Posted on July 15, 2024
On July 10, 2024, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Jacksonville District joined South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, Seminole Tribe of Florida, Everglades National Park Service, Big Cypress National Park Service, and many other federal, state and local partners to celebrate the groundbreaking for the first major feature of the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP), the L-28 South Culverts.
The overall goal of this culvert project and other WERP projects is to improve the timing and distribution of water to re-establish ecological connectivity and restore hydrologic conditions in Big Cypress National Preserve and Western Everglades National Park. The culverts will restore and reconnect Water Conservation Area 3A with Big Cypress National Preserve and Lostmans Slough. This project is the first of its kind and will have three different culverts in total to help with water restoration and water quality.
“While this particular culvert project is not a giant project…it provides an enormous amount of value and it will be another tool in our tool bag, so that we can have more flexibility to move water within a very complex system that is constantly being affected by increasingly unpredictable climate conditions,” said Pedro Ramos, Superintendent, Everglades National Park, and Dry Tortugas.
This culvert will free up water in the Everglades and allow a controlled flow to Big Cypress which has been cut off by the states flood control system.
“What we’re trying to do is restore the landscape, get the water flowing across both landscapes [Central Everglades and Western Everglades] and down to Florida Bay where it is cut off by U.S. 41,” said Drew Bartlett, Executive Director, South Florida Water Management District.
The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes have been asking for this for years and are excited to see this project, the first of its kind move forward.
“This is a momentous first step for the Western Everglades Restoration Plan to re-establish ecological connectivity of the southern portion of the C&SF system with the Everglades and improve the ecological resilience of the wetland/upland mosaic,” said Col. James Booth, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District commander. “As I prepare to depart command later this month, I am immensely proud of the momentum USACE and SFWMD have created in our Everglades Restoration efforts.”
WERP seeks to use a series of active and passive water management features and water quality features and make alterations to existing canals and levees. The goals of the project are to improve the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of water in the Western Everglades in an effort to re-establish ecological connectivity, reduce the severity and frequency of wildfires, and restore low nutrient conditions.
To learn more about this project visit: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/WERP/
