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The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA)

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The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) SAVING SPECIAL PLACES • FIGHTING SPRAWL • BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES PLANNING STRATEGIES FOR THE EVERGLADES AGRICULTURAL AREA 1000 Friends of Florida October 2009 1000FRIENDSOFFLORIDA.ORG N O I T A D N U O F S E D A L G R E V E E H T F O Y S E T R U O C O T O H P 1000 Friends of Florida thanks the Everglades Foundation, Everglades Coalition, Everglades Law Center and others for their contributions to this paper. 1000 Friends also thanks the South Florida Water Management District, Palm Beach County Department of Planning, Zoning and Building, and Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resource Management for background studies, photographs and maps used to produce this paper. However, the content and opinions included in this paper are those of 1000 Friends of Florida, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the above con- tributors. Funding for this project was provided by the Everglades Foundation and 1000 Friends of Florida’s Palm Beach County members. Photos on the front cover are courtesy of the Everglades Foundation. Printed on 30% post consumer recycled paper. Planning Strategies for the Everglades Agricultural Area TION PHOTO COURTESY OF THE EVERGLADES FOUNDA PLANNING STRATEGIES FOR THE 3 EVERGLADES AGRICULTURAL AREA The Everglades is a special place, a truly unique and In 2008, Florida Governor Charlie Crist proposed buying distinctive American ecosystem. But more than a century out 184,000 acres of the U.S. Sugar Corporation’s vast of mismanagement has taken a devastating toll on the land holdings in the EAA. With budgetary constraints due “River of Grass.” When the Everglades Restoration plan to a drawn-out recession, the acreage to be purchased has and project became a reality with the passage of the dropped to 72,500 acres, still encompassing an area nearly Water Resources Development Act of 2000, environmen- twice the size of Orlando. This purchase still could make tal and civic groups, local, state and federal government possible the restoration of a watery connection from Lake officials and others celebrated the possibilities of a Okeechobee to the Everglades, and then south and ulti- restored Everglades ecosystem, the resurgence of belea- mately to the Florida Bay. It would provide more natural guered wildlife, and the end to damaging freshwater storage, cleansing, and the re-connection of a portion of surges to estuaries. Over these past nine years, billions the historic Everglades. But with many details yet to be of public dollars have been devoted to this goal. Some worked out, it is uncertain when this dream will become restoration projects have been completed, but much a reality. more needs to be done. While great effort and billions of dollars have been Encompassing approximately 700,000 acres, the expended on the scientific and engineering aspects of Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) is an integral part Everglades restoration, scant attention has been paid to of the greater Everglades ecosystem. While the region the tremendous development pressures facing the fringes had been farmed since the early 1900s, the EAA was of the Everglades, including the EAA. According to formally designated for agriculture in 1948 under the 1000 Friends of Florida’s 2006 report, Florida 2060, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Central and South Florida 11 counties comprising South Florida are anticipated to Flood Control Project. The only remaining privately more than double in population over the next 50 years, owned large land mass in southern Florida with virtually from 6,373,139 in 2005 to 13,918,649 in 2060. If current no development, today the EAA plays an enormously development patterns continue, almost two-and-a-half important role in future Everglades restoration due to times as much urban land will be required to accommodate its great size, central location, and large areas of land this population, from 1,248,327 acres in 2005 to 2,908,633 available for additional water management and acres in 2060. If not appropriately directed, these pressures restoration projects. could undermine Everglades restoration efforts. Planning Strategies for the Everglades Agricultural Area N O I T A D N U O F S E D A L G R E V E E H T F O Y S E T R U O C O T O H P 4 The EAA is already facing a number of planning-related BACKGROUND threats that could result in the fragmentation of this The EAA is a key region in the Everglades ecosystem. large, open tract of land that is so essential to Everglades Its predominant land use is agriculture and, according to restoration. These threats include rapid land use changes the 2003 Everglades Program Best Management Practices in the area, and proposals for mining, an inland port, and Annual Report, more than 500,000 of its 700,000 acres are solid waste facilities. Sound, sustainable planning for the in irrigated land. Sugar cane is the primary crop with EAA is essential if Everglades restoration is to