Everglades

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Everglades Restoration Continues Despite Water Scarcity
Environment News Service/ Mar 10
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and South Florida Water Management District report details a year of scientific, engineering and restoration work to improve the environmental quality of the Everglades and the entire South Florida ecosystem.

Blackwater refuge is ‘Everglades of the North’
Dick Cooper/ The Philadelphia Inquirer/ Mar 9
Bald eagles lead the avian parade at Maryland's Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, 27,000 teeming acres known as "the Everglades of the North."

Corps' Glades fix too little, too late
Miami Herald editorial/ Mar 6
What the Corps is proposing -- the latest of several solutions offered over many years -- is not good enough. To get an idea of the scope of the one-mile bridge proposal, consider that the Corps' acknowledged best remedy for restoring sheet flow to the parched system is an 11-mile skyway to replace the Trail. There is just one hitch to the skyway, according to the Corps -- the price. At last count, the agency says that the skyway would cost $1.6 billion. Skyway advocates such as the Sierra Club charge that the Corps' estimate is grossly inflated.

Revamped Tamiami Trail-Glades project lightens costs
Curtis Morgan/ Miami Herald/ Mar 3
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed an affordable compromise on mitigating Tamiami Trail's impact on the Everglades: More than cleaning out the culverts but a lot less than an 11-mile skyway.

Audubon says low bird numbers indicate ecological distress in bay
Jacksonville.com/ Florida AP News/ Mar 5
TAVERNIER, Fla. - An environmental group says the Florida Bay is showing signs of ecological collapse after studies found roseate (ROS'-ee-it) spoonbill nests at their lowest numbers since the 1960s.

Water management tricky in South Florida
Michael Mayo/ Sun-Sentinel/Mar 2
A few weeks ago, rare, heavy February rains pelted the Everglades water conservation area where he regularly takes his airboat. But in a matter of days, he saw all that water vanish.

Florida's Drinking Water Is Running Low
Dona Gibbs/ Ohmy International News/ Feb 29
Restoring the Everglades may avert a crisis

Pythons could squeeze lower third of USA
Elizabeth Weise/ USAToday/ Feb 21
As climate change warms the nation, giant Burmese pythons could colonize
one-third of the USA, from San Francisco across the Southwest, Texas and
the South and up north along the Virginia coast, according to U.S.
Geological Survey maps released Wednesday.

EPA Kisses Off Florida's Wetlands
PEER/ Feb 20
WASHINGTON, DC - February 20 - Overruling its own specialists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is opening the door to a new wave of mega-developments that will sharply erode Florida’s already declining water quality, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In the arrangement, EPA has agreed to overlook warnings of more toxic algae outbreaks, growing saltwater intrusion and spreading contamination of the state’s fragile groundwater.

Earth First! Blockades Florida Power Plant Construction, 27 Arrested
Environment News Service/ Feb 19
The activists say they took this action to protect the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, which lies 1,000 feet from the power plant site and to protect the larger Everglades ecosystem.

Help clean up the Chesapeake
Citizens Voice/ Feb 15
Restoring the Chesapeake Bay is one of the most important environmental initiatives ever in the East, on par with restoration of the Everglades or the fledgling effort to restore Gulf Coast wetlands.

Crist seeks federal aid to restore Everglades
Larry Lipman/ Palm Beach Post/ Feb 13
Gov. Charlie Crist went to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to try to get more federal money released quickly for Everglades restoration.

Water managers blast Army Corps over Everglades costs
Robert King/ Palm Beach Post/ Feb 13
Water managers blasted the Army Corps of Engineers this morning for failing to pay its promised half of the costs for a series of Everglades-related projects.

'Glades reservoir project in Martin on hold while money issues sorted out
Gabriel Margasak/ TCPalm/ Feb 12
Because of ambiguity surrounding how much money is available and because of rising construction costs, South Florida Water Management District officials have postponed further construction of the giant water-cleansing reservoir and stormwater treatment area off the C-44 Canal.

