Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The Seventh Biennial Review - 2018 (2018) / Chapter Skim
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3 Restoration Progress
3 Restoration Progress
Pages 35-100
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From page 35... ...
Project Authorization Once project planning is complete, CERP projects with costs exceeding $25 million must be individually authorized by Congress. Water Resources Development Acts (WRDAs)
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From page 36... ...
. WRDA 2016 also authorized changes to the Picayune Strand Restoration Project related to cost escalations to allow for its completion.
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From page 37... ...
. About two-thirds of these projected expenditures are for CERP projects, and another 17 percent is for water quality improvements as part of the Restoration Strategies program (discussed later in this chapter)
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From page 38... ...
Reservoir adds an increment of $1.3 billion, and the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project is currently estimated to cost $1.4 billion. Two other projects in planning -- the Western Everglades Restoration Project and the Loxahatchee River Watershed Project -- do not yet have tentatively selected plans or cost estimates.
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From page 39... ...
The Integrated Delivery Schedule also shows that authorization is expected for the EAA Storage Reservoir in 2018; authorization of the Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration and the Lake Okeechobee Restoration projects in WRDA 2020; and authorization of the Western Everglades Restoration Project in WRDA 2022. Once authorized, the new projects will create difficult political choices for the CERP program regarding whether to move forward with all projects simultaneously but more slowly or to prioritize some projects over others to expedite benefits.
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From page 40... ...
Generation 1 CERP Projects Generation 1 projects are those authorized by Congress in WRDA 2007 (Picayune Strand Restoration, Site 1 Impoundment, and Indian River Lagoon South) or by program authority (Melaleuca Eradication)
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Loxahatchee River Watershed 14. Lake Okeechobee Watershed 0 30 mi 15.
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From page 42... ...
4) Congress, 2004 WRDA 2007 - C-44 Reservoir/STA 2007 2020 Ongoing None to date - C-23/24 Reservoir/STA 2010 2030 Not begun NA - C-25 Reservoir/STA 2010 2027 Not begun NA - Natural Lands NA Not specified Not begun NA Melaleuca Eradication and Other 2011 NA Final June 2010 Programmatic Construction Increased capacity Exotic Plants authority completed for biocontrol (Fig.
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From page 43... ...
9) Submitted to Authorized in Congress, 2012 WRRDA 2014 - C-9 Impoundment 2007 After 2030 Not begun NA - C-11 Impoundment 2008 2025 Not begun NA - WCA-3A & -3B Levee Seepage 2008 After 2030 Not begun NA Management GENERATION 3 CERP PROJECTS Central Everglades Planning Project NA Submitted to Authorized in Not begun NA (Fig.
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From page 44... ...
Everglades National Park Seepage 2013 NA NA NA Partly NA Management addressed by LPA Seepage Management Project Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands, 2018 NA NA NA NA NA Phase 2 C-111 Spreader Canal, Eastern 2008 NA NA NA NA NA Project C-43 ASR 2012 NA NA NA NA NA Site 1 Impoundment ASR 2014 NA NA NA NA NA Agricultural Reserve Reservoir 2013 NA NA NA NA NA North Lake Belt Storage Area 2021-2036 NA NA NA NA NA
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From page 45... ...
Remaining unplanned CERP projects include all projects more than $5 million (2014 dollars) as reported in USACE and DOI (2016)
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From page 46... ...
. The primary objective of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project is to "establish the pre-development hydrologic regime, including wet and dry season
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From page 47... ...
There has been considerable progress in constructing the Picayune Strand Restoration Project, including canal plugging, road removal, and construction of pump stations (Table 3-2)
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From page 48... ...
Other Project Phase Status Tamiami Trail State NA NA 17 culverts Completed in 2007 Culverts constructed Prairie Canal State 64 30 7 Hydrologic restoration Plugging and road Phase (expedited) of 11,000 acres in removal completed Picayune Strand in 2007; logging and 9,000 acres in trams removed in Fakahatchee Strand 2012 State Preserve Park Merritt Canal Federal 65 16 8.5 Merritt pump station, Completed in Phase spreader basin, 2015; pump station and tie-back levee transferred to constructed SFWMD in 2016 Faka Union Federal 81 11 7.6 Faka Union pump Roads removed in Canal Phase station, spreader 2013; pump station basin, and tie-back completed in 2017; levee constructed canal plugging scheduled for 2022 Miller Canal Federal/ 77 11 13 Construct Miller Miller pump station Phase State Canal pump station, completed May spreader basin, 2018; road removal tie-back levee, and and canal plugging private lands drainage scheduled for canal; remove western 2019 and 2022, stair-step canals respectively Manatee State 0 0 0 Construct warm water Completed in 2016 Mitigation refugium to mitigate Feature loss of existing refugium Southwestern State 0 0 0 Construct 7-mile levee Construction Protection for flood protection of completion Feature adjacent lands scheduled for 2022 Stair-step Federal 0 0 5.2 Construction canals completion between estimated in 2018 Prairie and Faka Union Canals SOURCE: J
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From page 49... ...
