The new Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) was originally scheduled for implementation this summer after more than three years of design with feedback from stakeholders. However, new developments have prevented the management schedule from coming online. In particular, the National Marine Fisheries Service initiated consultation with the Army Corps of Engineers under the Endangered Species Act to better examine the potential impacts of the planned lake schedule on listed species—especially marine species in the Caloosahatchee Estuary and the Gulf of Mexico. Audubon has expressed concerns about the delays and has called for expedient implementation of LOSOM in a recent letter to the Army Corps of Engineers. This new rulebook for operating the lake will supersede the existing lake schedule of 2008 and will take into account new infrastructure that has recently come online, such as the rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike. The new lake schedule will reduce harmful lake releases to the Northern Estuaries and improve flows to the Everglades and Caloosahatchee Estuary. We look forward to realizing these benefits.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2023 State of the Everglades report.