USDA Announces Wetland Restoration in Everglades

Today, USDA announced a wetland restoration project in part of the Northern Everglades which will "create one of the largest contiguous easement acquisitions in the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)" according to the press release.

The WRP is a voluntary program that "provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring eligible land from agriculture."

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide "$89 million through WRP to acquire easements on almost 26,000 acres of land in the Fisheating Creek Watershed" located about 130 miles south of Orlando.

This land will "provide the large open spaces, food resources and connectivity needed to sustain wide-ranging animals like the Florida black bear, whooping crane and the Florida panther."  The land can also support many other rare endangered and threatened species.

To read the USDA press release, click here.
To read the Miami Herald story, click here.

Posted: 07/19/2010