Restoration Progress 49 FIGURE 3-5 Schematic approximation of hydrologic restoration at Picayune Strand with locations of vegeta ion monitoring transects and monitoring wells for the 2016 sampling event. t SOURCE: Chuirazzi et al., 2018.
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From page 50... ...
Although the hydrographs visually indicate that restoration is progressing, the analysis of the information is only qualitative and lacks rigorous statistical comparisons of the restored areas against the reference sites (see Chapter 4)
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From page 51... ...
SOURCE: Barry et al., 2017. shrub layer, and groundcover.3 It should be expected that time to response will differ by habitat and strata; for example, standing trees in cypress habitat may not have a visible response for decades, while groundcover in freshwater marsh habitat may respond within a growing season or two.
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From page 52... ...
A slight indication of a macro invertebrate shift at restored sites can be seen between the 2005-2006 and 2016 2017 samplings and may be the beginning signal of a temporal shift. The aquatic fauna monitoring data provide striking evidence of the chal lenge of invasive species.
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From page 53... ...
In general, because of the ongoing construction and extended construction timeline with estimated completion in 2023, evaluations of restoration success at Picayune Strand require assessment by the level of hydrologic restoration. In areas considered fully restored, early signals of hydrologic restoration are provided by well data showing increasing hydroperiods, and vegetation response is evident in groundcover strata with increasing Wetland Affinity Index values that show similarity between reference targets and restored sites.
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From page 54... ...
As with many restoration projects, Site 1 has a sharp boundary between its restoration area and neighboring urban development. SOURCE: Modified from Audubon of Florida, 2010.
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. The Invasive Plant Research Laboratory releases biocontrol agents for invasive plants widely in South Florida, including in Everglades National Park (IPRL, 2017)
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: the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands (Phase 1) Project, the C-111 Spreader Canal (Western)
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4 in response to freshwater inputs. Groundwater stage has 4 Psu is nearly equivalent to parts per thousand but is measured using electrical conductivity.
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. Although these operations represent improvements, it is not clear that the low pumping rate will provide the ecological benefits that are predicted for this component of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetland Project.
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From page 59... ...
Originally designed to provide flood protection for agricultural lands to the east in Dade County, a major problem resulted when the C-111 Canal also drained water from the Southern Glades and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park. Much of the water in the canal is a result of 6 Special Conditions 10-C of USACE Permit SAJ-2007-1994-1327 [IP-TKW]
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From page 60... ...
seepage from Everglades National Park to the west. The amount of seepage and the resulting change in flow pattern caused environmental and ecological dam age to Taylor Slough, which became too dry; at the same time, Barnes Sound and Manatee Bay suffered ecological damages as high freshwater flows upset the natural salinity balance of their waters.
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From page 61... ...
has not yet been specifically planned or authorized. The objective of the CERP project is not to add water to Taylor Slough but rather to create a hydraulic ridge that prevents water flowing in Taylor Slough FIGURE 3-12 C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project features.
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From page 62... ...
In years prior to project opera tion, a significant amount of water flowed to Manatee Bay (part of the Biscayne Bay watershed) via C-111 Canal discharge and over land from the C-111 Canal into the Southern Glades to northeastern Florida Bay, causing these areas to have lower salinities, while less water flowed through Taylor Slough to north central Florida Bay (see Figure 3-13)
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From page 63... ...
150 0.60 100 0.40 50 0.20 0 0.00 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Water Year FIGURE 3-13 Comparison of annual freshwater flow volumes into Taylor Slough (orange bars) from 1993 and 2016 measured at the Taylor Slough Bridge compared to C-111 discharges to Florida Bay measured at S-18C (gray)
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From page 64... ...
Most of the ecological monitoring associated with C-111 Spreader Canal has focused on responses in Florida Bay. However, there is some evidence of increases in long-hydroperiod species such as Eleocharis (spikerush)
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From page 65... ...
(2017) conclude that "sea level rise is having profound effects on the upper trophic levels in the Florida Bay coastal habitats that may alter how restoration projects are assessed." Based on available monitoring data, the hydrologic and ecological effects of the project have not been fully determined.
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From page 66... ...
EAA Storage Reservoir Project In May 2017, the Florida legislature enacted Water Resource Law of 2017 (Senate Bill 10) , which mandated a new planning effort focused on water storage in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
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From page 67... ...
. Also together with other authorized projects, the EAA Storage Reservoir will reduce the number of Lake Okeechobee mean monthly high-flow discharge events to the orthernN Estuaries by 63 percent and the volume of Lake Okeechobee discharge by 55 percent, not including discharge events caused by local basin runoff.
