| Office of the Secretary |
Contact: Hugh Vickery
|
| For Immediate Release: Jan. 10,
2003 |
202-208-6416
|
Interior Department
Accomplishments in
Everglades Restoration Since 2000
- President Bush and Governor Jeb Bush signed an
agreement in January 2002, to restore the Everglades, as required under the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). The agreement is
enforceable and binding. It will ensure the restoration of natural flows to
the Everglades. Under the agreement, the state commits to managing its water
resources so that water produced by the plan's implementation will be
available to restore the natural system. Meanwhile, the federal government
commits to be an active partner in obtaining funding and working with the
state to implement the plan.
- Interior staff has assisted the Army Corps of
Engineers in its development of the programmatic regulations that will be
soon be finalized to guide CERP. While final regulations have not been
published, the Department believes they will establish an appropriate
framework for restoration, and the Interior Department and its agencies will
play a significant role in implementing CERP.
- President Bush proposed $96 million for
Interior's 2003 Budget for Everglades Restoration, including
funding for the modified water delivery project in Everglades National Park
to restore natural flows, to protect wildlife habitat and restore endangered
species, and to purchase land to secure additional fresh water. The
Department anticipates Congressional approval soon.
- The Department reached an agreement in
principle to acquire the Collier oil and gas holdings in Big Cypress
National Preserve, which will protect that resource for future generations.
The final agreement is close to completion.
- The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task
Force, chaired by Ann Klee, counselor to Interior Secretary Norton, has met
numerous times this year to continue discussions among governmental
representatives and stakeholders about the development of the Army Corps of
Engineers' programmatic regulations for the restoration plan, and other
issues related to the restoration effort.
- The Fish and Wildlife Service and the South
Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) approved a 50-year license
agreement under which the Service will continue to manage state-owned lands
that make up 97 percent of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife
Refuge. The license agreement represents a commitment by the Department to
work cooperatively with the State in managing this important resource.
- The Corps of Engineers and the SFWMD have
worked in partnership with the National Park Service and the Fish and
Wildlife Service to develop a series of interim water management operations
to avoid jeopardy to the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. The most
recent of these is the Interim Operational Plan, or "IOP." The
Department is working with the Corps and SFWMD to monitor and evaluate
actual IOP operations and will incorporate the results of the monitoring
into the development of the "Combined Structural and Operational
Plan" or "CSOP." Furthermore, the agencies will increase
stakeholder participation in the development of CSOP to incorporate a full
range of views into the decision-making process.
- The Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership
with SFWMD, is implementing the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment
Cooperative Agreement (LILA), a research project that will serve as a pilot
study for hydrologic regimes proposed under CERP. The objective of project
is to define hydrologic regimes that sustain a healthy Everglades ecosystem
including wading bird, tree island, and ridge and slough communities. The
approach will be to sculpt key Everglades landscape features, overlay
controlled hydrologic regimes with flow rates that simulate historic flows,
and measure response by wading birds, tree islands and ridge and sloughs.
Two impoundments (80 acres) at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National
Wildlife Refuge will be altered to create representative Everglades ridge
and slough habitat and tree islands.
- The Department is planning to hold an
"avian summit" this spring under the auspices of the South Florida
Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. The summit will review all scientific
information on federally listed and key indicator avian species in South
Florida, including the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, wood stork, snail kite
and roseatte spoon-bill.
- The National Park Service has acquired
virtually all remaining lands within Everglades National Park, thereby
providing permanent protection for this important resource.
- The National Park Service is on the verge of
eliminating melaleuca at Big Cypress National Preserve. The Department also
freed up $1 million to eradicate invasive species at Loxahatchee National
Wildlife Refuge and successfully treated 18,000 acres. Work has begun on a
$6.2 million invasive species research facility that will help develop
better techniques of controlling melaleuca and other exotic species in the
Everglades.
- In 2001, the Department provided $12 million
to Florida to allow the state to purchase important properties within the
Everglades system, including the 5,000-acre Grassy Island Ranch north of
Lake Okeechobee, that will be used to capture additional quantities of
freshwater and restore natural hydrological flow. This year, the Department
intends to provide $15 million in similar land acquisition grants.
- The Fish and Wildlife Service is finalizing
its plan to ensure the recovery of the endangered Key deer, a species native
to the Florida Keys at the extreme southern end of the greater Everglades
Ecosystem. The population, which once numbered about 300 during the 1970s,
has grown to an estimated 600-700 individuals. The Service will begin moving
deer from the core area on Big Pine Key to more remote areas in adjacent
keys. If successful, this will ensure that there are at least three
populations, which will increase the likelihood of survival into the
foreseeable future. The first of these translocations of deer is scheduled
for the spring of this year.
- A team of experts assembled by Fish and
Wildlife Service biologists
developed a draft landscape conservation strategy
for panthers in south Florida using an open and collaborative process. The
strategy identifies lands essential for the continued conservation of panthers
in south Florida, as well as a landscape linkage to provide for population
expansion to aid in recovery of the species.
Related
Links,
18th
Annual Everglades Coalition Conference: Restoring the Everglades
011003
Miami Herald Interior Secretary calls for compromise
011003
Remarks of Interior Secretary Gale Norton
010903 Naples
Daily Environmental groups fear Everglades land purchases will slow
010803
Press Release: Secretary Norton Calls for Continued Partnership
2003 Department of the Interior