#EVCO2020
Greetings to my blog readers! Hope your new year is off to a good start.
For me, 2020 started with the Everglades Coalition (EVCO) Conference January 9-11 at South Seas Island Resort in Captiva Island, Florida. The theme for the conference was “All Hands on Deck,” and I would certainly say that the inspirational event achieved such! (https://www.evergladescoalition.org)
As a member of the South Florida Water Management District, (https://www.sfwmd.gov), I was asked by EVCO Co-Chair Mark Perry, to sit on the panel “Lake Okeechobee Management, The Big Water.” Other panelist were: Dr Dale Gawlik, Director and Professor, Environmental Science Program, Florida Atlantic University; Dr Paul Gray, Everglades Science Coordinator Audubon Florida; David E. Hazellief, Okeechobee County Board of County Commissioners; and Col. Andrew Kelly, Jacksonville District Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Thank you to long time River Warrior, Gayle Ryan, for taping and you can find the entire panel video taped on her Facebook page dated January 10, 2:07pm. To say the least, I felt very privilege to sit with such a group. Today, I would like to share my slides and the 13 minute recorded talk below. Thank the Everglades Coalition for the opportunity to share and the SFWMD for helping me prepare.
I am ready. Both of my hands are on deck!
Historic Phytogeography of South Florida with Present Day SFWMD Features Map, 2019
Thank you for all your work towards getting clean water. Does the SFWMD have someone in Tallahassee working on setting limits on nutrient runoff? It appears that the House Speaker and Senate President are both silent on water quality, i.e. nutrient runoff limits, for the 2020 Legislative Session.
Jacqui – This is a very interesting presentation, and I’m happy to see/hear that your opinion Re. The Corps has mellowed, also Lake O being under “control” of The Corps is due to the Responsibility that the Federal Govt has placed with The Corps for the navigable waters of the United States. The earliest efforts (Disston’s Efforts) as well as the early Everglades Drainage District canals were dual purposed i.e. transportation canals (with locks) – hence triggering The Corps involvement under their Navigable Waters of the U.S. mandate… as well as these canals intent (only marginally successful) for drainage.
From Today’s news (01/15) Re. the Governors announcement for the acquisition of 20,000 Acres in The Everglades to end the “risk of drilling” on those lands. These lands appear to be entirely within the existing WCA’s. I was under the impression that these WCA lands were already all “public lands”. Could you address this?