Mr. Chairman, my name is Nathaniel Reed of Hobe Sound, Florida. I want to welcome you to South Florida and say that we are greatly encouraged by the reports of your support and enthusiasm for restoring the Everglades. We look forward to working with you to restore, preserve, and protect South Florida's contribution to America's natural heritage -- the Everglades ecosystem. From Lake Kissimmee to Florida Bay and the Florida Keys coral reef tract, this complex, delicate and endangered natural wonder needs all the friends it can find.
Fifty years ago the federal government we undertook two parallel and conflicting actions -- the establishment of Everglades National Park and the construction of the Southern and Central Florida Project (C&SF; Project). Like all National Park designations, the Everglades were supposed to be protected and preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. However, the series of canals, levees, and other flood control structures constructed by the C&SF; Project disrupted the life-blood of the Everglades -- the flow of clean fresh water -- and has imperiled its fate.
Whether or not future generations will benefit of enjoy the Everglades will depend on the outcome of the coming congressional debate on the very solid plan put forth by the Army Corps of Engineers last July. I respectfully appear before you today to urge you to make Everglades restoration your highest priority. The Everglades have suffered enough, this year should be the year in which we end the suffering and begin making amends for our past mistakes.
My testimony addresses three overarching issues of Everglades restoration that I believe are central to the questions that you and your colleagues must consider. They are cooperation between State and Federal Partners; the benefits of Everglades restoration; and, the central issues related to the Everglades Restoration Project.
Will It Work?
Will the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan be successful in restoring a healthy Everglades ecosystem, and recover the biological power to a once-magnificent locational Park? I am convinced that the answer to this huge question is an unequivocal "yes!" While the reasons for my confidence are numerous, they can be summarized as "Good Science" and "Good Process." Let me explain!
Good Science
The scale and organization of the scientific contribution to the Everglades restoration plan is unprecedented. Scientists from every federal and state agency that has a major stake in the future of the vital connections between the natural and human environments in south Florida have worked together in teams to design the Everglades plan. Overall, more than 125 local and regional scientists participated in this effort.
The fact that so much science has become integrated into the Comprehensive Plan is, in itself, a remarkable accomplishment. Perhaps because we are still too close to what is going on, the significance of this science integration has, I believe, not been fully recognized. The integrated effort has elevated the vital communications that must go on between science and management from the traditional intra-agency linkages to a new, inclusive inter-agency process. Now it is teams of scientists from many agencies that are speaking with teams of managers, as a means of maximizing the role that the Comprehensive Plan will have in achieving the numerous, complimentary objectives of each of the participating agencies.
For the past three years the scientific teams have focused their coordinated efforts on developing a consensus opinion on the specific ecological and hydrological problems that must be solved by the restoration plan. They brought the full range of scientific disciplines and the best understandings of the natural systems to the debate. What emerged from this prolonged effort was strong scientific consensus. With broad agreement on the nature of the problems, the scientists then led the way us evaluating alternative plans to determine which would be most successful in recovering the environmental health to both natural and human systems in south Florida. The Comprehensive Plan before you is that plan.
Recently these same scientists have raised the level of optimism by offering an answer for a question that eve all have asked. Are we too late? Can an ecosystem as badly damaged as the Everglades ever recover? By examining the way that these wetlands have recently responded to several years of high rainfall, the scientists have been able to tease out understandings of the potential success of restoration. The higher rainfall has provided a hint of the wetter and healthier hydrological patterns that will come from the Comprehensive Plan. What the scientists have learned from this high rainfall event is most encouraging: the beginnings of healthier seagrass beds in Florida Bay, increased nesting by egrets in the central and northern Everglades, better production of fish in the mangrove estuaries.
The scientists are also using their knowledge of the south Florida wetlands to answer another key question. How do we define success? What should the future Everglades Lake Okeechobee and Florida and Biscayne Bays look like if else Comprehensive Plan is successful, and what is it about these systems that we should be measuring to track the progress of the restoration program? The answers that scientists are giving us to these questions add greatly to my confidence that we know what we are attempting to achieve with the restoration program. We will be watching the results closely, and will be continually adjusting our efforts so that we stay focused on our gods.