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From page 68... ...
• Provides an additional 55% reduction in high-flow discharge events lasting longer than 42 days, which are particularly damaging to oysters • Reduces the number of Lake Okeechobee events that exceed the preferred salinity envelope by 39% Caloosahatchee Moderate improvement: Estuary • Reduces mean monthly flows over 2,800 cfs and 4,500 cfs by 13% and 17%, respectively, but increases mean monthly flows under 450 cfs by 12% • Provides an additional 40% reduction in high-flow discharge events lasting longer than 60 days, which are particularly damaging to oysters • Reduces the number of Lake Okeechobee events that exceed the preferred salinity envelope by 45% Central Negligible to moderate improvement: Everglades • Increases average annual flows into the Everglades Protection Area by approximately 160,000 AF • Provides moderate improvement to WCA-2A with increased stage under all conditions • Provides moderate beneficial effects on Northwest WCA-3A, reduces dryouts • Produces negligible effects on Central WCA-3A and WCA-3B • Provides minor beneficial effects on Southern WCA-3A with reduced stages during the wettest conditions • Provides minor improvements in hydrologic condition to Everglades National Park Florida Bay Minor beneficial effects: • Increases combined average annual overland flows from southern Everglades National Park to nearshore Florida Bay by 7,000 AF, providing some reduction in salinity SOURCE: SFWMD, 2018a. tions but with the proposed new project in place.
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From page 69... ...
Projects in Planning Progress in project planning has important implications for the location and pace of future restoration progress, as well as the restoration benefits provided by those projects. This section describes aspects of several projects for which planning is under way -- the Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration, Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration, and Western Everglades estoration rojects.
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The Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration Project (Figure 3-3, No.
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From page 71... ...
Restoration Progress 71 FIGURE 3-16 A section of the Loxahatchee River where mangrove has replaced cypress, with dead cypress trees visible in the background (BOTTOM) , and a section of the river further upstream with natural cypress forest to the river's edge (TOP)
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From page 72... ...
wells, and differ ent approaches to flowing water through three delivery routes in the headwaters of the river. The alternatives involve a complex array of interconnected projects TABLE 3-3 Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration Project Alternatives Shallow Primary Secondar Deep Storage Aquifer Storage and FW 3 Alternative Storage in L-8 C-18W Basin Storage Delivery y Delivery in L-8 Basin Recovery (ASR)
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From page 73... ...
Further, cypress requires a particular inundation regime, not just a certain salinity, and it is not clear whether this was considered dur FIGURE 3-17 The construction features of Alternative 5 of the Loxahatchee River Watershed Restoration Project. SOURCE: Foster, 2018.
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From page 74... ...
Yet it remains to be seen whether any amount of adaptive management can be effective out to 2050, especially in times of drought. The CERP agencies have mentioned plans to examine potential effects of sea-level rise on project benefits, which the committee considers to be a criti cal next step because future sea-level rise could potentially negate this project's value, at least regarding prevention of further upstream expansion of mangrove.
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From page 75... ...
, ASR wells, and wetlands restoration on the north side of Lake Okeechobee. From this analysis, the team tentatively selected a plan that includes 43,000 AF of storage in a shallow (4 feet average depth)
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From page 76... ...
Precipitation scenarios should be examined to determine whether some alternatives provide greater resilience under a wider range of future scenarios. In addition, the analyses should consider the benefits south of Lake Okeechobee to inform understanding of the systemwide benefits, avoid uncertainty regarding the ultimate disposition of water that is not discharged to the estuaries as a result of the project, and enable review of the results in the context of other planned projects, such as Central Everglades Restoration and the EAA Storage Reservoir.
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In early 2018, before the tentatively selected plan was finalized, an analysis of the combined projects assumed much larger above-ground storage for the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project (200,000 AF) than what was ultimately chosen.
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From page 78... ...
78 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-20 The officially defined geographic extent of the western Everglades for the Western Everglades Restoration Project. SOURCE: http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Ecosystem-Restoration/ Western-Everglades-Restoration-Project/.
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However, analysis of resilience would be even more useful if applied earlier in the analysis of alternatives. CERP Pilot Projects: The Decomp Physical Model Pilot projects are limited efforts designed to provide scientific or engineering knowledge that can be applied to improve major restoration projects.
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FIGURE 3-1-1 Map of the Decomp Physical Model located in "the pocket" between L-67A and L-67C. SOURCE: Sklar, 2013.
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BOX 3-2 Key Questions of the DECOMP Physical Model Phase 2 Sheet Flow • Changes in slough periphyton will result from changes in sheet flow. Over what time period and distance will these changes occur?
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From page 82... ...
