Environmental Issues

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) A Look at the Picayune Strand Project
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is an ambitious restoration plan compiled in a 3500 page dossier. It was released in its final form on April 1, 1999 by the Army Corp of Engineers with the sole purpose of bringing the Everglades back to life. In its implementation, pilot projects were required on which many of the major restorations ultimately depended. The slow response by the federal government in meeting its 50 stake in funding these numerous pilots had slowed down the restoration project. However, some projects have finally been started and one such project is the Picayune Strand restoration project (Pryor, 2005).

Picayune Strand is an area in South Florida known to be a habitat for panthers and other fauna. The Picayune Strand area is identified as a key component of the CERP because according to Gromnicki (cited in Pryor, 2005) the Picayune project has the potential of enlarging the area of what is left of the Everglades by a substantial 170,000 acres. This makes the commencement of the Picayune project a landmark event in the restoration of the Everglades. Time is of the essences as Pryor (2005) notes that 2200 species stand to substantially benefit from a larger Everglades should the Picayune project be successfully completed. Even though this is the case delays could put the overall restoration plan in real peril.

The Picayune Strand restoration broke ground on January 7, 2010. It involves the restoration of 85 square miles of land in western Collier county that were apparently drained in the 1960s by the federal government in order to create room for housing developments. The proposed developments failed to come to fruition leaving the land parched and dry. The restoration plans to change this by reducing over-drainage and restoring a natural and beneficial sheet flow of water (U.S. Army Corp of Engineers).

The Picayune Strand restoration entails the plugging of 48 miles of canal that were dug to provide flood protection for a residential development that had earlier been planned for the area. The land for this restoration was actually purchased back by the federal government. The project entails using pump stations in order to control the water flow in the area. This is for flood protection of the surrounding areas that are not part of the project and also for directing fresh water to drained wetlands.

The project will also remove 227 miles of crumbling roads and commence management of non-native vegetation in the area. This will result in numerous benefits for the restoration. Ground water recharge will be restored and with it unnatural fresh water land flows will be substantially reduced. These two benefits will feature an improved estuarine water quality.

The project will also have a significant impact on the Florida panther population as the area will be used by white tailed deer populations which form the panther principal prey along with feral hogs. These trends were predicted by a report called Biological Opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A comprehensive list of the projects benefits are

Improve aquifer recharge to protect water supply
Restore and enhance fish and wildlife resources including threatened and endangered species
Maintain existing level of flood protection for Northern Golden Gate Estates and Adjacent private properties
Reduce drainage of the adjacent Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve
Reduce or eliminate over-drainage of adjacent sensitive ecosystems
Reduce fresh water releases to improve the health and productivity of downstream estuaries
Preserve upland habitat
Control evasive exotic plants
Improve water quality of storm water run-off
Provide resource based recreational opportunities (U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, 2010)

A major goal of the restoration plan is to get the water right according to Pryor (2005). A lot of water, about one trillion gallons, flow straight through the region that is the Everglades right into the ocean every year. The plan is to harvest the water in injection wells and distribute if to the Everglades as well as surrounding communities (Pryor, 2005). This method has apparently become the restoration blueprint of the world and has been used in Brazil and Africa.

The Picayune strand project has been long in coming. Earlier rhetoric by the federal government had resulted in little constructive action leading to the ire of many an environmentalist keen to see this project commence (Layzer, 2008). The particular election of Jeb Bush to Governor of Florida was cited as contributing to a delay even though he among many other government officials had pledged support for the Everglades restoration. This is therefore a great triumph for many who have been waiting for the Picayune project to begin.