National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: 2 The Restoration Plan in Context
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

3

Restoration Progress

This committee is charged with the task of discussing accomplishments of the restoration and assessing “the progress toward achieving the natural system restoration goals of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan [CERP]” (see Chapter 1 for the statement of task and Chapter 2 for a discussion of restoration goals). In this chapter, the committee updates the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s previous assessments of CERP and related non-CERP restoration projects (NASEM, 2016, 2018, 2021; NRC, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014). The committee also discusses programmatic and implementation progress and the ecosystem benefits resulting from the progress to date.

PROGRAMMATIC PROGRESS

To assess programmatic progress the committee reviewed a set of primary issues that influence CERP progress toward its overall goals of ecosystem restoration. These issues, described in the following sections, relate to project authorization, funding, and project scheduling.

Project Authorization

Once project planning is complete, CERP projects with costs exceeding $25 million must be individually authorized by Congress before they can receive federal appropriations. Water Resources Development Acts (WRDAs) have served as the mechanism to congressionally authorize U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) projects. In the 20 years since the CERP was launched in WRDA 2000, five WRDA bills have been enacted:

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
  1. WRDA 2007 (Public Law 110-114), which authorized Indian River Lagoon (IRL)-South, Picayune Strand Restoration, and the Site 1 Impoundment projects.
  2. Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) 2014 (Public Law 113-121), which authorized four additional projects (C-43 Reservoir, C-111 Spreader Canal [Western], Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands [BBCW, Phase 1], and Broward County Water Preserve Areas [WPAs]).
  3. WRDA 2016 (Title I of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act [WIIN Act]; Public Law 114-322), which includes authorization for the $1.9 billion Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP). WRDA 2016 also authorized changes to the Picayune Strand Restoration Project related to cost escalations to allow for its completion.
  4. WRDA 2018 (Public Law 115-270), which authorized the CEPP post-authorization change report, included the 240,000-acre-foot (AF) Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage Reservoir.
  5. WRDA 2020 (Public Law 116-260), which authorized the Loxahatchee Watershed Restoration Project and combined the EAA Storage Reservoir and the CEPP into a single project.

Authorized CERP projects are sometimes classified by the WRDA bills in which they were authorized—Generation 1 (WRDA 2007), 2 (WRDA 2014), 3 (WRDA 2016 and 2018), and 4 (WRDA 2020), with the Melaleuca Eradication Project, which was authorized under programmatic authority, included in Generation 1. The occurrence of WRDAs every 2 years (since 2014) has ensured that the authorization process does not delay CERP restoration progress.

Funding

Changes in funding can illuminate progress or programmatic constraints on implementation. These are exciting times for Everglades restoration as record federal and state funding during the past 2 years has fueled restoration construction across the Greater Everglades. The history of federal funding for the CERP is illustrated in Figure 3-1, which includes funds for construction and support for planning, design, coordination, and monitoring. Federal funding in fiscal year (FY) 2022 totaled $1.458 billion, buoyed by $1.1 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of November 2021. An additional $358 million of federal funds was appropriated in FY 2022, and $408 million has been requested in FY 2023, both of which easily eclipse the previous record of $257 million in FY 2021. Over the most recent 5-year period, FY 2018-2022, federal funding for Everglades restoration (including both CERP and non-CERP efforts) averaged

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-1 Federal and state funding for the CERP.

SOURCE: Data from SFERTF, 2022.

$537 million per year, with $434 million for CERP efforts (over twice the rate of funding envisioned in the CERP feasibility study [USACE and SFWMD, 1999]; also called the Yellow Book) and $103 million for non-CERP efforts (Figure 3-2).

The $1.1 billion of CERP funding provided by the IIJA is to

  • initiate and fully fund construction of the Broward County WPA C-11 Impoundment feature, which must be sequenced before certain CEPP features;1
  • initiate and fully fund construction of the IRL-South C-23/24 North Reservoir feature;
  • initiate and fully fund construction of the CEPP South S-356 Pump Station feature; and

___________________

1 This section was altered after prepublication release of the report to clarify the CEPP sequencing requirements.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-2 Federal and state funding for non-CERP restoration projects.

SOURCE: Data from SFERTF, 2022.
  • complete the project implementation reports for Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (BBSEER) and the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP).

This infrastructure funding promises to accelerate what was already a record level of CERP construction. Other major federal CERP construction activities for FY 2022 and FY 2023 include completing the IRL-South C-44 Reservoir operational testing and monitoring; continuing construction of the BBCW L-31 East Flow-way features; constructing the CEPP features, including the EAA Reservoir and the CEPP South S-355W Gated Spillway; and constructing the Picayune Strand southwest protection features (SFERTF, 2022). See Table 3-1 for a summary of projects under construction as of August 2022. State CERP funding reached $305 million in FY 2022 and has exceeded the $200 million per year envisioned in the Yellow Book in each of the past 6 fiscal years. In addition, state CERP funding over the past 6 fiscal years (FY 2017 to FY 2022) was more than double that in the previous

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

TABLE 3-1 CERP Project Implementation Status as of August 2022

Project or Component Name Yellow Book (1999) Estimated Completion IDS 2021 Estimated Completion Project Implementation Report Status Authorization Status Construction Status
GENERATION 1 CERP PROJECTS
Picayune Strand Restoration (Fig. 3-3, No. 1) 2005 2025 Submitted to Congress, 2005 Authorized in WRDA 2007 Ongoing
Site 1 Impoundment (Fig. 3-3, No. 2) 2007 Submitted to Congress, 2006 Authorized in WRDA 2007
  • Phase 1
Completed Completed, 2016
  • Phase 2
Not specified Requires authorization Project on hold
Indian River Lagoon (IRL)-South (Fig. 3-3, No. 3 and 4) Submitted to Congress, 2004 Authorized in WRDA 2007
2007 2021 Completed, 2021
  • C-23/C-24 North and South Reservoirs/STA (Fig. 3-3, No. 4)
2010 2030 Ongoing
2010 2028 Not begun
  • Natural Lands
NA Not specified Not begun
Melaleuca Eradication and Other Exotic Plants (Fig. 3-3, No. 5) 2011 NA Final June 2010 Prog. authority WRDA 2000 Completed 2013, operations ongoing
GENERATION 2 CERP PROJECTS
C-111 Spreader Canal (Western) Project (Fig. 3-3, No. 6) 2008 Final component not specified Submitted to Congress, 2012 Authorized in WRRDA 2014 Mostly completed in 2012; S-198 construction on hold
Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands (Phase 1) (Fig. 3-3, No. 7) 2018 2025 Submitted to Congress, 2012 Authorized in WRRDA 2014 Ongoing
C-43 Basin Storage: West Basin Storage Reservoir (Fig. 3-3, No. 8) 2012 2024 Submitted to Congress, 2011 Authorized in WRRDA 2014 Ongoing
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Project or Component Name Yellow Book (1999) Estimated Completion IDS 2021 Estimated Completion Project Implementation Report Status Authorization Status Construction Status
Broward County WPAs (Fig. 3-3, No. 9) Submitted to Congress, 2012 Authorized in WRRDA 2014
  • C-9 Impoundment
2007 2030 Not begun
  • C-11 Impoundment
2008 2028 Not begun
  • WCA-3A & -3B Levee Seepage Management
2008 2027 Not begun
GENERATION 3 CERP PROJECTS
Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) North (Fig. 3-3, No. 10) NA 2026 Submitted to Congress, 2015 Authorized in WRDA 2016 Not begun (1st contract award Nov. 2022)
CEPP South (Fig. 3-3, No. 11) NA 2029 Ongoing
CEPP New Water (Fig. 3-3, No. 13) NA 2026 Not begun (1st contract award Aug. 2022)
CEPP EAA (Fig. 3-3, No. 12) NA Submitted to Congress, 2018 Authorized in WRDA 2018, 2020 Ongoing
  • EAA Reservoir and Pump Station
2029
  • EAA A-2 STA
2023
GENERATION 4 CERP PROJECTS
Loxahatchee River Watershed (Fig. 3-3, No. 14) 2013 2029 Submitted to Congress, 2020 Authorized in WRDA 2020 Not begun
CERP PROJECTS IN PLANNING
Lake Okeechobee Watershed (Fig. 3-3, No. 15) 2009-2020 NA Third revised draft, Jun. 2022 Requires authorization NA
Western Everglades (Fig. 3-3, No.16) 2008-2016 NA In development Expected 2024 NA
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Biscayne Bay Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem (Fig. 3-3, No.17) 2008-2020 NA In development Expected 2026 NA

NOTES: Table 3-1 does not include non-CERP foundation projects. EAA = Everglades Agricultural Areas, IDS = Integrated Delivery Schedule, NA = not applicable., STA = stormwater treatment area, WCA = Water Conservation Area, WPA = Water Preserve Area, WRDA = Water Resources Development Act, WRRDA = Water Resources Reform and Development Act The table was modified after release of the prepublication version of the report to include all relevant recent contract award dates.

SOURCES: Data from NASEM, 2021; Parrott, 2022a; SFERTF, 2021; USACE, 2021a; Vélez, 2022a.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-3 Locations and status of CERP projects and pilot projects.

NOTES: EAA = Everglades Agricultural Area, STA = stormwater treatment area.

SOURCE: Reprinted with permission; copyright 2021, International Mapping Associates.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

5 fiscal years (FY 2012 to FY 2016; Figure 3-1). State non-CERP funding totaled $649 million in FY 2022 and averaged $615 million over the past 5 fiscal years (Figure 3-2). Total state restoration funding (CERP and non-CERP) has exceeded $775 million per year since FY 2017. For FY 2023, the state has requested record funding of $748 million for CERP efforts and $1.8 billion for non-CERP efforts. Both amounts would eclipse the previous records for state funding of $645 million for CERP efforts set in FY 2007 and $1.2 billion for non-CERP efforts in FY 2010. State CERP funding is focused on several CERP projects including the C-43 West Basin Storage Reservoir, BBCW, the CEPP EAA Reservoir and associated projects, IRL-South, the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project (LOWRP), and Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration (SFERTF, 2022). These record levels of both state and federal funding over the past 4 fiscal years have greatly accelerated construction progress compared to earlier years, accelerating progress on restoration and potentially mitigating ongoing ecosystem degradation (NRC, 2012).

Project Scheduling and Prioritization

The anticipated future progress of CERP projects and the relationships among all the federally funded South Florida ecosystem restoration projects and some highly relevant state-funded projects are depicted in the Integrated Delivery Schedule (IDS). The IDS is not an action or decision document but rather a communication tool across agencies that provides information to decision makers to guide planning, design, construction sequencing, and budgeting. The schedule is developed by the USACE and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) in consultation with the Department of the Interior, the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, and the many CERP constituencies. The IDS replaced the Master Implementation Sequencing Plan, initially developed for the CERP, as required by the Programmatic Regulations (33 CFR §385.31).

The IDS remains a useful tool for CERP project planning, sequencing, budgeting, design, and construction and for communicating internally, across the agencies, and with the public. Updated versions of the IDS were released in October 2020 (USACE, 2020a) and October 2021 (USACE, 2021a). The 2021 IDS provides an updated forecasted project planning, design, and construction schedule for the next 10 years (through 2032). Several projects or project components were removed that have been completed since the 2019 IDS (e.g., Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park, CERP Picayune Strand Faka Union and Miller Pump Stations) and other projects or project components were moved from construction to operations (e.g., Kissimmee River Restoration, IRL-South C-44 Reservoir and stormwater treatment area [STA]). Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration Project was added to the schedule after being authorized in WRDA 2020.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

In response to feedback that the 2019 IDS did not present a complete picture of the restoration because it did not acknowledge components not included in the IDS, two changes have been made. First, a new “Pending” row has been added at the end of the IDS to account for all of the remaining components from the original 68 Yellow Book projects that have not been otherwise included in the IDS. Second, a table was added to the second page with a component-by-component accounting and associated map indicating the status of all of the original 68 projects by category. These additions help to put the progress highlighted in the IDS into context of the full restoration vision.

The addition of a schedule for the development of a new regional System Operating Manual reflects the ongoing pivot from an almost exclusive focus on integrated project planning and construction scheduling toward an increasing focus on refining the operation of the system (in concert with ongoing planning and construction). The new System Operating Manual, which is referred to as the “critical last step in getting the water right and achieving maximum systemwide benefits” (USACE, 2021a), will replace the existing Central and South Florida Project Water Control Manuals that were developed in the 1990s. The System Operating Manual will include updated water control plans for each region along with nested CERP Project Operating Manuals (POMs) for all CERP projects within the region. The System Operating Manual update schedule in the 2021 IDS reflects the integration of project operations for 28 CERP and non-CERP projects (or project components) at various stages of planning (draft POM), detailed design and construction (preliminary POM), and operational testing and monitoring (final POM). The intent is to ensure that managers are well positioned to realize the optimal benefits from the CERP projects as soon as is feasible while meeting all of the system constraints. This important and welcome step in the evolution of the CERP promises to facilitate the realization of interim CERP benefits and the opportunity to learn from adaptive management.

