Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades The Ninth Biennial Review - 2022 (2023) / Chapter Skim
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3 Restoration Progress
3 Restoration Progress
Pages 39-112
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Project Authorization Once project planning is complete, CERP projects with costs exceeding $25 million must be individually authorized by Congress before they can receive federal appropriations. Water Resources Development Acts (WRDAs)
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, which authorized the Loxahatchee Watershed Restoration Project and combined the EAA Storage Reservoir and the CEPP into a single project. Authorized CERP projects are sometimes classified by the WRDA bills in which they were authorized -- Generation 1 (WRDA 2007)
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. The $1.1 billion of CERP funding provided by the IIJA is to • initiate and fully fund construction of the Broward County WPA C-11 Impoundment feature, which must be sequenced before certain CEPP features;1 • initiate and fully fund construction of the IRL-South C-23/24 North Reservoir feature; • initiate and fully fund construction of the CEPP South S-356 Pump Station feature; and 1 This section was altered after prepublication release of the report to clarify the CEPP sequencing requirements.
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• complete the project implementation reports for Biscayne Bay and South eastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (BBSEER) and the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP)
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5) authority 2013, operations WRDA 2000 ongoing GENERATION 2 CERP PROJECTS C-111 Spreader Canal (Western)
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14) 2013 2029 Submitted to Authorized in Not begun Congress, 2020 WRDA 2020 CERP PROJECTS IN PLANNING Lake Okeechobee Watershed (Fig.
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EAA = Everglades Agricultural Areas, IDS = Integrated Delivery Schedule, NA = not applicable., STA = stormwater treatment area, WCA = Water Conservation Area, WPA = Water Preserve Area, WRDA = Water Resources Development Act, WRRDA = Water Resources Reform and Development Act The table was modified after release of the prepublication version of the report to include all relevant recent contract award dates. SOURCES: Data from NASEM, 2021; Parrott, 2022a; SFERTF, 2021; USACE, 2021a; Vélez, 2022a.
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46 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-3 Locations and status of CERP projects and pilot projects. NOTES: EAA = Everglades Agricultural Area, STA = stormwater treatment area.
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Both amounts would eclipse the previous records for state funding of $645 million for CERP efforts set in FY 2007 and $1.2 billion for non-CERP efforts in FY 2010. State CERP funding is focused on several CERP projects including the C-43 West Basin Storage Reservoir, BBCW, the CEPP EAA Reservoir and associated projects, IRL-South, the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project (LOWRP)
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The implementation status of CERP projects is shown in Table 3-1, with pending unplanned projects in Table 3-2. The discus sions of progress that follow are organized based on geography and describe CERP projects, CERP projects in planning, and systemwide operational plans for • northern estuaries and Lake Okeechobee, • central and western Everglades, and • southern estuaries.
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- Lake Okeechobee Aquifer Storage and Recovery (GG) PENDING MAJOR UNPLANNED CERP COMPONENTS C-43 Basin ASR (D Phase 2)
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Northern Estuaries and Lake Okeechobee Substantial work is under way in the northern Everglades and Lake Okeechobee to effect restoration progress. This work includes two CERP projects in progress, one CERP project in planning, and development of a new regulation schedule for Lake Okeechobee.
