – October 1, 1910) was an American river pilot, captain, and politician. He was elected as the 19th governor of the U.S. state of Florida, serving from January 3, 1905, to January 5, 1909. He was mos ...
resulted in more successful attempts at canal construction between 1906 and 1920. Recently reclaimed
wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s were used for cultivating
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
and vegetables, while urban development began in the Everglades.Dovell, Junius (July 1948). "The Everglades: A Florida Frontier", ''Agricultural History'' 22 (3), pp. 187–197. The
1926 Miami Hurricane The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 mill ...
and the
1928 Okeechobee Hurricane The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the recorded history of the North Atlantic basin, and the fourth deadliest hurricane in the United States, only behind the ...
caused widespread devastation and flooding which prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to construct a dike around Lake Okeechobee. The four-story wall cut off water from the Everglades. Floods from hurricanes in 1947 motivated the US Congress to establish the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF), responsible for constructing of canals and levees, hundreds of pumping stations and other water control devices. The C&SF established Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) in 37% of the original Everglades, which acted as reservoirs providing excess water to the
South Florida metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area (also known as Greater Miami, the Tri-County Area, South Florida, or the Gold Coast) is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a ...
, or flushing it into the Atlantic Ocean or the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. The C&SF also established the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), which grows the majority of sugarcane crops in the United States. When the EAA was first established, it encompassed approximately 27% of the original Everglades. By the 1960s, urban development and agricultural use had decreased the size of the Everglades considerably. The remaining 25% of the Everglades in its original state is protected in
Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east ...
, but the park was established before the C&SF, and it depended upon the actions of the C&SF to release water. As Miami and other metropolitan areas began to intrude on the Everglades in the 1960s, political battles took place between park management and the C&SF when insufficient water in the park threw ecosystems into chaos. Fertilizers used in the EAA began to alter soil and
hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
in Everglades National Park, causing the proliferation of exotic plant species. A proposition to build a massive jetport in the Big Cypress Swamp in 1969 focused attention on the degraded natural systems in the Everglades. For the first time, the Everglades became a subject of environmental conservation.


Everglades as a priority

Environmental protection became a national priority in the 1970s. ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine declared it the Issue of the Year in January 1971, reporting that it was rated as Americans' "most serious problem confronting their community—well ahead of crime, drugs and poor schools". When South Florida experienced a severe drought from 1970 to 1975, with Miami receiving only of rain in 1971— less than average—media attention focused on the Everglades.Gunderson, Lance, et al. (1995). "Lessons from the Everglades", ''BioScience'', 45, Supplement: Science and Biodiversity Policy, pp. S66–S73. With the assistance of governor's aide Nathaniel Reed and
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
biologist Arthur R. Marshall, politicians began to take action. Governor
Reubin Askew Reubin O'Donovan Askew (September 11, 1928 – March 13, 2014) was an American politician, who served as the 37th governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 7th U.S. Trade representative from 1979 ...
implemented the Land Conservation Act in 1972, allowing the state to use voter-approved bonds of $240 million to purchase land considered to be environmentally unique and irreplaceable. Since then, Florida has purchased more land for public use than any other state. In 1972 President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
declared the Big Cypress Swamp—the intended location for the Miami jetport in 1969—to be federally protected.
Big Cypress National Preserve Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in South Florida, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Miami on the Atlantic coastal plain. The Big Cypress, along with Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, becam ...
was established in 1974, and
Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve is a Florida State Park just west of Copeland, Florida. It is located in the Fakahatchee Strand, a thread of forested strand (swamp) in Big Cypress, a section of the Florida Everglades off SR 29. Flora Plants ...
was created the same year. In 1976, Everglades National Park was declared an
International Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...
by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
, which also listed the park as a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in 1979. The
Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...
designated the Everglades a Wetland of International Importance in 1987. Only three locations on Earth have appeared on all three lists: Everglades National Park, Lake Ichkeul in
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
, and
Srebarna Lake The Srebarna Nature Reserve ( bg, Природен резерват Сребърна, transliterated as ''Priroden rezervat Srebarna'') is a nature reserve in northeastern Bulgaria (Southern Dobruja), near the village of the same name, 18 km ...
in
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
.


