NATIVE-AMERICAN-NEWS-L Archives

From:
Subject: [NATIVE-AMERICAN-NEWS] Everglades Restoration;
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 14:34:12 EST

Office of the Secretary
For Immediate Release: Jan. 8, 2003 CONTACT: Hugh Vickery
202-208-6416



Secretary Norton Calls for Continued Partnership in Everglades Restoration;
Outlines Steps Interior Department Will Take to Promote Cooperation

<A HREF="http://www.doi.gov/news/accomplishments.htm">Interior Department Accomplishments in Everglades Restoration Since 2000 </A>
<A HREF="http://www.doi.gov/news/030110speech.htm">Remarks of Interior Secretary Gale Norton</A>
Delray Beach, Fla. -- The restoration of the Everglades depends on continued
cooperation among the many stakeholders in South Florida, Secretary of the
Interior Gale A. Norton said today at the annual meeting of the Everglades
Coalition.

"The key to our success is the strength of our partnership and our commitment
to collaboration," Norton said. "If our dialogue is honest and continuing; if
our science is sound and independently verified; and if we work together,
rather than at cross-purposes, we will make the right decisions and we will
succeed."

"But if we collapse into bickering, if we find ourselves walking away from
the table, if we try to effect restoration through an adversarial process, we
will fail. And the Everglades will continue its decline until the water no
longer shimmers but is a lifeless reflection of the promises we failed to
keep," she said.

Norton said the Interior Department will take steps that will help ensure a
continued spirit of partnership, including forming an advisory committee to
allow stakeholders to provide input to Interior land managers in South
Florida on a wide range of Everglades restoration issues.

"We want to expand our collaboration with members of the Everglades community
on issues that affect them every day," she said.

Norton also said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park
Service will begin to employ a habitat-based recovery strategy for endangered
species, including implementing restoration plans for key areas of habitat
such as the 107,000-acre East Everglades Addition to Everglades National
Park.

In addition, Interior Department agencies will work to improve the quality
and timing of the Everglades science program to ensure decisions are guided
by the best available science. "We will develop an overall science action
plan to support restoration of the greater Everglades ecosystem," she said.

Norton applauded the Army Corps of Engineers for responding to the comments
of the department and the many Everglades stakeholders in the development its
programmatic regulations for Everglades restoration. While the regulations
have not yet been published, she expressed confidence that they would
formalize a significant role for the Interior Department and its agencies in
implementing the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

"No one is likely to get everything on their wish list in the final
programmatic regulations, and we may disagree over the finer points, but
overall these regulations - along with the Water Resources Development Act of
2000 and the agreement signed last January by the President and the Governor
- will provide the legal assurances envisioned by Congress to ensure
restoration occurs," she said.

Norton pointed to many successes in recent years, including the agreement
between President Bush and Governor Bush to ensure the state reserves enough
water from consumptive use so that the Everglades will be restored.

She noted that the National Park Service has now acquired virtually all of
the lands within the boundaries of Everglades National Park and that the
department will be acquiring the Collier oil and gas holdings in Big Cypress
National Preserve, which will protect the preserve for future generations.

On the issue of water quality, Norton noted that farmers in the Everglades
have implemented best management practices to reduce phosphorus levels that
promote the spread of invasive species, and that over the past eight years,
the state has constructed storm water treatment areas that are treating
millions of gallons of water every day and reducing phosphorus and other
pollutants.

She expressed support for the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection's proposed numeric criterion for phosphorus of 10 parts per
billion for water in the Everglades Protection Area. "We believe this
standard will protect the Everglades," she said. "We fully support its
adoption."

Norton also highlighted increased research and control efforts for invasive
species, including the construction of a $6.2 million invasive species
research facility and an additional $1 million last year to eliminate
melaleuca and other invasives from 18,000 acres of Arthur R. Marshall
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

"As we move forward year by year through this long and challenging process,
let us hold on to the vision of a restored and thriving Everglades with
healthy and diverse wildlife and the right water in the right place at the
right time," she said. "Let us will ourselves to maintain the spirit of
collaboration. Working together, I am confident we can restore the Everglades
and make this water once again shimmer with life for generations to come."

-DOI-

This thread:

• [NATIVE-AMERICAN-NEWS] Everglades Restoration; by