Fifty percent of one of the world’s irreplaceable gems has disappeared and the other 50 percent is dying, both the result of human development. The Everglades, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve in South Florida, is the victim of man-made changes to improve upon Nature for the benefit of mankind. The primary culprits who authorized and implemented what began as an effort to totally and artificially manage the water resources of the Everglades were Congress, the State of Florida and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Today, these same agents are the backbone of the largest and most expensive ecosystem restoration program in the world, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), which is designed to restore the South Florida ecosystem. The Plan “includes restoring natural flows of water, water quality and more natural hydro-periods within the remaining natural areas” and is “intended to result in a sustainable South Florida.” This 35-year project was estimated in 1999 to cost $7.8 billion under a 50/50 federal-state cost-share, with an additional $182 million needed annually to operate, maintain and monitor the plan.
According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Everglades “contain the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere, the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. Its mixture of subtropical and temperate wildlife species is found nowhere else in the United States.” The exceptional variety of the Everglades’ water habitats has made it a sanctuary, providing refuge for more than 800 species of land and water vertebrates that include 20 rare, endangered and threatened species, such as the Florida panther, snail kite, alligator, crocodile, manatee, two swallowtail butterfly species and the indigo snake. In addition, Everglades National Park “is rich in both prehistoric and historic heritage,” containing 200 known archeological sites. The Everglades subtropical wetlands were originally a web of marshes and prairies 4,000 square miles in size.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains that “if we do not act now, irretrievable loss of this extraordinary resource will occur. The remaining Everglades no longer exhibit the functions and richness that defined the pre-drainage ecosystem. There has been a substantial reduction in the size of the Everglades. Total water storage, timing, flow patterns and water quality within the Greater Everglades ecosystem have been substantially altered.
“The Comprehensive Plan is intended to reverse the course of the declining health of the ecosystem. It is important to understand that the ‘restored’ Everglades of the future will be different from any version of the Everglades that has existed in the past. Due to the irreversible physical changes that have occurred in the ecosystem, the restored Everglades will be smaller and somewhat differently arranged than the historic ecosystem. With the restoration of the hydrological and biological patterns, which defined the original Everglades and which made it unique among the world’s wetland systems, this successfully restored ecosystem will once again exhibit the richness of biological diversity of the former Everglades.”
The South Florida Water Management District has identified specific indicators of the Everglades’ current ecosystem problems, which include:
- 1. 90 to 95 percent reduction in wading bird populations, with 68 plant and animal species threatened...
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