Kissimmee River

In the 1960s, the C&SF came under increased scrutiny from government overseers and conservation groups. Critics maintained its size was comparable to the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
's dam-building projects during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and that the construction had run into the billions of dollars without any apparent resolution or plan. The projects of the C&SF have been characterized as part of "crisis and response" cycles that "ignored the consequence for the full system, assumed certainty of the future, and succeeded in solving the momentary crisis, but set in motion conditions that exaggerate future crises".Holling, C.S. "The Structure and Dynamics of the Everglades System: Guidelines for Ecosystem Restoration" in ''Everglades : The Ecosystem and its Restoration'', Steven Davis and John Ogden, eds. (1994), St. Lucie Press. The last project, to build a canal to straighten the winding floodplain of the Kissimmee River that had historically fed Lake Okeechobee which in turn fed the Everglades, began in 1962.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas Marjory Stoneman Douglas (April 7, 1890 – May 14, 1998) was an American journalist, author, women's suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for de ...
later wrote that the C&SF projects were "interrelated stupidity", crowned by the C-38 canal. Designed to replace a meandering river with a channel, the canal was completed in 1971 and cost $29 million. It supplanted approximately of marshland with retention ponds, dams, and vegetation. Loss of habitat has caused the region to experience a drastic decrease of waterfowl, wading birds, and game fish. The reclaimed floodplains were taken over by agriculture, bringing fertilizers and insecticides that washed into Lake Okeechobee. Even before the canal was finished, conservation organizations and sport fishing and hunting groups were calling for the restoration of the Kissimmee River. Arthur R. Marshall led the efforts to undo the damage. According to Douglas, Marshall was successful in portraying the Everglades from the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes to
Florida Bay Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. It is a large, shallow estuary that while connected to the Gulf of Mexico, has limited exchange o ...
—including the atmosphere, climate, and limestone—as a single organism. Rather than remaining the preserve of conservation organizations, the cause of restoring the Everglades became a priority for politicians. Douglas observed, "Marshall accomplished the extraordinary magic of taking the Everglades out of the bleeding-hearts category forever". At the insistent urging of Marshall, newly elected Governor
Bob Graham Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He is a member of the Dem ...
announced the formation of the "Save Our Everglades" campaign in 1983, and in 1985 Graham lifted the first shovel of backfill for a portion of the C-38 canal. Within a year the area was covered with water returning to its original state. Graham declared that by the year 2000, the Everglades would resemble its predrainage state as much as possible. The Kissimmee River Restoration Project was approved by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1992. The project was estimated to cost $578 million to convert only of the canal; the cost was designed to be divided between the state of Florida and the U.S. government, with the state being responsible for purchasing land to be restored. A project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers explained in 2002, "What we're doing on this scale is going to be taken to a larger scale when we do the restoration of the Everglades".Morgan, Curtis (December 15, 2002). "Florida's Kissimmee River Begins to Recover from Man-Made Damage", ''
The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.