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The Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary are biologically diverse estuaries located on the east side of the Florida Peninsula, where ecosystems have been impacted by factors similar to those that have impacted the Caloosahatchee River Estuary -- surges of freshwater from Lake Okeechobee and canals in the watershed and polluted runoff from farmlands and urban areas (USACE, 2021b)
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wells, and several structures related to connectivity in the southern part of the watershed. Together the project components are expected to deliver 98 per cent of the wet season restoration flow target and 91 percent of the dry season restoration flow target in the Northwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River (USACE and SFWMD, 2020a)
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. The LOWRP is projected to provide a much smaller increment of additional storage north of Lake Okeechobee relative to that originally envisioned under
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Compared to the FWO scenario, Alt-ASR is forecast to reduce high flow and extreme high flow frequencies within the Caloosahatchee Estuary by 11 and 7 percent, respectively.2 Similar reductions in high-flow frequency are anticipated for the St. Lucie Estuary.3 By lowering the frequency, 2 High flow and extreme high flow criteria for the Caloosahatchee Estuary are defined as a mean monthly discharge of 2,800 to 4,500 cubic feet per second (cfs)
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. The benefits of Alt-ASR were estimated from model simulations that invoke the current Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS 2008)
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Army Corps of Engineers to address uncertainties in ASR implementation at the scale anticipated by the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan (SFWMD and USACE, 2021)
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are regulated by water control structures. Water levels are controlled, in part, through a regulation schedule, which sets operational criteria for structures used to manage releases from Lake Okeechobee (Figure 3-6)
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3. "Improve water supply performance" (with emphasis on water supply to the Lake Okeechobee Service Area, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Lower East Coast Service Area)
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NOTES: AB = algal bloom, CRE = Caloosahatchee River Estuary, ENV = environment, LECSA = Lower East Coast Service Area, LOSA = Lake Okeechobee Service Area, SLE = St. Lucie Estuary, STOF = Seminole Tribe of Florida.
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NOTES: LOK = Lake Okeechobee, LOWSM = Lake Okeechobee Water Shortage Management.
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. Under the LOSOM draft preferred alternative regulation schedule (Figure 3-7)
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. The near-term restoration benefits of several ongoing CERP and non-CERP projects rely on the water deliveries provided under LOSOM.
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The Western Everglades Restoration Project is currently in planning. CERP Projects in Progress or Completed Picayune Strand Restoration Project.
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This levee is intended to reduce flood risk to the agricultural lands to the west of the project and is not anticipated to be completed until 2025. Because of the staged plugging of drainage canals, the degree of hydrologic restoration varies both spatially and temporally.
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in Picayune Strand was expanded southward after the filling of the Eastern Stair-step Canal, and the partially restored area (green shading) was expanded after 3 miles of canal plugging at the north end of the Faka Union Canal from 2019 to 2021.
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Other Project Phase Status Tamiami Trail State NA NA 17 culverts constructed Completed in 2007 Culverts Prairie Canal Phase State 64 30 7 Hydrologic restoration of Plugging and road removal (expedited) 11,000 acres in Picayune completed in 2007; logging Strand and 9,000 acres trams removed in 2012 in Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve Park Merritt Canal Federal 65 16 8.5 Merritt pump station, Completed in 2015; pump Phase spreader basin, and tie- station transferred to the back levee constructed SFWMD in 2016 Faka Union Canal Federal 81 11 7.6 Faka Union pump Roads removed in 2013; pump Phase station, spreader basin, station completed in 2017; and tie-back levee upper 3 miles canal plugging constructed completed in 2021.
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This report focuses on recent information obtained during the past 2 years on hydrologic and vegetation outcomes. Following the 2015 plugging of the Merritt Canal, hydroperiods are longer and water levels have generally shifted higher (Bonness et al., 2022)
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, located in a wet prairie habitat that was partially restored in 2006 and fully restored in 2015; SGT2W4 (or 2-4) , located in a habitat of hydric flatwoods in an area that was partially restored in 2015; and SGT2W3 (or 2-3)
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Some of the natural factors contributing to the variability are the year-to-year variability in the magnitude, timing, and location of rainfall events and the consequences of wildfires, which affect only parts of the project area. Variation in sampling dates (e.g., in the wet or dry seasons)
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. WAI on reference transects was stable or decreasing between 2005 and 2020 (cypress change = -0.029, p = 0.42; pineland change = -0.046, p = 0.14; wet prairie change = -0.006, p = 0.84)
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The canal system was constructed in the 1960s, expanding upon a remnant canal built to transport solid fuel moon rockets from the AeroJet General Corporation. Originally designed to provide flood protection in Dade County, the C-111 Canal spurred agricultural development on lands to the east while draining water from the Southern Glades and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park.
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. The C-111 SCW Project creates a 6-mile hydraulic ridge along the eastern boundary of Everglades National Park to reduce seepage from the park and improve the hydrologic conditions of Taylor Slough.
