The following examples illustrate the holistic nature and scale of the ongoing restoration efforts, and how the efforts relate to the project's overall vision and goals.

Restoration efforts underway in South Florida.

GETTING THE WATER RIGHT

The goal of getting the water right will entail projects that are regionwide as well as ones that are more restricted in scope. Both levels of water management are critical to the overall function of the system.Kissimmee River Restoration ProjectThe Kissimmee River Restoration Project is being implemented through a partnership between the Corps and the Water District. The purpose of the project is to restore the ecological integrity of the river/floodplain ecosystem. Over a 15-year period, this project will restore 40 square miles of this ecosystem. This will help support over 300 plant and animal species, including the bald eagle, Everglades snail kite, and wood stork. The project will also reestablish the Kissimmee River as a major recreational area, while at the same time perform critical ecological functions that benefit downstream waterbodies.

The project is focused on restoring the physical form and hydrology of the river. The major components of the project include

• reestablishing inflows from Lake Kissimmee
• acquiring approximately 85,000 acres of land in the historical 100-year floodplain
• backfilling 22 miles of the C-38 flood-control canal
• removing two existing water-control structures
• recontouring 9 miles of former river channel

The project also includes a comprehensive evaluation program to measure the success of the restoration project. The evaluation program will provide information for science-based adaptive management through the life of the restoration project.

The Everglades Construction Project

The construction project is a major component of the Everglades Program, a multistep restoration plan being implemented by the Water District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In addition to construction, the Everglades Program includes a set of research, monitoring, regulation, and exotic species control projects mandated by the Florida Everglades Forever Act.

The purpose of the construction project is to

• improve the quality of agricultural and urban stormwater runoff entering the Everglades
• reestablish sheetflow and increase the quantity of water delivered to the Everglades
• decrease the volume of freshwater entering coastal estuaries

Phase 1 of the project emphasizes the use of man-made wetlands, termed stormwater treatment areas (STAs), and the implementation of best management practices to reduce the levels of contaminants in agricultural and urban runoff. It also entails canal improvements designed to prevent excess runoff from entering Lake Okeechobee and to redirect excess runoff to the Everglades. Combined, these actions will result in significantly improved water quality and a greater volume of sheetflow in areas that sorely need it.

A phase 1 pilot project, the Everglades Nutrient Removal (ENR) Project, clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of man-made wetlands. During its first three years of operation, this 3,800-acre pilot project removed 83% (112,000 pounds) of unwanted phosphorus. In addition, incentive-based BMP regulations succeeded in reducing phosphorus levels in crop runoff by an annual average of 51%.

The current thrust of phase 1 is to complete acquisition of the 47,000 acres of land needed for a total of six STA sites and to complete ongoing STA construction. In addition to the construction efforts, a major research effort has been initiated to evaluate and optimize supplemental water quality treatment technologies. These technologies will be used during phase 2 to meet the water quality and hydropattern restoration goals of the project.

Central and Southern Florida Project Comprehensive Review Study (the Restudy)

The 1992 Water Resources Development Act mandated a systemwide review of the C&SF Project. The purpose of the Restudy is to

• review how well the C&SF Project is functioning
• determine what modifications need to be made to the project to restore the ecosystem, while still providing water and flood control to urban and agricultural sectors

The Corps and the Water District are responsible for this first comprehensive review of the entire C&SF Project. An interdisciplinary, multiagency team has been assembled to conduct the study. Personnel from over 16 agencies and organizations are now participating in the effort.

The Restudy team is using the Corps' two-phase water resource planning process. The first phase, the reconnaissance, was completed in 1994. It defined problems and opportunities in the 16-county study area, assessed the roles of the Corps and the Water District, and developed and evaluated alternative plans to address the problems.

The C&SF Restudy is the first comprehensive review of this massive water management and distribution system

In 1995 the feasibility phase of the project began. This phase will result in

• a comprehensive plan for the overall C&SF Project
• a process to implement the plan
• the tools necessary to evaluate the comprehensive plan as well as individual elements of the C&SF Project

The Water Resources Development Act of 1996 requires that a report containing the comprehensive plan and a programmatic environmental impact statement be submitted to Congress by July 1999. More detailed studies will continue after the report is completed.

The Restudy is an ambitious, massive undertaking covering numerous issues over an 18,000 square-mile area. Its recommendations are expected to have a profound effect on South Florida residents and natural environments. Dovetailing with other restoration efforts, it is hoped that the Restudy will enhance the region's ecological, economic, and social values and, thus, improve the sustainability of the total South Florida ecosystem.

