Everglade land exchange finalized

The Talisman land exchange will secure land owned by six sugar producers in the Everglades agricultural area south of Lake Okeechobee

March 30, 1999
Web posted at: 4:40 PM EST

A final agreement to purchase or exchange 95,000 acres of land to benefit the restoration of the Everglades was signed by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush March 26.

After more than 16 months of negotiations, the Talisman land exchange will secure land owned by six sugar producing companies in the Everglades agricultural area south of Lake Okeechobee.

As a result of these transactions, the South Florida Water Management District, with funding from federal and state governments, will take title to more than 63,000 acres. Approximately 11,700 acres will be available to the district for the construction of natural storm water treatment areas to filter phosphorus from water flowing off sugar cane fields before the water reaches the Everglades ecosystem.

More than 51,000 acres will be available for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin building in 2005 a vast water storage reservoir that will accumulate overflow water from Lake Okeechobee during the wet season for release to the Everglades during the dry season. The corps is scheduled to complete this part of the restoration program in 2009.

"As the Everglades ecosystem restoration project is developed, this exchange will go a long way toward delivering water at the right time, in the right amount and of sufficient quality to nourish and restore the network of national parks, refuges and conservation areas that are today suffering a slow death from starvation and pollution," Babbitt said.

In its Everglades restudy, the Corps of Engineers has identified the need for storage throughout the ecosystem, but storage in the Everglades agricultural area is one of the highest priorities of the restoration effort, a vital component of the administration's $1.5 billion plan to restore the Everglades ecosystem.

Under the terms of the agreement, sugar producers can continue farming most of the district's new land until March 31, 2005. After that time, the land can be leased for agricultural purposes until the corps needs it for restoration purposes. Money derived from the leases will be set aside in a fund dedicated to future purchases of conservation lands from willing sellers.

Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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