Water quality

Attention to water quality was focused in South Florida in 1986 when a widespread
algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...
occurred in one-fifth of Lake Okeechobee. The bloom was discovered to be the result of fertilizers from the Everglades Agricultural Area. Although laws stated in 1979 that the chemicals used in the EAA should not be deposited into the lake, they were flushed into the canals that fed the Everglades Water Conservation Areas, and eventually pumped into the lake. Microbiologists discovered that, although phosphorus assists plant growth, it destroys
periphyton Periphyton is a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. The related term Aufwuchs (German "surface growth" or "overgrowth") refers to the col ...
, one of the basic building blocks of
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...
in the Everglades. Marl is one of two types of Everglades soil, along with
peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
; it is found where parts of the Everglades are flooded for shorter periods of time as layers of periphyton dry. Most of the phosphorus compounds also rid peat of dissolved oxygen and promote algae growth, causing native invertebrates to die, and sawgrass to be replaced with invasive
cattails ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...
that grow too tall and thick to allow nesting for birds and alligators. Tested water showed 500 parts per billion (ppb) of phosphorus near sugarcane fields. State legislation in 1987 mandated a 40% reduction of
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
by 1992. Attempts to correct phosphorus levels in the Everglades met with resistance. The sugarcane industry, dominated by two companies named
U.S. Sugar U.S. Sugar Corporation is a privately owned agricultural business based in Clewiston, Florida. The company farms over 230,000 acres of land in the counties of Hendry County, Florida, Hendry, Glades County, Florida, Glades, Martin County, Florid ...
and
Flo-Sun The Fanjul brothers—Cuban born Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul Jr., José "Pepe" Fanjul, Alexander Fanjul, and Andres Fanjul—are owners of Fanjul Corp., a vast sugar and real estate conglomerate in the United States and the Dominican Republic. It c ...
, was responsible for more than half of the crop in the EAA. They were well represented in state and federal governments by
lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
s who enthusiastically protected their interests. According to the Audubon Society, the
sugar industry The sugar industry subsumes the production, processing and marketing of sugars (mostly sucrose and fructose). Globally, most sugar is extracted from sugar cane (~80% predominantly in the tropics) and sugar beet (~ 20%, mostly in temperate cli ...
, nicknamed "Big Sugar", donated more money to political parties and candidates than
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
. The sugar industry attempted to block government-funded studies of polluted water, and when the federal prosecutor in Miami faulted the sugar industry in legal action to protect Everglades National Park, Big Sugar tried to get the lawsuit withdrawn and the prosecutor fired. A costly legal battle ensued from 1988 to 1992 between the State of Florida, the U.S. government, and the sugar industry to resolve who was responsible for water quality standards, the maintenance of Everglades National Park and the
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife sanctuary is located west of Boynton Beach, in Palm Beach County, Florida. It is also known as Water Conservation Area 1 (WCA-1). It includes the most northern remnant ...
. A different concern about water quality arose when
mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...
was discovered in fish during the 1980s. Because mercury is damaging to humans, warnings were posted for fishermen that cautioned against eating fish caught in South Florida, and scientists became alarmed when a
Florida panther The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks, and mixed freshwater swamp forests. It is known under a number of common names including Costa R ...
was found dead near Shark River Slough with mercury levels high enough to be fatal to humans.Lodge, pp. 231–233. When mercury is ingested it adversely affects the central nervous system, and can cause brain damage and birth defects. Studies of mercury levels found that it is
bioaccumulate Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated ...
d through the
food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
: animals that are lower on the chain have decreased amounts, but as larger animals eat them, the amount of mercury is multiplied. The dead panther's diet consisted of small animals, including
raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
s and young alligators. The source of the mercury was found to be waste incinerators and
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
power plants that expelled the element in the atmosphere, which precipitated with rain, or in the dry season, dust. Naturally occurring bacteria in the Everglades that function to reduce
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
also transform mercury deposits into
methylmercury Methylmercury (sometimes methyl mercury) is an organometallic cation with the formula . It is the simplest organomercury compound. Methylmercury is extremely toxic, and its derivatives are the major source of organic mercury for humans. It is a ...
. This process was more dramatic in areas where flooding was not as prevalent. Because of
requirements In product development and process optimization, a requirement is a singular documented physical or functional need that a particular design, product or process aims to satisfy. It is commonly used in a formal sense in engineering design, includi ...
that reduced power plant and incinerator emissions, the levels of mercury found in larger animals decreased as well: approximately a 60% decrease in fish and a 70% decrease in birds, though some levels still remain a health concern for people.


Everglades Forever Act

In an attempt to resolve the political quagmire over water quality, Governor
Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States ...
introduced a bill in 1994 to clean up water within the EAA that was being released to the lower Everglades. The bill stated that the "Everglades ecosystem must be restored both in terms of water quality and water quantity and must be preserved and protected in a manner that is long term and comprehensive". It ensured the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is the Florida government agency responsible for environmental protection. History By the mid-1960s, when the federal government was becoming increasingly involved in initiatives design ...
(DEP) and the
South Florida Water Management District The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving w ...
(SFWMD) would be responsible for researching water quality, enforcing water supply improvement, controlling exotic species, and collecting taxes, with the aim of decreasing the levels of phosphorus in the region. It allowed for purchase of land where pollutants would be sent to "treat and improve the quality of waters coming from the EAA". Critics of the bill argued that the deadline for meeting the standards was unnecessarily delayed until 2006—a period of 12 years—to enforce better water quality. They also maintained that it did not force sugarcane farmers, who were the primary polluters, to pay enough of the costs, and increased the threshold of what was an acceptable amount of phosphorus in water from 10 ppb to 50 ppb.Grunwald, p. 301. Governor Chiles initially named it the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act, but Douglas was so unimpressed with the action it took against polluters that she wrote to Chiles and demanded her name be stricken from it. Despite criticism, the Florida legislature passed the Act in 1994. The SFWMD stated that its actions have exceeded expectations earlier than anticipated, by creating Stormwater Treatment Areas (STA) within the EAA that contain a calcium-based substance such as lime rock layered between peat, and filled with
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...
periphyton. Early tests by the Army Corps of Engineers revealed this method reduced phosphorus levels from 80 ppb to 10 ppb. The STAs are intended to treat water until the phosphorus levels are low enough to be released into the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge or other WCAs.