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It is encouraging that periphyton across Taylor Slough does not show significant signs of phosphorus FIGURE 3-16 Daily water levels at Taylor Slough Bridge (TSB) for water years (WY)
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and Everglades National Park to Florida Bay while reducing harmful discharges to the northern estuaries, and it is designed to improve the timing and distribution of flow in the central Everglades (SFWMD, 2018a; USACE, 2020b)
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Restoration Progress 75 FIGURE 3-17 Surface-water stages at monitoring gage site EPSW in the Southern Glades for 1993-1997 (blue) , which represented very wet conditions; 2016-2021 (black)
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Two features -- removal of 5.45 miles of the old Tamiami Trail and construction of the S-333N Gated Spillway -- have been completed. The former eliminates a barrier to flows from WCA-3 into Everglades National Park, and the latter increases capacity to reduce high water levels in WCA-3A by moving higher flows to Everglades National Park during the wet season (Figure 3-19)
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Restoration Progress 77 FIGURE 3-19 CEPP features. SOURCE: Modified from Waugh, 2020.
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. This project is designed to reduce seep age from Northeast Shark River Slough into the 8.5 Square Mile Area, thereby 12 The water quality–based effluent limit (WQBEL)
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Restoration Progress 79 FIGURE 3-20 Location of the 4.9-mile CEPP New Water seepage barrier, adjacent to the 2.3-mile seepage barrier currently under construction by the SFWMD. The combined seepage barrier along the 8.5 Square Mile Area would end 1.6 miles from the end of the 5-mile Rock Miners Seepage Wall.
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Although the recently completed components of CEPP South may be beginning to make small contributions to the changes in hydrology associated with the COP, overall the CEPP is in the early stage of construction and thus it is too soon to assess the restoration benefits of the project. Melaleuca Eradication and Other Exotic Plants Project.
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The water hyacinth planthopper (Megamelus scutellaris) was released by the CERP project between 2010 and 2013, and best practices for its integration with herbicidal control are being studied by a project funded by the USDA.
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CERP Projects in Planning: Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP) Planning for WERP (Figure 3-3, No.
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If this timeline were met, WERP could be authorized as early as 2024. Systemwide Operational Plans: The Combined Operational Plan The COP is a comprehensive, integrated water control plan that defines the operations of the constructed features of the recently completed Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park (Mod Waters)
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84 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-22 Components of Alt-Hr, the currently proposed WERP tentatively selected plan. SOURCE: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/WERP/.
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Restoration Progress 85 FIGURE 3-23 The non-CERP Modified Water Deliveries and C-111 South Dade projects, the Rock Miners seepage barrier (dark red in the figure) , and the CERP C-111 Spreader Canal Project all contribute to increased flows in Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park.
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. First, raising the Tamiami Trail and bridg ing extensive portions of it enables increased flows into Northeast Shark River Slough and Everglades National Park, and much more of it as sheet flow (see Box 3-2)
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when the COP became fully operational in 2020. Early indications are that flows across the Tamiami Trail into Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park will be increased significantly under the COP compared to previous water management plans (Figure 3-25)
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SOURCE: Vélez, 2022b. Slough compared to Western Shark River Slough, better matching historic pat terns.
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. The red arrows demarcate the water management plans that governed water flows through these pathways from 1940 to 2020.
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-- and two more in WY 2022. However, these constraints promise to be greatly reduced by the construction of a seepage bar rier along the boundary between the 8.5 Square Mile Area and Northeast Shark River Slough (Figure 3-20)
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. Because of increased flows to Northeast Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough, the COP is expected to increase hydroperiods in the adjacent marl prairie areas.
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, compared to the stage at S-333, reflecting the stage of southern WCA-3A. High total phosphorus concentrations in the dry season resulted in an exceedance of water quality limits when dry season flows were relatively high in WY 2019 and WY 2021, but not in WY 2018 and WY 2020 when dry season flows were negligible.
