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Column: Blame won't save sparrow; plan may
By Terry Rice and Robert H. Buker Jr., Special to The Palm Beach
Post The controversy surrounding the Cape Sable sparrow, put in danger by flooding, and the emergency actions taken by various government agencies, have prompted an enormous amount of finger-pointing and blame-gaming that is counterproductive for Everglades restoration. In the latest round, sugar farmers are being blamed for flooding the sparrow's nesting grounds, although their land is almost 70 miles away. Sugar farming has other impacts on the Everglades system that are already being addressed, but the sparrow is not one of them. This knee-jerk tendency to lay every crisis in the Everglades at the farmers' doorstep prevents proper attention to the real cause of each individual problem and consideration of effective solutions. In this case, a solution already exists, one that has multiple benefits to the Everglades system but which has fallen victim to similar bickering and finger-pointing. That solution is known as the Modified Water Deliveries Project, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and former U.S. Rep. Dante Fascell, D-Fla., and approved by Congress more than 10 years ago. It is clear, and has been for a long time, that this project could solve the sparrow problem. It was authorized by Congress in 1989. The Army Corps of Engineers signed the agreement for construction of the project in 1995. It was considered so important to the restoration of the Everglades that Everglades National Park officials told government committees that if something wasn't done, the park could be destroyed in five years. The project, which included removing unneeded levees that block the flow of water and other changes that would improve the natural flow through the system, was supposed to be completed by 1997. Nothing has been done. Construction of this project will eliminate the artificial flooding of the western sparrow habitat and reduce the unnatural drying of their eastern habitat. It has been held up because the National Park Service no longer supports the design that was pushed through Congress 10 years ago. The federal Fish and Wildlife Service has now required the Army Corps of Engineers to complete it by 2003. It's long overdue, and will eliminate the sparrow flooding problem, plus help to restore natural conditions within the park. That natural water flow never can be completely restored. The past century of human changes to the landscape cannot be reversed. The Corps of Engineers Restudy of the Central and South Florida Flood Control Project produced several thousand pages of plans, projects and studies that only begin to address the complexity of ecosystem restoration in an area that must also support 6 million human inhabitants. Special interest groups harm rather than help these restoration efforts when they muddy the waters of public opinion with such sweeping pronouncements of blame and oversimplified suggestions of a "silver bullet" solution. They are more interested in continuing a public fight than in cooperating to find solutions. Until we get beyond blame and work together to focus on solutions that meet both environmental and human needs, our environment and economy will continue to suffer. We invite everyone who agrees with these principles to join us in making South Florida what we all want it to be -- beautiful and healthy forever, for people and nature.
Col. Terry Rice, U.S. Army (retired), is former commander of the
Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Robert H. Buker
Jr. is senior vice president of U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston.
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