Wildlife concerns

The intrusion of urban areas into wilderness has had a substantial impact on wildlife, and several species of animals are considered endangered in the Everglades region. One animal that has benefited from endangered species protection is the American alligator (''
Alligator mississippiensis The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the gen ...
''), whose holes give refuge to other animals, often allowing many species to survive during times of drought. Once abundant in the Everglades, the alligator was listed as an endangered species in 1967, but a combined effort by federal and state organizations and the banning of alligator
hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
allowed it to rebound; it was pronounced fully recovered in 1987 and is no longer an endangered species. However, alligators' territories and average body masses have been found to be generally smaller than in the past, and because populations have been reduced, their role during droughts has become limited. The American Crocodile (''
Crocodylus acutus ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct spec ...
'') is also native to the region and has been designated as endangered since 1975. Unlike their relatives the alligators, crocodiles tend to thrive in brackish or salt-water habitats such as
estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
or marine coasts. Their most significant threat is disturbance by people. Too much contact with humans causes females to abandon their nests, and males in particular are often victims of vehicle collisions while roaming over large territories and attempting to cross U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road in the
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
. There are an estimated 500 to 1,000 crocodiles in southern Florida. The most critically endangered of any animal in the Everglades region is the Florida panther ('' Puma concolor coryi''), a species that once lived throughout the southeastern United States: there were only 25–30 in the wild in 1995. The panther is most threatened by urban encroachment, because males require approximately for breeding territory. A male and two to five females may live within that range. When habitat is lost, panthers will fight over territory. After vehicle collisions, the second most frequent cause of death for panthers is intra-species aggression. In the 1990s urban expansion crowded panthers from southwestern Florida as
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and Ft. Myers began to expand into the western Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. Agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
were responsible for maintaining the
Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...
and the
Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
, yet still approved 99% of all permits to build in wetlands and panther territory. A limited genetic pool is also a danger. Biologists introduced eight female Texas cougars (''
Puma concolor The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere ...
'') in 1995 to diversify genes, and there are between 80 and 120 panthers in the wild . Perhaps the most dramatic loss of any group of animals has been to
wading birds 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
. Their numbers were estimated by eyewitness accounts to be approximately 2.5 million in the late 19th century. However, snowy egrets ('' Egretta thula''), roseate spoonbills ('' Platalea ajaja''), and reddish egrets ('' Egretta rufescens'') were hunted to the brink of extinction for the colorful feathers used in women's hats. After about 1920 when the fashion passed, their numbers returned in the 1930s, but over the next 50 years actions by the C&SF further disturbed populations. When the canals were constructed, natural water flow was restricted from the mangrove forests near the coast of Florida Bay. From one wet season to the next, fish were unable to reach traditional locations to repopulate when water was withheld by the C&SF. Birds were forced to fly farther from their nests to forage for food. By the 1970s, bird numbers had decreased 90%. Many of the birds moved to smaller colonies in the WCAs to be closer to a food source, making them more difficult to count. Yet they remain significantly fewer in number than before the canals were constructed.


