8 Years In, NRC Slams Everglades Efforts - No Money, Endless Growth, Congressional Ineptitude

[hatrack]

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The 287-page study by the National Research Council, a biennial review required by Congress, warned that South Florida’s stunning river of grass was quickly reaching a point of no return. Without “near term progress,” the report said, more species will die off “and the Everglades ecosystem may experience irreversible losses to its character and functioning." William L. Graf, chairman of the committee that wrote the report, put it more simply. “There is no other place like this,” Mr. Graf said. “It’s existed for 5,000 years this way, and we’re in danger of losing it for our kids and their kids.”

The harsh review of the federal effort, known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, comes in the midst of what could be a major shake-up. Florida is negotiating a proposed $1.75 billion purchase of nearly 300 square miles of farmland from the United States Sugar Corporation to add storage space for millions of gallons of water south of Lake Okeechobee.

The plan, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year, was praised by the National Research Council. But with the acquisition’s impact at least a decade away, the report’s authors concluded that it would not be a panacea. “The bottom line,” said Mr. Graf, a professor of geology at the University of South Carolina, “is I don’t think we can wait and see what happens.”

He emphasized that there were larger problems that needed to be fixed. Money remains the most obvious. The restoration plan, finalized in 2000, made the federal government and Florida equal partners, but Congress has failed to match the state’s commitment of more than $2 billion.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/us/30everglades.html?_r=1&oref=slogin