Everglades Restoration Concerns us All

By Begoñe Cazalis

As the “Gateway to the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks,” Homestead residents are familiar with our neighboring Everglades National Park. However, many people in South Dade might be surprised to learn that the Everglades ecosystem is much larger than the park’s boundaries, that it supplies our drinking water, and that it is the footprint of the world’s largest ecosystem restoration project.
To learn more about this unique ecosystem and its importance to our daily life in South Florida, we met with The Everglades Foundation, which has been working for almost 30 years with the mission to restore and protect America’s Everglades through science, advocacy, and education. Here is what we learned:

What is the Everglades?
The Everglades is a global treasure – the largest subtropical wetland reserve in the U.S. It supplies freshwater to nine million Floridians, including those of us right here in Homestead.
Many people think of the Everglades as limited to Everglades National Park, which encompasses 1.5 million acres of subtropical wilderness. But the “River of Grass” spans nearly 3 million acres, double the size of the park. The greater Everglades ecosystem is even larger, and originally encompassed 6 million acres extending all the way from the Kissimmee River basin near Orlando, south to Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.

Why does the Everglades need to be restored?
Lake Okeechobee used to feed clean freshwater into the Everglades. That water, which is the Everglades’ lifeblood, was diverted to accommodate agriculture and development in the 1940s, causing widespread environmental harm and water shortages, both of which hurt South Florida’s tourism and recreation-based economy.

The consequences to the Everglades have been profound. Its wading bird population has diminished, and pollution and other impacts have harmed much of the remaining ecosystem. Fish are experiencing vast declines, and there has been a corresponding decline across the entire food chain in Florida Bay. America’s Everglades and South Florida’s water supply also are vulnerable to drought as they historically relied on water from Lake Okeechobee to remain properly hydrated.

The harm is further felt throughout the ecosystem as outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae and red tide, sparked by discharges of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, hurt the coastal estuaries. These discharges cause serious consequences to the tourism economy, small businesses, property values, the environment, and even human health.
Everglades restoration is focused on restoring the historic water flow through a series of infrastructure and ecological projects that clean, store, and move the water south once again – as nature intended. By sending water south again from Lake Okeechobee we can ensure the residents and farmers in South Dade have sufficient freshwater for their day-to-day needs. This is why Everglades restoration concerns us all.

What’s been done to restore the Everglades?
In 2000, Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a 50-50 cost-shared program between Washington D.C. and Florida, with 68 projects designed to provide a sustainable water supply to millions of Floridians, while also restoring the carbon sequestration capacity of the ecosystem, and protecting our communities and local economies, which are among the most vulnerable in the country to climate change.
We are seeing progress with large-scale restoration efforts in the Everglades. Restoration efforts in the Kissimmee River already are showing benefits to fish and wildlife populations. Similarly, the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project, funded and supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is an example of a revolutionary and critical project that has allowed freshwater to flow into Everglades National Park for the first time in 90 years.

What is the economic impact of Everglades restoration?
Everglades restoration has a lasting impact on the viability and sustainability of the Sunshine State’s $1-trillion economy. The state’s economy runs on clean water, and the health of our water directly benefits the billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs tied to outdoor recreation, tourism, real estate, and other sectors that define the state’s economic competitiveness and quality of life.
For every $1 invested in Everglades restoration, we will realize a $4 return to Florida’s economy in real estate, water supply, and water-based tourism, and the creation of more than 440,000 jobs over the next several decades.

How does The Everglades Foundation help?
The Everglades Foundation’s mission is to restore and protect America’s Everglades through science, advocacy, and education.
The Foundation’s in-house team of Ph.D. scientists serve as technical sources for the environmental community. The team examines how the Everglades ecosystem works, develops scientific solutions, and works with the public and private sectors to identify optimal solutions for restoration.
The Foundation’s Education team offers the Everglades Literacy Program, the only comprehensive, free K-12 Everglades curriculum in the world. It is important for both teachers and students to understand the ecological values of the Everglades, as the long-term sustainability of the Everglades rests on the shoulders of the next generation.

What can we do to contribute?
· Learn more and educate others by following The Everglades Foundation in its social media channels or by visiting their website.
· Become involved in one of their programs:
– Join the Everglades High School Leadership Committee: evergladesliteracy.org/leaders
– Bring Everglades Literacy to your school: evergladesliteracy.org
– Join the Young Everglades Patrons: evergladesfoundation.org/yep
– Donate to the cause: evergladesfoundation.org/give-now

Fun facts:
· The Everglades is the only place on earth where crocodiles and alligators coexist!
· The Everglades ecosystem is the largest subtropical wetland in the U.S., and home to 2,000 species of plants and animals.
· Everglades National Park, has been designated as both a UNESCO World Heritage site and an International Biosphere Reserve.
· 9 million South Florida residents and countless visitors and industries get their water from the Everglades.