[ti:Florida and the Federal Government Support Huge Projects to Clean Up the Everglades]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-01-08]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Some experts say damage to the Everglades ecosystem began when a highway connecting the cities of Tampa and Miami in Florida was built in 1928.
[00:15.00]The Everglades are a huge wetland at the southern end of the state of Florida.
[00:21.68]The highway cut through an area made up of grasses, marshes, freshwater ponds and forested lands. 
[00:30.40]But now, efforts to return Everglades National Park to a wilder state have taken shape after years of work and billions of dollars.
[00:43.01]A huge state-federal project aims to undo damage to the wetlands.
[00:49.09]Eve Samples is executive director of Friends of the Everglades, a nonprofit group based in Florida.
[00:58.13]She said, "This is the biggest, most complicated and most expensive ecosystem restoration project in the world. It's really important that we get it right."
[01:13.13]The project has continued for over 20 years.
[01:17.56]Observers say wildlife is returning to some areas, there are fewer invasive trees, and people have good feelings about the changes.
[01:28.81]The Everglades supports threatened species, protects against storm damage, and provides drinking water for millions of people in South Florida.
[01:39.56]Development and agriculture have drained water that once flowed freely through the Everglades.
[01:47.50]Invasive plants and animals have changed the land.
[01:53.12]Too much phosphorus, mainly from agriculture, has harmed water quality.
[02:00.12]The cost of efforts to repair the Everglades is more than $23 billion.
[02:06.67]Those efforts could take 50 years to complete. 
[02:10.89]Today, water quality has improved, but there are still problems.
[02:16.75]Since 2019, the South Florida Water Management District has worked on about 70 projects.
[02:25.97]In 2024, lawmakers approved $1.3 billion in spending over the next 12 months for restoration efforts.
[02:37.09]That is the largest amount approved so far.
[02:41.38]One project is to the northwest of Miami. Workers are replacing sugarcane fields. 
[02:50.39]The goal is to supply clean freshwater to the Everglades.
[02:55.71]When the $3.9 billion Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir Project is complete, a reservoir and wetland will store and clean polluted water from Lake Okeechobee in central Florida before it goes into the southern Everglades.
[03:16.49]Jennifer Reynolds is the director of ecosystem restoration and capital projects for the water district. 
[03:24.17]"It's about getting the water right for the natural habitats and also to sustain the population of people who live and recreate here."
[03:34.81]Data show the water quality of the area around Lake Okeechobee is very good although phosphorous levels are rising a little with increased water flow. 
[03:47.71]In the recent past, phosphorous pollution threatened water quality in the Everglades.
[03:54.55]But measurements downstream tell a different story.
[03:58.48]Salinity levels, or how much salt is in the water, have gone up.
[04:03.25]This suggests to some people that a rise in sea level and saltwater intrusion are increasing.
[04:12.16]South Florida is in danger from storms and sea level rise.
[04:18.61]Some people estimate that the sea level in the area will rise as much as 1.2 meters by 2100.
[04:26.49]In western Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians says they see a change.
[04:33.71]Betty Osceola is an environmental activist and tribe member.
[04:38.79]The tribe says its ancestral tree islands have been flooded by water mismanagement. 
[04:45.41]That hurts the plants and animals they use. 
[04:49.98]Other areas are drier and face polluted water and wildfires.
[04:55.44]"Restoration efforts are mainly to benefit Everglades National Park," said Osceola.
[05:03.10]"So maybe the national park sees benefits, but at the sacrifice to the tribe."
[05:09.31]The tribe supports the Western Everglades Restoration Project. 
[05:14.30]The tribe recently signed an agreement with the National Park Service that gives it more control over the area.
[05:21.66]Work started last summer on the project's first major feature.
[05:26.83]Michael Kennedy-Yoon is from New York state.
[05:31.74]Recently, he was in the Everglades looking for wildlife.
[05:36.05]He saw a soft shell turtle, two alligators, a bird, called the anhinga, a night heron and a swallow-tailed kite.
[05:48.15]"I think that preserving and conserving wildlife and wildlife areas is some of the best and most useful uses of our taxpayer money," Kennedy-Yoon said.
[06:02.16]Restoring and protecting the Everglades for recreation and its wildlife is a very important issue to many people.
[06:11.45]Samples from Friends of the Everglades said there is a need to build climate resiliency in Florida.
[06:19.00]She noted the words of writer and conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas: "The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet."
[06:32.25]I'm Jill Robbins.