Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The Second Biennial Review - 2008 (2008) / Chapter Skim
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, a joint effort led by the state and the federal government launched in 2000, seeks to reverse the general decline of the ecosystem in the midst of a changing human and environmental context. This unprecedented project envisioned the expenditure of billions of dollars in a multi-decadal effort to achieve ecological restoration by restoring the hydrologic characteristics of the Everglades, where feasible, and to create a water system that simultaneously serves the needs of the natural and the human systems of South Florida.
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Much good science has been developed to support the restoration efforts, and the foundations of adaptive management have been established to support the CERP. To avert further declines, CERP planners should address major project planning and authorization hurdles and move forward expeditiously with projects that have the most potential for contributing to natural system restoration progress in the South Florida ecosystem.
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Agriculture faces an uncertain future in South Florida, particularly in the Everglades Agricultural Area, which intervenes directly in the flow of water between Lake Okeechobee and Everglades National Park and influences the movement of water, sediment, and nutrients for the rest of the system. The use of "smart growth" principles that integrate the needs of environmental restoration with human demographic changes can lessen the negative impacts of population growth if cities, counties, the state, and CERP planners are all involved.
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biennial review of restoration progress noted that in the first 6 years after the WRDA 2000 was authorized, actual construction progress was limited, and most of the CERP accomplishments were programmatic. In 2008, most CERP accomplishments remain program matic, including the monitoring and assessment plan, development of modeling tools, and other ways in which the foundations of adaptive management are being built in support of the restoration.
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to compare predicted and monitored indicator responses for effective adaptive management decision making. This will occur only when • ecological modeling and data management activities are fully incorporated and funded in the CERP's Interagency Modeling Center; • water quality and sediment transport models become routinely available and integrated with the new Regional Simulation Model; and • these physical-chemical models can be readily linked to ecological models.
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The South Florida ecosystem continues to suffer as a result of a complex and sometimes contentious planning process, funding uncertainties, lack of clear restoration priorities that are central to restoration, and statutory and regulatory impediments. In Chapter 3, the committee analyzes progress in CERP planning and implementation and makes the following conclu sions and recommendations: It is too early to evaluate the response of the ecosystem to CERP projects because none have been completed.
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However, now that three CERP projects have approval for their project implementation reports and congressional authorization, funding limitations will certainly create additional constraints to CERP progress in the years ahead. Non-CERP and CERP projects will increasingly compete for limited state and federal funding, while project costs increase due to inflationary pressures and scope changes.
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Without clear priorities for project planning and fund ing, projects with large potential restoration benefits may see lengthy restoration delays while other, less-contentious projects that address only isolated portions of the ecosystem may tie up available funding. During the 5-year review of the Programmatic Regulations, the USACE should address deficiencies and impedi ments in the CERP planning process that are affecting restoration progress.
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CASE STUDY ANALYSES OF RESTORATION PROGRESS The committee evaluated two restoration efforts in detail -- Mod Waters and Lake Okeechobee -- to better understand the progress and challenges in the restoration of the South Florida ecosystem. Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park The history of the Mod Waters project is one of the most discouraging stories in Everglades restoration (see Chapter 4)
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Political leadership and the timely provision of funding are essential if progress on Mod Waters and the associated delivery of restoration benefits to Everglades National Park are going to occur. Strong leadership, focused on building and maintaining support among stakeholders and overcoming conflicts, is essential for Everglades restora tion projects to achieve their restoration goals.
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Recent water quality restoration initiatives in the Northern Everglades are not likely to achieve the stated water quality goals (40 ppb total phosphorus in the lake and 140 metric tons per year phosphorus input load) by the year 2015, and it might take decades for these goals to be met using current strategies.
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This committee encourages CERP planners to consider a wide array of water storage alternatives and their costs and benefits. Short-term and long-term trade-offs will be necessary in the rehabilitation of Lake Okeechobee and northern estuaries.
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Summary 13 will continue to lose some of its vital parts, and more importantly, the restoration effort will lose the support of the public at large. Clear funding priorities, modifications to the project planning, authorization, and funding process, and strong political leadership are needed to support system-wide restoration and to begin to reverse the decades of decline.
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