Invasive species

Around 6 million people moved to South Florida between 1940 and 1965. With a thousand people moving to Miami each week, urban development quadrupled. As the human population grew rapidly, the problem of exotic plant and animal species also grew. Many species of plants were brought into South Florida from
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, or
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
as decorative landscaping. Exotic animals imported by the pet trade have escaped or been released. Biological controls that keep invasive species smaller in size and fewer in number in their native lands often do not exist in the Everglades, and they compete with the embattled native species for food and space. Of imported plant species, melaleuca trees (''
Melaleuca quinquenervia ''Melaleuca quinquenervia'', commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree, punk tree or niaouli, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to tall, with its trunk co ...
'') have caused the most problems. Melaleucas grow on average in the Everglades, as opposed to in their native Australia. They were brought to southern Florida as
windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...
s and deliberately seeded in marsh areas because they absorb vast amounts of water. In a region that is regularly shaped by fire, melaleucas are fire-resistant and their seeds are more efficiently spread by fire. They are too dense for wading birds with large wingspans to nest in, and they choke out native vegetation. Costs of controlling melaleucas topped $2 million in 1998 for Everglades National Park. In Big Cypress National Preserve, melaleucas covered at their most pervasive in the 1990s. Brazilian pepper ('' Schinus terebinthifolius'') was brought to Southern Florida as an ornamental shrub and was dispersed by the droppings of birds and other animals that ate its bright red berries. It thrives on abandoned agricultural land growing in forests too dense for wading birds to nest in, similar to melaleucas. It grows rapidly especially after
hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
and has invaded pineland forests. Following
Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged ...
, scientists and volunteers cleared damaged pinelands of Brazilian pepper so the native trees would be able to return to their natural state. The species that is causing the most impediment to restoration is the Old World climbing fern (''
Lygodium microphyllum ''Lygodium microphyllum'' (commonly known as, variously, climbing maidenhair fern, Old World climbing fern, small-leaf climbing fern, or snake fern) is a climbing fern originating in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia. It is ...
''), introduced in 1965. The fern grows rapidly and thickly on the ground, making passage for land animals such as black bears and panthers problematic. The ferns also grow as vines into taller portions of trees, and fires climb the ferns in "fire ladders" to scorch portions of the trees that are not naturally resistant to fire. Several animal species have been introduced to Everglades waterways. Many tropical fish are released, the most detrimental being the blue tilapia (''
Oreochromis aureus The blue tilapia (''Oreochromis aureus'') is a species of tilapia, a fish in the family Cichlidae. Native to Northern and Western Africa, and the Middle East, through introductions it is now also established elsewhere, including parts of the U ...
''), which builds large nests in shallow waters. Tilapia also consume vegetation which would normally be used by young native fishes for cover and protection. Reptiles have a particular affinity for the South Florida ecosystem. Virtually all lizards appearing in the Everglades have been introduced, such as the brown anole ('' Anolis sagrei'') and the tropical house gecko (''
Hemidactylus mabouia The tropical house gecko, Afro-American house gecko or cosmopolitan house gecko (''Hemidactylus mabouia'') is a species of house gecko native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is also currently found in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean ...
''). The
herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
green iguana ('' Iguana iguana'') can reproduce rapidly in wilderness habitats. However, the reptile that has earned media attention for its size and potential to harm children and domestic pets is the Burmese python (''
Python bivittatus The Burmese python (''Python bivittatus'') is one of the largest species of snakes. It is native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Until 2009, it was considered a subspecies of the Indian python ...
''), which has spread quickly throughout the area. The python can grow up to long and competes with alligators for the top of the
food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
. Though exotic birds such as parrots and parakeets are also found in the Everglades, their impact is negligible. Conversely, perhaps the animal that causes the most damage to native wildlife is the domestic or feral cat. Across the U.S., cats are responsible for approximately a billion bird deaths annually. They are estimated to number 640 per square mile; cats living in suburban areas have devastating effects on migratory birds and marsh rabbits.


Homestead Air Force Base

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged ...
struck Miami in 1992, with catastrophic damage to
Homestead Air Force Base Homestead Air Reserve Base (Homestead ARB), previously known as Homestead Air Force Base (Homestead AFB) is located in Miami–Dade County, Florida to the northeast of the city of Homestead. It is home to the 482nd Fighter Wing (482 FW) of th ...
in
Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
. A plan to rejuvenate the property in 1993 and convert it into a commercial airport was met with enthusiasm from local municipal and commercial entities hoping to recoup $480 million and 11,000 jobs lost in the local community by the destruction and subsequent closing of the base. On March 31, 1994, the base was designated as a
reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
base, functioning only part-time. A cursory environmental study performed by the Air Force was deemed insufficient by local conservation groups, who threatened to sue in order to halt the acquisition when estimates of 650 flights a day were projected. Groups had previously been alarmed in 1990 by the inclusion of Homestead Air Force Base on a list of the U.S. Government's most polluted properties. Their concerns also included noise, and the inevitable collisions with birds using the mangrove forests as rookeries. The Air Force base is located between Everglades National Park and
Biscayne National Park Biscayne National Park is an American national park located south of Miami, Florida in Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and t ...
, giving it the potential to cause harm to both. In 2000,
Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...
Bruce Babbitt The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...
and the director of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
expressed their opposition to the project, despite other
Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
agencies previously working to ensure the base would be turned over to local agencies quickly and smoothly as "a model of base disposal". Although attempts were made to make the base more environmentally friendly, in 2001 local commercial interests promoting the airport lost federal support.


Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan


Sustainable South Florida

Despite the successes of the Everglades Forever Act and the decreases in mercury levels, the focus intensified on the Everglades in the 1990s as quality of life in the South Florida metropolitan areas diminished. It was becoming clear that urban populations were consuming increasingly unsustainable levels of natural resources. A report entitled "The Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida", submitted to Lawton Chiles in 1995, identified the problems the state and municipal governments were facing. The report remarked that the degradation of the natural quality of the Everglades, Florida Bay, and other bodies of water in South Florida would cause a significant decrease in tourism (12,000 jobs and $200 million annually) and income from compromised commercial fishing (3,300 jobs and $52 million annually). The report noted that past abuses and neglect of the environment had brought the region to "a precipitous juncture" where the inhabitants of South Florida faced health hazards in polluted air and water; furthermore, crowded and unsafe urban conditions hurt the reputation of the state. It noted that though the population had increased by 90% over the previous two decades, registered vehicles had increased by 166%. On the quality and availability of water, the report stated, " hefrequent water shortages ... create the irony of a natural system dying of thirst in a subtropical environment with over 53 inches of rain per year". Restoration of the Everglades, however, briefly became a
bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find co ...
cause in national politics. A controversial penny-a-pound (2 cent/kg) tax on sugar was proposed to fund some of the necessary changes to be made to help decrease phosphorus and make other improvements to water. State voters were asked to support the tax, and environmentalists paid $15 million to encourage the issue. Sugar lobbyists responded with $24 million in advertising to discourage it and succeeded; it became the most expensive ballot issue in state history. How restoration might be funded became a political battleground and seemed to stall without resolution. However, in the 1996 election year,
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
senator
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
proposed that Congress give the State of Florida $200 million to acquire land for the Everglades. Democratic Vice President
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
promised the federal government would purchase of land in the EAA to turn it over for restoration. Politicking reduced the number to , but both Dole's and Gore's gestures were approved by Congress.


Central and South Florida Project Restudy

As part of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, Congress authorized an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project. A report known as the "Restudy", written by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, was submitted to Congress in 1999. It cited indicators of harm to the system: a 50% reduction in the original Everglades, diminished water storage, harmful timing of water release, an 85 to 90% decrease in wading bird populations over the past 50 years, and the decline of output from commercial fisheries. Bodies of water including
Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...
, the
Caloosahatchee River The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
, St. Lucie estuary,
Lake Worth Lagoon The Lake Worth Lagoon is a lagoon located in Palm Beach County, Florida. It runs parallel to the coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier beaches, including Palm Beach Island. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by tw ...
,
Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...
,
Florida Bay Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. It is a large, shallow estuary that while connected to the Gulf of Mexico, has limited exchange o ...
, and the Everglades reflected drastic water level changes, hypersalinity, and dramatic changes in marine and freshwater ecosystems. The Restudy noted the overall decline in water quality over the past 50 years was caused by loss of wetlands that act as filters for polluted water. It predicted that without intervention the entire South Florida ecosystem would deteriorate. Canals took roughly of water to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico daily, so there was no opportunity for water storage, yet flooding was still a problem. Without changes to the current system, the Restudy predicted
water restriction An outdoor water-use restriction is a Ban (law), ban or other lesser Regulation, restrictions put into effect that restricts the outdoor use of Water supply, water supplies. Often called a watering ban or hosepipe ban, it can affect: *irrigation o ...
s would be necessary every other year, and annually in some locations. It also warned that revising some portions of the project without dedicating efforts to an overall comprehensive plan would be insufficient and probably detrimental. After evaluating ten plans, the Restudy recommended a comprehensive strategy that would cost $7.8 billion over 20 years. The plan advised taking the following actions: * Create surface water storage reservoirs to capture of water in several locations taking up .US Army COE and SFWMD, p. vii. * Create water preserve areas between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach and the eastern Everglades to treat runoff water. * Manage Lake Okeechobee as an ecological resource to avoid the drastic rise and fall of water levels in the lake that are harmful to aquatic plant and animal life and disturb the lake sediments. * Improve water deliveries to estuaries to reduce the rapid discharge of excess water to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries that upset nutrient balances and cause lesions on fish. Stormwater discharge would be sent instead to reservoirs.US Army COE and SFWMD, p. viii. * Increase underground water storage to hold a day in wells, or reservoirs in the Floridan Aquifer, to be used later in dry periods, in a method called
Aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
Storage and Recovery (ASR). * Construct treatment wetlands as Stormwater Treatment Areas throughout , that would decrease the amount of pollutants in the environment. * Improve water deliveries to the Everglades by increasing them at a rate of approximately 26% into Shark River Slough. * Remove barriers to sheetflow by destroying or removing of canals and levees, specifically removing the Miami Canal and reconstructing the
Tamiami Trail The Tamiami Trail () is the southernmost of U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) from State Road 60 (SR 60) in Tampa to US 1 in Miami. A portion of the road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90 (SR 90). The north ...
from a highway to culverts and bridges to allow sheetflow to return to a more natural rate of water flow into Everglades National Park.US Army COE and SFWMD, p. ix. * Store water in quarries and reuse wastewater by employing existing
quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...
to supply the South Florida metropolitan area as well as Florida Bay and the Everglades. Construct two
wastewater treatment Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environme ...
plants capable of discharging a day to recharge the
Biscayne Aquifer The Biscayne Aquifer, named after Biscayne Bay, is a surficial aquifer. It is a shallow layer of highly permeable limestone under a portion of South Florida. The area it underlies includes Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Monroe County, and P ...
. The implementation of all of the advised actions, the report stated, would "result in the recovery of healthy, sustainable ecosystems throughout south Florida". The report admitted that it did not have all the answers, though no plan could.US Army COE and SFWMD, p. xi. However, it predicted that it would restore the "essential defining features of the pre-drainage wetlands over large portions of the remaining system", that populations of all animals would increase, and animal distribution patterns would return to their natural states. Critics expressed concern over some unused technology; scientists were unsure if the quarries would hold as much water as was being suggested, and whether the water would harbor harmful bacteria from the quarries. Overtaxing the aquifers was another concern—it was not a technique that had been previously attempted. Though it was optimistic, the Restudy noted,
It is important to understand that the 'restored' Everglades of the future will be different from any version of the Everglades that has existed in the past. While it certainly will be vastly superior to the current ecosystem, it will not completely match the pre-drainage system. This is not possible, in light of the irreversible physical changes that have made (''sic'') to the ecosystem. It will be an Everglades that is smaller and somewhat differently arranged than the historic ecosystem. But it will be a successfully restored Everglades, because it will have recovered those hydrological and biological patterns which defined the original Everglades, and which made it unique among the world's wetland systems. It will become a place that kindles the wildness and richness of the former Everglades.US Army COE and SFWMD, p. xii.
The report was the result of many cooperating agencies that often had conflicting goals. An initial draft was submitted to Everglades National Park management who asserted not enough water would be released to the park quickly enough—that the priority went to delivering water to urban areas. When they threatened to refuse to support it, the plan was rewritten to provide more water to the park. However, the
Miccosukee The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving fed ...
Indians have a reservation in between the park and water control devices, and they threatened to sue to ensure their tribal lands and a $50 million casino would not be flooded. Other special interests were also concerned that businesses and residents would take second priority after nature. The Everglades, however, proved to be a bipartisan cause. The
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is the plan enacted by the U.S. Congress for the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem in southern Florida. When originally authorized by the U.S. Congress in 2000, it was estimated that CERP ...
(CERP) was authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 11, 2000. It approved the immediate use of $1.3 billion for implementation to be split by the federal government and other sources.


