Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The Seventh Biennial Review - 2018 (2018) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Restoration Plan in Context
2 The Restoration Plan in Context
Pages 21-34
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From page 21... ...
These early projects included dredging canals in the Kissimmee River Basin and constructing a channel connecting Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee River and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico. By the late 1800s, more than 50,000 acres north and west of the lake had been drained and cleared for agriculture (Grunwald, 2006)
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From page 22... ...
This project provided flood management and urban and agricultural water supply by straightening 103 miles of the meander ing Kissimmee River, expanding the Herbert Hoover Dike, constructing a levee along the eastern boundary of the Everglades to prevent flows into the south eastern urban areas, establishing the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee, and creating a series of Water Conservation Areas (WCAs)
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From page 23... ...
, the South Florida ecosystem had already been altered extensively. Beginning in the 1970s, prompted by concerns about deteriorating conditions in Everglades National Park and other parts of the South Florida ecosystem, the public, as well as the federal and state governments, directed increased attention to the adverse ecological effects of the flood management and irrigation projects (Kiker et al., 2001; Perry, 2004)
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From page 24... ...
, is "restoration, preservation, and protection of the South Florida Ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection." The Programmatic Regulations (33 CFR § 385.3) that guide implementation of the CERP further clarify this goal by defining restoration as "the recovery and protection of the South Florida ecosys tem so that it once again achieves and sustains those essential hydrological and biological characteristics that defined the undisturbed South Florida ecosystem." These defining characteristics include a large areal extent of interconnected wetlands, extremely low concentrations of nutrients in freshwater wetlands, sheet flow, healthy and productive estuaries, resilient plant communities, and an abundance of native wetland animals (DOI and USACE, 2005)
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From page 25... ...
are largely qualitative, indicating a desired direction of change for a number of indicators, without a quantitative objective, providing no clear expectation of how the success of restoration efforts should collectively be assessed. Continued investment in Everglades restoration proceeds based on improving the current undesirable state of the system rather than toward a specific set of quantitative characteristics desired for the future South Florida ecosystem.
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From page 26... ...
: 1. Enough water storage capacity combined with operations that allow for appropriate volumes of water to support healthy estuaries and the return of sheet flow through the Everglades ecosystem while meeting other demands for water; 2.
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From page 27... ...
The specific nature and extent of the functional mosaic thus depends on not only the degree to which the five critical components can be achieved but also future precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, marine incursion into estuaries and coastal wetlands, as well as continued investment in water and ecological management. Even if the restored system does not exactly replicate the historical system, or reach all the biological, chemical, and physical targets, the reestablishment of natural processes and dynamics should result in a viable and valuable Everglades ecosystem under current conditions.
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From page 28... ...
improvement feature, the State must be in compliance with WQ standards for the current use of the water to be affected and the work proposed must be deemed essential to the Everglades restoration effort." The memo goes on to state, "the Yellow Book specifically envisioned that the State would be responsible for meeting water quality standards." However, the Secretary of the Army can recommend to Congress that projects features deemed "essential to Everglades restoration" be cost shared. In such cases, the state is responsible for 100 percent of the costs to treat water to
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From page 29... ...
The Restoration Plan in Context 29 FIGURE 2-2 Major project components of the CERP as outlined in 1999. SOURCE: Courtesy of Laura Mahoney, USACE.
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From page 30... ...
The Yellow Book includes operational changes in the water delivery schedules to the WCAs and Everglades National Park to mimic more natural patterns of water delivery and flow through the system. • Water reuse and conservation.
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From page 31... ...
In fact, the CERP's effectiveness was predicated upon the completion of many of these projects, which include Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park (Mod Waters) , C-111 South Dade, and state water quality treatment projects (see Figure 2-3)
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From page 32... ...
. In the years since the CERP was launched, the state of Florida has increas ingly encouraged the use of alternative water supplies -- including wastewater, stormwater, and excess surface water -- to meet future water demands (e.g., FDEP, 2015)
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From page 33... ...
to comply with the 10 parts per billion (ppb) total phosphorus water quality criterion for the Everglades Protection Area.2 Changing Understanding of Restoration Challenges Much new knowledge has been gained since the launch of the CERP that provides a new understanding of restoration challenges and opportunities and informs future restoration planning and management.
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From page 34... ...
Some spe cies, especially of introduced vascular plants and reptiles, have had dramatic effects on the structure and functioning of Everglades ecosystems, and necessitate aggressive management and early detection of new high-risk invaders to ensure that ongoing CERP efforts to get the water right allow native species to prosper instead of simply enhancing conditions for invasive species. SUMMARY The Everglades ecosystem is one of the world's ecological treasures, but for more than a century the installation of an extensive water management infrastructure has changed the geography of South Florida and has facilitated extensive agricultural and urban development.
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