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| Agencies sign agreement to build reservoir |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) entered into the latest in a series of landmark agreements to maintain progress and momentum on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
A project partnership agreement (PPA) was signed June 10 to allow construction of the first phase of a 1,600-acre water storage reservoir, the Site 1 Impoundment Project (Fran Reich Preserve). The reservoir, located adjacent to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Palm Beach County, will provide water storage that’s considered essential to restoring the Everglades historic health and viability.
Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert L. “Van” Van Antwerp, commended both the Corps and District staff for their strong partnership and dedication to protecting a national treasure. Van Antwerp was present at the SFWMD board meeting June 10 for the signing. He also spent several days touring restoration sites in south Florida, and met with a variety of representatives. He and other Corps leaders stated they were impressed by the commitment shown for Everglades restoration.
“The Site 1 partnership agreement took extraordinary effort by extraordinary people in the ‘big team,’ not just the Corps and SFWMD, but multiple agencies and partners,” said Col. Alfred Pantano, Jr., commander of the Corps Jacksonville District. Pantano praised the staff for their success in crafting a complex and detailed agreement. The PPA contains the many legal and technical conditions and requirements associated with project construction.
“The project is a great opportunity not only for the Everglades as a system, but for the refuge itself,” said Sylvia Pelizza, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project leader for the Loxahatchee Refuge. “The project increases our flexibility in managing water. It will allow us to capture and hold water so that we don't have to send it to tide when we have too much, and it will also be available during the dry season to recharge groundwater. We don't have to take water from the refuge for other purposes.”
A component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the Site 1 project will capture and store excess surface water runoff from the Hillsboro watershed as well as releases from the Loxahatchee Refuge and Lake Okeechobee. It will benefit the refuge, lake and the estuarine portion of the Hillsboro Canal, as well as supplement local water supply.
“Everglades restoration is dependent on ‘getting the water right’,” said Stu Appelbaum, deputy for the Corps’ Everglades Restoration Program. “This means getting water in the right quantity, quality, timing and distribution. To do this, we must add water storage capacity to the system. This reservoir will do exactly that.”
Located in the Hillsboro Canal basin in southern Palm Beach County, the project will supplement water deliveries to the Hillsboro Canal by capturing and storing excess water currently discharged to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. These supplemental deliveries will reduce demands on the Loxahatchee Refuge. The impoundment will also provide groundwater recharge, reduce seepage from adjacent natural areas, and prevent saltwater intrusion by releasing impounded water back to the Hillsboro Canal when conditions dictate.
The Corps of Engineers will construct the reservoir through two construction contracts. The Corps has initiated the contractor bidding process for the first, which is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Corps anticipates a contract award by Sept. 30 and groundbreaking in later 2010.
For additional information, please click here.
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| Public review period now open to incorporate new science into
Everglades restoration |
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) provides a framework and guide to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of central and southern Florida, including the Everglades. CERP was approved in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000. CERP includes more than 60 elements that will take more than 30 years to construct, and calls for Adaptive Management in order to incorporate new learning during the implementation of the plan.
Much has been learned about the Everglades and south Florida ecosystem since the Restudy, the process in the 1990s to develop CERP. As part of the Adaptive Management program for CERP, a Restoration Coordination and Verification (RECOVER) team has developed a Scientific Knowledge Gained (SKG) document. The document summarizes what has been learned since the Restudy, including information from monitoring and research, engineering, and modeling. The intent of the SKG document is to provide a factual, accessible scientific reference for managers, scientists, and all interested parties. The summaries are short and relatively easy to read, making them useful to managers and interested parties who may not have the time, resources, or the specialized knowledge needed to sort through primary scientific literature.
The SKG document is part of a larger effort called the 2010 Shared Definition of Everglades Restoration (Shared Definition). More information can be found in the Shared Definition Letter of Intent and FAQs.
The RECOVER team has opened a public review process and will hold two workshops to solicit input on the new scientific information in the SKG document. Workshops will be held July 14 and Aug. 4. Comments will be accepted through Aug. 26, 2010.
The first workshop will be held July 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Naples Grande Resort, 475 Seagate Drive, Naples, Fla. It is in Royal Palm 1 and 2. This workshop is separate and distinct from the GEER conference taking place at the same location, and is open to the public at no charge. The second workshop will be held Aug. 4 on the southeast coast of Florida. The time and location will be finalized shortly and posted here.
