A science-based strategy for ecological restoration in South Florida

Abstract

The Everglades and associated coastal ecosystems of South Florida are unique and highly valued ecosystems. One of the world's largest water management systems has been developed in South Florida over the past 50 years to provide flood control, urban and agricultural water supply, and drainage of land for development. However, this system has inadvertently caused extensive degradation of the South Florida environment, resulting in the loss of more than half the historical Everglades system and elimination of whole classes of ecosystems. The U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program (US MAB) instituted a project to develop ecosystem management principles and identify requirements for ecological sustainability of South Florida. A strategic process developed by the US MAB Project illustrates how ecosystem management and ecological risk assessment principles apply to South Florida, including the development of societal goals and objectives of desired sustainable ecological condition, translation of these goals/objectives into scientifically meaningful ecological endpoints, creation of a regional plan designed to meet the sustainability goals, and development of a framework for evaluating how well the plan will achieve ecological sustainability of South Florida. An extensive federal, state, and tribal interagency process is underway to develop a restoration plan for restructuring the regional management system, essentially following the elements in the US MAB project process. The Florida Governor's Commission was established as an institution to reflect societal values and define regional sustainability goals. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is developing a science-based plan for Congressional approval to restructure the water management system to achieve the societal goals. Thus, South Florida may become the prototype example of successful regional-scale ecosystem management.