Water Preserve Areas

One concept being pursued in the restoration effort is the creation of a series of water preserve areas (WPAs) along the eastern margin of the Everglades. The water preserve areas will consist of an interconnected system of marshlands, reservoirs, and aquifer recharge areas, spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.

This system will serve five purposes

• control seepage losses from the Everglades
• capture, store, and clean excess agricultural and urban stormwater currently lost to tide
• provide a buffer between expanding westward urban development and the Everglades
• protect and conserve wetlands outside the Everglades
• protect and enhance the region's water supply

The selection of WPA locations is based on intensive hydrologic modeling and land suitability analyses. The Water District and the Corps, together with a partnership of local, state, and federal agencies, and private organizations are determining which lands should be acquired and designated as water preserve areas. Thus far, the WPA suitability analysis has identified a need for approximately 71,500 acres. Not all of these lands will have to be purchased. Some of the lands will be made available through mitigation land swaps. Other lands are already owned by entities such as the federal government and Florida Power and Light and will be made available for use. Significantly two-thirds of the proposed WPA lands (56 acres) may not have to be purchased because they fall within the Lake Belt Area, an area where a series of lakes may be created through the excavation of limestone.

Prior to April 1996, the Water District purchased 9,600 acres for the WPA Project. Since April 1996 the Water District and the U.S. Department of the Interior have purchased another 6,100 acres under the Farm Bill. Federal, state, and local governments are working rapidly to acquire the remaining targeted lands before they are developed. Once established the water preserve areas will function as a vital step in reestablishing more natural hydropatterns for the South Florida ecosystem.

RESTORING AND ENHANCING THE NATURALSYSTEM

Efforts to restore and enhance the natural environment are also taking place at regionwide and subregional levels, and focus on two primary components: species diversity and habitat protection.

Multi-Species Recovery Plan

South Florida ecosystem supports 68 federally listed threatened and endangered species. These species are indicators of the health of many terrestrial and aquatic communities in South Florida. The recovery of most of these species will indicate the effectiveness of the overall restoration effort.

In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was directed to prepare a comprehensive strategy that addresses the recovery needs of all of the federally listed species in South Florida. Recovering threatened and endangered species requires stopping and reversing their decline and then ensuring their long-term survival in nature.

Over the past two years a team of over 200 species experts from federal, state, and local agencies, conservation groups, industry, and private interests have been preparing a multi-species recovery plan. The plan will consist of two volumes. Volume 1 is a series of species accounts, covering the biology, ecology, status, trends, recovery goals, and recovery objectives for the 68 federally listed species. Volume 2 will consist of biotic community accounts that describe the major vegetative communities in South Florida.

Volume 2 also will identify specific management actions needed to restore South Florida's ecosystem and key species, including federal candidate species, species listed as threatened or endangered by the state of Florida, and other species of concern.

When the plan is completed in 1999, it will be one of the first in the nation specifically designed to meet the needs of multiple species that do not occupy similar habitats. It also will be one of the first recovery plans designed to approach recovery by addressing the needs of an entire watershed. The plan will provide a blueprint that federal, state, tribal, and local governments and other partners can use to restore the South Florida ecosystem and maintain a healthy base for tourism, outdoor recreation, and other vital industries. The plan should also serve as a model for other regional and international recovery efforts.

The Southern Everglades Restoration Alliance

Many restoration efforts are large in scale and involve many players. The complexity of these projects makes coordination essential. The Southern Everglades Restoration Alliance (SERA) was formed to meet this challenge. Composed of representatives from federal, tribal, state, and local government agencies — as well as numerous interested and affected stakeholders — the Alliance coordinates and provides oversight for four important restoration undertakings: the C-111 Project, the Modified Water Deliveries Project, the L-28 Project, and the Experimental Water Deliveries Program.

When completed the C-111 Project will restore the historic hydrological patterns for the southeastern portions of Everglades National Park, including the Rocky Glades, Taylor Slough, the eastern panhandle region, and northeast Florida Bay. Its objective is to restore the predrainage hydrologic conditions in Everglades National Park while maintaining the other project purposes of flood control and water supply. A system of levees, canals, and pump stations will be constructed to direct the water to a buffer zone before entering the park.

The Modified Water Deliveries Project will restore the central portions of the Everglades, including portions of Water Conservation Areas 3A and 3B and Shark Slough in Everglades National Park. Funded by the Department of the Interior, and scheduled to be completed in 2005, the project calls for removing roads, degrading levees, filling canals, and constructing additional water control structures. These features will reduce the current compartmentalization between the water conservation areas and the park as well as correct many problems associated with the volume, timing, and distribution of water discharge to the park. These changes will also address the flooding problems in the 8.5 Square Mile area, an urban development located outside of the protective levee system.

