Florida to Buy Out Sugar Land for Everglades Restoration

The deal, announced at a news conference at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, allows the state to buy U.S. Sugar's holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the wetland ecosystem.

Negotiations are now taking place, and officials hope to sign an agreement by year end. Once the deal is signed, U.S. Sugar would be able to farm the 187,000 acres of land for six more years before going out of business.

The announcement kicks off the 2008 Serve to Preserve Florida Summit on Global Climate, which begins today in Miami.

"Sixty years ago, President Harry Truman came to South Florida to dedicate Everglades National Park. Today, we follow in the great footsteps and in the tradition of the great conservationist President Teddy Roosevelt," said Governor Crist. "We continue their legacy of permanent preservation of the one of the most unique landscapes of our country and on the planet."

The South Florida Water Management District, SFWMD, will negotiate the agreement to acquire as much as 187,000 acres of agricultural land - an area three times the size of the city of Orlando.

U.S. Sugar Corp. lands will be acquired by the State of Florida. (Photo courtesy U.S. Sugar)

The land would be used to reestablish a part of the connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades through a managed system of water storage and treatment and, at the same time, safeguard the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and estuaries.

"We have an opportunity to provide the critical missing link in our restoration activities. I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, or the people of Florida, or to our country than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration," said the governor.

"This is a watershed event in national conservation history, and a paradigm shift for the Everglades and the environment in Florida, one that would have been inconceivable in years past. Yet, here we are," said Robert Buker, president and CEO of U.S. Sugar.

"We built a company that right now is the pillar of the agriculture community in Florida," Buker said. "Because of that, I stand here today with mixed feelings."

"On the other hand," he said, "I'm excited about what we're doing here today."

Buker acknowledged that the sugar industry's presence in the Everglades has led to years of "partial fixes" as the state works to restore the River of Grass.

In addition to the land, the district will also take into public ownership the company's assets, including 200 miles of railroad, a state-of-the-art sugar mill, sugar refinery and citrus processing plant.

"America's River of Grass sustains life for so much and so many. Today it receives its lifeline," said Everglades Foundation Vice Chairperson Mary Barley. "A restored and sustained Everglades is no longer a dream. History will record this action as the point that brought it within our reach."

Sandhill cranes on U.S. Sugar Corp. land (Photo courtesy U.S. Sugar)

The Everglades once covered almost 11,000 square miles of south Florida. A century ago, water flowed down the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee, then south through the Everglades to the Florida Bay. But the marshland has been drained for agriculture, development and flood control, and the Everglades today is half the size it was 100 years ago.

Converting more land in the Everglades Agricultural Area to restoration will build upon and enhance the 30-year state-federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the state of Florida's Northern Everglades program to restore and protect Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and their estuaries, say water managers.

The land acquisition would allow for huge increases in the availability of water storage, reducing the potential for harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee to Florida's coastal rivers and estuaries when lake levels are high.

It would enable delivery of cleaner water to the Everglades during dry times and greater water storage to protect the natural system during wet years.

The land acquisition would prevent thousands of tons of the nutrient phosphorus from entering the Everglades every year. Used as a fertilizer for sugar production, phosphorus runoff pollutes the water to 20 times the tolerable level, endangering native wildlife.

Phosphorus changes the chemistry of the water and destroys the microbial populations, an essential source of food for many aquatic organisms, which then do not flourish. As one result, 90 percent of the wading birds in the Everglades have disappeared and 68 species of plants and animals are either endangered or threatened.

The land acquisition would eliminate the need for "back-pumping" water into Lake Okeechobee from the Everglades Agricultural Area to augment the water supply needs. The district's Governing Board this year voted not to back-pump into the lake during the ongoing water shortage to protect water quality.

It would create additional water storage alternatives, relieving some pressures on the Herbert Hoover Dike while the federal government undertakes repairs.

Governor Crist stood as official witness as South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Vice Chair Shannon Estenoz signed a "Statement of Principles" with Buker, providing the framework for acquisition of the property.

"The significance of this moment will forever be recorded in Florida's environmental history," said Estenoz. "Today, we offer the Everglades restoration opportunities once thought impossible; environmental progress once considered unachievable; and protections just a decade ago believed unattainable. History will mark today as a watershed event for restoring our beloved national treasure - the Everglades."

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