27
discusses the biological composition, status, trends, management, and restoration
needs of the area’s 23 major ecological communities. It mostly describes a holistic
approach to recovery by including recommendations on how to manage, reconstruct, or restore these communities in ways that will optimize benefits for the greatest number of imperiled species. By design, the MSRP is a living document, with
the flexibility to accommodate changes identified through further research and to be
compatible with other adaptive management strategies for the Everglades.
1.3.7 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) provides a framework
and guide to restore, protect, and preserve the water resources over an 46,500 km
2
area of central and southern Florida, including the Everglades, while providing for
other water-related needs of the region (Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan 2000; Perry 2004). The plan is actually a revision of the Central & Southern
Florida (C&SF) Project, which was charged with providing water supplies, flood
protection, and management to south Florida, but wound up causing adverse effects
on the unique and diverse environments of the Everglades and Florida Bay. CERP
is designed to provide the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of water necessary to achieve and sustain those essential hydrological and biological characteristics that define an undisturbed Everglades ecosystem. It is projected that the restored
ecosystems would be significantly healthier than the current status of those areas.
Initial numerical and physical models showed most of the water generated by CERP
would be allocated to the natural system for restoration goals, while the remainder
of the water would be designated for use in the human environment.
At a cost of more than $10.5 billion and a 35+-year time-line, CERP has proven
to be the largest hydrologic restoration project ever undertaken in the United States
(Clark and Dalrymple 2003; Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan 2000;
Holl and Howarth 2000). It was officially approved in the Water Resources
Development Act of 2000, and entails more than 60 key elements, including: surface
water storage reservoirs, water preserve areas, management of Lake Okeechobee
resources, improved water delivery methods to the Everglades, underground water
storage, treatment wetlands, removal of barriers to sheetflow, storage of water in
existing quarries, reuse of wastewater, and improved water conservation (Perry
2004). Currently, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management
District, and other non-federal sponsors, in consultation with the Department of the
Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection, and other Federal, State, and local agencies, have implemented CERP to ensure the restoration and protection of natural
resources within the Everglades.
1 The Florida Everglades: An Overview of Alteration and Restoration
discusses the biological composition, status, trends, management, and restoration
needs of the area’s 23 major ecological communities. It mostly describes a holistic
approach to recovery by including recommendations on how to manage, reconstruct, or restore these communities in ways that will optimize benefits for the greatest number of imperiled species. By design, the MSRP is a living document, with
the flexibility to accommodate changes identified through further research and to be
compatible with other adaptive management strategies for the Everglades.
1.3.7 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) provides a framework
and guide to restore, protect, and preserve the water resources over an 46,500 km
2
area of central and southern Florida, including the Everglades, while providing for
other water-related needs of the region (Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan 2000; Perry 2004). The plan is actually a revision of the Central & Southern
Florida (C&SF) Project, which was charged with providing water supplies, flood
protection, and management to south Florida, but wound up causing adverse effects
on the unique and diverse environments of the Everglades and Florida Bay. CERP
is designed to provide the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of water necessary to achieve and sustain those essential hydrological and biological characteristics that define an undisturbed Everglades ecosystem. It is projected that the restored
ecosystems would be significantly healthier than the current status of those areas.
Initial numerical and physical models showed most of the water generated by CERP
would be allocated to the natural system for restoration goals, while the remainder
of the water would be designated for use in the human environment.
At a cost of more than $10.5 billion and a 35+-year time-line, CERP has proven
to be the largest hydrologic restoration project ever undertaken in the United States
(Clark and Dalrymple 2003; Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan 2000;
Holl and Howarth 2000). It was officially approved in the Water Resources
Development Act of 2000, and entails more than 60 key elements, including: surface
water storage reservoirs, water preserve areas, management of Lake Okeechobee
resources, improved water delivery methods to the Everglades, underground water
storage, treatment wetlands, removal of barriers to sheetflow, storage of water in
existing quarries, reuse of wastewater, and improved water conservation (Perry
2004). Currently, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management
District, and other non-federal sponsors, in consultation with the Department of the
Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection, and other Federal, State, and local agencies, have implemented CERP to ensure the restoration and protection of natural
resources within the Everglades.
1 The Florida Everglades: An Overview of Alteration and Restoration