Eric Eickenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on with the organization.
Advocates for the Everglades gathered in Washington DC recently.
Eickenberg said, “We were delighted that we had about 300 folks traveled up from Florida to Washington. We had a good number of individuals from the capital area who have been Everglades supporters over the years join us. It was an Everglades summit in which we wanted to highlight, certainly, the progress that we’ve been making and seeing over the last handful of years. There was also a time to reflect back on 25 years of the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan, which was signed in December of 2000, so we’re in that 25th year already. But more importantly, or most importantly, for this particular event, was being completely focused on what we have going forward, and we’ve talked about reservoirs, and we’ve talked about getting water flowing to ever Everglades National Park down in the Florida Bay. But we wanted to really capture the economic value of the Everglades itself, and we unveiled for the first time ever research that shows the Everglades as an asset, an economic asset, that value asset, and it’s a $1 trillion asset here for the nation, $31 billion every year, going back and forth through a variety of services, through the tourism industry, real estate, fishing, boating, let alone the millions of jobs associated with that. So that economic message of a trillion dollar asset was then taken to Capitol Hill, 160 people walk the halls, the House and the Senate, 89 offices that we visited, and the message was clear. Everglades restoration, it’s worth it, and it’s working.”
There were a lot of big names at the summit who believe in the Everglades.
Eikenberg said, “Even to the point where an executive with Enterprise Mobility, the rental car company, understanding that Florida is a very large footprint for that rental car company, and they rely upon water in the Everglades to clean cars before you step into one also. But they see what happens when we have these algae outbreaks and when we have dead sea grass floating on Florida Bay that we saw back in 2015, folks cancel their trips to Florida, it’s a direct hit to tourism and whether it’s the Orvis company, Enterprise, Bass Pro Shops, who was supportive, a sponsor of this summit, a variety of the outdoor industries, certainly let their voices be heard at the summit. This is a bipartisan issue. I’m at a conference in Phoenix where we’re being hosted by a group called Nature is Non Partisan. So to be able to bring folks together in a time when there’s a lot of divisiveness, to rally around the Everglades to demonstrate that there is this trillion dollar value asset to it, it was a wonderful three days of celebrating this treasure that’s in our own backyard. I mean, the people waking up and working now in the Keys, starting their day, this is right there in your backyard. You all know the importance of this, but to see it elevate like it did in Washington was very heartening.”
How was the message received in these days of DOGE and cutbacks?
Eikenberg said, “Talk about herding cats, just trying to logistically get folks spread out across the House and Senate. Like I said, it was 160 individuals. We had realtors, Chambers of Commerce, even our friends from Islamorada were very supportive of the of the hill day, Naples Chamber and, let alone fishing guides and other tourism officials. The Florida delegation is very united on this topic. We’ve talked in the past about those that are to the left, to the right, but when it comes to water, when it comes to the Everglades, Florida Bay, they’re united. But we were taking this message to Senators and members of the House from other states, the other 49 states, because again, you have these men and women sitting on appropriations committees. They’re making decisions on where to spend the money. So again, the message of, if you’re going to invest $446 million this year, which is what President Trump is recommending to the Everglades, which is the largest number we’ve seen in 25 years, then if that investment is going to take place, we want the Congressman in Michigan and in Iowa and the Senator from Pennsylvania and Arizona to understand the values that that occur here, the jobs that are created. It’s in the same breath as we look to fight to defend Yosemite and Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, all these, all these national parks that we see certainly out west here that are iconic, the Everglades is just it even more so. I was so pleased that not only the word we were getting back from folks after their meetings, and the meetings that I personally had, is that members of Congress, no matter where they reside, they see the Everglades not only as unique because there’s only one place like it in the world, right here in Florida. But number two, it is a national treasure, and it needs to be invested in and that message was made loud and clear.”
Where will the $446 million go?
Eikenberg said, “Not a dime of that money, whatever the number might be, because Congress will start its process to come up with a final number, but not a dime of that money will go to the Everglades Foundation, but you’ll see roughly $300 million go to the construction of the 38 foot high embankment walls of the reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. This reservoir that’s now coming out of the ground, it’s going to be the connection between Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay. So every year, putting in 300, 400 million to build this reservoir over the next six to eight years, unfortunately, that time frame is real. We want this reservoir built as quickly as possible. So again, $446 million is what President Trump is recommending. A good chunk of that is going to go to the reservoir and then there’s other projects that are within the comprehensive plan on the West Coast, East Coast, certainly down in Miami Dade County, that benefit the Keys themselves. The complimentary part, of this, is the Florida Legislature, the governor just signed the budget a couple of days ago, and that has almost $800 million in monies for the Everglades and these construction projects. So we’re looking at over a billion dollars in this year and that’s the point. This is not a candidate to be DOGEd. We lean in with over a billion dollars in spending between the state and federal government, Everglades restoration is going to happen sooner than we think, and that’s the whole goal here. So operate with a sense of urgency.”
What about the news of a detention center in the Everglades?
Eikenberg said, “Ideally, other opportunities could have been addressed to put this facility, but they are putting it at the old jet port, we are communicating directly to the governor’s office and to the department emergency management to make sure that this does not have any adverse impacts to the Everglades, whether it’s through water quality issues. That property is quite close to Everglades National Park on the north side of Tamiami Trail, so water quality is certainly a concern there, as we’ve spent now almost a billion dollars in water quality initiatives. So it is a topic that’s gaining national attention, but we want to ensure that there’s no adverse impacts to the environment and they say it’s a temporary facility, and I hope that’s the case, ultimately.”
For more information, click here: https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/