The purpose of the L-28 Project is to reestablish the historical hydrologic connections between Water Conservation Area 3A, Everglades National Park, and the Big Cypress National Preserve. The project will focus on removing or degrading all or portions of the L-28 canal and its level system. This system currently intercepts and diverts water from its historical patterns and creates a physical barrier between the water conservation area and Big Cypress. The removal of these features will reconnect these areas and allow a more natural water pattern to reassert itself.The Experimental Water Deliveries Program allows different structural and operational scenarios for delivering water to Everglades National Park to be tested. Testing alternative approaches, often developed and assessed through computerize modeling, provides important feedback on the effectiveness of different delivery systems and the progress being made in ecosystem restoration.

These projects are important components of the overall ecosystem restoration effort in South Florida. The oversight provided by the Southern Everglades Restoration Alliance will help ensure that the projects are carried out effectively and in a coordinated manner.

Environmental Impact Statement for Southwest Florida

As with much of South Florida, Lee and Collier Counties in southwest Florida are experiencing rapid growth and development. In the past few years the Corps has issued permits to drain and fill wetlands for projects whose footprints cover approximately 8 square miles. In the next few years the Corps expects to receive increased requests for permits. Ultimately decisions will be made on granting permits involving large portions of western Lee and Collier Counties.

This growth has raised concerns regarding the loss of endangered species and other wildlife habitats, changes in waterflows and timing (particularly flows entering Estero Bay), and the adequacy of efforts to mitigate impacts to wetlands. Concerns also have been raised regarding whether the Corps' review of individual permit requests is adequately addressing the secondary and cumulative impacts resulting from overall development.

After discussing this dilemma with the counties, state agencies, and other interested parties, the Corps has decided to prepare an environmental impact statement. The document will comprehensively review the environmental impacts of decisions the Corps expects to make on permitting new development. As a result of this document, the Corps should be able to more expeditiously process developers' permit requests.

TRANSFORMING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Projects designed to transform the built environment present different, though equally challenging, problems. Employing both scientific data and creative urban planning, the goals of these projects are to: (1) balance growth and resource protection and (2) enhance the quality of life in urban areas.

Eastward Ho!

The purpose of the Eastward Ho! initiative is to redirect a greater proportion of the expected future development back to the historical eastern corridor of South Florida. The initiative's major emphasis is to make the urban centers sustainable by revitalizing older urban areas, improving services, and enhancing the appeal of existing urban areas as well as rural communities.

This once run-down park is now a vibrant village-within-a city bustling with activity.

Recommended by the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, the initiative is developing creative ways to manage growth and development patterns. Specific techniques include

• promoting better public transportation and useing alternative fuels
• acquiring more green and open spaces
• turning brownfields into productive lands
• assessing and improving infrastructures
• providing increased education and training opportunities
• creating good-paying jobs
• promoting more mixed-income housing in urban cores

The initiative also is exploring ways to facilitate redevelopment and infill in urban core areas. By streamlining planning and permitting requirements, providing tax incentives, and using innovative zoning, progress is being made in rejuvenating urban cores and enhancing the quality of life for urban residents.

Finally, the initiative involves the application of urban best development practices designed to limit waste, prevent pollution, and maximize conservation and efficiency.

Several successes resulting from local government and private sector leadership include the

• conversion of the aging Delray Beach school complex into a combination museum, theater, and activity center
• transformation of Boca Raton's Mizner Park into a village-within-a-city, consisting of retail shops, restaurants, luxury and rental housing, cinemas, a performing arts amphitheater, and landscaped park areas
• rejuvenation of Hollywood's downtown entailing the installation of a new drainage system, decorative landscaping and lighting, and the conversion of existing buildings into art galleries, cafes, and other businesses
• establishment of the Eastward Ho! Brownfields Partnership to coordinate the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated and abandoned or underused sites
• revitalization of downtown West Palm Beach, highlighted by the Clematis Street area and the City Place project

These projects have encouraged capital infusion by investors, stimulated local economies, and made these locations more desirable places in which to live. In addition to raising the quality of life in urban cores, projects like these redirect growth away from wetland and agricultural areas and reduce expenses associated with extending utilities, roads, and public services.

South Dade Land Use / Water Management Planning Project

Transforming the built environment also involves developing strategies for supporting a viable, balanced economy that includes agriculture, recreation, tourism, and smart urban development. Dade County has initiated a complex planning effort to address these important but often competing, concerns. The South Dade Land Use / Water Management Planning Project entails three separate, yet integrated, planning components.

