Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The Fifth Biennial Review: 2014 (2014) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-12
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) , with support from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
|
From page 2... ...
2 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE S-1 The South Florida ecosystem, which shares the same boundaries as the South Florida Water Management District. SOURCE: © International Mapping Associates
|
From page 3... ...
OVERALL EVALUATION OF PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES During the past 2 years, Everglades restoration has been defined by exceptional project planning accomplishments with substantial restoration potential on the one hand; and increasingly frustrating financial, procedural, and policy constraints impeding project implementation on the other. All of this has occurred against the backdrop of modest restoration progress focused along the edges of the Everglades, considerable state efforts to improve water quality, ongoing degradation of the core Everglades, and increasing restoration threats posed by sea-level rise and invasive species.
|
From page 4... ...
A comprehensive adaptive management plan provides an important mechanism to learn from project implementation to improve the operation of the project and the design of future increments of restoration, although additional attention to climate change uncertainties is needed. If the Central Everglades Planning Project is to avert further ecosystem degradation, CERP planners and policy makers need to expedite project imple mentation in the face of several hurdles.
|
From page 5... ...
With the passage of WRRDA 2014, four additional projects are able to proceed with federal funding, although the Central Everglades Planning Project was not completed in time to be included. Lack of authorizations also had important implications for the cost-share balance, discussed below.
|
From page 6... ...
The current draft Integrated Delivery Schedule has not been updated since 2011, and difficult decisions will need to be made to integrate the four Generation 2 CERP projects and the Central Everglades Planning Project (and related project dependencies) with existing CERP and non-CERP efforts.
|
From page 7... ...
Current impacts of rising sea levels are a harbinger of future climate change effects on the functioning and structure of the Everglades ecosystem and the ecosystem services on which South Florida depends. Sea-level rise in South Florida is already increasing saltwater intrusion into Everglades freshwater habitats and urban water supplies, and future climate changes are likely to be manifested through changes in the timing, volume, and quality of freshwater; distributions of species; and the extent of wetland habitats.
|
From page 8... ...
Depending on future climate change, some hydrologic or ecological restoration goals may be unattainable or prove to be not cost-effective. Urban and agricultural water demands unmet under dire climate scenarios highlight the need for additional analysis of water sustainability for the natural and built systems.
|
From page 9... ...
The committee is optimistic that the Comprehensive Invasive Species Strategic Action Framework being developed by the South Florida Ecosystem Task Force will be a major step toward achieving these goals of high-level coordination. A strategic early detection and rapid response (EDRR)
|
From page 10... ...
Many agencies participating in the Everglades restoration already undertake research activities on certain nonnative species and also implement management activities, but these efforts are limited by insufficient resources and are typically driven by specific agency needs rather than systemwide priorities. Effective prioritization requires a comprehensive understanding of all nonnative species present in the Everglades, their impacts and threats, as well as those of impending or likely new arrivals.
|
From page 11... ...
If funding cuts result in significant gaps in critical long-term monitoring data, important changes and patterns could be missed, and data collected prior to or after the funding gaps could lose their value. Given the substantial financial investment in Everglades restoration by both the state and the federal government, a dedicated source of funding could provide ongoing long-term systemwide monitoring and assessment that are critical to meeting restoration objectives, ensuring that public resources are spent wisely and adaptive management is supported.
|
From page 12... ...
This reevalution should clearly articulate the value of the highest priority monitoring to future restoration decision making and the risks of ceasing such monitoring. Also, CERP planners should identify opportunities for improving the efficiency of current monitoring and reducing the frequency of some monitoring in the context of the current slow pace of CERP implementation.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.