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30 YEARS

With A

Singular Focus

On America’s

EVERGLADES

by Eric Eikenberg, CEO, The Everglades Foundation
s we approach Everglades Day Area (EAA) Reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee signaled
April 7, The Everglades Foundation is the turning of a new page in the decades-long effort to restore
A marking its 30th anniversary: 30 years America’s Everglades.
of dedication to our mission to restore and Once completed, the 16-square-mile reservoir will store water
protect America’s Everglades through science, until it can be moved into a 10-square mile stormwater treatment
advocacy and education. area that will remove excess nutrients from fertilizer runoff. Instead
It all began in 1993 when two fishing of being flushed east and west, polluting the Caloosahatchee and
buddies – Paul Tudor Jones II and the late St. Lucie rivers, the water will be cleaned and safely sent south
George Barley – enraged over the demise to hydrate the Everglades, recharge a drinking water aquifer and,
of their beloved fishing grounds in Florida Bay, co-founded ultimately, restore the freshwater balance to Florida Bay.
The Everglades Foundation. Together with other projects already underway, the EAA
Three decades later, our organization is recognized as the Reservoir will reduce the damaging discharge volume by 55%. The
leading voice for Everglades restoration. We championed the reduction of harmful algae blooms caused by Lake Okeechobee
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), whose is critical to our water-based economy and our environment.
68 projects collectively represent the world’s largest ecosystem It is a crucial component of Everglades restoration and will
restoration project in history. revive vanishing habitats for more than 70 federally threatened
Significant milestones have marked the path to where we and endangered species, including the Florida panther and the
are today. Environmental benefits for the Everglades have been American crocodile.
realized through a variety of efforts, including historic new rules This is not about saving Florida’s Everglades, but America’s
for managing Lake Okeechobee, and the bridging of the Tamiami Everglades. Like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite and all of our
Trail, which removed a 100-year-old barrier to water flow into treasured national parks, the Everglades belongs to all of us. All
Everglades National Park. Picayune Strand, the 55,000-acre parcel of us who cherish the Everglades believe that realistic – albeit
in Collier County between Alligator Alley and the Tamiami Trail, ambitious – restoration plans will be finalized and funded at the
has been restored and is providing habitat to a growing population state and federal levels. We’ve been advocating for this for 30
of Florida panthers, black bears and other species. And just last years – and we won’t stop now – for our water, our economy, our
month, the historic groundbreaking of the Everglades Agricultural environment, and for future generations.

www.EvergladesFoundation.org

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