NATURAL SYSTEM RESTORATION PROGRESS

In the following sections, the committee focuses on recent information on natural system restoration benefits emerging from the implementation of CERP and major non-CERP projects. The implementation status of CERP projects is shown in Table 3-1, with pending unplanned projects in Table 3-2. The discussions of progress that follow are organized based on geography and describe CERP projects, CERP projects in planning, and systemwide operational plans for

  • northern estuaries and Lake Okeechobee,
  • central and western Everglades, and
  • southern estuaries.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

TABLE 3-2 CERP Projects or Components That Have Not Been Addressed in Prior or Ongoing CERP Planning Initiatives as of August 2022

Project or Component Name Estimated Financial Requirement Status
PENDING CERP PLANNING EFFORTS
Southern Everglades:
Includes
  • WCA-3 Decompartmentalization (QQ Phase 2, ZZ)
  • ENP Seepage Management (BB, U)
  • Broward Co. Secondary Canal System (CC)
  • Central Lake Belt Storage Area (S, EEE)
  • WCA-2B Flows to Everglades National Park (YY)
  • Lake Okeechobee Aquifer Storage and Recovery (GG)
Not available until project planning completed Planning process anticipated 2023-2027
PENDING MAJOR UNPLANNED CERP COMPONENTS
C-43 Basin ASR (D Phase 2) $439,000,000 Not yet begun
L-8 Basin ASR (K Part 2) and
C-51 Regional Groundwater ASR (LL)
$370,000,000 Not yet begun
Site 1 Impoundment ASR (M Phase 2) $223,000,000 Inactive after Hillsboro ASR Pilot
Palm Beach Agricultural Reserve Reservoir and ASR (VV) $200,000,000 Not yet begun
Caloosahatchee Backpumping with Stormwater Treatment (DDD) $135,000,000 Not yet begun
Southern CREW (OPE) $79,000,000 Not yet begun; Portions of this project are currently being pursued under a different program
Florida Keys Tidal Restoration (OPE) $23,000,000 Suspended
A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Internal Canal Structures (KK) $15,000,000 On hold
Henderson Creek – Belle Meade Restoration (OPE) $11,000,000 On hold
Comprehensive Integrated Water Quality Plan (CIWQP) $8,000,000 On hold
Florida Bay Florida Keys Feasibility Study (FBFKFS) $6,000,000 Suspended in 2009. The project is planned for the future

NOTES: Remaining unplanned CERP projects include all projects more than $5 million (2014 dollars) as reported in USACE and DOI (2016), for which the components have not been incorporated in other planning efforts or formally removed from the CERP. Letters in parentheses represent project component code from the Yellow Book. Estimated financial requirement derived from SFERTF (2021) and rounded to nearest million. The table was modified after release of the prepublication version of the report to make a correction to the list of program components.

SOURCES: Data from SFERTF, 2021; USACE, 2021a.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

The findings and conclusions are based on reported monitoring data to date for CERP projects for which construction has begun, with emphasis on progress and new information gained during the past 2 years. The committee’s previous report (NASEM, 2021) contains additional descriptions of the projects and progress through mid-2020. The South Florida Environmental Report (SFWMD, 2022a) and the 2021 Integrated Financial Plan (SFERTF, 2021) also provide detailed information about implementation and restoration progress.

Northern Estuaries and Lake Okeechobee

Substantial work is under way in the northern Everglades and Lake Okeechobee to effect restoration progress. This work includes two CERP projects in progress, one CERP project in planning, and development of a new regulation schedule for Lake Okeechobee.

CERP Projects in Progress

Two CERP projects under construction directly affect the northern estuaries: the C-43 Reservoir and IRL-South. A third project—the Loxahatchee River Watershed Project—has been authorized but construction has not yet begun.

C-43 Reservoir.

Early in the 20th century, the course of the Caloosahatchee River was deepened and straightened, and canals were excavated in the river basin that connected the river to Lake Okeechobee and drained agricultural lands and urban areas. As a result, during prolonged dry periods, freshwater flow to the estuary is greatly reduced and saline water can migrate far up the river, killing beds of freshwater submerged plants. Conversely, during periods of heavy rainfall, large volumes of nutrient- and sediment-rich freshwater are transported into the Caloosahatchee River estuary, affecting habitat quality for seagrasses, oysters, and other aquatic organisms. The Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir (Figure 3-3, No. 8) is a CERP project designed to impound up to 170,000 AF of stormwater runoff from the C-43 drainage basin or from Lake Okeechobee during wet periods (USACE and SFWMD, 2010), hence protecting the estuary from excessive freshwater. During dry periods, this stored water can be released to supplement low river flows to maintain optimal salinity levels in the estuary and is available for water supply. Construction is under way, with completion anticipated in 2024 (Parrott, 2022b). Therefore, it is too soon to realize natural system benefits from this project.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the SFWMD are also implementing additional water quality treatment for the C-43 Reservoir,

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

outside of the CERP, because elevated nutrient levels in the stored water could support the growth of algae in the reservoir and seed harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee Estuary. Based on a feasibility study of alternatives (J-Tech, 2020), the SFWMD is planning to implement an in-reservoir alum treatment system, which is expected to be operational by 2024, concurrent with initial operations of the C-43 Reservoir (Parrott, 2022c).

Indian River Lagoon-South.

The Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary are biologically diverse estuaries located on the east side of the Florida Peninsula, where ecosystems have been impacted by factors similar to those that have impacted the Caloosahatchee River Estuary—surges of freshwater from Lake Okeechobee and canals in the watershed and polluted runoff from farmlands and urban areas (USACE, 2021b). The IRL-South Project (Figure 3-3, No. 3 and 4) is designed to reverse this damage through improved water management, including the 50,600 AF C-44 Storage Reservoir, three additional reservoirs (C-23/C-24 South, C-23/C-24 North, and C-25) with a total of 97,000 AF of storage, three new STAs (C-44, C-23/C-24, C-25), dredging of the St. Lucie River to remove 7.9 million cubic yards of muck, and restoration of 53,000 acres of wetlands. The project also involves the restoration of nearly 900 acres of oyster habitats and the creation of 90 acres of artificial habitat for oysters and submerged aquatic vegetation (USACE, 2021b). Construction was completed on the C-44 STA and C-44 Reservoir in January and September 2021, respectively (Figure 3-4; Parrott, 2022b). The reservoir filling was initiated in January 2022, and operational testing is ongoing as of September 2022.

Construction of the C-23/C-24 STA began in February 2022, and construction of the C-23/C-24 North Reservoir is anticipated to begin in 2023. Because newly completed features remain in the early stages of operational testing, there is no natural system restoration progress to report.

Loxahatchee River Watershed.

Alterations of the Loxahatchee River system and watershed over the past century, including dredging, channelization, and drainage, have substantially altered flows in the watershed and have reduced natural water storage of excess waters, resulting in periods of either excessive or limited flows to the Loxahatchee River Estuary. The resulting changes in natural land cover, including up-river migration of mangrove and the displacement of cypress, raised concern, especially in the area designated as a Wild and Scenic River (FDEP, 2010).

The Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration Project (Figure 3-3, No. 14), authorized in WRDA 2020, seeks to capture, store, and redistribute freshwater currently lost to tide; rehydrate natural areas in the headwaters; reduce peak

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-4 The IRL-South C-44 Reservoir.

SOURCE: SFWMD. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfwmd/albums/72157720138719111.

discharges to the estuary; and improve the resilience of estuarine habitats by altering the timing and distribution of water from upstream. Planned components of the project include wetland restoration and hydrologic improvements within the watershed, a single 9,500 AF reservoir, four aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wells, and several structures related to connectivity in the southern part of the watershed. Together the project components are expected to deliver 98 percent of the wet season restoration flow target and 91 percent of the dry season restoration flow target in the Northwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River (USACE and SFWMD, 2020a). In turn, these flows are expected to limit saltwater penetration in the estuary, conserve the remaining cypress, and promote the recovery of freshwater vegetation (e.g., Vallisneria) and other habitats important for estuarine species such as manatee and oysters. Construction has not yet begun, so there is no natural system restoration progress to report.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

CERP Projects in Planning

Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project.

Located north of the lake, the LOWRP was designed to capture, store, and redistribute water entering the northern part of Lake Okeechobee. The goals of the LOWRP are to “improve lake stage levels, improve discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, restore/create wetland habitats, re-establish connections among natural areas that have become spatially and/or hydrologically fragmented, and increase available water supply” (USACE, 2022a).

The LOWRP project implementation report and environmental impact statement (PIR/EIS) was released in August 2020 (USACE and SFWMD, 2020b). It recommended a plan called Alternative 1BWR (Alt-1BWR) with the following key components:

  • A shallow above-ground, naturally vegetated water storage reservoir (termed wetland attenuation feature) with a storage volume of approximately 46,000 AF;
  • 80 ASR wells with a total storage volume of approximately 448,000 AF per year; and
  • Two wetland restoration sites, encompassing 4,800 acres.

After the release of the PIR/EIS, the USACE determined that a revision of the recommended plan was required to address stakeholder concerns. A principal concern stemmed from the potential impacts of above-ground storage features on flooding, cultural resources, and threatened and endangered species of the Brighton Reservation. Concerns were also raised about the possible effects of the LOWRP on water supply, the scale of ASR, and the cost of Alt-1BWR. In response to these issues, the USACE developed a revised recommended plan, named Alternative ASR (Alt-ASR), which it released in February 2022 for review and public comment (USACE and SFWMD, 2022).

Alt-ASR (Figure 3-5) eliminates the shallow-water retention feature and reduces the number of ASR wells. It consists of 55 ASR wells with a maximum dynamic storage volume of 308,000 AF per year, as well as two wetland restoration sites that cover 4,700 acres (Paradise Run) and 1,200 acres (Kissimmee River-Center). Recreational facilities built within the wetland sites will improve public boat access to increase fishing and wildlife-viewing opportunities. The projected cost of Alt-ASR is $1.22 billion—about $800 million less than Alt-1BWR. Nearly two-thirds of the total cost is associated with ASR well construction (USACE and SFWMD, 2022).

The LOWRP is projected to provide a much smaller increment of additional storage north of Lake Okeechobee relative to that originally envisioned under

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-5 Features of the tentatively selected plan, Alt-ASR, showing the locations of the 10 ASR well clusters.

SOURCE: USACE, 2021e.

the CERP (200 ASR wells and 250,000 AF of surface storage) (USACE and SFWMD, 1999). Implementation of Alt-ASR is expected to reduce total flows to the St. Lucie Estuary by only 4 percent compared to a scenario representing the future without (FWO) the project, which includes already authorized projects (CEPP, IRL-South, and the C-43 Reservoir; USACE and SFWMD, 2022). Alt-ASR will have a greater effect on total flows to the Caloosahatchee Estuary, lowering them by 30 percent. Compared to the FWO scenario, Alt-ASR is forecast to reduce high flow and extreme high flow frequencies within the Caloosahatchee Estuary by 11 and 7 percent, respectively.2 Similar reductions in high-flow frequency are anticipated for the St. Lucie Estuary.3 By lowering the frequency,

___________________

2 High flow and extreme high flow criteria for the Caloosahatchee Estuary are defined as a mean-monthly discharge of 2,800 to 4,500 cubic feet per second (cfs) and >4,500 cfs, respectively (USACE and SFWMD, 2022).

3 High flow and extreme high flow criteria for the St. Lucie Estuary are defined as a mean-monthly discharge of 2,000 to 3,000 cfs and >3,000 cfs, respectively (USACE and SFWMD, 2022).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

volume, and duration of freshwater released from Lake Okeechobee, the LOWRP should reduce turbidity, sedimentation, nutrients, and salinity fluctuations that are detrimental to submerged aquatic vegetation, oyster communities, and fish habitat of the northern estuaries.

The anticipated benefits of the LOWRP to Lake Okeechobee ecology appear to be limited. Although the percentage of time that Lake Okeechobee is expected to be within the ecologically preferred stage envelope is 29.1 percent under Alt-ASR compared to 27.7 percent for the FWO scenario, Alt-ASR increases the percentage of time above 15.5 feet and above 17 feet. A lake-weighted analysis of performance measures (considering lake stage envelope, an ecological indicator score, and extreme high and low lake stages) suggests that Alt-ASR does not perform as well as the FWO scenario (USACE and SFWMD, 2022).

The benefits of Alt-ASR were estimated from model simulations that invoke the current Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS 2008). Lake operations will change when LORS 2008 is replaced by the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), which, in turn, will be superseded by another modification expected in 2029. Thus, the benefits described in the LOWRP PIR/EIS will likely differ from those observed in the future, when modified water-control plans for Lake Okeechobee are in place.

All water storage gained through implementation of Alt-ASR will be provided by 55 ASR wells, each with a pumping capacity of 5 million gallons per day (MGD). These wells will store and recover water from the Upper Floridan Aquifer and the Avon Park Permeable Zone and will be distributed in clusters located along various tributaries that drain into the lake (Figure 3-5). The ASR system planned for LOWRP will be larger than any of the 30 ASR systems currently operating in Florida.4

NRC (2015) identified several critical uncertainties stemming from large-scale implementation that were not resolved in the ASR Regional Study (USACE and SFWMD, 2015), including ecotoxicological effects of recovered water, efficacy of disinfection treatments for injected waters, presence of arsenic and sulfate in recovered waters, and low recovery efficiencies of stored water. NRC (2015) recommended further field-scale research to address these outstanding issues, as well as phased implementation of ASR in clusters of three to five wells.

