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Take Action: Stop the Assault on Everglades Restoration

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Photo by Mac Stone.

The Southern Everglades and Florida Bay contain vital foraging and nesting grounds that Roseate Spoonbillsand other wading birds depend on.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) recently released an Environmental Assessment for a field test that will be used to determine how three key restoration projects in this region (Modified Water Deliveries, C-111 South Dade, and the C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project) will operate. These projects were built to restore the natural movement of water to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.

Unfortunately the Army Corps’ preferred plan, Alternative G, would reroute some of the water currently flowing to Taylor Slough and Florida Bay out through a structure called the S-197 and away from restoration areas.

This is a major step backwards for Everglades restoration.

Releasing water in the wrong place effectively negates the goals of the field test itself. The Army Corps cannot determine how the restoration projects interact or what they achieve if any water flow gained is simply sent to tide through the S-197 structure. This was proposed to accommodate a few landowners and would come at a cost of harming, rather than restoring, the Everglades and depriving it of needed freshwater.

This represents an assault on restoration efforts – the interests of a few stakeholder should not trump the interests of the public who paid for these restoration projects and want to see them operated in a way that will provide maximum ecological benefits.

This water must stay in restoration areas where it is needed – not pumped away where it will be lost to tide.

Your voice is needed now. Stand up for the Everglades and Florida Bay and tell the Army Corps that this field test should only move forward if flows out of S-197 are off the table and that this field test mustmaximize restoration benefits.

For additional information on the restoration projects in this region, please download the Audubon Fact Sheets on C-111 South Dade and the C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project:

New Study Calls for More Water Storage in the Everglades

A new study commissioned by the Florida Senate has been released from the University of Florida Water Institute, “Options to Reduce High Volume Freshwater Flows to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries and Move More Water from Lake Okeechobee to the Southern Everglades,” is a scientific review of the options for water storage in the Everglades.

The findings indicate that in addition to completing Everglades restoration projects underway, more water storage options are needed both north and south of Lake Okeechobee to prevent devastating water releases to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.

Here are some of the important findings:

Relief to the estuaries and the ability to move more water south of Lake Okeechobee can be accomplished using existing technology but requires an “enormous increase in storage and treatment of water both north and south of the lake.”
The State of Florida should consider the option to purchase 46,000 acres of land in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Current Basin Management Action Plans will not achieve Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee or St. Lucie estuaries. TMDLs are nutrient limits set to protect the health of these water bodies.
New field-verified agricultural and urban Best Management Practices (BMPs) are required to protect water quality.
Construction of the Central Everglades Planning Project must be accelerated.
A comprehensive planning exercise should be conducted to look at water storage and treatment options north of Lake Okeechobee. This should include an analysis of the cumulative benefits of Dispersed Water Management.

These findings echo Audubon’s advocacy to complete restoration projects underway while planning new water storage and treatment projects needed to truly restore the River of Grass.

Click here to access the full study.