Audubon applauded the groundbreaking of the Merritt Canal component of the Picayune Strand restoration project today because ultimately this restoration will revive 55,000 acres of wetland sloughs and upland habitat critical to sustain healthy wood stork, snail kite and manatee populations, as well as Florida Panthers, black bears, bald eagles and many other Western Everglades species.

“This is a unique opportunity to actually return the abundance of wildlife that once thrived in the western Everglades,” said Brad Cornell, Policy Associate for Audubon of Florida and Collier County Audubon Society. “We don’t often have this kind of opportunity and it is worth celebrating.”

A project groundbreaking ceremony, hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is schedule for 10 a.m. Thursday, January 7, 2010, at the intersection of 56th Avenue S.E. and the Merritt Canal in eastern Collier County.

Audubon and 22 other conservation organizations signed a resolution today heralding the foundational importance of finally seeing both the state and federal partners begin building the Picayune Strand Restoration Project. The Picayune project is the largest within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the nation’s first ecosystem recovery effort agreed as a 50-50 partnership between the federal government and the State of Florida. CERP was originally passed in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000. Congress authorized the Picayune project in the 2007 WRDA.

Once called the South Golden Gate Estates, the acres of marshes, sloughs and estuarine habitat were destroyed decades ago in a failed attempt to develop part of “the world’s largest subdivision.” The restoration activities involve removing more than 227 miles of road, plugging 45 miles of canals, and installing three pump stations. Once completed, the Picayune Strand project will recreate natural water flows, historic water level conditions and ecological connectivity to the natural lands around it.

The project area is surrounded almost entirely by public conservation lands. Restoring it will provide vast ecological benefits to the downstream Fakahatchee Estuary within the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Rookery Bay Reserve, and its habitats, which are critical to the fish that spawn in the area. Outdoor recreational opportunities will also improve as the former Golden Gate Estates is revived to its natural state. No legitimate public access has been permitted in the former Golden Gate Estates and improving natural conditions there will provide boaters, hikers, and campers with opportunities to connect with nature in Picayune Strand State Forest.

“The Picayune Strand restoration project is the largest and first CERP project to begin construction,” Cornell said. “If we can get this right, we will set the stage for achieving the ecological benefits possible in all 68 components of the nation’s largest ecosystem recovery plan.”

Audubon of Florida and its partners, including Florida Wildlife Federation, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and Collier County Audubon Society, have worked diligently to ensure the federal and state funding necessary to implement the Picayune Strand Restoration Project has been forthcoming over the years and to influence project planning to maximize the ecological benefits it will provide. Audubon applauds the US Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the South Florida Water Management District, and the State of Florida for taking this important step in restoring America’s Everglades.

View the resolution adopted by Audubon and 22 other conservation organizations.