The coming year is going to be a pivotal
year in SAFER’s efforts to prevent the backfilling of the Water
Conservation Area 3 (WCA 3) canals, and the certain destruction
of the tremendous bass fishery that resulted from the
construction of the Central and South Florida Project (C&SFP).
As 2004 begins, let’s review what has been accomplished, where
we are now, and what to expect in the future.
For three years, SAFER has preached the gospel of no canal
backfilling or restriction of recreational access, of
“Restoration with recreation.” SAFER members have represented us
at the public forums and workshops, at the Project Design Teams
(PDT) of Restoration projects such as Decompartmentalization (Decomp)
and Master Recreation Plan (MRP). Interested members attended
seminars at the SFWMD Headquarters in West Palm Beach on
hydrological modeling. We have also committed to participate on
the Water Resources Advisory Commission (WRAC) Recreational
Issues Workshop Panel to the South Florida Water Management
District-Federal Task Force. The document produced, “Recreation,
Public Use and Access,” will soon be voted on by the SFWMD
Governing Board. It has been a solid 3-year effort by SAFER
members.
SAFER has long felt that the destruction of the Everglades
fishery would begin with the Mod Waters project. Plans for this
project call for the partial backfilling of the L-67C canal, and
closing access to over 15 miles of fish-filled canal. From the
start, SAFER has believed, and repeatedly stressed on the public
record, that these plans, based on the 1992 General Design
Memorandum (GDM), were flawed.
We have several reasons for these concerns:
• The Mod Waters and C-111 projects do not fall under the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) umbrella.
CERP at least has a project level Master Recreation Plan, and is
governed by the programmatic regulations mandated by Congress.
Central to these instructions is the theory of adaptive
management. SAFER feels strongly that the current CSOP plans,
developed more than a decade ago, and without the input from
South Florida’s sportsmen, need to, literally, be brought into
the 21st century.
• From the start we have questioned the validity of the
hydrological modeling of the 1992 MWD plans simply from the
point of view that it made no provisions for recreational
opportunities. Today, however, new and more detailed models have
been developed by SFWMD. Models utilizing navigation canals,
partial plugs, weirs, etc., instead of canal backfilling, need
to be developed, and the results carefully analyzed.
Since its inception, Mod Waters has been controversial, plagued
with lawsuit after lawsuit, and stymied by the continuous
conflict between the stakeholder organizations. As a result Mod
Waters has languished for over a decade. The last roadblock to
construction of the authorized projects was the 8-1/2 Square
Mile Area. That matter has recently been concluded in the U. S.
Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) favor, and construction
equipment is already staging in the area. Construction is
scheduled to be completed by 2006, a tight schedule that
involves project planning, construction of several water control
structures, and, God forbid, major alterations to the WCA 3
canals.
All these tasks must be completed before construction on CERP
projects can begin. The officer in charge of the Jacksonville
District, Col. Robert M. Carpenter, has determined that CSOP-the
procedures necessary to run the Mod Waters and C-111
modifications-must be in place prior to the completion of
construction. Now we are attending meetings of the Combined
Structures Operating Plan (CSOP) which will govern the use of
the modifications planned for the C&SFP system under the
Modified Water Deliveries Project (Mod Waters) and the C-111
Project (known as the Aerojet Canal). After years of inactivity,
pressure has been placed on the USACE staff working the CSOP
projects to accelerate the process, and to stick stringently to
an established schedule made public at the CSOP meeting on Jan.
8, 2004.
SAFER is very concerned with the chronology of events,
particularly for the hurried pace at which the modeling is
scheduled to be completed. In addition to modeling the 5
concepts already on the board, new concepts, as we have
requested from USACE/SFWMD, need to be developed and tested.
When queried by SAFER members at the CSOP meeting, USACE
indicated that such modeling would take place during the time
frame on the flow chart labeled “Other Modeling.” The time
allocated was brief and specific-3 months. Is this enough time
to develop complex hydrological models, run the tests, analyze
the results, and make corrections?
The subject of hydrological modeling was at the center of
intense discussions at the WRAC Recreational Issues Workshops.
The results of these discussions produced a paper entitled
“Modified Waters Delivery Consensus Report.” This document, a
copy of which is attached, provided a wide range of modeling
options to be explored. The report has been presented to the
WRAC Governing Board and passed. It is currently under
discussion by USACE staff members.
It is therefore disturbing to hear members of the CSOP PDT talk
about time constraints, and the possible curtailment of
modeling. The onus of proving the necessity for canal
backfilling, and reducing existing recreational access, enjoyed
for decades by thousands of South Floridians, is squarely on the
shoulders of the USACE/SFWMD. Such decisions should not be made
in a hurried manner, and before all the facts are in.
