Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the message crystal clear: President Obama fully supports Everglades Restoration.  Salazar’s presence and the funding for this third of four phases for the Picayune Strand restoration back those words up with actions.  The groundbreaking held February 18 for Faka-Union Canal Pump Station and Spreader Canal, along with road removal and plugging of canals, make this project a big Everglades success story.

When complete, Picayune Strand restoration will reclaim 55,000 acres of overdrained subdivision, into cypress sloughs, marshes, tropical hammocks and wet prairies, while re-establishing sheetflow to the Ten Thousand Islands estuaries, adding thousands more acres of estuarine restoration.  Endangered Florida panthers and Wood Storks are already making their returns to the area as hydrology has been restored in the eastern portions, rehydrating the adjacent Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.

The enthusiastic audience of agency officials, conservation advocates, scientists and engineers received Secretary Salazar’s message as a commitment to finish this work. “We cannot stop now,” said Salazar.  Audubon and its allies are working now to secure funding for the final phase of restoration for the Miller Canal.

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