The uncertainties raised in the 2015 NRC report have not been addressed, although the Alt-ASR plan is responsive to the NRC recommendations for phased construction of some ASR wells with coordinated studies and monitoring. These studies are outlined in a companion document, the 2021 ASR Science Plan (SFWMD and USACE, 2021), which was developed explicitly for the purposes of informing phased ASR implementation for the LOWRP, with input from an

___________________

4 See https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/alternative-water-supply/asr.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

independent peer review panel (Box 3-1). The ASR Science Plan provides a comprehensive accounting of the numerous uncertainties identified in the 2015 NRC report and summarizes 26 studies involving geochemical measurements, hydrogeophysical characterization, laboratory experiments, and field testing on reactivated ASR wells and clusters of new ASR wells to be located along the northern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee. The studies described in the ASR Science Plan commenced in 2021 and are expected to be completed in 2030.

A USACE Chief’s Report on LOWRP is still pending. CERP planners are working to resolve remaining concerns, including its high operation and maintenance costs and potential impacts of ASR to aquifers that serve as drinking water sources (G. Ralph, USACE, personal communication, 2022).

Systemwide Operational Plans: Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual

Lake Okeechobee is the largest body of freshwater in the southeastern United States, with a surface area of 668 mi2 (1,730 km2). It is often referred to as the liquid heart of the Everglades. Up until the early 20th century, the lake was surrounded by a littoral marsh, allowing it to expand and contract depending on water surface elevation. When lake stages became high (estimated at ~20.6 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 [NGVD 29]), water spilled over a natural muck sill and moved as sheet flow directly into the Everglades (Steinman et al., 2002a).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

In 1930, Congress authorized the Herbert Hoover Dike, which now encircles most of Lake Okeechobee with 143 miles of embankment, consisting of permeable material including sand, shells, gravel, and limestone; five inlets/outlets; nine navigation locks; and nine pump stations. All inflows and outflows except one (inflow from Fisheating Creek in the west) are regulated by water control structures. Water levels are controlled, in part, through a regulation schedule, which sets operational criteria for structures used to manage releases from Lake Okeechobee (Figure 3-6). The regulation schedule aims to balance the competing demands for water in the region, including navigation, ecotourism, flood protection, habitat, and water supply.

The capacity of water to flow into the lake exceeds by a factor of six the capacity to flow out, and large rain events can result in a rapid increase in lake level (Kirk, 2018). In 2004, the USACE classified the Herbert Hoover Dike as Level 1 (i.e., highest risk) with regard to safety, and a major rehabilitation project has been under way since 2007 to improve its condition and to reduce seepage, piping, and the risk of dam failure at high water levels, which would cause massive damage and loss of life. The Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation Project included 28 culvert replacements and the construction of 56 miles of cutoff walls (seepage barriers within the dike) to reduce seepage and piping through the embankment and around the culverts. The rehabilitation project is scheduled for completion by December 2022, with an estimated cost of more than $1.8 billion in total (USACE, 2022c).5

The development of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM)6 as an update to the operations regime for lake management was intended to coincide with the completion of the Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation, although LOSOM also considered new CERP features, including the C-43 and C-44 reservoirs. The overall goal of LOSOM is “to incorporate flexibility in Lake Okeechobee operations while balancing the congressionally authorized project purposes: flood control, water supply, navigation, enhancement of fish and wildlife, and recreation.” Specifically, the four LOSOM objectives were as follows:

  1. “Manage risk to public health and safety, life, and property” (with emphasis on dam safety and algal blooms in Lake Okeechobee and the Northern Estuaries);
  2. “Continue to meet authorized purposes for navigation, recreation, and flood control”;

___________________

5 See http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Lake-Okeechobee/Herbert-Hoover-Dike.

6 Authorized under Section 1106 of WRDA 2018.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-6 Structures used to release water from Lake Okeechobee.

NOTES: SJRWMD = St. Johns River Water Management District, SWFWMD = Southwest Florida Water Management District.

SOURCE: USACE, 2022b.
  1. “Improve water supply performance” (with emphasis on water supply to the Lake Okeechobee Service Area, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Lower East Coast Service Area); and
  2. “Enhance ecology in Lake Okeechobee, Northern Estuaries, and across the South Florida ecosystem.”

The USACE conducted a comprehensive evaluation of alternatives to develop LOSOM, in which thousands of alternative release scenarios were simulated, scored, and screened. A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tool was used in the

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

process to communicate the performance of each alternative in a transparent manner based on multiple LOSOM objectives and subobjectives (Figure 3-7; see also USACE [2022b] for more detail). The selection of the preferred alter-

Image
FIGURE 3-7 This multi-criteria decision analysis radar plot visualizes the relative performance of various alternatives against 11 criteria, based on the project objectives and sub-objectives. The performance for each objective (0-1) was determined based on metrics that were selected for their sensitivity and robustness for that objective, with weights assigned to key metrics when multiple metrics were used. In addition to the scored criteria depicted, alternatives were scored for dam safety and flood control ability on a pass/fail basis. Alternative CC was selected for further optimization based on its performance across a wide range of objectives.

NOTES: AB = algal bloom, CRE = Caloosahatchee River Estuary, ENV = environment, LECSA = Lower East Coast Service Area, LOSA = Lake Okeechobee Service Area, SLE = St. Lucie Estuary, STOF = Seminole Tribe of Florida.

SOURCE: USACE, 2022b.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

native, which was subsequently optimized, was based on agency expert and stakeholder feedback and the fact that “it performed relatively well for the majority of LOSOM sub-objectives” (USACE, 2022b). A draft EIS was issued in July 2022, and, if approved, the preferred alternative operating plan (Figure 3-8) will be implemented in 2023 upon completion of the Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation.

LOSOM replaces LORS 2008 (USACE, 2007), which was implemented primarily to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of the Herbert Hoover Dike while rehabilitation efforts were implemented. LORS 2008 kept maximum lake levels about 1 foot lower than the Run 25 regulation schedule (USACE, 1994) under which the CERP was developed (Figure 3-9); Run 25 and the subsequent Water Supply/Environmental (WSE) regulation schedule (USACE, 1999) allowed lake levels to reach 18.5 feet NGVD, while LORS was designed to preclude levels

Image
FIGURE 3-8 The LOSOM preferred alternative water control plan. If lake level exceeds the red line bordering Zone A, water must be released to the northern estuaries at maximum discharge capacity. In Zone B/C, discharge levels are high but below maximum (≤7,200 cfs to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary and ≤3,500 cfs to the St. Lucie Estuary) to lower lake levels. Under Zone D, no water is discharged to the St. Lucie Estuary and up to 2,000 cfs may be discharged to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary.

NOTES: LOK = Lake Okeechobee, LOWSM = Lake Okeechobee Water Shortage Management.

SOURCE: USACE, 2022b.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-9 Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedules from 1994 to 2022. Each zone or management band corresponds to prescribed management actions to change water levels within the lake by managing inflow and outflow discharges.

SOURCE: Adapted from Julian and Welch, 2022.

above 17.25 feet and mostly kept lake levels under 16 feet NGVD.7 This change to LORS resulted in the loss of between 460,000 and 800,000 AF of potential storage capacity from the regional system, depending on the time of year (NASEM, 2016), while providing positive benefits to lake ecology (USACE, 2007).

Under the LOSOM draft preferred alternative regulation schedule (Figure 3-7), LOSOM has a similar maximum and minimum lake level as LORS

___________________

7 This text and the corresponding figure have been updated following release of the prepublication report to correct the regulation schedule in place for planning and the WSE implementation date.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

2008. Thus, LOSOM has continued the LORS 2008 reduction in water storage, compared to the operations in place when the CERP was originally planned (Figure 3-8). The impacts of this reduced storage on achieving CERP goals remain unclear.

LOSOM differs from LORS 2008 in several respects. LOSOM has far more flexibility built into water level decisions in the range of 12 to 17 feet NGVD than LORS 2008. Overall, the modeled performance of the preferred alternative represents an improvement with respect to ecological conditions in the northern estuaries and the remnant Everglades (Figure 3-7) with a modest decline in conditions of Lake Okeechobee. LOSOM modeling projected approximately two to eight times as many extreme and moderate high stage events as LORS 2008 (Julian and Welch, 2022), and the normal required spring reduction in water levels is less in LOSOM than in LORS 2008. Greater adverse impacts to lake ecology would be expected if high lake levels are maintained and operations allow minimal rates of decline, potentially resulting in vegetation loss, reduced habitat quality for wading birds, and greater advection of nutrient-rich pelagic water into the near-shore and littoral zones (Havens, 2002; Johnson et al., 2007; Julian and Welch, 2022; Steinman et al., 2002a). The LOSOM Water Control Plan includes guidance on Lake Okeechobee Recovery Operations to enhance ecological recovery after extreme or prolonged high lake stages (USACE, 2022b).

The near-term restoration benefits of several ongoing CERP and non-CERP projects rely on the water deliveries provided under LOSOM. Operational decision making requires a high volume of data related not only to present conditions but also to past and forecasted conditions throughout the upstream and downstream watersheds and potential impacts to sensitive receptors. The USACE coordinates with the SFWMD through weekly Environmental Conditions meetings and with other stakeholders, including other agencies and local governments, through Periodic Scientist Calls so that lake management decisions are informed by data on the latest conditions. This process requires extremely delicate balancing and weighting of outputs from constantly changing hydraulic, hydrologic, ecological, and meteorological inputs, but, if done correctly, LOSOM provides greater flexibility in regulation schedule operations to meet these multiple objectives. However, currently, the lack of detail of how operational decisions will be made within the largest portion of the operational schedule—Zone D (Figure 3-8)—complicates the ability of outsiders to understand or evaluate operational decisions and tradeoffs that have been made.

Given the importance of Lake Okeechobee operations to restoration benefits throughout the system and the intense public pressure on decision makers, additional periodic review of the performance of LOSOM relative to the stated objectives seems merited. An annual multiagency meeting or workshop could

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

review how well competing priorities and project purposes were balanced in a given year and reflect on lessons learned for future management, outside of any specific crisis. Such a convening could also build trust among diverse stakeholders and increase transparency about the many factors that influence water management decisions.

Central and Western Everglades

This section includes CERP and relevant non-CERP projects whose construction progress is significant enough to be affecting the central and western Everglades. CERP projects discussed include the C-111 Spreader Canal (Western) (SCW) Project, Picayune Strand Restoration Project, the CEPP, and the Melaleuca Eradication Project. The Combined Operational Plan (COP) is discussed as a relevant non-CERP project. The Western Everglades Restoration Project is currently in planning.

CERP Projects in Progress or Completed

Picayune Strand Restoration Project.

The Picayune Strand Restoration Project (Figure 3-3, No. 1) was the first CERP project under construction. The 55,000-acre (86 mi2) Picayune Strand area in southwest Florida was drained for an intended real estate development, Golden Gate Estates-South, which was abandoned before completion. Construction of drainage canals and an extensive road network drained a large area of wetlands, reduced sheet flow to the south into the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and altered regional groundwater flow into surrounding areas (Figure 3-10). Restoring the predrainage hydrology should bring multiple ecological and environmental benefits, including an increase in the spatial extent of wetlands, decreased frequency and intensity of forest fires, increased habitat for endangered species such as the wood stork and Florida panther, and a reduction in invasive native and exotic species. The project is also expected to improve groundwater recharge to the City of Naples’ eastern Golden Gate well field, as well as coastal estuarine salinities affected by freshwater point discharges from the Faka Union Canal (RECOVER, 2019).

Project components include plugging drainage canals, degrading roads, and removing logging trams (USACE and SFWMD, 2004). Construction has occurred in stages starting with the easternmost portion of the area and proceeding west (Figure 3-11; Table 3-3). The Eastern Stair-step Canal and the upper 3 miles of the Faka Union Canal were plugged during summer 2021. Plugging of the southern portion of the Faka Union Canal and all of the Miller Canal, the westernmost canal, will not occur until completion of the Southwest Protection Feature, a

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-10 The Picayune Strand Restoration Project area is surrounded by several other natural areas, including Collier-Seminole State Park, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, and Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Restoration of water levels within the project footprint will enhance the hydrologic conditions in these surrounding natural areas.

SOURCE: Chuirazzi et al., 2018.

levee on the southwest edge of the project. This levee is intended to reduce flood risk to the agricultural lands to the west of the project and is not anticipated to be completed until 2025. Because of the staged plugging of drainage canals, the degree of hydrologic restoration varies both spatially and temporally. Prior to the 2019-2021 construction, only the northeast corner was considered to have

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-11 Map showing areas of partial hydrologic restoration and full hydrologic restoration as of January 2022. The fully restored area (shaded blue) in Picayune Strand was expanded southward after the filling of the Eastern Stair-step Canal, and the partially restored area (green shading) was expanded after 3 miles of canal plugging at the north end of the Faka Union Canal from 2019 to 2021. Black dot indicates the location of Well 15.