Crist visits Washington seeking funds to restore River of Grass
Eun Kyung Kim/ Tallahasee Democrat/ Feb 13
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist made the rounds on Capitol Hill Tuesday to help secure federal funding for one of the top priorities of his administration — Everglades restoration.

Undermining the Everglades
Joel Engelhardt/ Palm Beach Post/ Feb 12
Existing regulations will protect the environment, the landowner says, so Palm Beach County needs to quit stalling and let mines move forward in the vast Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee. "To continue talking about studying the area - from a landowner perspective and from the miner's perspective - is overkill because if they're doing their job and the rules are right the resources are going to be protected."

Everglades funds in limbo until state clean surface waters
Charlotte Sun Herald/ Feb 10
Florida is blamed for failing to establish and implement water cleanup programs. Billions of federal and state dollars have been allocated for the Everglades, but not spent.

Water managers want new homes rejected
Charles Rabin and Curtis Morgan/ Miami Herald/ Feb 9
Regional water managers say Miami-Dade County doesn't have enough water to support new homes, offices and a big-box hardware store proposed at the county's western fringes.

Slap at South Florida
Palm Beach Post editorial/ Feb 9
Last year, South Florida finally got some hope that after nearly a decade Washington would begin paying the federal government's share of Everglades restoration. Put that hope on hold for another year.

Retain county control over road-rock mining
The task force that spent six weeks looking at mining regulations in Florida doesn't know if there's a critical shortage of aggregate rock, which mines produce for building roads. The task force doesn't know how much rock is left or how much the state needs. Without that information, the task force last week refused to issue firm recommendations on regulations.

Water district needs aircraft to fulfill its mission for a 16-county region
Eric Buermann guest commentary/ Sun-Sentinel/ Feb 6
Recent reporting regarding aircraft use by the South Florida Water Management District begs a fact-based response.

Public to give input on Everglades plan
Mary Wozniak/ News-Press/ Feb 5
Two meetings are planned for Southwest Florida in late spring to hear public comment on a proposed long-term management plan for Everglades National Park.

Survey state rock supply, task force tells legislature
Mitra Malek/ Palm Beach Post/ Feb 3
Rock mining is key to ensuring people have buildings to live and work in and roads to get there.

Environmentalists oppose Palm Beach County landfill plan
Andy Reid/ Sun Sentinel/ Feb 1
Moving a proposed landfill farther from the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge could put it right beside a massive reservoir being built for Everglades restoration.

Reservoir price tag skyrockets to $700 million
Robert King/ Palm Beach Post/ Jan 31
The estimated price tag for a 16,700-acre reservoir in far western Palm Beach County has exploded 75 percent to more than $700 million in just a year and a half, auditors told water managers today.

Water district to reduce spending
Robert King/ Palm Beach Post/ Jan 29
Now it's water managers' turn to tighten their belts.

Costs erode water district's support for storage wells
Robert King/ Palm Beach Post/ Jan 22
Ten years ago, an ambitious, controversial technology lay at the heart of the state's plans for restoring the Everglades and expanding South Florida's water supply.

Candidates' views on the Everglades
Naples Daily News/ Jan 21

Researchers keep tabes on wading bird population in Everglades
Donna Gehrke-White/ Miami Herald/ Jan 20
RESEARCHERS HOPE THE REGION'S DRY SPELL DOESN'T AFFECT THE SURGING NUMBER OF WADING BIRDS AT EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK

Everglades Coalition optimistic as Crist backs restoration effort
Robert King/ Palm Beach Post/ Jan 14
A year after taking office, Gov. Charlie Crist is receiving almost giddy reviews from many Everglades activists, who appear eager to move past their tense relations with former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Everglades Restoration Gains Urgency as Climate Warms
Environment News Service/ Jan 14
Global warming means restoration of the Everglades is more important than ever, a University of Miami expert in coastal marine environments told hundreds of conservationists, scientists and state and federal leaders at the Everglades Coalition's annual conference on the weekend.