Good Process
Some aspects of the good process used to create the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan have already been revealed in my comments about the good science. The key point to be made here is that the tremendous complexity of the Everglades restoration program has required new ways of doing business. The large number of participating agencies, the expansive and complex ecological scales of the program, and the fact that the information and expertise that is required to design and implement such a program are scattered both in time and place, are all essential reasons for coming up with entirely new strategies.
I believe the agencies, both federal and state, have recognized this need, and together have been remarkably successful in developing the multi-agency processes that are required. The multi-agency teams have created a common vision of the restoration goals, and have brought the combined technical skills to the task of designing a program that can achieve these goals. The good worlds of the multi-agency planning team for the Central and Southern Florida Project "Restudy", and the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, testify to the success of the new strategies. The integration of time and knowledge by many people from many agencies and institutions has been achieved because all parties ultimately have known that the regional water problems in south Florida must be resolved by means of this Comprehensive Plan.
New processes and teams for achieving the integration of effort during the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan are now being established. The new teams should be even more successful, because they build on the considerable experience that has come from the earlier, multi-agency planning teams.
Key among the new teams is an Adaptive Assessment Team, which will have lead responsibility for reporting on how the natural and human systems actually respond as the plan is implemented. This new team will use a regional monitoring program to determine how well the plan achieves its objectives and where unexpected or undesirable responses appear. Monitoring is also a valuable way of adding to our understanding of the nature system! The Adaptive Assessment Team will use all of the information that comes from the monitoring program to recommend improvements in the Comprehensive Plan during the implementation period. five mill build as we learn, and learn as we build!
Cooperation Between State and Federal Partners
An absolutely critical element to the Everglades restoration project is the relationship and cooperation between the State of Florida and the Federal government, Senator Graham has already characterized this as a marriage, and that every successful marriage depends on communication and compromise between partners. What a splendid analogy!
It does not mean it will be easy. The federal and state partners in Everglades restoration have different mandates, management responsibilities, and approaches. That means they will approach issues differently and have different ideas of how to solve the same problem. That is natural and these approaches and ideas will reflect their mandates. The federal government will attempt to ensure that its responsibility, to preserve and protect South Florida's national parks, wildlife refuges, and marine sanctuary is fulfilled. The State of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District Drill attempt to balance its three responsibilities -- provide flood protection, ensure water supply, and protect the environment. Finally, local governments will also be at the decision making table depending on the issue.
This process has worked, although to the casual observer it could appear to be full of conflict and controversy. This perception is the result of a very public, inclusive, and consensus-based decision making process. However, what is impressive is how these differing perspectives have consistently been rewelded to produce a final decision that meets the common objective of restoring the Everglades and allows the process to move forward.
I believe this approach has worked because of the bipartisan cooperation of our congressional delegation and of every Governor since Senator Graham began the Save our Everglades program during his tenure in Tallahassee. I believe that the progress on Everglades restoration in the 1990's has been extraordinary and it is the result of bipartisanship and intergovernmental cooperation. This is not surprising because history demonstrates that adversity breeds unity.
Those of us who grew up in Florida in a different era can tell stories of a Florida that barely exists anymore. Ire my lifetime, eve have drained and paved South Florida in the name of progress based on a set of values reflective of the time. We now know of the humble consequences that the Everglades has paid, but we are fortunate that we still have a resource that is savable. Let there be no question that it is worth saving.
We have a rare opportunity to give back to our children and grandchildren an opportunity to experience what my generation of Floridians was fortunate enough to enjoy -- a pristine Everglades. It is enormously important to Florida, and it is equally important to the catalog of American treasures that many of us have worked so hard to protect. That's why, I believe, the State and Federal governments have worked so hard to get us to this point and it is why I urge Congress to continue to insist on such an arrangement while meeting its statutory mandate to make this a project worthy of its name - Everglades restoration.
The Benefits
Restoration of the greater Everglades Ecosystem will yield long-lasting human and environmental benefits. Although the project is geared towards protecting and enhancing federal lands including two national parlors, one national preserve, national marine sanctuaries and several wildlife refuges, spin-off benefits are also substantial. In terms of environmental benefits, the restoration effort fill, at its conclusion, provide the proper timing, distribution, quantity and quality of water to ensure a sustainable natural environment. In addition, the project. at its completion, will provide sufficient clean water to supply groveling urban needs as well as irrigation water for the substantial agricultural interests that will help filet South Florida's economy well into the future.
