United States Sugar is leaving 18,000 acres of land before its lease expires, allowing for an ambitious project aimed to help restore the Everglades.

United States Sugar is leaving land it is leasing, opening the door for an ambitious project critical to the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan.

The state and federal governments had bought the 50,960 acres on the south end of Lake Okeechobee from the Talisman Sugar Corp. five years ago.

As part of a lease-back agreement, growers would work the land until the property was needed.

Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar, the nation's largest sugar producer, said Thursday that while its 18,000 acres includes 11,000 acres with several years of cane production remaining, it will leave about half the property today and the rest after remaining cane is harvested in the fall.

''While there were some business issues that needed to be resolved, this was the right thing to do,'' Robert Coker, senior vice president for U.S. Sugar, said in a statement.

THEIR OWN DOING

South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Henry Dean insisted U.S. Sugar received no rewards or incentives to leave early, adding, ''I'd like to think I never put pressure on anybody.'' U.S. Sugar also said it got no rewards and that it has been in talks for some time.

Gov. Jeb Bush praised U.S. Sugar on Thursday in a statement, adding, "I am hopeful other sugar companies will follow suit.''

The rest of the parcel is being leased by West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative.

The district had given Florida Crystal 18 months' notice to leave by April 2005. Dean said on Thursday, ''I hope we can reach an amicable agreement.'' But he said the district would not actually need the property before the spring of 2006, so there's time if it has to sue the company.

Florida Crystals spokesman Jorge Dominicis said late Thursday the company will stop farming when the district needs the land and not a minute before, adding, "That's what the contract allows for.''

The Growers Cooperative's 1,800 acres is not in a part of the Talisman parcel that the district needs first, spokeswoman Barbara Miedema said late Thursday. Miedema said the company has not yet received an 18-months' notice and plans to grow through at least the fall harvest.

Dean also said the district has learned that the soil under about half the property is of a type that will allow it to dig deeper than planned. That will mean it can create a reservoir 12 feet deep and surrounded by a 12-foot levee, allowing for 24-foot-deep water storage. The water management district will do complete studies on the Talisman reservoir project by December or January, select a contractor in the spring of 2005 and start work in late 2005 or early 2006, completing the reservoirs by early 2009, Dean said on Thursday.

THE LINCHPIN

''Everyone recognizes Talisman is the linchpin'' to the Everglades restoration project, Dean said. "This is a great day, a great milestone.''

The $152.5 million purchase of Talisman Sugar Corp.'s 50,960-acre empire in Palm Beach and Hendry counties included land swaps with other sugar companies. The price was originally $133.5 million.