SOURCE: Duever and Clark, 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

TABLE 3-3 Phases and Progress of the Picayune Strand Project

Lead Agency Road Removal (mi) Logging Tram Removal Canals to Be Plugged (mi) Other Project Phase Status
Tamiami Trail Culverts State NA NA 17 culverts constructed Completed in 2007
Prairie Canal Phase State (expedited) 64 30 7 Hydrologic restoration of 11,000 acres in Picayune Strand and 9,000 acres in Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve Park Plugging and road removal completed in 2007; logging trams removed in 2012
Merritt Canal Phase Federal 65 16 8.5 Merritt pump station, spreader basin, and tieback levee constructed Completed in 2015; pump station transferred to the SFWMD in 2016
Faka Union Canal Phase Federal 81 11 7.6 Faka Union pump station, spreader basin, and tie-back levee constructed Roads removed in 2013; pump station completed in 2017; upper 3 miles canal plugging completed in 2021. The rest is scheduled for 2025 or later.
Miller Canal Phase Federal/State 77 11 13 Construct pump station, spreader basin, tie-back levee, and private lands drainage canal; remove Western Stair-step Canal Miller pump station completed June 2019. Road removal completed September 2022; canal plugging to be completed 2025 or later.
Manatee Mitigation Feature State 0 0 0 Construct warm water refugium to mitigate habitat loss Completed in 2016
Southwestern Protection Feature Federal 0 0 0 Construct 7-mile levee, canal, and water control structures for flood protection of adjacent lands Construction completion scheduled for October 2023
Eastern Stair-step Canal Federal 0 0 5.2 Plugging completed in June 2021

SOURCES: Data from Bonness et al., 2022; J. Weaver, SFWMD, personal communication, 2020.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

full hydrologic restoration; following that construction, the entire area east of the Merritt Canal was considered to have full restoration (Bonness et al., 2022; Figure 3-11).

NASEM (2021) provided a comprehensive review of the hydrologic and ecological monitoring program. This report focuses on recent information obtained during the past 2 years on hydrologic and vegetation outcomes. Following the 2015 plugging of the Merritt Canal, hydroperiods are longer and water levels have generally shifted higher (Bonness et al., 2022). One example is Well 15, located roughly in the middle of the latest fully restored area (Figure 3-11). The peak water depths are higher, and the hydroperiod is longer after June 2015 (Figure 3-12). Additional elapsed time is necessary to evaluate the effects of filling the Eastern Stair-step Canal in 2019-2021. Hydroperiod target bands (Duever and Clark, 2022) have usefully been added to data plots to provide an ecological context and general vegetation-specific targets for a change in hydroperiod (Figure 3-13). These plots suggest that for the partially restored and

Image
FIGURE 3-12 Water depth at Well 15, located in the fully restored area. Lines for pairs of data are essentially identical, so only the data from one transect are visible on the plot.

SOURCE: Bonness et al., 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-13 Hydroperiod (days inundated per year) over time at three sites with varying levels of hydrologic restoration: SGT2W6 (or 2-6), located in a wet prairie habitat that was partially restored in 2006 and fully restored in 2015; SGT2W4 (or 2-4), located in a habitat of hydric flatwoods in an area that was partially restored in 2015; and SGT2W3 (or 2-3), located in a cypress habitat, in an area that was only partially restored in 2021. The colored bands indicate the desired ranges for each vegetation type. The map on the upper left shows the distribution of partially and fully restored areas from 2015 to 2021.

SOURCE: Duever and Clark, 2022.

fully restored sites, the hydroperiod has increased to an amount appropriate for a desired vegetation type.

Interpreting the data is complicated by the multiple drivers of annual water level patterns, including year-to-year variability in rainfall (e.g., Hurricane Irma in 2017), spatial variability in annual rainfall within the project area, and site- and year-specific variability in the degree of restoration that occurred (Figure 3-13). One example is the potential extension of the hydroperiod by the relatively high

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

rainfall during September, especially in 2020 and 2021 (Bonness et al., 2022). Existing hydrologic modeling tools with updated precipitation and climate data can be used to infer the expected hydrology under current conditions (“nowcasting”) but without project features, thus providing a way to separate the contribution of restoration from the contributions of natural variability.

A network of permanent transects for vegetation monitoring was established in 2005, and in 2016, a subset of 27 transects (including 9 reference transects) were selected to be more frequently measured to quantify vegetation change associated with the project. These transects were sampled in 2005, 2016, 2018, and 2020-2021. The 2020-2021 vegetation sampling, discussed here, occurred after most but not all of the Eastern Stair-step Canal was plugged (Bonness et al., 2022).

The first increments of hydrologic restoration were completed approximately 15 years ago (in 2007), and ecological responses in fully restored areas appear to be trending toward restoration objectives (Bonness et al., 2022). Shorter-lived, faster-growing species, such as those in the understory layer, are expected to respond faster to hydrologic restoration than longer-lived, slower-growing species, such as cypress and pines that form the canopy. Analyses including the 2020-2021 data show that the understory layer is shifting to higher abundance of species characteristic of reference wetland sites (Bonness et al., 2022). Wetland affinity index8 (WAI) data show a general trend of increasing “wetness” of the groundcover vegetation in the transects (Figure 3-14). Although the overstory composition is changing slowly, cypress saplings are beginning to recruit into the overstory (Bonness et al., 2022).

Progress is also being made in controlling cabbage palms and other exotic plants (Barry, 2021). Reducing the abundance of cabbage palms appears to require continued control activities; cabbage palm abundance increased between 2019 and 2021 when no control activities were conducted (Barry, 2021).

The high variability between transect locations and years hides signals of restoration effects in the shrub, sub-canopy, and canopy layers. Some of the natural factors contributing to the variability are the year-to-year variability in the magnitude, timing, and location of rainfall events and the consequences of wildfires, which affect only parts of the project area. Variation in sampling dates (e.g., in the wet or dry seasons) contributes to variability in the data for seasonally varying species. Standardization of sampling dates, either by calendar date or relative to phenology, would be desirable to reduce variability due to phenology.

Approximately 15 percent of the project area was covered by roads that have now been degraded. The pattern of vegetation restoration in these areas will differ from that in less disturbed areas; successional dynamics, especially tree seedling

___________________

8 The WAI provides a single summary of whether the vegetation is primarily species associated with wetlands, with drier land, or something in between (Wentworth et al., 1988).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-14 Mean groundcover WAI by habitat. WAI is based on the frequency of groundcover species. Lines are fitted least-squares regression lines. The blue line in the cypress panel is the regression line omitting data from one 2005 transect with an unusually low WAI. A linear mixed model examining changes in understory WAI while accounting for variability between transects shows significant increases on restored cypress transects (increase of 0.090, p = 0.015) and wet prairie transects (increase of 0.12, p = 0.024) and a smaller increase on restored pineland transects (increase of 0.061, p = 0.23). WAI on reference transects was stable or decreasing between 2005 and 2020 (cypress change = -0.029, p = 0.42; pineland change = -0.046, p = 0.14; wet prairie change = -0.006, p = 0.84).

SOURCE: Bonness et al., 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

colonization and establishment, will be much more important on the degraded roads (M. Duever, Natural Ecosystems LLC, personal communication, 2022). Sampling in these areas has primarily been associated with activities to control exotic plants (Barry, 2021). It would be useful to establish some permanent plots or transects to quantify vegetation trends in these areas.

Increased nutrient loading into Outstanding Florida Waters, including Collier Seminole State Park and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, associated with the project’s redistribution of flow have recently raised concerns. In response, the SFWMD together with federal, state, and local government agencies and nongovernmental partners are working to evaluate treatment and source control options, which would be implemented outside of the CERP (Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., 2021, 2022).9

C-111 Spreader Canal (Western) Project.

The C-111 Canal is the southernmost canal for the entire Central and Southern Florida (C&SF) Project. The canal system was constructed in the 1960s, expanding upon a remnant canal built to transport solid fuel moon rockets from the AeroJet General Corporation. Originally designed to provide flood protection in Dade County, the C-111 Canal spurred agricultural development on lands to the east while draining water from the Southern Glades and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park. A principal source of the freshwater in the canal is seepage from Everglades National Park. Because seepage drains water from the park and alters the flow pattern of Taylor Slough, the C-111 Canal has had detrimental ecological and environmental effects on Taylor Slough and Florida Bay. The C-111 Canal also discharges large volumes of freshwater through the S-197 structure into Manatee Bay and Barnes Sound, while reducing overland flows that entered the central zone of Florida Bay, altering the natural salinity regime and ecology of those waters.

The construction of the C-111 Spreader Canal Project (Figure 3-3, No. 6) was envisioned in two phases—the eastern and western projects. The western project (Figure 3-15) was largely completed in February 2012 through expedited investment by the SFWMD, and operations began in June 2012. Construction of the final project component—the S-198 Spillway (Figure 3-15)—appears to be on hold, and it remains unclear if it will be constructed.10 Working in concert with the non-CERP C-111 South Dade Project and the SFWMD Florida Bay Initiative, the C-111 Spreader Canal (Western) (C-111 SCW) Project was designed to

___________________

9 See https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/picayune-watershed-water-quality-feasibility-study.

10 Although the S-198 Spillway is an authorized component of the federal project, neither the 2022 Draft Integrated Delivery Schedule (USACE, 2022d) nor the Task Force Integrated Financial Plan (SFERTF, 2021) mention its pending construction as part of the C-111 SCW Project. The project fact sheet states, “A new structure in the lower C-111 canal may be scheduled for construction in the future” (USACE, 2021d).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-15 C-111 Spreader Canal (Western) Project features.

SOURCE: Qiu et al., 2018.

help restore the quantity, timing, and distribution of water delivered to Florida Bay via Taylor Slough; improve hydropatterns within the Southern Glades; and lower coastal-zone salinities in central and eastern Florida Bay. Planning for the features and objectives of the C-111 Spreader Canal (Eastern) Project began in mid-2020 as part of the Biscayne Bay-Southern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (BBSEER) Project, discussed later in this chapter (USACE and SFWMD, 2020c).

The C-111 SCW Project creates a 6-mile hydraulic ridge along the eastern boundary of Everglades National Park to reduce seepage from the park and improve the hydrologic conditions of Taylor Slough. This ridge is created by pumping excess water from the canal into the 600-acre Frog Pond Detention Area through S-200 and into the Aerojet Canal impoundment through S-199 (see Figure 3-15). Rather than a persistent feature, the hydraulic ridge is present and functions only when water is available to fill the detention area. The project is also intended to contribute to improved distribution of flows in the Southern

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

Glades through emplacement of earthen plugs along the C-110 Canal and through modified operations of structures located principally along the southern segment of the C-111 Canal.

Several potential signs of restoration progress have been observed since operation of C-111 SCW commenced approximately 10 years ago (Cortez et al., 2021; Redwine, 2022; F Sklar, SFWMD, personal communication, 2022). Within Taylor Slough, dry-season (October to May) water levels have risen, with February water levels at Taylor Slough Bridge for the years 2018 to 2022 ranging from 0.6 to 1.5 feet higher than the 1993-2016 median level (Figure 3-16). Creekflows have also changed. In particular, cumulative flows in the five main creeks feeding eastern and central Florida Bay were nearly twofold greater at the end of the 2021 dry season than the 2015 dry season, despite nearly equal, but below average, rainfall for the two periods (Cortez et al., 2021). Whether the higher flows in 2021 relative to 2015 arise from C-111 SCW operation or reflect the influences of nearby projects is unclear, especially because both periods post-date completion of the C-111 SCW Project. It is encouraging that periphyton across Taylor Slough does not show significant signs of phosphorus

Image
FIGURE 3-16 Daily water levels at Taylor Slough Bridge (TSB) for water years (WY) 2018-2022, together with the median daily water level for the period 1993-2016. Red arrow points to the February water levels that range from 0.6 to 1.5 feet higher than the 1993-2016 median levels. WY refers to May 1 through April 30 with the year designated as the end of the period (e.g., WY 2022 is May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022).

SOURCE: F. Sklar, SFWMD, personal communication, 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

enrichment, although some increasing phosphorus levels in periphyton have been observed near the point of greatest inflows (F. Sklar, SFWMD, personal communication, 2022).11

Outside of Taylor Slough, stages are rising in the southern portion of the C-111 Basin, which may primarily reflect sea-level rise rather than changes in water management (Figure 3-17). Moreover, the salinity of waters within this area, as well as in northeast Florida Bay, is also rising (Figure 3-18), suggesting that increased flows from C-111 SCW and other recently completed projects within the C-111 Basin have been insufficient to offset the effects of sea-level rise.

Hydrologic and water quality changes are continuing to occur within the vicinity of the C-111 SCW Project footprint. The extent to which these changes can be attributed to implementation of C-111 SCW features is equivocal. This uncertainty arises partly from insufficient baseline data on hydrology and water quality collected prior to completion of C-111 SCW. It also stems from confounding effects of neighboring projects as well as the considerable hydrologic variability during pre- and post-project periods caused by rainfall variability, extreme events (e.g., hurricanes, droughts), and numerous operational changes over the past two decades that have culminated in the 2020 adoption of the COP (see section on the COP). That the benefits of C-111 SCW are presently unclear and difficult to resolve suggests that greater attention should be devoted to updating monitoring programs that are coupled with rigorous data analysis and model applications capable of isolating, in a quantitative way, how the benefits of C-111 SCW vary with recent changes in sea level, rainfall and climate characteristics, and management plans.