In South Florida, the environment is the economy. In addition to meeting the water needs of the region, the restoration will ensure a healthy ecosystem. The four major tropical estuaries in the area (Florida and Biscayne Bays, Indian River Lagoon, and the Caloosahatchee) will receive adequate amounts of clean water at the right tunes. This will allow for these water bodies to come back into balance, thus restoring Me commercial and recreational value that they were once renowned for. It will also help to stabilize our reef tract, allowing this Wile resource to remain the world's top diving destination. In addition the Everglades will be restored and maintained, so that they remain a place of awe-inspiring beauty that draws millions of visitors each year. Lake Okeechobee will also benefit immensely. Lake Okeechobee will no longer serve as the water reservoir of the region. Water levels will be stabilized, and the lake will be restored to its past glory, once again becoming a haven for multitudes of wildlife, and a world class boating and bass-fishing mecca.
Specific ecological restoration benefits include:
Kissimmee River Basin -- Historically, the Kissimmee River was a slowly meandering shallow river. It flowed 103 miles from Lake Kissimmee south to Lake Okeechobee. Major channelization of the river was completed in the 1960's, converting the river system into a fast flowing canal and draining tens of thousands of acres of marshy floodplain. The restoration project will restore 43 continuous miles of meandering river channels and restore 40 square miles of river floodplain. This plan will also be protective of the existing ranch and dairy operations in the basin.
Lake Okeechobee -- Lake Okeechobee is 730 square miles in size. It is the second largest freshwater lake in the continental United States, with an average depth of only 9 feet. Historically the lake had no direct connections to the ocean, but now is directly connected to the Gulf of Mexico through the Caloosahatchee Canal, and to the Atlantic Ocean by the St. Lucie Canal. In addition, the lake is surrounded by the Hoover Dike, cutting the lake off from its productive marshes and floodplain. Lake Okeechobee currently serves as a reservoir with widely fluctuating water levels. The restoration project includes significant above and below ground water storage features that will allow for more natural lake level fluctuations, and will reduce reliance on the lake for water supply needs. This will help to stabilize the lake and return it to a more natural system that will support a multitude of wildlife as well as becoming a recreational boating and fishing: mecca once again.
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries -- Currently, as lake levels rise, there is no place to store excess water Therefore, when Lake Okeechobee reaches maximum stages, water is dumped into both the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries. This water dumping turns these brackish estuaries into muddy, freshwater systems with devastating results to the fish and other species that use these systems. Therefore these estuaries are in a constant state of disruption with a concomitant decrease in productivity. The restoration plan will provide water storage and natural water cleansing features which will ameliorate the adverse effects of dumping water into the estuaries, and will have the added benefit of holding water upstream until these brackish bays need flows of freshwater, particularly in the dry season.
Southern Everglades and the Big Cypress -- The majority of the federally protected lands in South Florida lie south of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades Agricultural Area. Being at the end of the system, these lands are most greatly affected by water manipulations. In general, these lands receive too much water flow during the rainy season (summer) and too little if any water flow during the dry season (winter). This ecosystem adapted to the wet and dry season over thousands of years. The flora and fauna in most cases require the wet and dry cycles to complete their life cycles. Water mismanagement has disrupted many of these life cycles. These disruptions, and the loss of habitat to agriculture and development have directly caused the declines of numerous populations, and have driven almost 70 species to the brink of extinction. The flora and the fauna depended on the cyclic flow of water through the Everglades. Currently, the natural cyclic flows are gone. Instead of water flow changing through the seasons, the Everglades now receives abnormal flood stages or drought. The restoration initiative will reintroduce the cyclic nature of water flow into the Southern Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. With the restoration of proper timing, distribution, quantity and quality of water to the remaining Everglades, the system will rebound in a sustainable manner, providing habitat for species recovery ant providing the recreation and tourism dollars to sustain the economy.
Biscayne Florida Bays, and the reef tract -- Historically, both Biscayne and Florida Bays, major components of our National Park System, had upwellings of freshwater rejuvenating them during the wet season. Now Biscayne Bay receives most of its freshwater flows through canals passing through urban and agricultural areas. Florida Bay receives very little freshwater flow at all. Florida Bay has collapsed along with a major portion of the fishing and tourism industry that it once supported. Point source discharges and water quality problems plague Biscayne Bay. These two bays, along with the reef tract and the Keys are at the end of the system. They receive much of the brunt of the ecological devastation that is wrought by the mismanagement of water in South Florida. The restoration project will act the water back into more normal cycles. By doing this, and assuring proper water quality, these national treasures will also rebound, helping to both sustain the economy and the environment of South Florida.
