Restore in 2004!

Two major Everglades restoration project plans have recently been completed and are on the way to Congress for review and authorization. If authorized and completed, the combined projects will restore over 250 square miles of Everglades habitat, provide much needed seasonal water storage for the Everglades ecosystem, and restore habitat for species such as the endangered Florida panther, black bears, endangered wood storks, and a wide array of native plants.

Send a letter to your Congressperson and let them know that you do not want restoration delayed! Congress must authorize critical Everglades restoration projects in 2004!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

This year Congress will have the opportunity to review and authorize two major Everglades restoration projects. Public support for Everglades restoration remains high and it is now in the hands of Congress to move these key projects forward. The Everglades ecosystem continues to decline, but solutions are on the table waiting for your authorization.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature took action to secure Florida's share of Everglades funding last year. It is now time for Congress to step up to the plate and begin the federal role by authorizing key projects that must move forward now!

These projects are: the Indian River Lagoon Project, and the Southern Golden Gate Estates Hydrologic Restoration Project. Together, these projects will restore over 250 square miles of Everglades ecosystem, and are immediately necessary due to encroaching urban development, escalating costs of delay, and impending estuarine collapse.

Please do not leave Washington this year with important business for the Everglades remaining unfinished. Please take immediate steps to secure the authorization of these projects so Everglades restoration can really move forward.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 05, 2004

Background Information

The restoration plan for America's Everglades is now four years into the anticipated thirty that it will take to complete this epic public works project. Two major Everglades restoration projects contain close to half of the total land area of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) - 250 square miles - and should be scheduled for authorization by Congress in 2004.

Each of these projects will reverse harmful drainage patterns, increase water storage essential to Everglades restoration, and restore and protect wildlife habitat, home to dozens of threatened and endangered species.

The Indian River Lagoon Project will restore 145 square miles of habitat, reversing the deterioration of and restore a nationally significant and unique living system connecting Lake Okeechobee to one of the most diverse estuaries in North America. Restoring, cleaning up, and enhancing the area's wetlands and waterways increases the extent of natural storage and limits the dumping of harmful stormwater into Lake Okeechobee, the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary. These water bodies will benefit enormously by land acquisition and improvements for stormwater retention and water storage and by changing the current pattern of canal and dike drainage.

The Southern Golden Gates Estates Hydrologic Restoration Project will restore 113 square miles (72,320 acres) of Southwest Florida that was ditched and drained for a sprawling development to its previous condition. Efforts to restore this area's unique ecology of cypress, wet prairie, pine, hardwood hammock and swamp have been underway for decades. The project is connected to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, the Belle Meade State Conservation and Recreation Lands Project Area, the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, and will restore flows to the Ten Thousand Island Estuaries and Aquatic Preserve through sheetflow and flow-ways. The State of Florida has already acquired more than 90% of the 60,000 acres needed for the project. The restoration benefits of this project are too long overdue and critically needed.

These two projects demonstrate large-scale ecosystem restoration. These projects also require intensive and significant acquisition of land under significant development pressure - delay could result in failure. If authorized in 2004, these projects will result in significant ecosystem restoration early in implementation.