A.G. Gancarski
The Everglades Trust is celebrating the Legislature’s commitment of nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars to projects that will help one of Florida’s signature areas.
“Thank you to the Florida Legislature for providing over $740 million for Everglades restoration in its fiscal year 2024-25 budget, as well as including funding for resiliency and environmental efforts statewide. Under the leadership of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner, we have seen the continuous support of America’s Everglades, as well as investments in its restoration, and Florida’s environment as a whole,” the group asserted.
Indeed, the budget bill offers funding on a number of significant fronts, including $614 million from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, with $550 million of that headed to the South Florida Water Management District “for the planning, design, engineering, and construction of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).”
Nearly $40 million more is slotted to implement the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program. while $50 million more is allocated “to achieve the greatest reductions in harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries as identified in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project Final Integrated Project Implementation Report and Environmental Impact Statement.”
“These critical investments mean that we can keep moving the needle forward on Everglades restoration, which is vital to Florida’s water-based tourism economy and the environment that supports it,” the group says, before cannily thanking the man who has proposed much of the spending and will sign off on the latest round.
“The progress we have seen is also due in large part to Governor Ron DeSantis, who has continually recommended significant investments in restoration and has expedited and advanced key Everglades projects. This final budget fully funds the Governor’s Everglades budget request of over $740 million and continues to fulfill the promises he has made for restoring America’s Everglades.”
