Everglades Restoration

PRESENTED BY JORDAN BOLAN

The Problem
FLORIDAS EVERGLADES ARE
CONTINUING A STEADY DECLINE DUE TO
THE NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES OF
HUMAN ACTIVITY.

What has happened?

Humans altered the landscape of South Florida to

promote the needs of agriculture and urbanization

The Everglades, once a vast marsh consisting of over
two million acres of flowing wetlands had been
manipulated and dried down too little over one
million acres by the 1970s

Continues to diminish at a rate of about five acres a day

The Everglades Today

The Everglades now consists of three water

conservation areas, stormwater treatment areas, the

Big Cypress National Preserve and the National Park.
The water in the Everglades is regulated and
pumped to a great degree through channels, which
has disrupted the natural regulation of nutrients.

Also, the natural flow of the water through the state leading to
the Everglades has been changed as the Central and South
Florida Flood Control Project (C&SFP) has had to make the
area more habitable

What has caused this issue?

The waters of the Kissimmee River and Lake

Okeechobees watershed do not run naturally

Kissimmee Rivers form was altered
Lake Okeechobee was diked and its waters are
controlled by an intricate coordination of channels
and pumps

This disrupts the natural ebb and flow

Excessive amounts of nutrients are streamlined into Lake
Okeechobee, a problem termed eutrophication

Eutrophication
A term used to refer to the nutrient enrichment of

waterways
The Eutrophication occurring in the Everglades and
its watershed has reached dangerous levels
Due to the run off from agricultural and urban areas.
The phosphorous and nitrates accumulation is
particularly troubling

High organic nutrient levels fuel the influx of invasive plant life
Loss of habitat as dominant flora altered, particularly for the
fifty six endangered or threatened species that live in the
everglades

The phosphorous and

nitrates accumulation
has led to algae
blooms. An algae
bloom will remove
oxygen from the
water environment.

Caloosahatchee Algae Bloom

Trouble Beyond the Fauna and Flora

Due to the changing landscape of the aquatic

ecosystem, the organic, coveted soils of South

Florida are drying up and oxidizing.
Who does this hurt?

The Biscayne aquifer

The agriculture business in the area

Agriculture is a main contributor to the pollution levels, and yet

they also have only around 50 years left until they lose the usable,
previously fertile land they rely on

Population and land use in South Florida

South Florida population: 6.5 million which is 45% of

the states population living in 31% of the States land

The number of permanent residents in region for
2020 is projected to be 8.2 million
Between 1950 and 2000 south Floridas population
grew 800%
Between 1950 and 2000 the urban land use increased
from 2.2 to 13.3%.
Between 1950 and 2000 Agricultural land increased
from 9.5 to 27.8%

Florida has lost 9.3 million acres of wetlands in the last 200 years

Possible Policy Considered

Increase outreach to the populace of Florida

So they understand the programs their taxes are supporting

and why it is so important for them to stand and vote with the
projects to protect the Everglades and its waterways

Strengthen regulation that prohibits development on

the wetlands

Cocohatchee Slough has been the subject of some

environmental challenges

Increase the tax on agribusinesses for their

phosphorous runoff.

Solution: Increase Tax on Externality

Legislation in Florida exists which taxes the negative

externality of phosphorous from its major contributor,

agribusiness. This tax helps fund the restoration
projects while simultaneously encouraging agribusiness
to minimize their phosphorous output, unfortunately,
the revenue from this tax is not proportional to
agribusiness involvement in the decline.
By raising this externality tax rate, agribusiness will pay
a more justified amount to the issue they perpetuate
and which threatens their prosperity as well as
everyone elses in the region.

Legislation in Place
373.4592 Water Resources; Everglades improvement

and management

Outlines the Everglades Forever Act. Everglades agriculture

privilege tax.
Identifying a long term plan to increase water quality, set up
management of programs, as well as the taxes on business
conducted in the Everglades agricultural area and the C-139
Basin
The Everglades agriculture privilege tax is on any agriculture
or business conducted in the Everglades agricultural area

My Bill

Thank You
Questions?