Pressure is being exerted on USACE from a different
direction-Everglades National Park (ENP). The Mod Waters and
C-111 modifications are being funded primarily by ENP, and ENP
wants the canals backfilled to the maximum extent possible. This
was their plan then, and it remains their plan to this day. They
deal cavalierly with the recreational needs of thousands South
Florida sportsmen, who use the Everglades and Water Conservation
Areas for traditional purposes such as hunting and fishing.
SAFER members who have sat in on CSOP PDT meetings, can attest
to the fact that differences between what ENP is demanding, and
what USACE has proposed in their project drafts, is substantial,
even conceptual. Attaining consensus in the accelerated time
frame is going to be difficult. There are indications that ENP
has threatened to pull its share of the funds, if their demands
aren’t met. Hopefully, these pressures will not lead to
solutions which will adversely affect recreational opportunities
for the citizens of South Florida.
It is important to note, that differences of opinion occur
within the staff of ENP. A presentation by Dr. Thomas Van Lent
of the National Park Service (NPS) at a meeting of the CSOP
Advisory Committee indicates that there are serious concerns
regarding the high water levels which will be the by product of
Mod Waters and other-CERP related projects. Removing the canals,
and their ability to move water out of the system, will result
in the possibility that during a heavy rainy season (A big rain
event in NPS parlance), the only direction in which water will
be able to flow, will be south, right into ENP. This much water
will surely drown the park. The canals were built, and have been
hugely successful, in preventing flood conditions in the heavily
built up areas of South Florida; leaving them in place will help
to prevent flooding in the natural systems of the Everglades.
Currently, there are two options being considered by Mod Waters.
• The plan espoused by the USACE calls for the construction of 3
passive weirs cut into the L-67A levee (see attached Graph 1). A
tieback levee will be constructed 1000 feet north of the
northernmost weir, and the L-67C levee will be degraded from the
tieback levee to the southernmost weir, a distance of 8 miles.
Levee material will be used to backfill the canal adjacent to
the degradation.
• The plan favored by ENP uses the base of the USACE plan,
adding several undefined structures on the L-67A (see attached
Graph 2) for slowing down the southward flow of water, and the
degradation and backfill of the L-67C canal, from the S-333
spillway at the canal’s southernmost extremity to the
southernmost of the passive weirs.
• A variation being considered by USACE is to use their original
base, and utilize a system of partial plugs, navigational
channels and weirs instead of using levee material to backfill
the canal. This plan would also maintain the tieback levee. (see
attached Graph 3)
The attached chart shows the effects of the different plans on
fishing opportunities.
L-67C Canal Boat Access CSOP Target Dates
Project Plan Accessible to Boat Plan Item Completion Date
Current 20.5 miles Modeling, evaluation, NEPA April, 2004
USACE (w/backfill) 7.5 Design refinements October 2004
ENP 0 Construction starts August 2005
USACE (w/o backfill) 15.5 miles Construction complete June 2006
|
L-67C Canal Boat
Access |
|
|
Project Plan |
Accessible to Boat |
|
|
Current |
20.5 miles |
|
|
USACE (w/backfill) |
7.5 |
|
|
ENP |
0 |
|
|
USACE (w/o backfill) |
15.5 miles |
|
| |
|
|
|
CSOP Target Dates |
|
Plan Item |
Completion Date |
|
|
Modeling,evaluation,NEPA |
April, 2004 |
|
|
Design refinements |
October 2004 |
|
|
Construction starts |
August 2005 |
|
|
Construction complete |
June 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
One factor which will be central to the determination of how
much, if any, of the canals should be backfilled is how much
water flows down the L-67C canal rather than dispersing through
the degraded portion of the L-67C levee. This flow is referred
to as short circuiting. No consensus has yet been reached on
what amount of short circuiting is significant or important.
Without the additional detailed modeling which SAFER has
requested (described above) an accurate, defensible position on
short circuiting may not be available.
For the past 3 years, SAFER has worked diligently to put out the
facts of the crisis that is facing the Everglades fishery under
the proposed Restoration plans. We’ve manned booths at fishing
shows and handed out flyers; we’ve established an
information-filled website to keep you up to date on the latest
developments. SAFER’s annual bass tournament has been hugely
successful in helping to get our message out. Our efforts have
been trumpeted in some of the most respected fishing magazines
in the country. We continue to look for ways to put the issues
before the public. In the past, we have been aided by the
conservation people at Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS),
who supported us with money and prizes for our auction. SAFER
looks forward to working with them to develop a national
interest in the Everglades Restoration process. Here in Florida,
we plan to develop further our relationship with the Florida
BASS Federation.
SAFER’s biggest asset continues to be the ability to mobilize
the bass anglers of South Florida, and get them to the public
meetings. It won’t be long now before the public outreach
branches of the Mod Waters/C-111 projects, begin holding public
comment meetings. Participation at these meetings by as many
members of the bass clubs in the tri-county area will be crucial
to SAFER’s ability to push forward our agenda. Numbers count.
Start planning now to attend these meetings.
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