EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

The South Florida ecosystem is an 18,000-square-mile region of subtropical uplands, wet-lands,

and coral reefs that extends from the Chain of Lakes south of Orlando through the reefs southwest

of the Florida Keys. This ecosystem not only supports the economy and the quality of life of the

Floridians and the Native American Indians who live there, but also enriches the legacy of all

Americans. It encompasses many nationally significant con-servation areas, including Everglades

and Biscayne National Parks, Big Cypress National Preserve, the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee

National Wildlife Refuge, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

This ecosystem is sustained by water, and it has been seriously degraded by disruptions to the

natural hydrology. Engineered flood control and water distribution systems for agriculture and

urban development have dewatered large areas and greatly altered the quantity, timing, and

distribution of water flows in other locations. Agricultural runoff and urban stormwater have

introduced phosphorus and other contaminants into the water systems, polluting lakes, rivers,

and wetlands. Discharges of stormwater into estuaries and coastal waters have severely

degraded aquatic habitats. Groundwater is threatened by saltwater intrusion and other pollutants.

These impacts have stressed the natural system, as evidenced by

• Fifty percent reduction in the original extent of the Everglades

• Ninety percent reduction in wading bird populations

• Sixty-nine species on the federal endangered or threatened list

• Declines in commercial fisheries in Biscayne and Florida Bays

• Nineteen percent decline in living corals in the last decade

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to describe the existing federal and nonfederal programs

designed to restore and sustain the imperiled South Florida ecosystem. Many federal, state,

tribal, and local entities are working to address the deteriorating ecological conditions in South

Florida. The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (the task force) coordinates

and tracks the work. Congress directed the task force to produce a restoration strategy.

This document provides the information needed to coordinate and integrate the restoration effort.

Congress identified four elements to be included in this document. They wanted it to outline how

the restoration effort will occur, identify the resources needed, establish responsibility for

accomplishing actions, and link the strategic goals established by the participants to out-come-

oriented goals (see appendix A). This document describes how the restoration effort is being

coordinated: The task force members have agreed upon a vision for the results; they have

established three broad goals and measurable objectives for the work that needs to be

accomplished to achieve that vision; they have identified the projects needed to achieve the

objectives; they are coordinating those projects so that they are mutually supportive and

nonduplicative; and they are tracking progress toward both the work-oriented goals and the

results-oriented vision. This strategy, along with the vision, goals, objectives, performance

measures, and individual project data (including cost, responsible agency, and targeted completion

dates) are all included in this document.

This strategy document is for planning purposes only, is subject to modification, and is not legally

binding on any of the task force members. Each task force member and the interests they

represent retain all of their sovereign rights, authorities, and jurisdiction for implementation of

the projects contained within this document.

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The integrated federal and nonfederal effort to restore, preserve, and protect the ecosystem will take

many decades. This document and funding needs may be revised over time based on information gained

through monitoring and study.

The authorization of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a major component of

the restoration effort, is currently pending before the Congress. The estimated $7.8 billion cost of the

CERP will be split 50-50 between the federal government and nonfederal sponsors.

Who Is Involved

The task force provides a forum for consensus building and issue engagement among

the entities involved in restoring the South Florida ecosystem. This is a collaborative

role, not one in which the task force can dictate to its members. Because on-the-ground

restoration is accomplished through the efforts of the individual task force member

agencies, t h ey are the ones that are ultimately responsible for their particular programs,

projects , and associated funding. This is an important distinction. The task force has no

overriding authority to direct its members. I n s t e a d ,the members are accountable

individually to their appropriate authorities and to each other for the success of the

restoration .

Six federal departments (twelve agencies), seven Florida state agencies or commissions, two American

Indian tribes, sixteen counties, scores of municipal governments, and interested groups and businesses

from throughout South Florida are participating in the restoration effort. Four sovereign entities (federal,

state, and two tribes) are represented. The task force sought extensive involvement from local agencies,

citizen groups, nonprofit organizations, and other interested parties as part of its assessment for this strategy.