Hope on Horizon for Everglades Restoration
Brian Skoloff/ The Ledger/ Jan 13
CAPTIVA The U.S. Interior Department remains committed to Everglades restoration, but the complexities of such a vast project - the largest of its kind in the world - can often get bogged down in bureaucracy, the agency's assistant secretary said Friday.

Goss pleads for unified environmental effort
Kevin Lollar/ News-Press/ Jan 12
"It is well established in literary circles that 'No man is an island, entire of itself,'" Goss said. "On Sanibel, we found that no island is an island, entire of itself."

2 Bush aides back Glades restoration plan
Curtis Morgan/ Miami Herald/ Jan 11
CAPTIVA -- Two top White House aides vowed Friday to start work on overhauling the Tamiami Trial -- a project intended to revive the Everglades but which has been delayed for more than a decade -- by year's end.

Everglades restoration lagging, but hope is on the horizon
Brian Skoloff/ Miami Herald/ Jan 11
CAPTIVA, Fla. -- The U.S. Interior Department remains committed to Everglades restoration, but the complexities of such a vast project - the largest of its kind in the world - can oftentimes get bogged down in bureaucracy, the agency's assistant secretary said Friday.

Crist's anti-pollution policies please environmentalists
Curtis Morgan and Marc Caputa/ Miami Herald/ Jan 11
Florida's governor has earned the admiration and praise of state conservationists -- and angered some in his own party -- for his environment-friendly agenda.

Everglades Coalition to get restoration priorities in order
Julio Ochoa/ Naples Daily News/ Jan 9
Everglades restoration will take center stage in Southwest Florida this week as environmental leaders and politicians visit Pine Island for the annual Everglades Coalition conference.

Lawmakers consider Everglades restoration
Jim Ash/ Pensacola News/ Jan 7
TALLAHASSEE -- Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could be in for a grilling today when a legislative panel studies the progress of the massive Everglades restoration program.

Sides Line Up in Florida State-Federal Water Dispute
Environment News Service/ Jan 2
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, January 2, 2008 (ENS) - A lawsuit by three environmental groups seeking to force the South Florida Water Management District to obtain federal discharge permits for pumping water into Florida's largest lake has attracted a large number of opponents.

When South Florida Water
Cynthia Barnett/ Miami Herald/ Jan 6
Cynthia Barnett, a reporter and editor at Florida Trend magazine, is the author of ``Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.''

USGS Everglades Elevation data on web in new format
Greg Desmond/ USGS/

Sparing sparrows may cause sparring in Everglades restoration
Ed Killer/ TCPalm/ Jan 5
Sadly, this tiny little bird arrived on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species list on March 11, 1967 along with neighbors like the Everglades snail kite, manatee, Florida panther, Key deer and American alligator. Of these, only the alligator has been removed from the list. And there is still much debate over the status of the manatee, but it appears to be doing better than it was 41 years ago.

Tamiami not culprit
Letter to Miami Herald/ Michael Grant/ Jan 4

Bureaucracy Floats Through the Everglades
Greg Allen/ Jan 08
Since then, Florida has spent billions on restoration. But for the most part, the federal portion of the project, known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, has yet to get off the ground.

Help for the Everglades
Miami Herald letter/ Dec 30

Everglades Not To Blame For Agriculture's Woes
Thom Rumberger/ Tampa Bay Online/ Dec 27
Much has been made of government's decision last summer not to pump phosphorous rich water into Lake Okeechobee. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson claims that this one decision - which some claim will somehow deprive growers of some irrigation water - makes up $4 million of the $1 billion in losses expected to Florida's farm economy.

Everglades' lesson at 60: Controlling nature is incompatible with restoring it
Jack Davis/ Orlando Sentinel/ Dec 23

$1.6B cost may ground Glades Skyway
Curtis Morgan/ Miami Herald/ Dec 21
The Everglades Skyway, despite backing from environmentalists and business boosters, won't be built anytime soon. Or maybe ever, if a new $1.6 billion federal estimate for the 11-mile span is close to reality.