succeed. about 50 percent of the sugar produced nationally harvested in the EAA. Other major crops include leafy To be successful, such efforts must: vegetables, root crops, radishes, sweet corn, rice, sod, tomatoes, and peppers. • Address immediate planning threats as they arise, including proposals for inappropriate development, Fifteen canals and 25 control structures managed by the mining, infrastructure and other projects in the South Florida Water Management District are located EAA and its fringes. within and serve the EAA. Additionally, the EAA includes the 25,000-acre Rotenberger and 35,500-acre Holey • Promote a regional approach to long-term planning Land Wildlife Management Areas, the 1000-acre L-8 for the EAA, based on a working partnership between Reservoir/Palm Beach Aggregates rock pits, and 43,000 state, regional and local leaders. acres of Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs). • Develop a comprehensive sustainable economic Efforts to drain the EAA, including the construction of the development plan for the region that addresses the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee, supported economic needs of the area’s residents in a manner the needs of agriculture but eliminated the majority of the compatible with Everglades restoration. Everglades’ external water supply. Water that historically flowed south through what is now called the EAA was Immediate steps include delaying any land use changes directed to the east and west via the St. Lucie and outside municipal boundaries in the EAA until long- Caloosahatchee Rivers, causing serious harm to coastal range, regional planning is completed, encouraging the estuaries from the high volume, polluted fresh water releas- continuation of agriculture within the EAA in conjunc- es from Lake Okeechobee. These drainage efforts, com- tion with restoration, and providing sustainable bined with lowered Lake Okeechobee water levels, have economic development opportunities for the Glades decreased the available quantity of natural water storage communities. To succeed, there must be the commitment within the EAA. This has amplified the susceptibility of the and dedication by all agencies to create a plan as quickly Everglades ecosystem to damaging floods, drought, and as is possible. increased pollution. In order to provide the Everglades with Planning Strategies for the Everglades Agricultural Area TION PHOTO COURTESY OF THE EVERGLADES FOUNDA a more natural flow and timing to the ecosystem, protect the Map 1: The EAA and the Historic Everglades Ecosystem 5 public water supply, and prevent excessive freshwater dis- charge to the estuaries. CERP’s success is dependent on the ability to provide the storage necessary for this vast quantity of water. During the planning process for CERP, restoration agencies relied on an assumption that untested large-scale Aquifer Storage and Recovery technology (ASR) could be used to provide upwards of 80 percent of the water storage necessary to restore the Everglades. It now appears that ASR cannot be relied upon to meet anything near this storage goal. In recognition of the likely storage shortfall, CERP planners have long promised to develop ASR contingency plans, but no such plans have been delivered to date. Significantly more water storage is needed in the strategi- cally located EAA if restoration of the Everglades is to succeed. Expanding the spatial extent of wetlands has always been considered an important component of Everglades restoration. Now, overcoming the uncertainty associated with ASR warrants increased reliance on exist- ing or restored wetlands for storage needs. The state’s purchase of U.S. Sugar lands would provide the opportunity for the long-awaited and absolutely necessary plan to provide water storage that realistically cannot be pro- vided by ASR. Even with the best intentions, however, deci- sions affecting land use could severely constrain the ability to the water it needs to survive, the storage that was available create the best restoration scenario. Optimum restoration will in the pre-drained natural system must be re-created. not be possible if conflicting uses—such as mines, and com- mercial, residential, or industrial development—are allowed The 2000 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan or are inappropriately sited in the EAA. For example, intro- (CERP) calls for the creation of huge quantities of storage duction of a mine or an inland port (or both) below Lake for release during drought times. This can be used to restore Okeechobee will, at minimum, constrain the creation of Planning Strategies for the Everglades Agricultural Area TER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT A PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA W storage and flows south to Water Conservation Area 3. Worse, 6 THE LAND USE PLANNING FRAMEWORK speculative land owners and developers could object to the Of the 700,000 acres included in the EAA, 500,000 acres possibility of flooding and stop the project altogether, either lie within the jurisdiction of the Palm Beach County through pressure on local government, legal action or Commission.
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