Restoring Flow to Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough Several non-CERP projects contribute to the overall objective of increas ing flows in Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough within Everglades National Park. These include the Limestone Products Association Seepage Man agement project, the Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park P roject (Mod Waters)
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From page 83... ...
Restoration Progress 83 FIGURE 3-21 Mod Waters, C-111 South Dade, and the Limestone Product Association seepage barrier are all expected to contribute to increased flows in Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park. SOURCE: Modified from USACE, 2017, fact sheet.
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From page 84... ...
The available data are encouraging and suggest that the project is satisfying its objectives. FIGURE 3-22 Difference in groundwater levels east and west of the Limestone Products Association seepage barrier at points 0.5 to 3.0 miles south of Tamiami Trail.
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From page 85... ...
Increasing the flow of water from WCA-3A into Northeast Shark River Slough is a central aspect of Everglades restoration, and the capacity for successful southward movement of waters provided by the CEPP and other future CERP projects depend critically upon the conveyance, seepage reduction, and flood management provided by Mod Waters. Hence, completion of Mod Waters is essential to the ultimate success of
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From page 86... ...
are projected to improve the capacity to move water from WCA-3A into Everglades National Park, reducing the damage associated with high water conditions in the WCAs and increasing flows to Northeast Shark River Slough. C-111 South Dade The C-111 South Dade Project provides the connection between Mod Waters and L-31N Seepage Management projects to the north and the C-111 Spreader Canal (Western)
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From page 87... ...
Combined Operational Plan As the final components of the Mod Waters and C-111 South Dade projects are nearing completion, efforts have recently been focused on developing the Combined Operational Plan for the system that will be used to meet the overarching objectives of the projects. These objectives include increasing flows from WCA-3A into Northeast Shark River Slough, maintaining higher water levels in Everglades National Park without exacerbating flooding in suburban and agricultural lands to the developed east, increasing flows to Taylor Slough and Florida Bay, and reducing regulatory discharges from WCA-3A through the S-12 structures or south through the South Dade Conveyance Canals.
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From page 88... ...
the new combined operational plan for the system will be developed using data collected during Increments 1 and 2. flows of water that meets all water quality criteria would trigger an ecological imbalance in Taylor Slough.
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From page 89... ...
Elevated inputs of phosphorus from agriculture, urban development, and other human activities can and have altered the structure and function of the wetland. The Everglades Forever Act and the water quality standards for phosphorus in the Everglades Protection Area established the concentrations of total phosphorus necessary to protect the ecosystem.
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From page 90... ...
, and therefore, progress addressing water quality throughout the watershed has implications for CERP progress. Phosphorus dynamics in Lake Okeechobee, which will be the source of most of the new water in the CERP, is discussed in Chapter 4.
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From page 91... ...
This level is the lowest flowweighted mean concentration of total phosphorus attained to date for the combined annual discharge from the STAs. The flow-weighted mean concentrations of total phosphorus in outflow of individual STAs ranged from 11 ppb (STA-3/4)
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From page 92... ...
Total phosphorus concentrations in inflows to Everglades National Park have been variable and, unlike trends observed in other regions, have not steadily declined over the period of record. However, recent decreases in total phosphorus concentrations were evident for interior monitoring sites in
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From page 93... ...
annual inflow and outflow loads of total phosphourus with percent total phosphorus retained for the period of record of the combined STAs. SOURCE: Chimney et al., 2018.
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NOTE: WCD = water control district and ECP = Everglades Construction Project. SOURCE: Julian et al., 2018.
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From page 95... ...
sites of the WCAs, however, routinely failed one or more parts of the compliance test. Total phosphorus concentrations at some of the impacted sites were below the long-term and annual limits and appear to be transitioning from impacted to unimpacted conditions.
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96 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-28 Annual geometric mean total phosphorus concentrations at sampling sites in and near the Everglades Protection Area in water year 2017. SOURCE: Julian et al., 2018.
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From page 97... ...
. At the C-111 Spreader Canal Project, neither hydrologic nor ecological response in Taylor Slough or Florida Bay due to the project has been documented based on monitoring data, because the monitoring and assessment plans are not robust enough to discern project impacts from existing hydrologic variability.
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From page 98... ...
Concurrent project planning efforts have significantly advanced the CERP vision for water storage, but a holistic understanding of the benefits of the combined projects at a systemwide scale and their resilience to sea-level rise and climate change is lacking. Tentatively selected plans have been developed for the EAA Storage Reservoir and the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project, which together propose adding 283,000 AF of surface storage and 80 ASR wells.
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From page 99... ...
Completion of the Mod Waters and C-111 South Dade projects in August 2018 is a major achievement that has been more than 25 years in the making. Development of the Combined Operational Plan is under way, which will quantify the benefits provided by these projects.
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