The sugar industry has a long and complicated relationship with the Everglades and our water supply. Nevertheless, during this harvest season, many are thankful for the sugar harvest, while many are angry about it.
The following is a #sneakpreview of the sugar harvest in action this year...
Geotourism: Tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and well-being of its residents.
This is a great program - it involves private land owners, low upfront costs and low long term costs...
Should private individuals own land in the middle of state and federal parks???
"South Floridians who have cabins or lodges in the remote reaches of the Everglades savor the tranquility and wonder at the beauty of nature."
via link: miamiherald.com
Eight months after the Everglades Foundation released a poll showing disapproval for Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to cut Everglades restoration money by 66 percent, the Republican governor made an unpublished stop to the advocacy group's two-day meeting in Naples on Wednesday and apparently told attendees that Everglades restoration is now a top priority of his administration.
An upcoming Water Supply Summit hosted by the Everglades Foundation will include a “Legislative Briefing Breakfast” and a “Capital Lobby Day,” according to information released by the group.
Everglades National Park (Pic by Rodney Cammauf, National Park Service; via army.mil)
The summit will kick off in Tallahassee on Tues., Jan. 17, with a luncheon, and will wrap up the next day with “briefings, meetings, and advocacy to save America’s Everglades.” According to a press release, the event will be attended by top government officials and business leaders and will feature a performance by recording artist Gavin DeGraw.
An email sent out to supporters highlighted the recent problems plaguing the Florida Everglades — including one of the worst droughts the state has ever seen.
From the email:
In 2011, Florida witnessed one of the worst droughts in history. It was the third drought in the past ten years. This lack of rain sparked wildfires across the state and set large-scale destructive algal blooms in motion in the Caloosahatchee river. West Palm Beach and other municipalities came within days of running out of water.
The drought highlighted the issues that Florida should have been focusing on from the beginning: storing rainwater, cleaning it and supplying it to the millions of Floridians who need it.
The Everglades ecosystem is a crucial link between water storage and water supply for almost 7 million Floridians. And at less than half its original size, one out of every three Floridians relies on the Everglades as the source of their fresh drinking water.
For over a hundred years, we have built canals and levees to re-direct the natural southerly flow of freshwater from the headwaters of the Everglades in the Kissimmee river basin towards urban areas and coastal cities, disrupting the ecosystem’s delicate natural balance.
Meanwhile, 1.7 billion gallons of freshwater are dumped into saltwater estuaries every day.
Florida’s boating, tourism, real estate, hunting, recreational and commercial fishing industries all depend on a healthy Everglades ecosystem, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and contributing billions to our economy.
The Summit is being touted as “the first of its kind.”
In a hesitant but hopeful voice, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said he was "delighted" with Gov. Rick Scott's recent trip to Washington to unveil the governor's Everglades restoration plan. But as for the plan itself, Salazar questioned its science and how it will take to get the job done.
"It was a thoughtful review but the jury is still out," Salazar said Monday morning, at a meeting with the editorial board of The Palm Beach Post. "If there is a dance going on between the United States of the America and the State of Florida, we hope it's a good dance."
And after meeting with Scott Monday afternoon, Salazar's office issued a terse, three-sentence press release.
"In Florida today, I met with Gov. Rick Scott to continue our dialogue on the restoration efforts in the Everglades. Over the last three years, the United States has invested upwards of $600 million towards Everglades restoration.
http://m.pbpost.com/pbpost/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=50MHfXG2&ful...
The Environmental Protection Agency has come under fire for its decision to allow the state of Florida to write its own water pollution rules (known as “numeric nutrient criteria”). EPA Regional Administrator Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming is now firing back, writing that the Agency commends the state Department of Environmental Protection for its draft of a proposed standard.
Full story: http://floridaindependent.com/57162/epa-numeric-nutrient-criteria#
In MIami Herald Yesterday:
Good start but it doesn’t go far enough, fast enough.
In a nutshell, that sums up the federal government’s initial response to an Everglades pollution cleanup plan personally laid out last month by Gov. Rick Scott during a visit to Washington.
Nevertheless, both sides remain upbeat about resolving the long-running legal and political battle over Florida’s repeatedly delayed plans to reduce the flow of the damaging nutrient, phosphorus, that pours off farms and yards into the Everglades after every rain storm.
In a meeting Monday with the editorial board of The Miami Herald, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he was “cautiously optimistic’’ that the state would address initial concerns sketched out in a Nov. 10 letter to the governor from four federal agencies involved in Everglades restoration. Story here.
Posted by Mary Ellen Klas on November 15, 2011 in Florida Environment , Florida Governor , Rick Scott | Permalink