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that are outside the historical boundaries of the subpopulation. Further hydroperiod changes are expected under the CEPP, which will provide increased flows to Northeast Shark River Slough (FWS, 2014; USACE, 2014a)
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The available evidence suggests that this is the case, for both hydrology and the changes in vegetation representing the anticipated ecological response to altered hydrology that impacts sparrow habitat suitability. Available vegetation mapping and hydroperiod data enable a comparison between average conditions during the incremental testing phase of the COP (data have been collected in 2017-2020 for Shark River Slough and in 2018 for Taylor Slough)
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Restoration Progress 95 FIGURE 3-30 Change in 4-year mean discontinuous hydroperiod between 2003-2005 and 2017-2020 survey periods at vegetation survey sites in CSSS subpopulations A, B, C, E, and F
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, almost no conversion of wet prairie to marsh has occurred (Figure 3-31) and the birds occupy the full range of wet prairie habitats (Figure 3-32)
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Restoration Progress 97 FIGURE 3-31 Change in vegetation types in habitat in CSSS subpopulations A, B, C, E, and F between 2003-2005 and 2017-2020 surveys. NOTES: M-M = one marsh vegetation type to another marsh vegetation type, M-WP = marsh vegetation type to wet prairie vegetation type, WP-M = wet prairie vegetation type to marsh vegetation type, WP-WP = one wet prairie vegetation type to another wet prairie vegetation type.
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98 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-32 Map showing the vegetation types at the CSSS census sites surveyed between 2017 and 2020 and the number of birds observed at each point during the annual sparrow surveys over 3 years (2017-2019)
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under the COP on marl prairie habitats in Everglades National Park occupied by CSSS. Thus, there is evidence of progress in producing the desired hydrologic and ecological restoration benefits in this portion of the central Everglades.
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100 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-33 Vegetation types in the habitat of CSSS subpopulation D in (A)
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The footprint of Phase 1 of the BBCW Project is small; its goals are to restore about 400 acres of freshwater wetlands and increase water flows in another approximately 2,000 acres in three geographically distinct components: the Deering Estate Component, just north of the Biscayne Bay National Park, and the Cutler Wetlands and L-31E Flowway Components, portions of which are within the national park (Figure 3-34)
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102 Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades FIGURE 3-34 Biscayne Bay Phase 1 Coastal Wetlands Project locations. SOURCE: Charkhian, 2022a.
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The S-700 pump station on the C-100A Spur Canal within Deering Estate is designed to restore historic freshwater flows through the Cutler Drain Slough and into the coastal wetlands, reducing near-shore salinity. The hydrologic goal was to redirect up to 100 cfs of water from the C-100A Spur Canal to the coastal wetlands (Figure 3-35)
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. In WY 2020 and WY 2021, the S-700 pump station diverted 30,951 and 36,948 AF to the coastal wetlands that would have otherwise been discharged through the S-123 structure (Charkhian, 2022b)
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, although by the committee's next report, the effects of the new pump stations on wetland and near-shore salinity should be apparent. CERP Projects in Planning: Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration The ultimate goal of the BBSEER Project is ecosystem restoration of wetland and near-shore habitats in Biscayne Bay, Card Sound, Barnes Sound, the Model Lands, Southern Glades, and other wetlands adjacent to these water bodies consisting of low-lying marl prairie, sawgrass wetlands, and mangroves.
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The Yellow Book project envisioned canals, pumps, water control structures, and an in-ground storage reservoir with a total capacity of approximately 90,000 AF located in Miami-Dade County. The Yellow Book design described a 4,500-acre reservoir with water level fluctuations up to 20 feet below grade.
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Restoration Progress 107 FIGURE 3-37 BBSEER Project footprint with locations of Yellow Book projects integrated into the planning effort. SOURCE: Foster, 2021.
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Timing and distribution of flow sources to Biscayne Bay; 7. Resiliency (see Chapter 5, Box 5-3)
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, is rehydrating Northeast Shark River Slough and appears to be facilitating increased flow into Everglades National Park. The rehydration of Northeast Shark River Slough represents the largest step yet toward restoring the hydrology and ecology of the central Everglades.
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. The new System Operating Manual for Lake Okeechobee gen erally retains upper lake stages similar to those of LORS 2008, which lowered lake stages to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of the Herbert Hoover Dike.
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, a mid-course assessment of expected CERP outcomes that accounts for newly identified constraints in storage and incorporates the latest climate change science would inform future management decisions regarding restoration planning, funding, sequencing, and adaptive management. The SFWMD has implemented a rigorous approach to address uncertainties associated with ASR in the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan.
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