Latest Everglades Stories
Florida's lead negotiator in the $1.34 billion U.S. Sugar Corp. land deal said there were hurdles ahead financially and politically to keep the project viable. We have a lot of work ahead, said Mike Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, The Miami Herald reported Thursday. The trickiest task will be to keep state lawmakers from undermining the 180,000-acre purchase, which could escalate to a $3 billion deal once interest on loans are calculated, the newspaper...
The cost of a $1.34 billion Florida land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. could reach $3.4 billion once interest on loans has been figured in, a state official said. The South Florida Water Management District board was to vote on the deal that would tie in 180,000 acres of natural water flows between Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades. Since the deal was first discussed last summer the state's revenue projections have dropped and a rival bidder for the land, The Lawrence Group, has...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since Governor Charlie Crist's announcement of the purchase of U.S. Sugar's land for Everglades restoration last June, Florida Crystals has sought to work with the South Florida Water Management District and the Governor's office to ensure the deal would achieve the Governor's environmental objectives, while at the same time being financially sound and protecting sustainable agriculture. Unfortunately, the terms of the deal...
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Florida Farm Bureau President John L. Hoblick today issued the following statement: At its meeting on Oct. 10, the board of directors of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation (FFBF), the state's largest general interest agricultural organization, declared its opposition to the acquisition of U.S. Sugar Corp. lands by the South Florida Water Management District. The Federation firmly supports the rights of private property owners to...
A state legislator in Florida said the state's proposal to buy 181,000 acres from U.S. Sugar to support Everglades restoration was a corporate bailout. In a letter to the South Florida Water Management District, Miami-Dade County Rep. Juan Zapata said the $1.34 billion deal, touted as a huge environmental coup, appears to be nothing more than a corporate bailout. State lawmakers were extremely concerned about the deal, Zapata wrote. U.S. Sugar's board approved the deal, but the South Florida...
Florida officials say they have successfully moved water dumped by Tropical Storm Fay, ending flooding that threatened wildlife in one part of the Everglades. Water north of the Tamiami Trail had been so deep that wading birds such as herons and egrets could not ,and deer and other mammals sought higher ground, The Miami Herald reported Sunday. The trail, the old Miami-to-Tampa highway that runs along the northern border of Everglades National Park, acts as a dam, blocking the natural flow...
Florida Crystals and a Florida growers' cooperative said the state's offer to buy 180,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corp. gives the company an unfair advantage. The company and the Florida Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida said they opposed the $1.34 billion deal, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday. The deal creates a taxpayer subsidized sugar company, Florida Crystals spokesperson Gaston Cantens said. Florida agreeing to rent the land back to U.S. Sugar for seven years...
The State of Florida and U.S. Sugar Corp. have agreed to a $1.34 billion deal that will set aside 180,000 acres for Everglades restoration, the state said. The deal announced Tuesday was in negotiations for five months and requires approval from the boards of both U.S. Sugar and the South Florida Water Management District. If either board votes nay, I think the parties can continue to negotiate until it's yea, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Michael Sole said...
Florida's proposed buyout of U.S. Sugar Corp. to restore the Everglades has changed as the corporation said it was considering building an ethanol plant. The proposal to buy U.S. Sugar's entire land holdings, but give the firm time to phase out of business in Florida, has been scaled back to a $1.34 billion deal that allows the company to keep a Clewiston, Fla., sugar mill and its rail line, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday. The company is negotiating with Coskata Inc. of...
Florida wildlife officials say near-record flooding in the Everglades have left few dry places for white-tailed deer and other animals. The concern is greatest in the sawgrass prairies north of Tamiami Trail, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday. ''If we don't start doing something, we're going to end up with a total massacre,'' Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioner Ron Bergeron said. Similar flooding in 1982 and 1995 decimated the deer population. State and federal water...
Latest Everglades Reference Libraries
Everglades National Park is located in the state of Florida in the United States. The park holds 1,508,538 acres of land and holds twenty percent of the original Everglades. This park is the third largest national park in the lower forty-eight states. The area was once inhabited by Native American tribes, like the Calusa and Tequesta peoples, and the Seminole people, a mixture of Creek people, escaped African slaves, and other Native Americans, known as the Seminole Nation. Most of this tribe...
Biscayne National Park is located in the southern area of Florida in the United States. The park holds 172,971 acres, of which ninety-five percent consists of water. Native Americans first inhabited the area when water levels were low in the Biscayne Bay. Evidence has been found in the area supporting the inhabitance of other Native Americans, like the Tequesta people, from at least 2,500 years ago. European settlement did not occur in the area until the 19th century, when farmers settled on...
Paurotis Palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii) also known as Everglades Palm, Madiera Palm, and Silver Saw Palmetto, is a single species of plant from the genus Acoelorrhaphe. It is native to Central America, southeastern Mexico, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and extreme southern Florida. It was once plentiful in Florida, but many plants were taken for the nursery trade. It is now protected in Florida in the wild. It grows in swamps and forests that flood periodically. The species is named after the...