Implementation

The State of Florida reports that it has spent more than $2 billion on the various projects since CERP was signed. More than of Stormwater Treatment Areas (STA) have been constructed to filter of phosphorus from Everglades waters. An STA covering was constructed in 2004, making it the largest environmental restoration project in the world. Fifty-five percent of the land necessary for restoration, totaling , has been purchased by the State of Florida. A plan named "Acceler8", to hasten the construction and funding of the project, was put into place, spurring the start of six of eight construction projects, including that of three large reservoirs. Despite the bipartisan goodwill and declarations of the importance of the Everglades, the region still remains in danger. Political maneuvering continues to impede CERP: sugar lobbyists promoted a bill in the Florida legislature in 2003 that increased the acceptable amount of phosphorus in Everglades waterways from 10 ppb to 15 ppb and extended the deadline for the mandated decrease by 20 years. A compromise of 2016 was eventually reached. Environmental organizations express concern that attempts to speed up some of the construction through Acceler8 are politically motivated; the six projects Acceler8 focuses on do not provide more water to natural areas in desperate need of it, but rather to projects in populated areas bordering the Everglades, suggesting that water is being diverted to make room for more people in an already overtaxed environment. Though Congress promised half the funds for restoration, after the
War in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
began and two of CERP's major supporters in Congress retired, the federal role in CERP was left unfulfilled. According to a story in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', state officials say the restoration is lost in a maze of "federal bureaucracy, a victim of '
analysis paralysis Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis) describes an individual or group process where overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become "paralyzed", meaning that no solution or course of acti ...
' ".Goodnough, Abby (November 2, 2007).
Vast Effort to Save Everglades Falters as U.S. Funds Dwindle
, ''The New York Times'', Section A, p. 1.
In 2007, the release of $2 billion for Everglades restoration was approved by Congress, overriding President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's veto of the entire Water Development Project the money was a part of. Bush's rare veto went against the wishes of Florida Republicans, including his brother, Governor
Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...
. A lack of subsequent action by the Congress prompted Governor
Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...
to travel to
Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
in February 2008 and inquire about the promised funds. By June 2008, the federal government had spent only $400 million of the $7.8 billion legislated.
Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for young-adult readers. Two of his no ...
characterized George W. Bush's attitude toward the environment as "long-standing indifference" in June 2008, exemplified when Bush stated he would not intervene to change the
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
's (EPA) policy allowing the release of water polluted with fertilizers and phosphorus into the Everglades.