Forecast 2008 drought would harm Everglades
John Allman/ Herald Tribune/ Dec 19
A severe drought forecast for 2008 could further damage the fragile Everglades ecosystem at a time when officials are scrambling to save the state's River of Grass.

Federal money flows to South Florida. Here's the list.
Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 21

List of Florida projects funded by Congress
Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 20

Congressional spending bill funnels millions to South Florida
William Gibson/ Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 20
WASHINGTON - A giant spending bill approved by Congress on Wednesday will bring millions of dollars to South Florida for Everglades restoration, new buses and research on how to prevent extensive damage from hurricanes.

New Year Holds Potential For Damage To The Everglades
John Allman/ Tampa Bay Online/ Dec 18
A severe drought, forecast for 2008, could further damage the fragile Everglades ecosystem at a time when officials are scrambling to save the state's River of Grass.

Still no case that Bush is Everglades 'partner'
Palm Beach Post editorial/ Dec 17
Nine days ago, The Post published a commentary by an assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Interior Department. Kameran Onley wanted to rebut a Nov. 30 editorial criticizing the Bush administration for its failure to keep the federal government's deal with Florida on Everglades restoration. But Ms. Onley offered fluff and spin, not answers.

Water district balks on rock issues
Hector Florin/ Palm Beach Post/ Dec 14
WEST PALM BEACH — Pressure to develop in the Everglades Agricultural Area has shifted from building rooftops to blasting rock for roads.

Everglades cleanup could dodge public records laws
Andy Reid/ Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 13
Counting on capitalism and secrecy to help solve South Florida's environmental problems, water managers on Wednesday agreed to pursue using $10 million in taxpayer money to jump-start "clean technologies" — in deals exempt from public records laws.

Slow down momentum for Everglades mining
Palm Beach Post editorial/ Dec 13
Palm Beach County commissioners and the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District will meet today to discuss drought, Everglades restoration and a Glades-area water plant. But the critical issue of mining in the Everglades Agricultural Area was absent from the agenda. So on Tuesday, county commissioners had to formally ask that it be added.

Everglades warning senselessly silenced
St Pete Times editorial/ Nov 27
Except for the implications to what has been described as an international biosphere, Richard Harvey could be just another name on the list of scientists the Bush administration has silenced.

Orlando's role in saving Everglades
Thom Rumberger/ Orlando Sentinel/ Dec 10
The problem starts at the urban fringe of Orlando, where polluted stormwater runoff enters the intricate network of streams and rivers and lakes flowing southward through farmlands.

Saving the Everglades one small project at a time
Paul L Grosskruger/ Miami Herald guest commentary/ Dec 8
Recent passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 represents an important step forward in Everglades restoration. This act benefits South Florida in many ways, but specifically for the Everglades, it grants congressional authorization for projects that have long had unfailing public support.

Everglades work far from standing still
Kameran Onley/ Palm Beach Post/ Dec 8
The Nov. 30 editorial in The Palm Beach Post, "Everglades stagnation," begins by asserting, "Blame President Bush and years of an uncooperative Congress. Everglades restoration is at a standstill ..." This statement ignores the many accomplishments that are under way and even federal efforts before 2000.

Our position: The Army Corps is smart to try to show short-term progress in Glades restoration
Orlando Sentinel editorial/ Dec 7
Don't get us wrong. We're thrilled that Congress last month overturned President Bush's veto of a water-projects bill, which among other things authorized $1.8 billion in federal funding for Everglades restoration.

Latest strategy to boost Everglades restoration: Get some results fast
William Gibson/ Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 5
WASHINGTON - The Army Corps of Engineers has revised its plan for Everglades restoration to show quick results and help persuade Congress to pay for the project over several decades.

How the Everglades Was Saved—At First
Alexander Burns/ American Heritage/ Dec 6
This project has flagged in recent years, and conservationists have struggled to attract the attention of a government preoccupied by the Iraq War. Time may not be on the Everglades’ side, but Truman’s conservationist tradition is unlikely to fade quietly.

