actionalerts
Urge the Florida Legislature to Buy Sugar Land Now and Save the Everglades
T
he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is again dumping excess nutrient-polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, threatening the health of marine life in coastal communities. Meanwhile, the Everglades, a unique ecosystem stretching from Orlando all the way to Florida Bay at the tip, is starving for clean water. According to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and conservation partners Everglades Trust, Sierra Club and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, the solution is for the South Florida Water Management District to buy land previously occupied by sugar farms, where water can be stored, cleaned and then sent south to the Everglades. In 2010, the state of Florida made an agreement with the sugar industry to acquire land to clean up the industry’s pollution, protect drinking water and clean up polluted waterways on both coasts. Thanks to the Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment 1, approved by 75 percent of voters in 2014, there are available funds dedicated to acquiring, restoring and managing conservation lands, including lands protecting water resources and drinking water. “We need more storage in addition to the C-43 Reservoir for adequately addressing the devastating high flows during wet periods, and that is why purchasing additional lands in the EAA [Everglades Agricultural Area] is so crucial to protecting the economy and quality of life here in Southwest Florida,” says Jennifer Hecker, director of policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Floridians can tell Governor Rick Scott now to urge the South Florida Water Management District to exercise the current option that it has to buy 46,800 acres of land in the EAA south of Lake Okeechobee before the state’s option expires in October 2016. To sign the Act Now petition, visit Act.ProgressFlorida.org/ sign/everglades.
30
Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.NaturalAwakeningsMag.com