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Money Earmarked for Everglades Restoration Sets One-Year Record

WGCU, March, 26. 2024

Unpopping the cork: This is one of two bridges built to raise several miles of Old Tamiami Trail, also known as U.S. 41, from ground level to atop a bridge some 20 feet above the water. By doing so, engineers are opening pathways for water through a roadway that acted essentially as a dam with two lanes on top for vehicles traveling from Naples to Miami; the mile or two under the bridges now allows the River of Grass to flow naturally to the south on its way to Florida Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, restoring many rare and important ecosystems along the way that have been parched for decades


Lawmakers at the state and federal levels have earmarked a combined $1.165 billion for the next 12 month's worth of work restoring the Florida Everglades.


The amount sets a record for how much money taxpayers are willing to spend in one year on the restoration, and shines bright on the consensus Americans have to protect and restore the once-on-a-planet ecosystem.


"The Everglades has never seen this type of funding at these levels. And that's great," said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive of The Everglades Foundation. "But it's also at a critical time, the momentum that we're seeing right now can only be sustained with these types of dollars."


Multi-billions, multi-decades

In 2000, Congress gave the Army Corps an $8.2 billion budget and a 30-year mandate to undo the environmental disaster it and fortune-seeking businessmen created throughout South Florida's Everglades region.


The money was woefully inadequate; the time was far too short.


Now in 2024 and six years before the original completion date, the Army Corps has said it needs more money and more time. The agency says it will take at least another $1.63 billion and two more decades — but nobody can guarantee when the restoration will be complete, and at what cost.


The record one-year spending for the fiscal year 2024-25 is composed of $425 million from Congress for Everglades restoration in the budget signed by President Biden last weekend and more than $740 million Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has now approved.


“These critical investments mean that we can keep moving the needle forward on Everglades restoration, which is vital to Florida’s water-based tourism economy and the environment that supports it, said Anna Upton, chief executive of the Everglades Trust. "Our state and Floridians are fortunate to have strong leadership in support of Everglades restoration. It is because of them that we’re seeing such high levels of Everglades funding and that significant progress is being made toward restoration.”



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