Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The First Biennial Review, 2006 (2007) / Chapter Skim
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. The CERP aims to achieve ecological restoration by reestablishing hydrologic characteristics as close as possible to their pre-drainage conditions in what remains of the Everglades ecosystem, recognizing that irreversible changes to the landscape make restoration to full pre-drainage conditions impossible.
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These delays have resulted from several factors, including budgetary restrictions and a project planning process that that can be stalled by unresolved scientific uncertainties. Restoration benefits from early water storage projects remain uncertain because decisions have not yet been made regarding water allo cations for the natural system.
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"foster compatibility of the built and natural systems." These goals encompass, but are not limited to, the CERP. The goal of the CERP, as stated in WRDA 2000, is "restoration, preservation, and protection of the South Florida Ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection." The Programmatic Regulations that guide implementation of the CERP further clarify this goal by defining restoration as "the recovery and protection of the South Florida ecosystem so that it once again achieves and sustains the essential hydrological and biological characteristics that defined the undisturbed South Florida ecosystem." These defining characteristics include a large areal extent of interconnected wetlands, extremely low concentrations of nutrients in freshwater wetlands, sheet flow, healthy and productive estuaries, resilient plant communities, and an abundance of native wetland animals.
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These include Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park (Mod Waters) and modification of the C-111 canal -- projects that will alter hydrologic patterns to more closely resemble pre-drainage conditions.
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Rapid population growth, with its attendant demands on land and water resources for development, water supply, flood protection, and recreation, only heightens the challenges facing the restoration efforts. Yet, despite new challenges and complexities, some positive examples of restoration progress offer hope that restoration is within reach given continued state and federal support.
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The Mod Waters and C-111 projects are non-CERP founda tion projects that are necessary prerequisites to the CERP. Mod Waters represents a first major step toward restoration of the WCAs and Everglades National Park and a valuable opportunity to learn about the response of the natural system to restoration of sheet flow.
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The CERP Adaptive Management Strategy provides a sound organizational model for the execution of a passive adaptive management program. The strategy should be implemented soon to test and refine the approach.
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Regardless of which adaptive management approach is used, it remains to be seen how willing decision makers will be to make significant alterations to project design and sequencing, as opposed to limiting adaptive management to making modest adjustments in the operation of CERP projects after their construction. A coordinated, multidisciplinary approach is required to improve mod eling tools and focus modeling efforts toward direct support of the CERP adaptive management process.
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The eight Acceler8 projects should provide ecological benefits primarily to the Lake Okeechobee region, the northern estuaries, the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Biscayne Bay. Expected restoration benefits to the WCAs and Everglades National Park largely come from one project -- the WCA 3A/B Seepage Management.
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The active land acquisition efforts should be continued, accompanied by monitoring and regular reporting on land conversion patterns in the South Florida ecosystem. Land management for a successful CERP depends on acquiring particular sites within the project area and protecting more general areas within the South Florida ecosystem that could help meet the broad restoration goals.
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From page 11... ...
Instead it reflects an incremental approach using steps that are large enough to provide some restoration benefits and address critical scientific uncertainties, but generally smaller than the CERP projects or project components themselves, since the purpose of the IAR is to take actions that promote learning and that can guide the remainder of the project design. The improved understanding that results from an IAR approach will provide the foundation for more rapidly advancing restoration benefits.
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A significant advantage of IAR over the present CERP adaptive management approach is that there may be early restoration benefits, as major restoration projects proceed incrementally in ways that enhance learn ing, improve efficiency of future actions, and potentially reduce long-term costs. The existing authorization and budgeting process can be modified to accommodate the IAR process.
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From page 13... ...
To help address the project planning concerns, the committee proposes an incremental adaptive-management-based approach, termed IAR, which can help resolve scientific uncertainties while enabling progress toward restoration goals. Finally, perhaps the largest challenge is maintaining the continued support of the coalition of stakeholders through the restoration process.
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