By Brian Skoloff of the Associated Press and
Staff Writer Julio Ochoa
“People all over the world recognize the importance of the Everglades,” Crist said. “It’s amazing how quickly Mother Nature comes back just by giving her a little bit of an assist.”
Florida is currently entrenched in a multibillion dollar partnership with the federal government to restore the Everglades. Under that 2000 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, the state and Congress are supposed to each allocate $200 million a year toward cleanup efforts, although Florida has committed more than $2 billion.
The new law, among other things, authorizes the Legislature to allocate an additional $100 million a year to Everglades restoration projects not included in CERP, said Carol Wehle, director of the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades water. The district would then match those funds, creating a total of $200 million a year in new funding for Everglades projects, she said.
Work under CERP has been limited to areas south of Lake Okeechobee, a backup drinking water source for millions in South Florida and the lifeblood of the Everglades.
The new law recognizes that the Everglades is a larger system that starts near Orlando with water coming south through the Kissimmee River basin and eventually into Lake Okeechobee, the second-largest freshwater lake in the continental United States.
The lake then feeds estuaries to the east and west with water also flowing south through Everglades National Park and into Florida Bay.
“This law expands the scope of restoration to the entire ecosystem,” Wehle said.
The law also grants the state new authority to force farms and cities to clean up their water before it runs off into the Kissimmee River basin and eventually down into the heart of the Everglades, said Eric Draper, a lobbyist with Audubon of Florida who worked on the legislation.
“Instead of treating Lake Okeechobee as a different part of the system, this bill says that everything from Orlando south is part of the Everglades,” Draper said.
Under the legislation, the water district must also evaluate and identify ways to store more water north of the lake to keep deluges carrying harmful pollutants to a minimum. During heavy rains, water carrying phosphorous and other harmful nutrients currently is channeled quickly down the Kissimmee River and into Lake Okeechobee, then at times is pumped out through the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers, causing toxic algae blooms and other pollution problems.
“It’s a huge step forward in bringing together pollution control, growth management and water supply management,” Draper said. “By bringing them together we have a much better chance to save the Everglades.”
Lee County leaders are touting the bill as the most significant piece of legislation in years.
“This is major environmental legislation and Lee County can be proud of this,” said Lee Commissioner Tammy Hall. “They really led the charge on this.”
Hall worked with stakeholders for two years to bring state aid for the Caloosahatchee Estuary from an idea to reality.
“We are just as much a part of Everglades Restoration as Lake Okeechobee and the rest of the Everglades,” Hall said. “This legislation would not have passed unanimously if every stakeholder did not have a part in the process.”
With another $40 million earmark this year to improve water quality in the St. Lucie and the Caloosahatchee Rivers, the area should see significant improvements, said Kurt Harclerode, operations manager for Lee County Natural Resources.
“This is putting real dollars to develop plans and programs to address our needs,” Harclerode said. “We’re starting to talk about some significant resources to address our problems.”
The bill was unanimously passed by the Legislature in May and highlighted a rare consensus between environmentalists, farmers and lawmakers.
“We very much support it,” said Charles Shinn, the Florida Farm Bureau’s assistant director for government and community affairs. “I think we’re all part of the problem, urban run-off, agricultural run-off. We all have to come up with a solution. ... It’s going to cost money, there’s no doubt about that, but we support it.”
Burt Saunders, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said the law signals a renewed “commitment to Everglades restoration.”