Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
for The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of the Interior
The 22nd Annual Everglades Coalition Conference
January 19, 2007
Thank you, Tom
Since I became Interior Secretary last May, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a wide variety of audiences across the country. I’ve spoken before conservation groups, recreation groups, and business groups.
I was at the 225th Anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown that won our nation’s independence. I had the honor of joining Tom Brokaw at the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in December. I also spoke to the Colorado River Users Association in Las Vegas that month, a group that, like this group, is wrestling with the challenges of managing water and development.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to be with you today as we continue to work together for a better future for the Everglades. As with the Colorado River, what happens in the Everglades is vitally important to the Interior Department and to the country as a whole. It is important that we get it right.
Coming as I do from the Pacific Northwest, I recognize I am the new kid on the block here in South Florida.
I would also add that I’m from Boise, which happens to be the home of Boise State University. So if I seem a little proud and I start using terms like “hook and lateral” or “Statue of Liberty,” you’ll know why. Or if you don’t know why, ask a college football fan. You do have college football here in Florida, don’t you?
Okay. Okay. I do want to congratulate the Florida Gators for winning the national championship.
Those who know me know I believe in a walk-around management style. You can’t manage properly what you haven’t seen. In the case of the Department of the Interior, that requires a lot of walking around. I discovered the lands and waters we oversee cover 18 time zones from the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean to Palau on the Pacific Rim.
They used to say the sun never set on the British Empire. I’ve found out literally that the sun never sets on the Department of the Interior.
In the past seven months, I’ve logged thousands of miles in trains, planes, automobiles – and air boats. I’ve discussed conservation issues with lobstermen and fishermen in Maine. I’ve talked to ranchers in the West about stream restoration. I’ve traveled to the North Slope of Alaska where I met with native villagers. I had an opportunity to tour the Everglades both by air and boat.
One of the things that I have noticed is that on many rivers across the country we are dealing with the same issue – how to adjust 20th century water projects and water management to meet the 21st century need to restore vital ecosystems and conserve wildlife.
The engineering feats accomplished by America in the 20th Century were truly extraordinary. Historians lavish praise on the ancient Romans for building ingenious aqueducts that transported water over long distances to the cities of their empire. Two thousand years later, the American people have arguably taken the Romans’ place as the greatest water engineers in history.
The problem, of course, is that in building dams and levees, redirecting rivers, dredging for navigation and pumping water to meet the needs of both agriculture and cities, we have altered the balance of nature in ways we did not foresee.
We are now faced with the challenge of how to modify our engineering to allow rivers and adjacent wetlands to play their proper role in their ecosystems. We need to do so while continuing to provide people with water and navigation and protect them from floods.
The Everglades is certainly the biggest example of this, but we also face the challenge out West.
A couple of months ago I was standing in a pasture on the Rolling Stone ranch in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana. The ranch was appropriately enough owned by a man named Jim Stone.
You might remember the Blackfoot River from the movie, “A River Runs Through It.” The valley is truly a beautiful part of the world – God’s country. In the second half of the 20th Century, however, the river was gradually re-engineered to meet the needs of agriculture, ranching, the timber industry and a fast-growing human population.
People like Jim Stone didn’t like what was happening to their environment, their wildlife and their quality of life. So they formed a huge and diverse coalition of landowners, non-profit groups, and state and federal agencies called the Blackfoot Challenge. Working together, they developed a plan to conserve and restore the river and surrounding valley.
What did this mean on the ground? On Jim Stone’s ranch, a meandering tributary that runs through the property had been channeled. The purpose was to dry up adjacent wetlands so they could be used for livestock grazing. The same thing had happened on neighboring ranches.
The re-engineering certainly achieved its goal of drying up the wetlands. It also caused the continual flushing of tons of sediment into the Blackfoot River. In addition, it destroyed native vegetation and eliminated spawning habitat for native fish including the westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. You might say they hit the Trifecta of unintended environmental consequences.
The good news is that standing in that pasture, Jim and I were looking at a fully restored stream meandering through healthy wetlands. They even had turned the ditched channel into a series of ponds.
Perhaps the best news was that we weren’t alone. There was a group of us that included other ranchers, federal and state biologists and hydrologists, local officials, and representatives from conservation organizations – in other words, people you might not expect to see together out West, especially in the middle of a pasture.
We reviewed a series of maps that Jim and the scientists had displayed on easels to show me the work that had been done to restore the tributary to its original state. Jim also told me about the steps he was taking to manage his ranch and his cattle to reduce impacts on the stream.
One thing he said stuck in my mind. He said that there was a time when he didn’t understand the relationship between the stream and his ranch. Now he had learned that the health of the stream was an indicator of how well he was managing his ranch.
He told me that before the restoration work was done, there were no native fish in the stream. Now he was beginning to see these fish again. You could tell that he was really proud of that.
It struck me that we hadn’t just restored a stream. We had restored trust. The ranchers in the valley no longer viewed the government and conservation groups as an enemy trying to tell them what they could and could not do on their land. We were now partners.
One more thing occurred to me as I stood in that pasture looking over the maps. In front of me was the Blackfoot River flowing north to south. Over the years, we had re-engineered the river so that it didn’t function the way it should in the ecosystem. We were now in the process of trying to redo 20th Century plumbing to restore the river’s relationship with the land around it. We were seeking to do this while ensuring the ranchers and other residents of the valley could make their living.
As I stood there in that Montana meadow looking at those maps, I had a thought: “This is the Everglades.” And I told Jim and the rest of the group about the restoration efforts here in South Florida.
The names were different. The vegetation and wildlife were different. But the concept was the same. And, above all, the pride of all the partners in their restoration work was the same.