Happy anniversary, Everglades National Park
Miami Herald editorial/ Dec 2
OUR OPINION: RESTORATION PLAN NEEDS BETTER STEWARDSHIP

Army Corps alters strategy on Everglades restoration
William Gibson/ Sun-Sentinel/ Dec 5
WASHINGTON - The Army Corps of Engineers has revised its plan for Everglades restoration to show quick results and help persuade Congress to pay for the project over several decades.

The Everglades at 60: Dazzling wildlife masks a bigger, not-so-pretty picture.
Curtis Morgan/ Miami Herald/ Dec 1
SNAKE BIGHT -- Sunrise. Late autumn. A fast-falling Florida Bay tide drains the mud banks of this big shallow basin near Flamingo, the end of the road in Everglades National Park.

Everglades water quality plan based on inadequate data, expert says
Randy Porch/ TCPalm/ Dec 1
STUART — A massive plan to restore the Everglades and Florida water quality is based on inadequate data, wetlands expert Paul N. Gray said Friday at a presentation to the Rivers Coalition.

Everglades stagnation
Palm Beach Post editorial/ Nov 30Letter: Do we really think WRDA will restore river, lake, lagoon? TCPalm letter/ Nov 29

Project May Swamp Sumica to Store Water
Tom palmer/ The Ledger/ Nov 27BARTOW South Florida water managers plan to use 1,920 acres of the Sumica environmental site to store 125 million gallons of water for its Everglades restoration plan.

Toughen mining rules
Palm Beach Post editorial/ Nov 27The South Florida Water Management District has caught on to the potential danger of rock mining in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Why can't Palm Beach County?

Water managers must give up polluting
DEXTER W. LEHTINEN/ Miami Herald/ Nov 23Re Eric Buermann's Nov. 20 Other Views article, Keep Florida's right to control its natural resources: The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has been given anti-pollution permitting responsibilities and the mission of restoring the Everglades.

Rising costs put Glades project in doubt
Florida Trend/ Nov 23The grim assessment came from Gary Hardesty, a top federal engineer in charge of the project, which has failed to live up to its ambitious promise since Congress approved it amid much public fanfare in 2000.

Who Lost America's Everglades?
Alan Farago/ Counterpunch/ Nov 22The question, then, who lost the Everglades?

Everglades Project Is Bogged Down
Brian Skoloff/ AP/ Nov 23WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The multibillion-dollar project to restore the Everglades has come to a near standstill, and the government can no longer estimate how much it will cost or how long it will take, the top federal official in charge of construction told The Associated Press.

EPA removes expert who criticized Everglades program
Craig Pittman/ St Pete Times/ Nov 19In 1999, when federal officials unveiled a plan for restoring the Everglades, Richard Harvey was there representing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For the next seven years, whenever there was a meeting to work out the details of repairing the River of Grass - and there were plenty - Harvey served as the EPA's expert.

New cleanup plan focuses on area north of Lake Okeechobee
Andy Reid/ Sun-Sentinel/ Nov 17Water managers on Friday laid out a new plan to reduce the pollution washing into Lake Okeechobee and eventually flowing to the Everglades.

Florida Seeks Input on Northern Everglades Restoration
Environment News Service/ Nov 16WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, November 16, 2007 (ENS) - Florida state scientists and engineers today released a draft technical plan to protect and restore the Lake Okeechobee watershed and improve the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds, together known as the Northern Everglades.

CORPS SLAMS FLORIDA FOR VIOLATING WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
PEER/ Nov 14Washington, DC — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refuses to contribute a dime to Florida water projects to reduce high levels of pollution flowing into and out of Lake Okeechobee, according to a memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The Corps claims the state is disqualified from federal assistance due to its continuing violation of minimum national water quality standards, noting that the state “is not likely to come into compliance for several decades.”

Water reuse: a solution to drought in the Florida wetlands
Bill frogameni/ Christian Science Monitor/ Nov 7West Palm Beach is sprinkling up to 10 million gallons of reclaimed water onto the marshy expanse each day.

