Audubon Florida’s Everglades Team and advocates like you have worked for years to make restoration of the heart of the Everglades a reality. Now, your voice is needed on Thursday to seal the deal at the South Florida Water Management District.

On Thursday, April 10, the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District will vote on sending a “Letter of Support” to the state and federal partners of the important Central Everglades Planning Project. Man-made changes have left the Everglades without enough clean water in the right place at the right time, causing a significant decline in nesting of indicator species like Roseate Spoonbills and Everglade Snail Kites.

CEPP will restore the heart of the ecosystem and flow water south from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay through a bundle of projects that store and clean water, redirect it south to rehydrate Florida Bay, and protect urban areas by preventing Everglades water from seepage.

Some of CEPP’s benefits for the Greater Everglades Ecosystem include:

• Increasing wildlife habitat for native species
• Decreasing harmful wet season flows to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries by finally sending water south
• Delivering 70 billion gallons of freshwater to the southern ecosystem annually
• Rehydrating aquifers for over 7 million people who rely on the Everglades for drinking water

For the Central Everglades, the time is now or never. SFWMD staff and the Army Corps, along with the environmental community and others have done a tremendous job of working together to develop a plan with unparalleled ecological benefits. If the Letter of Support is not approved next week, the future of this project could be in jeopardy.

Governing Board members need to hear from you about the importance of approving CEPP. Join Audubon Florida at the hearing to make your voice heard on Agenda item #34 for the Everglades.

April 10, 2014

9:00am

SFWMD Headquarters

B-1 Auditorium

3301 Gun Club Road

West Palm Beach, FL 33406

If you plan on attending, please click here to email Audubon's Jane Graham for additional details.