1100 SW Second Avenue,  Apartment #4

September 30, 2003

Suite 1

Naples, FL  34116

Dear Representative Diaz-Balart,

My name is Al Ovies, and I am a resident and registered voter in the 18^th District. Your 25^th District, however, encompasses a vast portion of the Everglades. In a sense, you are my representative too, as well as that of hundreds of fishermen and hunters who utilize the Water Conservation Areas for recreational purposes. I am also president of South Florida Anglers For Everglades Restoration. SAFER is an association of over 30 bass fishing clubs in the tri-county area who have banded together to prevent the destruction of the tremendous bass fishery in the WCA’s.

I am writing to you in regards to a couple of bills that will be coming up for a vote shortly. They are the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 2004. (House Bill #H.R. 2754 and Senate Bill #S.1424). The bills are currently being considered by a joint committee of the House and Senate, and deal with appropriations for the Department of the Interior (DOI) for the Fiscal Year 2004.

There has been much controversy, and much misunderstanding, between the Federal and Florida State governments concerning the so-called “Sugar Bill” that was recently passed by the Florida legislature. The bill dealt with the levels of phosphorous in the Everglades, and led the Federal legislators and agencies to believe that Florida was scaling back its commitment to restoring the Everglades ecosystem. Because of this, the two bills added appropriate language to restrict the budgetary authorizations, if necessary. The House version of the bill states “That none of the funds appropriated in this Act for the preservation and restoration of the Florida Everglades shall be made available for expenditure unless the Secretary of the Army certifies that the water entering the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife refuge and Everglades National Park meets the water quality requirements set forth in the Consent Decree entered in United States v. South Florida Water Management District.”

All that the brouhaha in this cat fight between the two levels of government has served to do, is to remove from the public eye, other important issues regarding the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP). Chief among these, are the plans, encompassed in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Modified Waters Delivery (MWD) and the Decompartmentalization and Sheetflow Enhancement Project (Decomp), to backfill the canals in the WCA 3A and 3B in an effort to restore the region’s natural sheetflow.

Such a move would, in effect, close the Everglades to recreational access by fishermen, hunters and airboaters, all of whom utilize the WCA canals to gain entry into the “River of Grass.” This would be a violation, in the spirit if not the letter, of the Water Resource Development Act of 2000 (WRDA). The legislation states unequivocally that “CERP…provides for the improvement and protection of water quality in, and the reduction of loss of fresh water from the South Florida ecosystem, as well as providing for the water related needs of the region, including flood protection, the enhancement of water supplies, and other objectives served by the Central and South Florida Project (C&SFP).” Recreation is an authorized purpose of the C&SFP.

For the past three years, we have been working with the Corps of Engineers (COE) and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) in order to find a compromise that is equitable to sportsmen and still attain the goals of restoration. We believe that we have made great strides towards achieving these goals.

Unfortunately, we continue to be stymied by the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service and Everglades National Park, who remain intransient in their call for a return to the conditions that existed prior to the construction of the C&SFP. It is their belief that restoration cannot proceed without the removal of the levees and the backfilling of the WCA 3 canals. There is no hydrological modeling in existence today that proves their contention to be true. 

Their deliberate policy to restrict access to the WCA’s by South Florida sportsmen is in flagrant violation of the Programmatic Regulations, which are an integral part of WRDA of 2000. “Implementation must proceed in a programmatic manner,” reads the Act, “using the principles of adaptive assessment as outlined in the CERP…The purpose of these programmatic regulations is to ensure that new information resulting from changes or unforeseen circumstances, new scientific or technical information or information that is developed through the principles of adaptive management are integrated into the implementation of the Plan.”

At our behest, the COE and SFWMD have committed to begin a series of hydrological tests, using models currently under development by SFWMD that consider only levee removal, but no backfilling. No predetermined program of canal backfilling should be approved or implemented by any of the participating agencies until the results of this modeling are made known. This is what adaptive management is all about.

SAFER urges you to vote to deny the DOI the appropriated funds for restoration until such time as the DOI and its sub agencies-NPS and ENP-embrace the principles of adaptive management as required by U. S. law.

If you wish to learn more about our organization and its goals, please log on to our web site sfanglers@msn.com. The site is packed with information about Everglades Restoration, including our carefully thought out position papers, media coverage of our organization and our outreach efforts.

We look forward to hearing from you on an issue that is of great importance to hundreds of South Florida sportsmen, residents and voters.

 Sincerely,

Al Ovies                                                                                        email: alovies@bellsouth.net

President                                                                                Home telephone: 305-859-7589

South Florida Anglers For                                                       Work telephone: 305-859-7589