CERP Adaptive Assessment and Monitoring (C)

May 2023

FACT SHEET

COMPREHENSIVE EVERGLADES RESTORATION PLAN
Adaptive Assessment and Monitoring

Construction (C)
Congressional Districts: 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

1. DESCRIPTION

Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000. Section 601(h)(3) of WRDA 2000 defines the requirement for Programmatic Regulations. The Programmatic Regulations (§385.11) require monitoring and assessment, as necessary, to assess the effectiveness of the projects and to provide information that will be used for the adaptive management program. The Programmatic Regulations charge the Restoration, Coordination and Verification (RECOVER) program with developing and implementing the monitoring and assessment plan (MAP). The MAP is essential to determining the success of CERP and is an integral component of the CERP Adaptive Management (AM) Program.

The purpose of the Adaptive Assessment and Monitoring (AA&M) Program is to develop and implement an appropriate ecological monitoring program to establish pre-restoration environmental conditions and track and define ecological response as restoration progresses. The AA&M program provides the science perspective necessary to prudently ensure projects meet intended objectives and to guide planning, design, and operations in order to maximize benefits to the natural system. The Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP) is the primary tool by which the RECOVER program assesses CERP. The scientific and technical information generated from MAP implementation is organized to provide a process for RECOVER to evaluate CERP performance and system responses and to produce assessment reports and System Status Reports describing and interpreting the responses. The overarching goal for implementation of the MAP is to have a single, integrated, monitoring and assessment plan that will be used and supported by all participating agencies and tribal governments as the means of tracking and measuring CERP.

2. FUNDING

Estimated Total Cost $174,800,000
Estimated Federal Cost $87,400,000
Allocation thru FY22 $97,169,000
Allocation for FY23 $5,477,000
President’s Budget FY24 $5,000,000

 

3. SPONSOR

South Florida Water Management District 
3301 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, Florida 33406

4. STATUS

Implementation of the monitoring and assessment agreements will continue yearly to provide hydrological, water quality, and ecological data for the geographic modules (Lake Okeechobee, Northern Estuaries, Greater Everglades, the Southern Coastal, and Southwest Florida Systems) and the entire ecosystem. Monitoring data, analyses, and assessment information obtained from project agreements is utilized by RECOVER to develop planning tools, assess interim goals, and make Adaptive Management recommendations to projects during planning, design, construction, and operation.