Thursday, December 19, 2002
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
The price tag for saving the Everglades already exceeds $8 billion, but even more money is needed to boost scientific research guiding the massive restoration effort, a new report released Wednesday concludes. In a 138-page study by the National Research Council, a panel of government-supported scientists noted with alarm how the annual budget for Everglades scientific research has dropped from $12 million in 1998 to $4 million currently. That research program, known as the Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative, funnels information to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a landmark public works initiative consisting of 52 separate projects planned for the next three decades. "There continue to be areas of science that remain big question marks," said Linda Blum, a professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia and chairwoman of the 13-member panel. Among those areas are water quality tests and further analysis of the role of mercury and other contaminants, the report suggests.
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CESI is a program of the Department of the Interior, the federal land steward which commissioned the new study at the request of a congressional subcommittee. A key recommendation calls for greater involvement by Interior with the myriad state, federal, regional and local agencies working on Everglades restoration. Blum acknowledged the report could be construed as an exercise in self-perpetuation — but that conclusion is wrong, she said. "It's always questionable to hear scientists say, 'We need more money to do science,'" Blum said. "I don't want people going away thinking that's what's going on here."
The report's findings caused few ripples on Capitol Hill, where Everglades research and restoration is a full-time assignment for legions of bureaucrats, lobbyists and congressional staff members. The call for greater participation by the Department of the Interior echoes a September letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville from five U.S. senators, including Florida Democrats Bob Graham and Bill Nelson. Graham supports increases in CESI research money as a necessary tool for proper restoration, a spokeswoman said. "You can't start open heart surgery and not have your tools," said Jill Greenberg. "When we start we've got to know we can see it through." U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, was more cautious in his assessment of the report's findings. "That more funding is needed is not a surprise," he said in a prepared statement. "There's probably been more money put into the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan than any project in history. "The project will require cooperation between the state and federal level," Goss added. "We're prepared to work with state officials in Florida toward these goals. Money has been tight since Sept. 11 and the war on terrorism. This and other projects are probably in need of more money." Management changes are also needed for the CESI program, the report concludes, with a wider net of scientific peer review and a greater role for expert advisers.
The scientific panel also urged restoration movers and shakers to prepare for project delays if the associated research remains inconclusive. "Restoration managers should re-evaluate the current restoration schedule in cases when critical science questions remain that could affect project design decisions," the report states. The costly restoration program comes more than four decades after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began siphoning water out of the Everglades, a mix of sawgrass prairies, hardwood hammocks, cypress swamps and mangrove shorelines. The Corps, at the behest of Congress, built man-made canals and waterways to develop farmlands and divert water from South Florida's coastal areas to prevent flooding and increase agricultural and urban development. Over the years, altering the flow of the water has meant the disappearance of half of the original Everglades and the loss of indigenous plants, birds, fish and animals, such as the Florida panther.
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