Celebrate our victory, but know our job isn't finished
Maggy Hurchalla/ TC Palm/ Nov 12It’s not just about the WRDA approval. It’s not just about getting federal appropriations for the IRL Plan.It’s about comprehensive Everglades restoration.

Michael Peltier: Saunders hopes to end career with enviro bang
Michael Peltier/ Naples Daily News/ Nov 11TALLAHASSEE — With one legislative session left to go, Sen. Burt Saunders is attempting to go out with an environmental bang as he tries to build on successes of the past several years.

Writer: 'Glades Projects Stalled
The Ledger/ Nov 11This week Congress passed a $23 billion water resources bill over President Bush's veto, but don't expect Everglades restoration projects in the bill to start soon, the author of a book on the River of Grass said Saturday.

Masterpiece on the environment
Jack Davis/ Miami Herald/ Nov 11When Dade County relocated its public library to a new building in 1985, the last several hundred books were moved by a human chain. The Everglades: River of Grass, the last of them all, was carried by a runner like a torch.

Everglades win
News-Press editorial/ Nov 10The Everglades, long starved of money and attention by the federal government, finally saw its day this past week.

Override of Everglades bill a lesson for Bush, a benefit for Florida
Sun-Sentinel editorial/ Nov 9Congress voted to override a Bush veto — the first time for this president. That milestone is notable enough, but there's a more important message coming out of this bipartisan decision to defy the White House.

Congress overrides Bush veto; millions on way for Picayune Strand, Everglades restoration
Amie Parnes/ Naples Daily News/ Nov 8After more than seven years, the Water Resources Development Act — which includes more than $375 million in funding for the Picayune Strand Forest in Collier County and other Everglades restoration projects — became law Thursday after the U.S. Senate voted to override President Bush’s veto of the legislation.

Wild, beautiful, fragile Everglades
Bob Downing/ Akron Beacon Journal/ Nov 11Everglades National Park is a big, flat, swampy and often buggy place. It covers 1.5 million acres at the southern tip of Florida, only one hour from downtown Miami.

Last of Cape Sable sparrows on their own
Joel Moroney/ News-Press/ Nov 9The Cape Sable seaside sparrow will live and die in the Everglades without benefit of artificially lowering water during mating season now that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has altered its plan to save the tiny bird.

Major water act includes dollars for Everglades restoration
Brent Kallestad/ Herald Tribune/ Nov 8TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez joined 77 of their colleagues to hand President Bush his first veto override, enacting a $23 billion water resources bill that includes critical funding for restoring the Everglades and a handful of other Florida water projects.

Congress Overrides Bush Veto of Water Resources Development Act
Environment News Service/ Nov 8WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2007 (ENS) - Congress handed President George W. Bush the first veto defeat of his presidency today as the Senate approved the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act, WRDA, by a wide majority. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to override the president's veto on Tuesday.

Crist: Override president on WRDA
SV Date/ Palm Beach Post/ Nov 6“Failure to pass WRDA 2007 (Water Resources Development Act) will cause greater delays, increased costs and drastically hamper the restoration effort,” Crist wrote.

Congress may override veto to let money flow to Everglades restoration
William Gibson/ Sun-Sentinel/ Nov 3WASHINGTON - Determined to unleash federal funding for Everglades restoration, Florida leaders and environmental advocates predicted that Congress next week will override President Bush's veto of a bill that would authorize spending on hundreds of popular water projects around the country.

All wet
Tallahassee Democrat/ editorial/ Nov 5President Bush's veto Friday of a $23 billion water bill - more than $2 billion of which was earmarked for Everglades restoration and other Florida water projects - came as no surprise.

Effort to Save Everglades Falters as Funds Drop
Abby Goodnough/ NY Times/ Nov 1MIAMI, Oct. 31 — The rescue of the Florida Everglades, the largest and most expensive environmental restoration project on the planet, is faltering.