Florida: Everglades Restoration Project
Florida: Everglades Restoration Project – The purchase of 187,000 acres of land owned by US Sugar will go far to restore the “River of Grass” to its natural flow. The anticipated sales price of the project, $1.75 billion, is being partially funded by the South Florida Water Management District using $50-million from cash reserves and taking the rest from long-term notes called “certificates of participation”. But Congress needs to step up and move forward on a bill they passed authorizing further spending – so far no money has been approved.
U.S. Sugar will continue farming its land over the next six years when it will then hand over control to the state. It would constitute the largest conservation purchase in the state history.
This purchase of land will resolve two major concerns: it will permit Lake Okeechobee to serve as a dry season water supply and reduce pollution to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. With the dike that was there the lake began to be managed as an irrigation water reservoir, which caused great harm to the lake, its estuaries, and the Everglades.
For a complete report on the project, go to http://www.fwfonline.org/news/EvergladesLandPurchase.htm .