The task force was created in 1993 as a federal interagency partnership, with informal participation by the

State of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The Water

Resources Development Act of 1996 authorized the operation of the task force and provided for specific

membership and duties. Pursuant to its statutory duties, a task force working group of agency and tribal

representatives (the working group) works to resolve conflicts among participants, coordinate research,

assist participants, prepare an integrated financial plan, and report to Congress. The task force does not

have any oversight or project authority, and participating agencies are responsible for meeting their own

targeted accomplishments. The task force’s role as a forum in which ideas are shared and consensus is

sought enhances the productivity of each member government or agency effort.

Vision and Goals

The participants in the task force share the vision of a healthy South Florida ecosystem that supports

diverse and sustainable communities of plants, animals, and people. To this end, hundreds of different

entities have been working for over a decade to restore and preserve more natural hydrology in the

ecosystem, to protect the spatial extent and quality of remaining habitat, to promote the return of

abundant populations of native plants and animals, and to foster human development compatible with

sustaining a healthy ecosystem. The past, current, and future efforts of governmental entities in South

Florida involve more than 200 projects related to three primary work goals. Subgoals and objectives have

been established for the first two work goals and will be reported for the third goal in future updates to

this document.

The task force members believe through accomplishing these objectives they will achieve the

restoration of the ecosystem. The region’s rich and varied habitats will become healthy and productive.

Imperiled species will recover, and the large nesting rookeries of wading birds will return.

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Goal 1: Get the water right

Subgoal 1-A: Get the hydrology right

Objective 1-A.1: Provide 1.6 million acre-feet of surface water storage by
2037

Objective 1-A.2: Develop aquifer storage and recovery systems capable
of storing 1.7 billion gallons per day by 2020

Objective 1-A.3: Modify 279 miles of impediments to flow by 2019

Subgoal 1-B: Get the water quality right

Objective 1-B.1: Construct 122,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas
by 2036

Objective 1-B.2: Prepare plans, with strategies and schedules for
implementation, to comply with TMDLs (total maximum daily
loads) for 100 percent of impaired water bodies by 2011

Goal 2: Restore, preserve, and protect natural habitats and species

Subgoal 2-A: Restore, preserve, and protect natural habitats

Objective 2-A.1: Acquire 1.95 million acres of land for habitat protection
by 2015

Subgoal 2-B: Control invasive exotic plants

Objective 2-B.2: Protect 20 percent of the coral reefs by 2020
Objective 2-B.1: Prepare management plans for the top twenty South
Florida invasive exotic plant species by 2010

Objective 2-B.2: Achieve maintenance control status for Brazilian
pepper, melaleuca, Australian pine, and Old World climbing fern in
all natural areas in the region by 2020

Objective 2-B.3: Complete an Invasive Exotic Plant Prevention, Early
Detection, and Eradication Plan by 2005

Goal 3: Foster compatibility of the built and natural systems

The appropriate agencies will track progress toward restoring the ecosystem through approximately

200 performance measures developed as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan,

plus additional measures for areas not covered by the CERP, such as the South Florida Multi-Species

Recovery Plan. These measures, which range from the number of acres of periphyton in Everglades

marshes to the frequency of water supply restrictions in urban and agricultural areas, represent the

myriad physical, biological, and human elements that interrelate as parts of the ecosystem and are

important to ecosystem health. The agencies will provide data to the task force, which will update

this document for transmittal to Congress, the state legislature, and the councils of the tribes.

The following measures are a representative subset of a broader list of indicators for tracking

success. Many of these represent end results that may take up to fifty years to realize.

Interim targets, which focus on earlier indications of successional change, will allow assessment

of incremental progress.

• Improved status for fourteen federally listed threatened or endangered species, and no

declines in status for those additional species listed by the state , by 2020

• A 90 percent recovery of the acreage and number of tree islands existing in 1940, and a

health index of 0.90 (where 0 = death is imminent, 1 = completely stress free) (Interim target:

A 20 percent improvement in the general health index of the tree islands, and no further loss

in the total number of tree islands by 2020)

• Healthy oyster beds in the major estuaries, such as the St. Lucie Estuary and those in

Biscayne Bay

• Four thousand nesting pairs of wood storks in the Everglades and Big Cypress basins

(Interim target: Fifteen hundred nesting pairs by 2010)