The Restoration Project
The following is lied first among the principles used to develop and guide the restoration project (page 9-1 of the Final Feasibility Report and PEIS).
'The overarching objective of the Comprehensive Plan is the restoration, preservation and protection of the south Florida ecosystem while providing for other water related needs of the region" (USAGE, 1999)
To achieve this primary objective, the restoration plan development team had to develop a plan that would capture water resources that are presently lost to tide and treat the water to levels that are suitable for discharge into the Everglades, use the stored water to restore more natural flows through the Everglades, and where necessary, physically restore natural landscapes.
The restoration plan employs a great deal of contemporary and cutting-edge technologies for water storage, water treatment, and controlling exotic/invasive species. Likewise, ongoing research efforts and pilot projects are intended to provide realtime input to restoration projects. The research, the findings, and the application of the newly-found knowledge have been and continue to be subject to review by government agencies, independent scientists engineers, and other professionals, and the general public. In general, the development of this restoration plan has been a remarkably inclusive process.
Water Storage and Treatment
The restoration project team developed a plan that would "capture" approximately 20% (further analysis may demonstrate greater riveter savings) of the nearly 1.4 trillion gallons of water that are presently discharged to Florida's coastal waters for the purposes of flood protection.
The mechanisms that are proposed for capturing these "lost resources" include approximately 204,000 acres (approximately 530 billion gallons of storage) of conventional water reservoirs (in-ground excavations), impoundments (above-ground pools), and stormwater treatment areas (treatment wetlands). Also proposed in the restoration plan are contemporary aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) facilities, intended to provide in the vicinity of 1 million gallons of multi-year water storage deep below the ground (approximately 800 to 1,000 feet below land surface) in the Floridan Aquifer. Many ASR facilities exist and are successfully operating in Florida, but at much smaller scales, indicating that this form of water storage is viable, In general, these storage and treatment components are intended to capture and treat water resources presently low to tide and detain those resources so that they are available to the natural system in adequate quantities and at appropriate times.
Some key storage and treatment components are proposed for the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee and are necessary to reduce stresses on Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie Estuary, and the Caloosahatchee Estuary ecosystems. Together, the components encompass approximately 180,000 acres of storage and treatment areas. Notable components include 20,000 acres of storage norm of Lake Okeechobee, 20,000 acres of storage west of Lake Okeechobee, 39,000 acres of storage east of Lake Okeechobee In addition, 60,000 acres of land (the Talisman Land Exchange) has been purchased south of Lake Okeechobee for the purposes of water storage in the restoration project.
Restoration of Flows
Once the water is captured and treated to levels that are appropriate for the natural plants and animals of the Everglades, it must be delivered to the Everglades and other natural areas in appropriate quantities and at appropriate times. In essence, the restoration project proposes to restore natural flows to the remaining Everglades.
To restore more natural flows to the Everglades and other natural areas, the restoration plan has numerous components that aim to decompartmentalize the Everglades by removing canals and levees from within the remaining Everglades. In addition, measures for mug seepage beneath levees (water seeping out of the Everglades) have been proposed that would allow for the restoration of more natural flows in the Everglades, while ensuring that existing levels of flood protection and water supply would not be decreased.
Habitat Restoration
In addition to modifying the regional hydrologic system (storage and treatment facilities, canals and levees, and other water management infrastructure) the restoration project includes several projects that aim to restore habitat.
To ensure that Florida's unique ecosystem is restored to sustainable levels, the restoration project development team recognized a need to physically restore and improve important habitat areas so that Florida's plants and animals have adequate "breathing space." bootable restoration components include the restoration of Lake Trafford, C-111 Basin pineland and hardwood hammock restoration, as well as various exotic/invasive species removal projects just to name a few.
Conclusion
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I conclude where Marjorie Stoneman Douglas began her tale in the River of Grass. "There are no other Everglades in the world." For 100 years we have, in the finest American tradition, attempted to tame nature. We successfully tamed the Everglades, but it has come at an enormous ecological and economic cost. Taming nature is Me value of America's past, and I believe the values of our fixture are to live in harmony with nature. That legacy has to start some where, ant I believe if eve are to save the Everglades it starts here today.