The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District announces a 30-day public comment period on the Draft Programmatic Agreement for the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project (LOWRP). Comments are due October 31, 2019.
The Programmatic Agreement will establish the process the Corps will follow for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservations Act, to take into account the potential effects of the specific Project phase or feature on historic properties. The agreement will be among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Review the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project Draft Programmatic Agreement at https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/12402
Please submit comments by October 31, 2019 to Meredith.A.Moreno@usace.army.mil.
Or by mail to:
Meredith Moreno
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District
P.O. Box 4970
Jacksonville, FL 32232-0019
The Draft Agreement is the product of multiple consultations with the Jacksonville District's federal, state, and tribal partners and is intended to address the identification and evaluation of historic properties and potential effects to historic properties arising from the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project.
The LOWRP is the only Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) project in development north of Lake Okeechobee designed to increase water storage capacity in the watershed in an effort to achieve ecologically desirable water levels in Lake Okeechobee, improve the quantity and timing of discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, restore degraded habitat for fish and wildlife throughout the study area, and increase the spatial extent and functionality of wetlands.
For more on the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project, visit: www.saj.usace.army.mil/LOWRP/
Release no. 19-071