Something as complex as restoring freshwater flows, providing ecological corridors between areas for wildlife, improving water quality, and reducing the number and severity of wildfires in an area the size of Rhode Island is complicated.
Now add to the mix that the area includes two Native American reservations, a national preserve, and inholders with rights to some of the 1,200 square mile area where those improvements are taking place, and the task becomes Herculean.
That’s what the members of the project delivery team for the Western Everglades Restoration Project are facing Feb. 28 when they kick off their first meetings since 2020.
“It falls basically into QQTD – quality, quantity, timing and distribution of the water,” said Steve Baisden, the WERP project manager for the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We’re trying to redistribute the water back across the landscape. We want to improve the quality, so we’ve got two stormwater treatment areas we are going to construct that will lower the nutrient levels in the water. We’ll remove or reduce some of the canals to allow the water to be redistributed. And that will of course impact the ground water, which will in turn reduce the intensity and frequency of the wildfires.”
The study looks for ways to use water management and quality features while making changes to existing canals and levees in an effort to meet four study objectives::
- Restoring freshwater flow paths, flow volumes & timing, seasonal hydroperiods, & historic distributions of sheetflow, to re-establish ecological connectivity and ecological resilience of the historic wetland/upland mosaic.
- Restoring water levels to reduce wildfires associated with altered hydrology, which damage the underlying geomorphology and associated ecological conditions of the western Everglades.
- Restoring aquatic low nutrient (oligotrophic) conditions to reestablish and sustain native flora & fauna.
Baisden said the complexity is increased because the stakeholders have legitimate concerns about how one of the few Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects for the western part of Florida will impact their property and daily lives.
That complexity is why the study, which began in 2016, has now been extended twice and faced the possibility of being terminated. There was a point where it appeared the project might be too complicated and couldn’t garner the support needed to get authorization for the project, said Virginia King, the WERP planning technical lead for the Jacksonville District.
“Because our stakeholders came together with us and said ‘we can’t have this project terminated. It’s too important. It has too many benefits.’ That’s why we are here today,” said King.
With the recent approval for an “exception” that allows the study to continue, the effort is back on track with a pretty clear timeline said Baisden.
The decision on a Tentatively Selected Plan is scheduled for Aug. 22 of this year, with a Chief’s Report to Congress targeting December 2023 to line up with potential authorization in 2024 if Congress passes a Water Resources Development Act that year.
The Jacksonville District will notify the public of the meetings through news releases, social media posts, and updates to the district website. Information on the project is available at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/WERP/
Something as complex as restoring freshwater flows, providing ecological corridors between areas for wildlife, improving water quality, and reducing the number and severity of wildfires in an area the size of Rhode Island is complicated.
Now add to the mix that the area includes two Native American reservations, a national preserve, and inholders with rights to some of the 1,200 square mile area where those improvements are taking place, and the task becomes Herculean.
That’s what the members of the project delivery team for the Western Everglades Restoration Project are facing Feb. 28 when they kick off their first meetings since 2020.
“It falls basically into QQTD – quality, quantity, timing and distribution of the water,” said Steve Baisden, the WERP project manager for the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We’re trying to redistribute the water back across the landscape. We want to improve the quality, so we’ve got two stormwater treatment areas we are going to construct that will lower the nutrient levels in the water. We’ll remove or reduce some of the canals to allow the water to be redistributed. And that will of course impact the ground water, which will in turn reduce the intensity and frequency of the wildfires.”
The study looks for ways to use water management and quality features while making changes to existing canals and levees in an effort to meet four study objectives::
- Restoring freshwater flow paths, flow volumes & timing, seasonal hydroperiods, & historic distributions of sheetflow, to re-establish ecological connectivity and ecological resilience of the historic wetland/upland mosaic.
- Restoring water levels to reduce wildfires associated with altered hydrology, which damage the underlying geomorphology and associated ecological conditions of the western Everglades.
- Restoring aquatic low nutrient (oligotrophic) conditions to reestablish and sustain native flora & fauna.
Baisden said the complexity is increased because the stakeholders have legitimate concerns about how one of the few Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects for the western part of Florida will impact their property and daily lives.
That complexity is why the study, which began in 2016, has now been extended twice and faced the possibility of being terminated. There was a point where it appeared the project might be too complicated and couldn’t garner the support needed to get authorization for the project, said Virginia King, the WERP planning technical lead for the Jacksonville District.
“Because our stakeholders came together with us and said ‘we can’t have this project terminated. It’s too important. It has too many benefits.’ That’s why we are here today,” said King.
With the recent approval for an “exception” that allows the study to continue, the effort is back on track with a pretty clear timeline said Baisden.
The decision on a Tentatively Selected Plan is scheduled for Aug. 22 of this year, with a Chief’s Report to Congress targeting December 2023 to line up with potential authorization in 2024 if Congress passes a Water Resources Development Act that year.
The Jacksonville District will notify the public of the meetings through news releases, social media posts, and updates to the district website. Information on the project is available at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/WERP/
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District on the district’s website at www.saj.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JacksonvilleDistrict and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JaxStrong.