Reassessment of CERP

Florida still receives a thousand new residents daily and lands slated for restoration and wetland recovery are often bought and sold before the state has a chance to bid on them. The competitive pricing of real estate also drives it beyond the purchasing ability of the state.  Because the State of Florida is assisting with purchasing lands and funding construction, some of the programs under CERP are vulnerable to state budget cuts. In June 2008 Governor Crist announced that the State of Florida will buy
U.S. Sugar U.S. Sugar Corporation is a privately owned agricultural business based in Clewiston, Florida. The company farms over 230,000 acres of land in the counties of Hendry County, Florida, Hendry, Glades County, Florida, Glades, Martin County, Florid ...
for $1.7 billion. The idea came when sugar lobbyists were trying to persuade Crist to relax restriction of U.S. Sugar's practice of pumping phosphorus-laden water into the Everglades. According to one of the lobbyists who characterized it as a "duh moment", Crist said, "If sugar is polluting the Everglades, and we're paying to clean the Everglades, why don't we just get rid of sugar?" The largest producer of cane sugar in the U.S. will continue operations for six years, and when ownership transfers to Florida, of the Everglades will remain undeveloped to allow it to be restored to its pre-drainage state. In September 2008 the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...
(NRC), a nonprofit agency providing science and policy advice to the federal government, submitted a report on the progress of CERP. The report noted "scant progress" in restoration because of problems in budgeting, planning, and bureaucracy."Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: Second Biennial Review (Brief)"
National Research Council (September 2008).
The NRC report called the Everglades one of the "world's treasured ecosystems" that is being further endangered by lack of progress: "Ongoing delay in Everglades restoration has not only postponed improvements—it has allowed ecological decline to continue". It cited the shrinking tree islands, and the negative population growth of the endangered '' Rostrhamus sociabilis'' or Everglades snail kite, and '' Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis'', the Cape Sable seaside sparrow. The lack of water reaching Everglades National Park was characterized as "one of the most discouraging stories" in implementation of the plan. The NRC recommended improving planning on the state and federal levels, evaluating each CERP project annually, and further acquisition of land for restoration. Everglades restoration was earmarked $96 million in federal funds as part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...
with the intention of providing civil service and construction jobs while simultaneously implementing the legislated repair projects. In January 2010, work began on the C-111 canal, built in the 1960s to drain irrigated farmland, to reconstruct it to keep from diverting water from Everglades National Park. Two other projects focusing on restoration were also scheduled to start in 2010. Governor Crist announced the same month that $50 million would be earmarked for Everglades restoration. In April of the same year, a federal district court judge sharply criticized both state and federal failures to meet deadlines, describing the cleanup efforts as being slowed by "glacial delay" and government neglect of environmental law enforcement "incomprehensible".Morgan, Curtis (April 25, 2010). "Everglades cleanup said to be mired in 'glacial delay'", ''The Miami Herald'', South Florida news.


See also

*
Draining and development of the Everglades A national push for expansion and progress toward the latter part of the 19th century stimulated interest in draining the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, for agricultural use. According to historians, "From the m ...
*
Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east ...
*
Geography and ecology of the Everglades Before drainage, the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, were an interwoven mesh of marshes and prairies covering . The Everglades is both a vast watershed that has historically extended from Lake Okeechobee south t ...
* History of Miami, Florida *
Indigenous people of the Everglades region The indigenous people of the Everglades region arrived in the Florida peninsula of what is now the United States approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, probably following large game. The Paleo-Indians found an arid landscape that supported pla ...


Notes and references


Bibliography

* Barnett, Cynthia (2007). ''Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.'', University of Michigan Press. * Douglas, Marjory; Rothchild, John (1987). ''Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River''. Pineapple Press. * Grunwald, Michael (2006). ''The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise'', Simon & Schuster. * Lodge, Thomas E. (1994). ''The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem''. CRC Press. *
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
and
South Florida Water Management District The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving w ...
(April 1999). "Summary"
''Central and Southern Florida Project Comprehensive Review Study''


Further reading

* Alderson, Doug. 2009. ''New Dawn for the Kissimmee River''. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
The Everglades in the Time of Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Photo exhibit created by the State Archives of Florida


External links


CERP: A Visual Explanation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (SFWMD)

C-44 Reservoir Storm Water Treatment Area Project (SFWMD/CERP)
{{featured article
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
Everglades History of sugar Constructed wetlands