The draft SKG document is the read-ahead for the public workshops, and is available online for review and comment. The comment period opened June 28 and will close Aug. 26. To view the draft report, click here and scroll down the page for instructions.
The finalized document will constitute the first phase of the Shared Definition effort. The second phase, starting in 2011, will consist of formal meetings with agencies, stakeholder groups and the public to discuss CERP goals and targets in light of the new science, changing ecological conditions, stakeholder values, and updated policies. The third phase, starting in 2012, will apply the new information to the planning, implementation and operation of CERP.
To learn more, click here or contact Dave Tipple at david.a.tipple@usace.army.mil or 904-232-1375.
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| Restoration wrestles with agricultural chemical contamination |
Everglades restoration managers are facing a challenge that may have national policy implications. Many of the planned water storage reservoirs and stormwater treatment areas (STA) will be built on former agricultural fields. At the highest levels of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, the policy for addressing latent agrochemicals on restoration land is being reviewed.
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy described the issue as “complex, with potential national policy implications,” in a June 4 memo. Federal policy requires that the non-Federal sponsor fund and treat onsite contamination.
The origin of most contaminants on agricultural lands planned for Everglades restoration projects can be traced back to either the pre-World War II use of pesticides that contained metals-based poisons such as copper arsenate and lead arsenate, or the subsequent use of organo-chlorine pesticides such as DDT.
Levels of organochemicals (organic chemicals) on these lands don’t typically exceed regulatory limits for agricultural use, nor do they pose threats to human health and safety. Nevertheless, soil treatment is required to reduce ecological risk in the new aquatic environments that will provide habitat for fish and wildlife, including those protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The Corps and the SFWMD recently agreed upon a soil management plan for organochemical contaminants on the Indian River Lagoon-South C-44 reservoir location in Martin County. The plan stipulates that the Corps can incorporate soils containing agricultural chemicals into project construction, provided that the SFWMD pays 100 percent of the added cost of handling and placing soils. Additional requirements include that the SFWMD obtains regulatory approval, demonstrates cost-efficiency, addresses engineering risks, and provides the Corps with an indemnification agreement.
Of the approximately 12,000 acres needed for construction of the C-44 Reservoir/STA, approximately 2,000 acres involve soils containing low levels of copper and other legally applied chemicals.
Still under consideration is the SFWMD’s request that the Federal government share the cost of agrochemical treatment for future CERP projects for which PIRs are not complete. According to Darcy, “the matter is being discussed intently within the Civil Works program. The subject is very complex and represents a major change in current policy.”
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| Corps commander tours south Florida |
The commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert L. “Van” Van Antwerp, toured Everglades restoration projects in June and met with key partners.
Van Antwerp made an unprecedented visit June 9 to 11 that included a helicopter tour of the greater Everglades ecosystem, an airboat tour with the Miccousukee Tribe in Water Conservation Area 3, and a boat and walking tour of Everglades National Park. He met with leaders and senior staff from the Miccousukee Tribe of Indians, South Florida Water Management District, U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and representatives of the environmental community.
Van Antwerp stated that Everglades restoration is one of two national environmental restoration priorities of the Corps. “You are on everybody’s map,” he said to the public and leadership at the SFWMD June 10. “You will go down in history.” He also pledged to speed the Federal process.
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| Corps briefs local leaders and public about releases to coastal estuaries |
Col. Alfred A. Pantano, Jr. and Corps staff briefed elected officials and the public in May on the discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the coastal estuaries, and have several more briefings planned this summer.
At the start of this year’s hurricane season, the lake level was 2 feet higher than desired. As a result, the Corps is discharging lake water to sea through the coastal estuaries, and this is expected to continue. “Public safety is the Corps’ top priority,” Pantano said. However, he also cares deeply for the natural environment and said the Corps is working to reduce discharges in the years ahead through CERP and other programs.
Presentations were made in Broward, Hendry, Lee, Martin, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties. For more information, click here.
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| Hip-hop DVD promotes Everglades restoration |
The Corps of Engineers has partnered with three young, talented musicians to produce an original song about Everglades restoration. “To the Everglades” describes the impressions of the three middle school students after their first visit to Everglades National Park. It encourages people to work together to restore the ecosystem.
The DVD debuted at the Paxon Middle School Eco-Awareness and Career Fair in April, which is the school in Jacksonville the students attend. It is now on YouTube, the CERP web site and other web sites.
It is hoped this and other outreach products will reach inner city youth and their parents with a positive environmental message.
For more information, please call 305-948-8063.
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