I had recently flown over the Kissimmee River. It is just like the Blackfoot River. We are working to get the water moving north to south in the right way for both people and nature.
As I flew over the Kissimmee, there was the stark contrast between those areas where natural flows have returned and those areas where they have not. Where the meandering flows of the river have been restored, the adjacent floodplain wetlands displayed a rich mosaic of vibrant habitat. Where the river remains constrained, the adjacent habitat appeared lifeless.
It was just like standing in that pasture in the Blackfoot Valley.
Obviously, the solutions to our engineering challenges are different from river to river. We can’t, for example, restore the Mississippi to the meandering river it once was to conserve the coastal wetlands that are disappearing in the Delta. We can, however, modify our levee system to allow the rich sediment that is now flowing out into the Gulf of Mexico to once again replenish those wetlands. And, working with states and local communities, we can find other solutions that restore the river’s natural functions.
While our efforts in the Everglades and on the Mississippi are obviously much larger in scope than the Blackfoot Challenge, the same keys to success apply.
First, a spirit of partnership in which all sides are committed to the same goals.
Second, the application of sound science.
And third, an understanding that, as in most situations in life where there is conflict or potential conflict, there are no true winners unless everyone gets something and everyone gives up something.
My tour on the Kissimmee River and travel within the Everglades has reinforced my belief that the restoration of the Everglades and South Florida ecosystem is on the right track. President Bush and this Administration remain committed.
The Department of the Interior manages half of the South Florida ecosystem. We have a trust responsibility to ensure the protection of our national parks and national wildlife refuges and the conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Equally importantly, we have a vital responsibility to the people of South Florida to work in partnership with all of you to ensure the restoration of the Everglades succeeds. We must achieve the twin goals of returning the natural flow of clean water to the Everglades while providing water supply and flood protection for the residents of South Florida.
Finally, we have a responsibility to the people of the United States. The Everglades are not just Florida’s treasure. They are a national treasure.
If we work together wisely, future generations will benefit. If we fail to work together and are unwise, future generations will suffer. It is incumbent upon us to be wise.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is a sound blueprint for restoration – one that establishes the partnership that is necessary if we are going to succeed and provides the flexibility to make adjustments as we gain knowledge and develop new technologies.
I appreciate the State of Florida moving restoration from conceptual plans to on-the-ground accomplishments through its Acceler8 program. We are doing everything we can as federal partners to expedite the Acceler8 process. I am pleased that early land acquisitions funded by the federal government such as the 50,000-acre Talisman acquisition have allowed the State to get an early start.
The state also has made great strides in improving water quality. Storm water treatment areas are up and running, removing excess phosphorus from the water. No other state has done as much to address nutrient pollution in this fashion.
Last month, I sent a letter to Governor Bush as he prepared to leave office congratulating him on the outstanding progress the state has made to date.
We should be encouraged that our collective conservation efforts are making a difference to the Everglades and to its wildlife. The American crocodile population has grown since the species was listed as endangered in 1975. We continue to work hard with our partners to address threats and work towards recovery.
The Key Deer population is also improving. I am pleased the Fish and Wildlife Service has been able to augment deer herds on two keys through successful translocations.
We are also moving forward in combating invasive species. I got a first-hand look at the invasives problem during my tour of Everglades. Our biologists showed me the 15-foot python they had caught.
I’m from the West. I knew to stay away from its mouth.
Even better, I got to pet Python Pete, our snake hunting beagle.
Pythons, of course, get all the publicity, but on the ground, we are making great strides in combating invasives.
In my tour of Everglades National Park, I learned about our successful partnership with Miami-Dade County to remove Brazilian pepper and other invasives from 6,250 acres known as the “Hole-in-the-Donut.”
Volunteers and park staff are engaged in the back-breaking work of removing exotics from what was once a farm and is now part of the park. They are transforming the area back into a healthy wetland prairie and pineland ecosystem. Ultimately, restoring this area will support a diverse and abundant array of native species.
Likewise, at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, we have treated nearly 59,000 acres of refuge land overrun with Melaleuca [Mel-ah-luke-ah] and Lygodium [Lie-goad-ium] and re-treated 28,000 acres to prevent areas from becoming re-infested. Those efforts continue, and the refuge is on track to meet its performance objectives.
All of our efforts to combat invasive exotic plant species require constant surveillance. We could not have accomplished what we have achieved without partnerships with local and state governments.
I am also pleased we are making progress on the Mod water project, which is the linchpin to restoring historic water flows to the Everglades National Park. The administration is committed to seeking the necessary funding from Congress to modify Tamiami Trail [Tam-ee-am-ee] so that water may flow once again southward from the conservation areas through the park and to Florida Bay.
Our work, of course, is far from complete. For example, we remain committed to working with our partners to fulfill the requirements of the Consent Decree to ensure that the water entering the Everglades meets the appropriate standard for phosphorus.
This standard is necessary for the protection of the Everglades environment. I applaud the state and the Miccousukee Tribe [Mik-ah- sue- key] for setting such a strict standard. Together we must do everything we can to ensure the standard is met both today and in the future. I commend the Army and South Florida Water Management District for their ongoing testing of new technologies that hold great promise for reducing phosphorous levels.
I believe the future is bright for the Everglades. The spirit of partnership is strong. I look forward to working with Governor Crist. His experience and leadership will help move our restoration efforts forward in the coming years.
I also look forward to working with each of you. All of us recognize the many hurdles we have to overcome in the next few years. But we have vision – a common vision of a healthy Everglades and a prosperous South Florida.
There is a saying: “Vision without a task is only a dream. A task without a vision is but drudgery. But vision with a task is a dream fulfilled.”
We have our vision. We have our task. Together let us fulfill the dream.