Central Everglades Planning Project.

The CEPP represents the next step in the restoration of the central Everglades, building upon recently completed non-CERP infrastructure now operating under the COP (discussed in more detail below). As such, it is an especially critical element of the CERP, and, accordingly, CERP leadership, recognizing the urgency of preventing further degradation of the central Everglades (NRC, 2008, 2012), has gone to extraordinary efforts to expedite the development, authorization, and implementation of the project (NRC, 2014). The CEPP provides the means to send additional water south through the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) and Everglades National Park to Florida Bay while reducing harmful discharges to the northern estuaries, and it is designed to improve the timing and distribution of flow in the central Everglades (SFWMD, 2018a; USACE, 2020b). Its many parts include improvements in seepage management; improvements in conveyance through filling of canals, levee removal,

___________________

11 This text has been corrected following prepublication release of the report to more accurately explain phosphorus trends.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-17 Surface-water stages at monitoring gage site EPSW in the Southern Glades for 1993-1997 (blue), which represented very wet conditions; 2016-2021 (black), 5 recent years that included 2 very wet years; and 2021 calendar year (green). Map shows location of EPSW and Little Madiera (LM) monitoring sites.

SOURCES: Google Earth; Redwine, 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-18 Salinity at monitoring site Little Madiera (LM) in north Florida Bay for 1993-1997 (blue), which represented very wet conditions; 2016-2021 (black), 5 recent years that included 2 very wet years; and 2021 (orange) calendar year. Figure 3-17 shows location of the LM monitoring site.

SOURCE: Redwine, 2022.

and addition of new structures such as pump stations and gated spillways; a new large water storage feature (the EAA Reservoir); and construction of the new A-2 STA to ensure that the new inflows comply with existing water quality requirements (see Figure 3-19). The CEPP is a complex project comprising four phases, each with multiple components: CEPP South, CEPP North, CEPP New Water, and CEPP EAA (Figure 3-3, No. 10-13). The total authorized cost of the project is $5.47 billion (Figueroa, 2022a).

The first phase of the CEPP—CEPP South—is transitioning from project design to construction. Two features—removal of 5.45 miles of the old Tamiami Trail and construction of the S-333N Gated Spillway—have been completed. The former eliminates a barrier to flows from WCA-3 into Everglades National Park, and the latter increases capacity to reduce high water levels in WCA-3A by moving higher flows to Everglades National Park during the wet season (Figure 3-19). Construction of other features such as gated culvert structures on the L-67A levee is imminent, and construction of several additional features is

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-19 CEPP features.

SOURCE: Modified from Waugh, 2020.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

scheduled to begin in FY 2024 (USACE, 2021a). Finally, the conveyance features of the Decomp Physical Model are expected to be incorporated as permanent features of CEPP South in 2022. These features, which include 10 gated culverts on the L-67A Canal and a 3,000-foot gap in the L-67C levee, increase capacity for sheet flow between WCA-3A and WCA-3B (Figure 3-19).

CEPP North is beginning to transition from planning to construction as well. CEPP North is designed to improve the distribution of flows into northern WCA-3, which has long been subject to overly dry conditions, to restore its hydrology and ecology. It will also hydrate WCA-2 under high flow conditions. CEPP North includes backfilling of the Miami Canal, as well as several projects designed to improve conveyance (Figure 3-19). Of the five projects comprising CEPP North, the SFWMD construction is scheduled to begin on one in late 2022 and on the other four in FY 2023 or FY 2024 (USACE, 2021a). Connor (2022) recently reiterated that the USACE is not permitted under the CEPP Chief’s Report (USACE and SFWMD, 2014) to move forward with CEPP North until water quality requirements for STA discharge12 are met for the existing STAs (STA-1E, -1W, -2, -3/4, and -5/6; shown in yellow in Figure 3-19). The state’s STA rehabilitation and expansion efforts—Restoration Strategies (see Box 4-2)—are not scheduled for completion until 2025, with the first year of water quality compliance determination being water year (WY) 2027. If STA water quality criteria are not met by the start of the filling of the Miami Canal in FY 2024, CEPP North could exacerbate water quality concerns in previously unimpacted areas. Progress toward meeting water quality criteria in the STAs and implications for CERP progress are discussed in more depth in Chapter 4.

CEPP New Water now consists of a partial depth seepage barrier along the L-31N levee south of Tamiami Trail. Since the CEPP was authorized, the Limestone Products Association constructed 5 miles of seepage barrier (35 feet deep) south of Tamiami Trail along the L-31N levee (also known as the L-31N Rock Miners Seepage Wall), and the SFWMD is currently constructing a 2.3-mile, 63-foot-deep seepage barrier adjacent to the 8.5 Square Mile Area (Figure 3-20). In August 2022, the SFWMD awarded a contract to construct an additional 4.9 miles of curtain wall (55-65 feet deep) along the northwestern boundary of the 8.5 Square Mile Area between the curtain wall currently under construction and the L-31N Canal to the north (Figure 3-20); the project is estimated to be completed by 2024 (Reynolds, 2022). This project is designed to reduce seepage from Northeast Shark River Slough into the 8.5 Square Mile Area, thereby

___________________

12 The water quality–based effluent limit (WQBEL) requires that STA discharge “shall not exceed: 13 ppb [µg/L] as an annual flow-weighted mean [FWM] in more than 3 out of 5 water years on a rolling basis; and 19 ppb [µg/L] as an annual flow-weighted mean [AFWM] in any water year” (FDEP, 2017a; Mitchell and Mancusi-Ungaro, 2012).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-20 Location of the 4.9-mile CEPP New Water seepage barrier, adjacent to the 2.3-mile seepage barrier currently under construction by the SFWMD. The combined seepage barrier along the 8.5 Square Mile Area would end 1.6 miles from the end of the 5-mile Rock Miners Seepage Wall.

SOURCE: Modified from Reynolds, 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

reducing flood control constraints on operations in the natural system. There will be a 1.6-mile gap between this new seepage barrier and the existing Rock Miners Seepage Wall (Figure 3-20).

CEPP EAA consists of construction of the EAA (A-2) Reservoir and adjacent A-2 STA (Figure 3-19), and several projects related to the operation of these new features, such as construction of an inflow pump station and seepage and inflow/outflow canals. The objectives of CEPP EAA are to store new water and treat it before moving it south, with projected increases in average annual inflows to the remnant Everglades of 370,000 AF (USACE, 2020b). Construction of the 6,500-acre A-2 STA has been ongoing for several years and is scheduled to be completed in FY 2023 (Figueroa, 2022b). The 23-foot-deep EAA Reservoir, which will provide 240,000 AF of new storage, is currently scheduled to be completed in 2029. The timely delivery of the intended benefits of the EAA Reservoir is dependent on the performance of both the existing STAs and the A-2 STA. The CEPP A-2 STA was sized assuming that excess capacity in the state’s STAs could be used in the dry season to treat water from the EAA Reservoir and increase dry season flows to the south. However, as discussed in more detail in Chapter 4, the USACE has stated that the EAA Reservoir may not discharge water to the state STAs until all meet the required discharge criteria. If the A-2 STA fails to meet its discharge requirements, the EAA Reservoir is only permitted to discharge as much water as the STA can treat to appropriate standards. Lengthy delays in reaching discharge requirements could lead to delays in providing the full CEPP benefits as designed. STA performance and the linkage to CERP progress is discussed in depth in Chapter 4.

The committee commends the agencies carrying out the restoration effort for continuing to move the CEPP forward with the speed its importance merits. During the past 2 years, the CEPP has progressed significantly, with construction under way on multiple fronts, and much more scheduled to begin in the next 2 years. The rapid progress of the CEPP, following the implementation of the COP (see below), has somewhat alleviated the committee’s previous concerns about a too-slow pace of restoration of the central Everglades (NRC, 2008, 2012). However, concerns remain about meeting STA water quality requirements in a timely way to support CEPP progress and the full delivery of benefits to the Everglades. Although the recently completed components of CEPP South may be beginning to make small contributions to the changes in hydrology associated with the COP, overall the CEPP is in the early stage of construction and thus it is too soon to assess the restoration benefits of the project.

Melaleuca Eradication and Other Exotic Plants Project.

The Melaleuca Eradication and Other Exotic Plants Project is a CERP effort to deploy biological control agents for invasive species control. CERP funds were used to construct the Bio-

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

logical Control Rearing Annex, adjacent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Invasive Plant Research Laboratory in Davie, Florida, and the CERP provides operational funding of $660,000 per year to support biocontrol efforts for invasive plants in the Everglades (A. Dray, USDA, personal communication, 2022). Specific biological control agents, primarily insects, are developed and reared for release. Five particularly problematic invasive species are the focus of major ongoing management through the project: Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia), Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum), and air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) (M. Smith, USDA, personal communication, 2022).

Melaleuca was once the most vigorously managed plant, but integrated control measures have reduced its spread by greater than 90 percent. Melaleuca is now under maintenance control, with greatly reduced herbicide and mechanical efforts. Biological control of Melaeuca is being continued and expanded. To assist in areas where the melaleuca weevil (Oxyops vitiosa), the most impactful insect, does not establish, the pea-galling melaleuca midge (Lophodiplosis indentata) will be introduced in 2023.

Brazilian pepper is one of the most widespread weeds in Florida and is also problematic in other areas. It has been primarily controlled by chemical and mechanical means, but two insect species have recently been approved for release. The first species, Brazilian pepper thrips (Pseudothrips ichini), is currently being mass reared and distributed. The second species, a leaf galler (Calophya latiforceps), is much more difficult to rear, and efforts are under way to obtain a colony for release.

Water hyacinth has been the focus of biological control efforts since the 1970s. Two weevil species (Neochetina spp.) have been successful in reducing water hyacinth biomass by greater than 70 percent, but further control is needed. The water hyacinth planthopper (Megamelus scutellaris) was released by the CERP project between 2010 and 2013, and best practices for its integration with herbicidal control are being studied by a project funded by the USDA.

The Old World climbing fern is relatively resistant to chemical control and perhaps the most difficult invasive plant to mitigate. It is now actively managed by rearing and release of brown lygodium moth (Neomusotima conspurcatalis) caterpillars and the lygodium mite (Floracarus perrepae). The mite shows increasing promise as improved rearing conditions have led to its greater efficacy in controlling the fern.

Successful rearing and releases of a leaf-feeding beetle (Lilioceris cheni) have reduced air potato spread (Figure 3-21) to the extent that additional releases as part of the CERP are not warranted. The plant is no longer considered a priority invasive species by CERP managers (Overholt et al., 2016; Rayamajhi et al., 2019; M. Smith, USDA, personal communication, 2022).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-21 Damage to an air potato plant by the air potato leaf beetle. The beetle reduces cover, bulbil size, bulbil production, and vine height. Thanks to successful biological control measures, the air potato is no longer considered a priority invasive species.

SOURCE: Winston et al., 2017.

CERP Projects in Planning: Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP)

Planning for WERP (Figure 3-3, No. 6) started in August 2016. The project is intended to reestablish ecological connectivity, restore hydroperiods and predrainage distributions of sheet flow, restore low-nutrient conditions to reestablish native vegetation, and promote ecosystem resilience over a 1,200 mi2 section of the western basin that includes Big Cypress National Preserve and lands of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. WERP is one of a small number of CERP projects that address ecological degradation in the western Everglades.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

Work conducted by the WERP Project Delivery Team (PDT) between 2016 and 2018 produced three restoration alternatives. Subsequent evaluation of these alternatives led to the development of a hybrid plan referred to as Alternative H (Alt-H), which included STAs, conveyance features to funnel water to historic sloughs, levee removal, canal infilling, and various flood protection features. The preliminary cost estimate for Alt-H was $1.2 billion.

Benefits calculations revealed that this plan was not cost-effective. The distal location of proposed STAs from areas needing treated water was identified as a principal culprit in increasing project complexity and raising costs. The high project costs, together with unmet need for an extensive real estate takings analysis, led to the suspension of WERP planning in 2019.

Despite its suspension, stakeholder support for WERP persisted. The WERP project delivery team gained approval for an exception to the 3×3×3 Smart Planning Policy in January 2022 to re-scope the project and complete the feasibility study. Re-scoping activities during and after the project pause culminated with the Hybrid Revised Alternative (Alt-Hr; Figure 3-22), the tentatively selected plan (TSP) that is currently under consideration.

Alt-Hr retains a combination of features identified from previously developed alternatives, as well as changes informed from model simulations completed since 2020. A principal feature of Alt-Hr is two STAs that will cover nearly 7,500 acres and treat runoff entering the northern portion of the project area. To promote sheet flow and conditions favorable for tree-island restoration within the central area of the project, canals that form the “Triangle” south of Interstate 75 (i.e., L-28i, L-28i extension, and L-28N) will be backfilled and their adjacent levees will be degraded. More canals, including the L-28 Tieback and L-28S, will be filled in the southern area of the project, where gated control structures on L-28S will be built to increase exchange between Big Cypress and WCA-3A, and culverts will be added beneath 11-Mile Road, US-41, and the Loop Road to enhance hydrologic connectivity and flows to the southwest (Figure 3-22).