The Agricultural and Rural Lands Retention Plan will develop policies and implementation strategies designed to preserve and promote the agricultural and rural character of approximately 180 square miles of South Dade County. An important element of the analysis will be an assessment of the importance of agriculture, agribusiness, and related activities to the economies of Miami-Dade County and South Florida.

The South Biscayne Bay Watershed Management Plan will identify and analyze surface and groundwater uses and corresponding land uses. The analysis will identify water and planning needs relating to

• sustaining and restoring the ecosystem
• promoting economically viable agriculture
• providing flood protection
• ensuring adequate drinking water supplies

The plan will identify and protect the major drainage basins that are essential for preserving the environmental, economic, and community values of Biscayne National Park and Biscayne Bay. Strategies ensuring that the rights of private landowners are protected will be an essential element in defining a balanced and sustainable economy.

The South Dade Wellfield Study is the final component of the planning project. The study, which will be ready by 2005, will determine the future water supply for South Dade County. Other state and federal efforts to reestablish the quality, quantity, timing, and distribution of water in the South Florida ecosystem will be key elements in this analysis. Each of these planning efforts will be guided by a citizen and a technological advisory committee.

The results of the planning project will determine the future economic, social, and environmental sustainability for most of urban and rural Miami-Dade County. They will also contribute directly to other ongoing restoration and revitalization efforts.

Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study

The Florida Keys has experienced tremendous population growth and development over the past several decades. This growth has overwhelmed the area's fragile ecology. Vast areas of hardwood hammocks have been lost and water quality has declined. Development of existing and vacant property is continuing to alter or degrade many of the Keys' important natural resources.

In response to these impacts, the Florida's governor and cabinet (through Executive Order 96-108) called for the preparation of a carrying capacity analysis for the Florida Keys. The state of Florida and the Corps are now teaming up to provide funding for the carrying capacity study as a critical restoration project. Under the direction of the Florida Department of Community Affairs and the Corps, and with the support of a broad partnership of public, private, and nonprofit organizations within the Keys, the study is scheduled to be completed by 2001.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is the number one dive destination in the world.

The purpose of the study is to provide an information base that managers can use to make decisions about balancing economic and environmental needs. The study is intended to identify indicators of sustainability and resource thresholds. Exceeded thresholds could signal that resource degradation is occurring.

The information from the study should enable planners to interactively model different growth scenarios in a geographic information system (GIS) database and analyze their implications. This will allow proactive decisions to be made that will foster a sustainable lifeway that promotes an active tourism base and healthy natural system.

— South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force 1997

The ability to create a sustainable South Florida . . . requires a change in the region's historic approach to water resources management.

— Governor's Commissionfor a Sustainable SouthFlorida 1996

Develop New Information - Identify the pertinent issues, formulate critical scientific questions related to the issues, and address the questions through appropriate modeling, monitoring, and empirical studies.

Communicate - Promote improved communication among restoration scientists and managers through scientific conferences, workshops, and the mutual exchange of information.

Synthesize Scientific Knowledge Relevant to the Issues - Develop techniques for integrating and synthesizing restoration data and distribute the techniques to others involved in restoration efforts.

Manage Integrated Data - Archive inventories and other available databases in multigovernmental database management systems that are accessible through the Internet and update regularly.

KEEPING ON COURSE — MODELS, MONITORING, AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Visions and goals are inherently conceptual. Results are concrete. Translating one into the other, especially on the scale required by the South Florida ecosystem, is challenging. The restoration project is using models, monitoring, and performance indicators to translate conceptual ideas to the real world, adapt projects to changing conditions, and provide accountability.

Models - Restoration workers employ a series of computerized models to predict the responses of key variables to changing environmental, social, or economic conditions. Developing simulations that forecast responses to different scenarios permits researchers to identify management alternatives as well as target conditions that will yield desired goals. Computerized models also can be updated as new information is gained, allowing predictions to be continually refined.

Monitoring - An adaptive management strategy demands continual feedback. Developing and implementing monitoring programs are a major emphasis for many restoration projects. Some monitoring tracks variables subject to rapid change. Other monitoring programs record long-term trends. Monitoring data are essential in assessing the effectiveness of restoration actions, tracking progress, and identifying problems or the need for project modification.

Performance Indicators - The restoration project also uses quantitative indicators (e.g., levels of phosphorus in runoff) and qualitative indicators (e.g., quality of life) to track and assess projects. Comparing actual conditions against predicted targets provides a yardstick for measuring the progress (where are we now / how much farther to go?) and for evaluating the results (what are the benefits / are they worth the cost?).

Models, monitoring, and performance indicators provide direction, feedback, and accountability for both short and long-term actions. This affords flexible, timely, and responsible management of projects and project funds.