Charles Lee @FL_Audubon: #Everglades Headwaters proposal critical to future success @TCPalm @AllEverglades

Your Sept. 27 editorial, "New wildlife refuge and conservation area north of Lake Okeechobee may be great idea, but what are state's priorities?" regarding the Everglades Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area makes a good point when it says "Maybe it's time to prioritize the most important Everglades restoration projects — and fund and complete them, in order, before launching new projects."

That is precisely why we think moving forward with the Everglades Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area now is so important. The very first Everglades effort was the Kissimmee River Restoration, authorized by Congress almost 20 years ago in 1992. The Everglades Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area proposal helps the long-awaited Kissimmee River Restoration project succeed by assuring that land surrounding the restored river will be maintained in conservation, and provide water storage and cleansing opportunities rather than slipping toward development.

The Everglades Headwaters proposal got its start in cooperative discussions with ranchers who were genuinely concerned that the marginal economics of ranching would soon put many ranches on the auction block. Enlisting ranchers as partners and compensating them for important environmental services keeps them in business, retains land on the tax rolls, and achieves restoration benefits at far less cost than traditional public works projects. The easements and selective land purchases that will result from the Headwaters proposal will be key building blocks in reaching those goals.

The editorial included some erroneous and outdated information about the Headwaters Refuge, and other aspects of Everglades Restoration.

First, the statement that "There is no money to pay for" the Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area is not quite correct. Each year the Land and Water Conservation Fund set up by Congress receives hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from offshore oil and gas leases and royalties. In 2010, the LWCF received $450 million. These funds are available for National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area purchases if Congress allocates them to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is how most modern refuge lands have been acquired, and how the Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area can be funded.

Next, some of the editorial's information about Everglades Projects approved but not completed is outdated. For example, the 2009 Earth Magazine report cited said the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project has been "derailed by contentious politics "

Well guess what — if you go down to the Tamiami Trail today you will find that the bridge project is actually under construction and is rapidly nearing completion. Others projects nearing the finish line are the crucial C-111 restoration project and components of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands in Miami Dade County likely to be finished by year's end. The Picayune Strand restoration project in Collier County is already producing pronounced benefits.

Yes, there have been engineering problems with some projects. The leaky Ten Mile Creek reservoir is an example. But no one ever suggested that Everglades restoration would be easy. Restoration of the Everglades is truly a pioneering project. Being a pioneer means making some mistakes and moving forward anyway through "adaptive management." When Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project in 2000, directives to engage in adaptive management were specifically included just because these situations were wisely anticipated.

One of the things learned through "adaptive management" is that taking advantage of natural, low-tech opportunities to store and clean water is often a much more cost-effective way to proceed with Everglades Restoration. These are tried and true methods that we know will work.

That is where the Everglades Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area proposal really shines. Because Everglades waters flow downstream from the Kissimmee River through Lake Okeechobee, the Headwaters proposal will deliver major benefits to the entirety of the Everglades and South Florida.

© 2011 TCPalm. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Email this to a friend

    •  

    Comments » 2

     

    gladesman writes:

    Here is a statement inside the quotation marks pasted from the recently released Environmental Assessment for the Headwaters.

    "West Indian Manatee
    Alternative C would likely do little to protect or conserve manatees. This is mainly because the
    species is present 30 miles downstream of the southernmost Alternative C lands in the extreme lower
    Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee. There may be some small water quality benefits by the
    protection of 50,000 acres of land, and the 100,000-acre conservation easements, but there would be
    other opportunities for water quality to be degraded after it leaves Alternative C lands an before it
    reaches waters occupied by manatee"

    I was complaining to a friend about the stupidity of transferring $700,000,000 dollars of wealth from those who buy oil products at inflated prices due to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. He said I was wrong when I cited the above excerpt from the US Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) own documents to support my position. My friend said that in that excerpt they were only speaking about Manatees and not the project as a whole.
    I explained to him that the Assessment in this paragraph at page 261 is referring to the 50,000 acre Refuge and the 100,000 acres of easements specifically in the 3rd sentence of the excerpt. That IS the whole project. They were being very clear IMO.
    US Fish and Wildlife Service has documented "there may be some small water quality benefits" within the excerpt.
    I simply do not believe small water benefits is enough of a bang for $700,000,000 million BUCKS for the 1st of 4 phases.
    Oh I am sure supporters will come back and say USFWS has promised many other benefits like hunting and recreation will also result from Headwaters. The problem with that is the folks making the promises will not be there to keep them many years from now when needed. Locals in Florida know this from past experience with the Feds.

    Although I eat beef and support the cowboy (Florida Cracker/Gladesmen) culture I will not swallow this mountain oyster raw or cooked.
    I do fully understand any rancher in his right mind jumping on this bandwagon for the BIG bucks and I do not mean deer.
    The author of this article is the same interesting fellow that attempted on behalf of Audubon to covertly invite State and US Dep't. of Interior officials to his office in Tallahassee to set up the transfer the Tamiami Trail (US41) segment through Big Cypress National Preserve to the Federal government. Luckily for the traveling public his attempt failed when the coup de ta of a State highway was exposed.

    reality writes:

    Thanks, Mr. Lee. I had been so depressed to read that the Taimiami bridge project wasn't even started. Thanks for correcting that misinformation. And to gladesman: Didn't the State of FL try to sell the Taimiami road to a private company to make it a tollroad, but luckily had no takers? Do you know one of the first things Boehner did when the Repubs retook the Majority, was to make the gasoline taxes available for purposes other than roads & bridges? The water absorbed by all these easements will benefit all creatures in FL, as it sinks into the acquifer, and prevents flooding.

     

    Share your thoughts

    Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.

    via tcpalm.com

    From the very well respected Charles Lee of Audubon...