The WERP project delivery team has targeted August 2022 for a final decision on the TSP, with the intention of submitting a Chief’s Report to Congress in December 2023. If this timeline were met, WERP could be authorized as early as 2024.

Systemwide Operational Plans: The Combined Operational Plan

The COP is a comprehensive, integrated water control plan that defines the operations of the constructed features of the recently completed Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park (Mod Waters) and C-111 South Dade projects (Figure 3-23). It supersedes the Everglades Restoration Transition Plan (ERTP) as the water management plan for much of the central Everglades, including WCA-3 and its boundary with Everglades National Park, as well as

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-22 Components of Alt-Hr, the currently proposed WERP tentatively selected plan.

SOURCE: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/WERP/.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-23 The non-CERP Modified Water Deliveries and C-111 South Dade projects, the Rock Miners seepage barrier (dark red in the figure), and the CERP C-111 Spreader Canal Project all contribute to increased flows in Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park.

SOURCE: USACE, 2020d.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

the C-111 Basin. The non-CERP projects whose capabilities it incorporates are considered foundation projects for the CERP because they alter the delivery and flow of existing water in ways that are critical to the CERP’s capacity to deliver additional flow volumes and restoration benefits. In addition, completion of Mod Waters and its operations plan was required before federal funding could be appropriated to begin construction of the CEPP. Therefore, the implementation of the COP not only represents by far the largest step toward restoring the hydrology and ecology of the central Everglades yet achieved but also marks the beginning of the next phase of the restoration of the heart of the Everglades embodied in the CEPP.

Two features of Mod Waters and other related projects are especially critical to the capacity of the COP to make significant changes to the hydrology of the central Everglades (Figure 3-23). First, raising the Tamiami Trail and bridging extensive portions of it enables increased flows into Northeast Shark River Slough and Everglades National Park, and much more of it as sheet flow (see Box 3-2). Second, seepage management and flood mitigation features, including the S-356 pump station, acquisition of roughly one-third of the 8.5 Square Mile Area, and construction of a levee to protect the remainder of this area from flooding, reduced flood risk management constraints that limited flows into Northeast Shark River Slough. The C-111 South Dade Project improved seepage management along the eastern boundary of Everglades National Park further south, enabling more flow through Taylor Slough to Florida Bay and reducing freshwater flows to Manatee Bay and Barnes Sound, while continuing to honor flood risk management constraints for the agricultural lands east of the park (USACE and SFWMD, 2020d). The C-111 SCW Project extends this hydraulic ridge southward, providing additional restoration benefits to Taylor Slough (see C-111 Spreader Canal, above).

The ongoing ecological degradation of the central Everglades (see NRC [2012] for a review) has long been a major concern motivating restoration efforts, and management of water in this area is a source of controversy. The COP is the latest in a series of water management plans that attempts to address the issues in this region. The development of the COP was informed by data gathered during a period of incremental operational testing, beginning in 2015. Thus, the hydrologic and ecological changes discussed in this section reflect incremental operational changes from 2015 to 2020 and full implementation of the COP in September 2020, which were made possible by the new infrastructure available from the Mod Waters, C-111 South Dade, and Tamiami Trail Next Steps projects.

Hydrologic Changes.

Significant changes in hydrology relative to the ERTP occurred during this incremental testing (NASEM, 2021), and others occurred

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-24 Tamiami Trail Next Steps Phase 2 bridging and culvert locations, which complement road raising on the remaining unbridged segments (in yellow).

SOURCE: Johnson, 2020.

when the COP became fully operational in 2020. Early indications are that flows across the Tamiami Trail into Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park will be increased significantly under the COP compared to previous water management plans (Figure 3-25). Changes in the distribution of that flow have been even more dramatic, with a shift to greater flows in Northeast Shark River

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-25 Flows, in acre-feet, from across the Tamiami Trail from WCA-3 into Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park, contrasting flows under the Everglades Restoration Transition Plan (ERTP) (2012-2016) to those under the incremental testing phase (2016-2020) and full implementation (2020-2022) of the COP.

SOURCE: Vélez, 2022b.

Slough compared to Western Shark River Slough, better matching historic patterns. This shift in the distribution of flow from west to east has been an objective of numerous projects for decades, with virtually no progress. The rapid progress that has been made toward this goal during the past 5 years contrasts markedly with the lack of progress during the previous 50 years under the water management plans that preceded the COP (Figure 3-26). The magnitude of these changes is such that the COP can be viewed as succeeding where previous plans have failed. Therefore, the implementation of the COP can be viewed as a landmark event in the restoration of the Everglades, demarcating a shift from a long phase of restoration planning to a new phase of implementing restoration actions and evaluating their success.

The COP began to govern water management operations roughly half-way through WY 2021, and water managers began to employ the Tamiami Trail Flow Formula (TTFF) (SFWMD, 2019) to regulate operations in the latter stages of that water year, in March 2021. Ecological objectives are a greater consideration in daily operations under the COP than they were under previous water management plans that focused almost exclusively on hydrologic targets. As of this writing, the first full water year of operations under the COP (i.e., WY 2022)

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-26 Water discharges into Everglades National Park by way of Western Shark River Slough (dark blue) and Northeast Shark River Slough (light blue). The red arrows demarcate the water management plans that governed water flows through these pathways from 1940 to 2020.

SOURCE: R. Johnson, NPS, personal communication, 2022.

has recently been completed, and the first biennial report evaluating the performance of the COP is being drafted. The information available suggests that the TTFF has been effective in hitting targets for rising water in the wet season and some recession rates in the dry season (Figure 3-27), although stages have been higher than expected in northern WCA-3A. Managers are pleased with the effectiveness of operations management meetings, which include biologists, in making adjustments to operations that enable meeting of targets (J. Redwine, NPS, personal communication, 2022).

Constraints related to flood control in the 8.5 Square Mile Area have been a major obstacle preventing significant ecological restoration in the central

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-27 Targets for flows into Everglades National Park (blue) from WCA-3A and realized flows (orange) using the Tamiami Trail Flow Formula from February 2021 through February 2022.

SOURCE: SFWMD, 2022b.

Everglades prior to the COP (NASEM, 2021). These constraints continue to hinder operations: there were four events in which these constraints affected operations in WY 2021—a high water year with much of the flow through Western Shark River Slough (Figure 3-26)—and two more in WY 2022. However, these constraints promise to be greatly reduced by the construction of a seepage barrier along the boundary between the 8.5 Square Mile Area and Northeast Shark River Slough (Figure 3-20). Construction of 2.3 miles of this curtain wall, funded by the SFWMD, is due to be completed in September 2022. CEPP New Water will extend this seepage barrier northward along the remaining 4.9 miles of this boundary (see previous discussion about the CEPP). Initial indications of the extent to which the first portion of the seepage barrier reduces constraints on COP operations should be evident in WY 2023.

Unfortunately, water quality may be emerging as a new potential constraint on COP operations. Water quality compliance in Everglades National Park is assessed according to methods outlined in Appendix A of the 1991 Settlement Agreement between the State of Florida and the federal government (see SFWMD [2009] for details). Under the Settlement Agreement, flows that enter Everglades

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

National Park must meet a “long-term limit” for total phosphorus (TP), which is tracked monthly and assessed annually for compliance based on the flow-weighted mean TP concentration over the previous 12 months. This long-term TP limit, calculated monthly, decreases as flow increases. Qiu (2022) and Surratt (2022) note that high concentrations of phosphorus occur in water flowing from WCA-3A into Shark River Slough when the headwater stage is low, specifically below 9.2 feet at the S333 (and now S333-N) water control structure. Increased flow into Northeast Shark River Slough under the COP includes more flow under these conditions, and indeed such flows contributed to exceedances of the long-term limit in both WY 2019 and WY 2021 (Figure 3-28). Research on the causal factors and ways to mitigate these effects is an ongoing effort to prevent water quality constraints from limiting the quantity of flows through Northeast Shark River Slough.13

Ecological Changes.

Increased hydration of Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough under the COP are expected to result in a myriad of ecological effects, many of which are viewed as restoration benefits (NASEM, 2021; USACE, 2020b). Of special concern are changes to marl prairie habitats occupied by Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows (CSSS), an endangered subspecies endemic to Everglades National Park. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the species was distributed in two large subpopulations (A, B), one medium-sized subpopulation (E), and three small subpopulations (C, D, F) (Figure 3-29; FWS, 2020). High water conditions in Western Shark River Slough in the mid-1990s led to greatly extended hydroperiods in the marl prairie occupied by subpopulation A, causing a dramatic decline of this population (Walters et al., 2000). Subsequently, subpopulation A has declined further to near extirpation, and the other small subpopulations have at times declined to near extirpation because of conditions that were too wet or too dry (i.e., extended or reduced hydroperiods), whereas subpopulations B and E have maintained their status as large and medium-sized subpopulations, respectively (FWS, 2020; Walters et al., 2000). Because of increased flows to Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough, the COP is expected to increase hydroperiods in the adjacent marl prairie areas. Increased hydroperiods are expected to result in changes in vegetation that affect CSSS habitat suitability and, ultimately, sparrow numbers. Wetter conditions are expected to result in reductions in CSSS habitat suitability in some currently suitable habitats (subpopulations D and E) and increases in habitat suitability in other areas that currently are too dry (subpopulations C and F) (Figure 3-29). Similarly, reduced flows in Western Shark River Slough are expected to improve

___________________

13 This paragraph was edited following prepublication release of the report to clarify the timing of compliance assessments as well as the level of understanding of water quality concerns and drivers.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-28 Flow-weighted mean phosphorus concentrations (yellow dots) and flows into Shark River Slough (blue shading), compared to the stage at S-333, reflecting the stage of southern WCA-3A. High total phosphorus concentrations in the dry season resulted in an exceedance of water quality limits when dry season flows were relatively high in WY 2019 and WY 2021, but not in WY 2018 and WY 2020 when dry season flows were negligible.

SOURCE: Qiu, 2022.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-29 Predicted changes in marl prairie habitat suitability for the six subpopulations of Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows (A-F, outlined in red) under the COP compared to the pre-COP baseline conditions. Orange indicates predicted reductions in habitat suitability, and green indicates improvements in habitat suitability. AX indicates new habitat outside of the historical boundaries of subpopulation A in which sparrows have recently been observed.

SOURCE: USACE, 2020b.

habitat suitability in some areas of subpopulation A that currently are too wet, particularly in areas near Shark River Slough (northern AX in Figure 3-29) that are outside the historical boundaries of the subpopulation. Further hydroperiod changes are expected under the CEPP, which will provide increased flows to Northeast Shark River Slough (FWS, 2014; USACE, 2014a), consistent with restoration goals for the marl prairies.

The projected changes depicted in Figure 3-29 do not fully represent the impact of the new non-CERP infrastructure that the COP employs on marl prairie habitat because the predictions are based on comparison to a baseline that includes the impact of the incremental testing conducted during the development of the COP. Much of the benefit of the new infrastructure resulting from the Mod Waters and C-111 South Dade projects was realized during the incremental testing (NASEM, 2021). This is particularly the case for changes impacting sparrow habitat, specifically the redistribution of flow between Western

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

and Northeast Shark River Slough (Figure 3-26). Thus, one expects that sparrow habitat suitability would have begun to shift in the pattern depicted in Figure 3-29 during the incremental testing, and will continue to do so under the COP. The available evidence suggests that this is the case, for both hydrology and the changes in vegetation representing the anticipated ecological response to altered hydrology that impacts sparrow habitat suitability.

Available vegetation mapping and hydroperiod data enable a comparison between average conditions during the incremental testing phase of the COP (data have been collected in 2017-2020 for Shark River Slough and in 2018 for Taylor Slough) and conditions prior to ERTP (2003-2005 for Shark River Slough, 2011 for Taylor Slough). These data suggest that, consistent with planning projections, within marl prairie habitat adjacent to Northeast Shark River Slough, hydroperiods generally have become longer. That is, sparrow habitat has become wetter, compared to pre-COP conditions, as employment of new infrastructure associated with the COP has begun, including in portions of subpopulations E where wetter conditions are projected to have adverse effects on habitat suitability, and in portions of subpopulation C and all of subpopulation F where the effects on habitat suitability are expected to be positive (Figure 3-30). Also as predicted, hydroperiods have decreased in the northernmost areas of subpopulation A, including in areas east of the historical boundary of this subpopulation (hN in Figure 3-30). This change is projected to create new habitat suitable for CSSS in this area. South of this area, the flows from the west that have compromised attempts to reduce hydroperiods in subpopulation A continue to maintain wet conditions despite reduced flows to Western Shark River Slough under the COP (Sah et al., 2021). WERP (see above) is expected to help reduce flows from the west, potentially substantially enough to restore habitat for sparrows within the southern portion of subpopulation A (FWS, 2020).