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Goal 1: Get the water right

• Water quality within the Everglades ecosystem that meets federal, state, and tribal water

quality standards

• A lakewide average phosphorus concentration of 40 parts per billion (ppb) total in the

open-water regions of Lake Okeechobee

• Water provided to all users during droughts up to the level of certainty of a one-in-ten-year

frequency of occurrence

• Nesting roseate spoonbills in the coastal zone of the southwestern Gulf Coast between

Lostman's River and the Caloosahatchee River; and 1,000 nesting pairs in Florida Bay,

including 250 nesting pairs in northeast Florida Bay

• A 65-75 percent coverage of Florida Bay with high-quality seagrass beds

• A long-term commercial harvest of pink shrimp on the Dr y Tortugas fishing grounds that

equals or exceeds the rate that occurred during the years 1961-1962 to 1982-1983; and an

amount of large shrimp in the long-term average catch exceeding 500 pounds per vessel-day

• An average annual loading to the St. Lucie Estuary of no more than 400 pounds of

phosphorus per 1,000 acre-feet of discharge

• The capture and storage of most of the excess freshwater currently lost to the ocean and the

gulf, and delivery of the water when and where it is needed

Restoration Strategy

The task force provides a forum for consensus building and issue engagement among the entities

involved in restoring the South Florida ecosystem. This is a collaborative role, not one in which the

task force can dictate to its members. Because on-the-ground restoration is accomplished through

the efforts of the individual task force member agencies, they are the ones that are ultimately

responsible for their particular programs, projects, and associated funding. This is an important

distinction. The task force has no overriding authority to direct its members. Instead, the members

are accountable individually to their appropriate authorities and to each other for the success of the

restoration.

The task force and its members coordinate and track the restoration effort as follows:

FOCUS ON GOALS. This document establishes specific goals and measures that define the scope of

the restoration initiative and answer these fundamental questions: What will the restoration partners

accomplish? When will the restoration effort be done? What key indicators will signal progress and

success?

COORDI NATE PROJECTS. To be effective, individual projects should contribute to the vision and

goals, be timely, and support rather than duplicate other efforts. This document includes a master

list of restoration projects and includes information about goals and objectives, start and finish

dates, lead agencies, and funding.

TRACK AND ASSESS PROGRESS. The task force will facilitate the implementation of the individual

entities’ adaptive assessment processes to track and assess progress. Adaptive assessment involves

constantly monitoring project contributions and indicators of success to determine the actual versus

expected results of various actions. This process acknowledges that not all the data needed to restore

the South Florida ecosystem are available now. As project managers track incremental progress in

achieving objectives they may raise "red flags" alerting the task force members that a project (1) is

not on schedule or (2) is not producing the projected outputs or anticipated results. The ability to

anticipate problems early helps to minimize their effect on the total restoration effort. Management

responses may involve revising the project design, evaluating changing resource needs, or working

collaboratively on projects that fall behind. Projects that are not

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proving effective may be replaced with new projects. Because each participating agency is

responsible for its particular programs, projects, and funding, such decisions are made by

the entities involved.

FACI LITATE THE RESOLUTI ON OF I SSUES AND CONFLI CTS. Disagreements and conflict are to be

expected given the scope, complexity, and large number of sponsors and interests involved in

ecosystem restoration. In particular, the ability to resolve existing conflicts is complicated by

(1) the large number of governmental entities involved at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels;

(2) the differing, and sometimes conflicting, legal mandates and agency missions among the

entities involved; and

(3) the diverse stakeholder interests represented by the member agencies, which include

environmental, agricultural, Native American, urban, and commercial values.

The task force will facilitate the prevention and resolution of conflict to the extent possible by

clarifying the issue(s), identifying stakeholder concerns, obtaining and analyzing relevant

information, and identifying solutions. The working group will regularly track issues in dispute

and report to the task force when there are unresolved issues. Although these efforts are intended

to facilitate conflict resolution, opportunities will always exist for parties to pursue conflicts through

litigation, although litigation is time consuming, costly, and uncertain. Further, litigation diverts

resources from restoration efforts. Unfortunately, judicial resolution of legal claims does not always

resolve the underlying conflict to the satisfaction of every party.

The task force will meet regularly to report on progress, coordinate consensus, and identify

opportunities for improvement.

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