Florida Seeking Everglades Restoration Input

Florida Seeking Everglades Restoration Input

November 2007 
 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. 
The "Draft Lake Okeechobee Watershed Construction Project Phase II 
Technical Plan" is a critical step in the Northern Everglades initiative 
to protect and improve the quality, quantity, timing and distribution of 
water delivered to Lake Okeechobee and downstream receiving waters. 
The multi-phased plan, developed by three state agencies, outlines the 
steps needed to reduce pollution, improve the health of the natural system 
north of the lake and clean water flowing into South Florida's "liquid 
heart." 
"This is a positive step forward in a long-term undertaking to restore 
Lake Okeechobee," said District Governing Board Chair Eric Buermann. "The 
state has collaborated with the constituents of South Florida to develop a 
cost-effective plan that will build upon the work already under way and 
make a measurable difference to the health of Lake Okeechobee, the 
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers and their estuaries." 
The technical plan identifies projects to improve the health of the 
Northern Everglades, along with agricultural and urban best management 
practices needed to achieve water quality targets for the lake.

In addition, it outlines projects for increasing water storage north of 
Lake Okeechobee that will help achieve healthier lake levels and reduce 
harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.
The plan includes short-term measures for implementation during the first 
three years of the plan and longer-term measures that will be put into 
operation post-2010. 
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of 
Agriculture and Consumer Services drafted the multi-phase plan together 
with the South Florida Water Management District. 
The plan recommends building treatment wetlands to clean water flowing 
into the lake and using other "innovative green nutrient control 
technologies" to reduce phosphorus loads in the watershed. 
Creating between 900,000 and 1.3 million acre-feet of water storage north 
of the lake through a combination of above-ground reservoirs, underground 
storage and alternative water storage projects on public and private lands 
is also recommended. 
The plan suggests implementing improved agricultural management practices 
on more than 1.3 million acres of farmland and finalizing regulations that 
will reduce the impacts of development on water quality and flow. 
Due to the Florida Legislature in February 2008, the technical plan is 
required by the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program 
signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist this year. 
In addition to augmenting and enhancing restoration under way in the 
remnant Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, the draft plan builds on the 
environmental improvements north of the lake as a part of the 
state-federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, CERP. 
Initial measures outlined by the technical plan call for an additional 
investment of up to $450 million beyond the state's 50 percent cost-share 
for land acquisition and construction projects as part of CERP. 
Since 2000, Florida has invested more than $3.8 billion to improve the 
quality and the natural flow of water in the Everglades. 
Water managers and the State agencies have worked closely with 
stakeholders to develop the second phase of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed 
Construction Project and are seeking public input on restoration measures 
outlined in the plan through December 13, 2007. 
Two public meetings were scheduled this month in Okeechobee and Clewiston 
where a summary of the draft technical plan will be presented followed by 
an opportunity for public comment: 
Tuesday, Nov. 27
6 pm to 8 pm
Okeechobee Civic Center
1750 Highway 98 North
Okeechobee, FL 34972 
Wednesday, Nov. 28
6 pm to 8 pm
Clewiston Recreation Department
110 West Osceola Ave.
Clewiston, FL 33440 
To review the technical plan or for more information on Everglades 
restoration, visit my.sfwmd.gov/northerneverglades 

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