These changes in hydrology should result in ecological changes that impact habitat for sparrows. Most importantly, changes in hydroperiod are expected to cause transitions between vegetation communities that differ in their suitability for sparrows. The vegetation that occurs in the marl prairies that sparrows occupy has been classified into nine communities that vary along a hydroperiod gradient (Ross et al., 2006). Those at the shorter hydroperiod end of the gradient are classified as wet prairies (in order of increasing hydroperiod: Muhlenbergia [muhly grass] Wet Prairie, Schizachyrium [bluestem] Wet Prairie, Schoenus [black sedge] Wet Prairie, Cladium [sawgrass] Wet Prairie). Those at the longer hydroperiod end are classified as marshes (in order of increasing hydroperiod, Paspalum-Cladium [knot grass-sawgrass] Marsh, Cladium Marsh, Cladium-Rhynchospora [sawgrass-beaksedge] Marsh, Rhynchospora-Cladium Marsh, Eleocharis-Rhynchospora [spikerush-beaksedge] Marsh). Discontinuous

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-30 Change in 4-year mean discontinuous hydroperiod between 2003-2005 and 2017-2020 survey periods at vegetation survey sites in CSSS subpopulations A, B, C, E, and F.

SOURCE: Sah et al., 2021.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

hydroperiods of 90-210 days are considered optimal for CSSS (FWS, 2020), roughly matching the hydroperiods of wet prairie as opposed to marsh communities, as well as the range of hydroperiods in habitat with the highest rates of occupancy by sparrows. Although vegetation conditions suitable for sparrows occur over a wider range of hydroperiods (60-270 days), habitat with a hydroperiod of fewer than 90 days is prone to fire and encroachment of woody vegetation, both of which greatly reduce its suitability for sparrows. Habitat with a hydroperiod of more than 210 days is unlikely to support sparrows long term as it will eventually convert from wet prairie to marsh (Armentano et al., 2006; Sah et al., 2014). The greater height and density of vegetation as well as species composition of marsh communities is unfavorable for sparrow nesting and foraging compared to wet prairie communities (Ross et al., 2006).

Thus, transitions between wet prairie and marsh vegetation in response to alterations in hydrology are of great interest. This is a particularly appropriate ecological response to assess in the early years of the transition to the COP because it can occur very quickly, in only 3-4 years (Armentano et al., 2006; Sah et al., 2014). In subpopulation E where adverse effects of wetter conditions on habitat suitability are expected (Figure 3-29), conversion of wet prairie to marsh has been considerable and most of the birds are now occupying Cladium Marsh or the wet prairie habitat with the longest hydroperiod, Cladium Wet Prairie (Figures 3-31 and 3-32). In contrast, in subpopulation F where the considerable increases in hydroperiod that have occurred were projected to improve habitat suitability (Figure 3-29), almost no conversion of wet prairie to marsh has occurred (Figure 3-31) and the birds occupy the full range of wet prairie habitats (Figure 3-32) that, being wetter, have become less vulnerable to fire and encroachment of woody vegetation (Sah et al., 2021).

Conversion of marsh to wet prairie is almost exclusively limited to an area where drier conditions were predicted to improve habitat for CSSS (northern AX in Figure 3-29) in the new habitat in the northeastern portion of subpopulation A beyond the boundaries of the historical population (hN in Figures 3-30 and 3-31). A significant amount of wet prairie habitat now exists in this area (Figure 3-32). However, reduced hydroperiods in the northern portion of the historical subpopulation A have not resulted in conversion of marsh to wet prairie such that this area remains marsh, most of which consists of communities at the long end of the hydroperiod gradient (Figures 3-30 to 3-32). Thus, the projected improvements in habitat suitability in this area have not yet occurred.

Improvements in habitat suitability are also projected to occur in much of the area not historically occupied by sparrows between subpopulations C, E, and F (Figure 3-29). Although sampling is not sufficient to fully document changes in hydrology (Figure 3-30) or vegetation communities (Figure 3-31) in this area,

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-31 Change in vegetation types in habitat in CSSS subpopulations A, B, C, E, and F between 2003-2005 and 2017-2020 surveys.

NOTES: M-M = one marsh vegetation type to another marsh vegetation type, M-WP = marsh vegetation type to wet prairie vegetation type, WP-M = wet prairie vegetation type to marsh vegetation type, WP-WP = one wet prairie vegetation type to another wet prairie vegetation type.

SOURCE: Sah et al., 2021.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-32 Map showing the vegetation types at the CSSS census sites surveyed between 2017 and 2020 and the number of birds observed at each point during the annual sparrow surveys over 3 years (2017-2019).

SOURCE: Sah et al., 2021.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

a considerable amount of wet prairie now exists there (Figure 3-32). Finally, hydroperiods have become longer in a considerable amount of the habitat in subpopulation B (Figure 3-30), resulting in some conversion of wet prairie to marsh along the edges of the subpopulation (Figure 3-31). However, an extensive area of wet prairie still remains, with mostly longer hydroperiod prairies closer to the edge of the subpopulation adjacent to the slough and mostly shorter hydroperiod communities away from the edge (Figure 3-32). Thus, to date no major changes to habitat suitability in subpopulation B have occurred.

Habitat in the area of Taylor Slough occupied by subpopulation D, as predicted (Figure 3-29), has become wetter, resulting in considerable conversion of wet prairie to Cladium Marsh (Sah et al., 2020) and, thus, reductions in habitat quality (Figure 3-33). Considerable wet prairie still remains in subpopulation D, however (Figure 3-33b) (Sah et al., 2021).

Overall, the patterns described above are consistent with the anticipated impact of operations employing CERP and non-CERP infrastructure (Figure 3-23) under the COP on marl prairie habitats in Everglades National Park occupied by CSSS. Thus, there is evidence of progress in producing the desired hydrologic and ecological restoration benefits in this portion of the central Everglades. The latter benefits are complicated, because achieving restoration goals, as expected, is resulting in negative as well as positive effects on sparrow habitat. The ultimate ecological change will be the redistribution of the sparrow population in response to the redistribution of its habitat, which will require occupation of new wet prairie habitat, as well as mitigating declines in sparrow numbers in habitat that converts from wet prairie to marsh. To date, only a few sparrows have been detected in new wet prairie habitat in hN and the area between subpopulations C, E, and F, and sparrows remain in habitat that has converted from wet prairie to marsh in subpopulation E (Figure 3-32). It is too early to determine how the sparrows will respond to changes in hydrology and vegetation communities within their habitat, but that the restoration effort will result in major changes in the marl prairies is already evident.

The above examination of changes in marl prairie habitats in no way constitutes an assessment of the performance of the COP, or of the impact of projects such as Mod Waters, C-111 South Dade, or C-111 Spreader Canal. Nor is it an assessment of their contributions toward achieving restoration benefits. Such an assessment will require isolating effects of operations or projects from natural variability in system drivers such as rainfall by comparing empirical observations to model predictions. That is, predicted results of operations under current conditions must be compared to observed results and to model predictions of the same area without the project features. Accomplishing this will require dedication of resources to support such nearcast modeling and to update models with recent precipitation data (see NASEM, 2021).

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-33 Vegetation types in the habitat of CSSS subpopulation D in (A) 2011 and (B) 2020. Note that in (A) orange depicts Cladium Marsh, not Cladium-Rhynchospora Marsh as indicated in the legend.

SOURCE: Sah et al., 2020.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

Southern Coastal Systems

Historically, Biscayne Bay received freshwater from overland flow passing through the coastal ridge and wetlands, and from extensive groundwater seepage. As a consequence of historical hydrologic alteration and development, freshwater delivery to Biscayne Bay has been greatly reduced, particularly in the dry season, resulting in loss of wetlands and an increase in salinity along the western margin of the bay. At the same time, controlled freshwater pulse discharges as point sources create altered flow, salinity, and nutrient inputs into the bay. Freshwater wetlands in the Southern Everglades have been reduced in area, altered, and degraded because of water management practices, land development, and sea-level rise. Much of the Model Lands, Southern Glades, and South Dade Wetlands are drained. Water elevations are generally held close to or below land surface and diverted by drainage structures toward other basins and canals. Existing salinity conditions have contributed to landward expansion of saltwater and mangrove wetlands, including low-productivity, sparsely vegetated dwarf mangroves, as well as invasive exotic vegetation. The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands (BBCW) Phase 1 Project (Figure 3-34), currently under construction, and the Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Restoration (BBSEER) Project in planning, seek to address these issues.

CERP Projects in Progress: BBCW Phase 1

The primary goal of the BBCW Project (Figure 3-3, No. 7) is to reduce near-shore salinity and improve the ecological condition of wetlands, tidal creeks, and other habitats by increasing freshwater flows to Biscayne Bay and Biscayne National Park. The full BBCW Project, as outlined in the Yellow Book (USACE and SFWMD, 1999), envisioned restoration of wetland hydroperiods to 11,300 acres of the total 22,500 acres of wetlands. The footprint of Phase 1 of the BBCW Project is small; its goals are to restore about 400 acres of freshwater wetlands and increase water flows in another approximately 2,000 acres in three geographically distinct components: the Deering Estate Component, just north of the Biscayne Bay National Park, and the Cutler Wetlands and L-31E Flow-way Components, portions of which are within the national park (Figure 3-34).

Project implementation includes construction of pump stations, spreader canals, and culverts, and the reestablishment of flow-ways (USACE, 2019b). The Deering Estate Component (Figure 3-35) was completed in 2012, and the L-31E Flow-way is under construction with completion expected in 2025. Construction of the Cutler Wetlands component is scheduled to begin in September 2022 (Charkhian, 2022a). Documented restoration benefits to date from the implemented project components are discussed below.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-34 Biscayne Bay Phase 1 Coastal Wetlands Project locations.

SOURCE: Charkhian, 2022a.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-35 Deering Estate Component features, showing insets of the S-700 pump station, which diverts water from discharge in the C-100A Canal through the S-123 Canal structure. Purple colored squares are the project-specific salinity monitoring stations.

SOURCE: Modified from Charkhian, 2022a.
Deering Estate.

The S-700 pump station on the C-100A Spur Canal within Deering Estate is designed to restore historic freshwater flows through the Cutler Drain Slough and into the coastal wetlands, reducing near-shore salinity. The hydrologic goal was to redirect up to 100 cfs of water from the C-100A Spur Canal to the coastal wetlands (Figure 3-35), thereby reducing point source freshwater discharges. To alleviate the hydrologic flashiness that occurred with intermittent pulsed releases, in WY 2019 the SFWMD moved to continuous pumping at a minimum rate of 25 cfs (Charkhian, 2022a), which seems to have

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

improved the hydration and increased the hydroperiod in the remnant wetlands over approximately 19 acres in this project area underlain by extremely porous limestone (Figure 3-36).

In WY 2020 and WY 2021, the S-700 pump station diverted 30,951 and 36,948 AF to the coastal wetlands that would have otherwise been discharged through the S-123 structure (Charkhian, 2022b), thereby reducing a driver of variability in near-shore salinity. However, near-shore monitoring stations (see Figure 3-35) show that salinity remains well above the mesohaline target of 5 to 18 psu (Charkhian, 2022a), suggesting that much more water would be needed to reach near-shore restoration targets in this region.

L-31E Flow-way.

The goal of the L-31E Component is to improve habitat conditions by diverting water that would normally be released through the L-31E Canal to the adjacent coastal wetlands via 10 newly constructed culverts, thereby lowering near-shore salinities. A chronic challenge for the project is an insufficient supply of freshwater that limits flows from the canal through the L-31E culverts and into the wetlands. This condition is partially due to the lack of pumps to

Image
FIGURE 3-36 Hydroperiod (number of days per year that the ground is either saturated or covered with water) in the Deering Estate Component area.

SOURCE: Charkhian, 2022a.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

move water into the canal and raise and maintain canal stage high enough (stage target level is 2.2 feet NGVD) to promote outflow through the culverts. The USACE is expected to finish construction of the L-31E Component in 2025, which will include a total of five pump stations (USACE, 2022d). Overall, there is little to report in terms of substantial new ecological effects or trends since NASEM (2021), although by the committee’s next report, the effects of the new pump stations on wetland and near-shore salinity should be apparent.

CERP Projects in Planning: Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration

The ultimate goal of the BBSEER Project is ecosystem restoration of wetland and near-shore habitats in Biscayne Bay, Card Sound, Barnes Sound, the Model Lands, Southern Glades, and other wetlands adjacent to these water bodies consisting of low-lying marl prairie, sawgrass wetlands, and mangroves. The BBSEER feasibility study expands on recommended phased project plans implemented for the BBCW and C-111 SC and includes four additional project components included as part of the CERP in the Yellow Book (USACE and SFWMD, 1999; see Table 3-4). The initial BBSEER study area (Figure 3-37) focuses on southeastern Miami-Dade County, representing an area intentionally large in scope to include remaining local CERP components and water sources that may contribute to achieving the project’s goals and objectives for Biscayne Bay and nearby wetlands.

This integrated planning effort will evaluate the combined effects of hydrologic restoration scenarios from these six integrated components to evaluate their efficacy toward four project objectives:

  1. Improve freshwater wetland water depth, ponding duration, and flow timing within the Model Lands, Southern Glades, and eastern panhandle of Everglades National Park to maintain and improve habitat value.
  2. Improve quantity, timing, and distribution of freshwater to estuarine and near-shore subtidal areas, including mangrove and seagrass areas, of Biscayne National Park, Card Sound, and Barnes Sound, to improve salinity regimes and to reduce damaging pulse releases.
  3. Improve ecological and hydrologic connectivity among Biscayne Bay coastal wetlands, the Model Lands, and Southern Glades.
  4. Increase resilience of coastal habitats in southeastern Miami-Dade County to sea-level rise.

The inclusion of resilience to sea-level rise as a project objective is the first for a CERP project and represents an important shift in CERP planning away from

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

TABLE 3-4 CERP Projects Integrated into the BBSEER Planning Effort

Project Goal
BBCW, Phase 2 (No. 4 in Figure 3-37) Rehydrate coastal wetlands and improve near-shore salinity conditions in Biscayne Bay. The project was intended to help restore wetland and near-shore estuarine habitats by diverting coastal structure flows into freshwater and saltwater wetlands instead of directly to Biscayne Bay. BBSEER will include all remaining components of the BBCW preferred alternative, Alternative O, as well as the BBCW1 components that have been completed.
Biscayne Bay Coastal Canals (No. 5 in Figure 3-37)
C-111 Spreader Canal Project (No. 6 in Figure 3-37) Improve water deliveries to enhance the connectivity and sheet flow in the Model Lands and Southern Glades areas, reduce wet season flows to C-111, and decrease potential flood risk in the lower south Miami-Dade County area.
South Miami Dade County Reuse (No. 3 in Figure 3-37) Enhance regional water supply through advanced treatment of wastewater from the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant located in Miami-Dade County. The Yellow Book described an initial design with a capacity of 131 million gallons per day.
West Miami Dade Reuse (No. 2 in Figure 3-37) Enhance regional water supply through advanced treatment of wastewater from a future wastewater treatment plant to be located in the Bird Drive Basin in Miami-Dade County.
North Lake Belt (No. 1 in Figure 3-37) Enhance regional water storage by capturing stormwater runoff and storing it in lined limestone pits in the North Lake Belt. The Yellow Book project envisioned canals, pumps, water control structures, and an in-ground storage reservoir with a total capacity of approximately 90,000 AF located in Miami-Dade County. The Yellow Book design described a 4,500-acre reservoir with water level fluctuations up to 20 feet below grade.

SOURCES: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/BBCW/; USACE and SFWMD, 2012, 2020c.

restoring ecosystems of the past to enhancing sustainable ecosystems of the future (NASEM, 2018).

The BBSEER Project includes several CERP components with questionable technical and/or economic feasibility. For example, water storage in the Lake Belt would likely require geomembrane liners of the highly porous limestone formations to hold water, and the technical feasibility of such systems has not been examined. The Yellow Book proposed a pilot project to examine this technology, but no action has been taken to conduct a study. Similarly, concerns remain about the use of wastewater reuse for ecological restoration because of concerns about the ecological effects of low levels of organic contaminants in wastewater if applied to wetland or coastal ecosystems and the cost-effectiveness of the approach. A project management plan was finalized in 2003 for the Wastewater Reuse Technology Pilot, but the pilot project was suspended in 2005 (USACE and SFWMD, 2006), so these questions remain unaddressed.

The project delivery team is working to develop the BBSEER tentatively selected plan by June 2024, and the team is early in this process. As of September 2022, the team was working to define the project alternatives for full evaluation of benefits using hydrologic and ecological modeling tools. The BBSEER study

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Image
FIGURE 3-37 BBSEER Project footprint with locations of Yellow Book projects integrated into the planning effort.

SOURCE: Foster, 2021.
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

will consider changed conditions and use new data, resources, and information to inform restoration planning. These changed conditions include the well-documented increase in the rate of sea-level rise locally and future sea-level projections. Additional evaluation of details of these considerations of climate change in BBSEER planning is discussed in Chapter 5 of this report.

Eight performance measures will be used in the model analysis for the relevant habitats to assess how the various alternatives meet the project objectives (Kirby and Coranado, 2022):

  1. Salinity in the near shore;
  2. Salinity in wetlands;
  3. Depth of freshwater;
  4. Hydroperiods;
  5. Direct canal releases;
  6. Timing and distribution of flow sources to Biscayne Bay;
  7. Resiliency (see Chapter 5, Box 5-3); and
  8. Connectivity: proximity to natural areas.

The first six are hydrologic outcomes and reflect the ways in which restoration measures can alter hydrology toward specific targets that optimize ecological conditions. It seems unlikely that plants and animals will all respond similarly, or even in the same direction (e.g., increase or decrease). Targeting of specific plants and animals as ecological outcomes of interest, including those within the performance measure structure, would provide a clearer framework for assessing measures and alternatives against the project’s goals.

As the planning process moves forward it is important to maintain perspective on the array of changes associated with different alternatives, their spatial and temporal distribution, and their modulation by sea level−rise scenarios. For example, in the USACE project alternative evaluation process, small changes in quality over large areas become equivalent to larger changes over smaller areas. Given the large differences in area for the different habitats, when performance measure scores are combined across zones, small changes in sawgrass/wet prairie may dominate and cause alternatives that benefit that area to rise to the top. The team may wish to consider whether certain habitats display greater increase in performance measure scores than others and the tradeoffs among habitats. In addition, although the team currently plans to weight the different performance measures equally, it may be worth considering whether some factors (e.g., resilience) deserve larger weights than others. Some of the other performance measures are closely related (e.g., hydroperiod, depth of freshwater, salinity in wetlands), therefore diluting the effect of other important performance measures.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

Each feature being considered for the project seeks to improve the quantity, distribution, and/or timing of freshwater flows to the coast. Effective discrimination among them based on ecosystem outcomes (versus changes in hydrology) would provide a way to show the tradeoffs among ecological outcomes likely with projects such as this, and how those tradeoffs vary across the project area and over time with climate change. Some measures may result in small but ecologically important changes to ecology and identifying these, and the outcomes they produce, could help to justify delivery of this complex project to local jurisdictions and other interested parties.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Record funding levels for Everglades restoration planning, implementation, and construction are further expediting restoration progress and expanding its geographic scope. In 2022, six CERP projects are under construction, one project and one major project component have been officially completed, and the new LOSOM was released. Several projects are nearing completion in the next 2-3 years. The Everglades restoration program is exhibiting impressive momentum with three additional CERP projects expected to begin construction in the next 2 years. This implementation progress places the restoration at a pivot point with increasing demands associated with project and systemwide operation and adaptive management, as well as with planning and implementation of remaining projects. An ambitious IDS is being realized, and the CEPP—the key project in the restoration of the central Everglades—continues to make impressively rapid implementation progress.

Hydrologic restoration progress and early vegetation response is evident over large areas of the central and western Everglades after implementation of recent CERP and non-CERP initiatives. The COP, which utilizes seepage management and water conveyance infrastructure from two non-CERP foundation projects that were recently completed (Mod Waters, C-111 South Dade), is rehydrating Northeast Shark River Slough and appears to be facilitating increased flow into Everglades National Park. The rehydration of Northeast Shark River Slough represents the largest step yet toward restoring the hydrology and ecology of the central Everglades. Shifts in vegetation in marl prairies are an early indicator that the predicted restoration benefits of the COP may be realized. During the past 2 years, plugging of canals at Picayune Strand has approximately doubled the area with full hydrologic restoration to approximately 13,500 acres. Monitoring wells in the fully hydrologically restored area show immediate increases in hydroperiod and water levels. Understory vegetation response is trending toward reference conditions, but tree canopy response has been slow, as expected. The

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

benefits attributable to restoration efforts cannot be adequately distinguished from the effects of other factors, such as unusually wet or dry years, without the use of available modeling tools to analyze the effects of these various factors on project outcomes.

Current progress on implementation and record levels of funding increase the need for and importance of analyzing and synthesizing natural system responses. The long-term hydrologic, ecological, and water quality trend data needed to assess restoration response are challenging to find, and analyses of these trends are inconsistent across projects. As noted in the committee’s past reports (NASEM, 2018, 2021), quantitative objectives and accompanying expectations of how and when they will be achieved by management actions are critical for adaptive management processes. Some projects invest substantial time and energy in data analysis, while other projects conduct only limited analysis and primarily report recent results, a situation that complicates evaluation of progress toward project objectives. Adaptive management of the partially implemented system requires quantitative objectives as well as resources and staffing to support the assessment of ecosystem response. In addition, as recommended by NASEM (2021), more sophisticated strategies that use modeling tools to compare observed results to model predictions of current conditions based on recent precipitation and climate data (termed “nowcasting”) would help managers understand project responses under a range of weather conditions and improve their capacity to adjust operations as needed.

Water quality is an ongoing concern that could potentially constrain progress on several fronts, including the COP and the CEPP. Increased dry season flows are a specific project objective for the CEPP, but new infrastructure and recent operational changes under the COP that have facilitated higher dry season flows have also resulted in total phosphorus exceedances. Better understanding of the underlying processes is needed to assess whether additional steps can help to mitigate these impacts without adversely affecting the intended flow benefits. Resolving this issue may necessitate additional research into the ecological implications of increases in phosphorus concentrations and loads amid flow restoration and the development of improved water quality modeling tools to analyze the potential consequences of various alternatives.

The final plans for LOSOM and the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan provide for substantially less storage than originally envisioned in the CERP, which highlights the importance of a CERP mid-course assessment (i.e., CERP Update). The new System Operating Manual for Lake Okeechobee generally retains upper lake stages similar to those of LORS 2008, which lowered lake stages to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of the Herbert Hoover Dike. Consequently, LOSOM poses a potential loss of up to 800,000 AF of storage

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

in the rainy season compared to the lake regulation schedule in place in 1999 when the CERP was planned. In addition, the final Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan includes 55 ASR wells (5 MGD each or a maximum storage capacity of 308,000 AF/year), compared to the 200 ASR wells and 250,000 AF of surface storage proposed in the original CERP. As recommended by NASEM (2016, 2018), a mid-course assessment of expected CERP outcomes that accounts for newly identified constraints in storage and incorporates the latest climate change science would inform future management decisions regarding restoration planning, funding, sequencing, and adaptive management.

The SFWMD has implemented a rigorous approach to address uncertainties associated with ASR in the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan. The SFWMD appointed an independent peer review panel to provide input in the development of the ASR Science Plan, which includes 26 studies through 2030. The panel will continue to meet annually to evaluate progress on the ASR Science Plan and will provide recommendations on additional studies needed or modifications to ongoing work. The committee commends the SFWMD for soliciting independent input, both in the development of the plan and on an ongoing basis, to enhance the effectiveness of the science investments.

The USACE should implement a process for periodic multi-stakeholder review of Lake Okeechobee operations relative to the objectives of LOSOM to build confidence that the flexibility of the new operational schedule is being used as designed and to support learning to enhance future decision making. The final LOSOM regulation schedule is similar to the prior schedule in many ways, including the high and low water management bands. The key differences are found in the lack of specificity of management in the largest band, Zone D. This affords water managers flexibility to use recent data and near-term forecasts to optimize water management. At the same time, this new flexibility leaves other agencies and stakeholders uncertain about how tradeoffs in management objectives will be balanced in the future compared to the balance of outcomes projected by the models during the LOSOM development process. Efforts to routinely report the rationale for operational adjustments within Zone D could be valuable in keeping stakeholders abreast of water management activities. In addition, an annual or semi-annual multi-stakeholder meeting or workshop would enable periodic assessment of how well competing priorities were balanced, increasing understanding, supporting transparency, and identifying lessons learned in support of adaptive management.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×

This page intentionally left blank.

Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 39
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 40
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 41
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 42
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 43
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 44
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 45
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 46
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 47
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 48
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 49
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 50
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 51
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 52
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 53
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 54
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 55
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 56
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 57
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 58
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 59
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 60
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 61
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 62
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 64
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 68
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 69
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 70
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 71
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 72
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 73
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 74
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 75
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 76
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 77
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 78
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 79
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 80
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 81
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 82
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 83
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 84
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 85
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 86
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 87
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 88
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 89
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 90
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 91
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 92
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 93
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 94
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 95
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 96
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 97
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 98
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 99
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 100
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 101
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 102
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 103
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 104
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 105
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 106
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 107
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 108
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 109
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 110
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 111
Suggested Citation:"3 Restoration Progress." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26706.
×
Page 112
Next: 4 STA Water Quality and CERP Progress »
Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022 Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $54.00 Buy Ebook | $43.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Over the past century, the Everglades has been dramatically altered by drainage and water management infrastructure intended to improve flood management, urban water supply, and agricultural production. Less than half of the original Everglades remain, and these remnants compete for water with urban and agricultural interests, all the while being impaired by contaminated runoff. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was established in 2000 as a joint effort by the state and federal government to reverse the decline of the ecosystem. The multibillion project aims to restore the ecosystem over the course of 30 to 40 years by reestablishing the natural hydrological characteristics of the Everglades where feasible and ultimately creating a water system that serves both the natural and human needs of South Florida. Since 2004, a National Academies committee has provided a series of independent, peer-reviewed assessments of CERP progress.

Implementation of CERP projects has occurred at a remarkable pace over the past two years due to record funding levels. Ecosystem responses are evident over large areas of the central and western Everglades after implementation of recent restoration initiatives. This progress in implementation has increased the importance of analyzing and synthesizing natural system responses. The committee review of ongoing progress highlights the need for rigorous scientific support for water quality improvement in stormwater treatment areas and modeling for a wider range of plausible climate conditions. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022 recommends the development of a multiagency Everglades restoration science plan to ensure the needed tools, research, analysis, and synthesis are available to support critical restoration management decisions.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!