Editor, Naples Daily News:

Letters that distort facts do readers a disservice. Those blaming the agricultural community, the South Florida Water Management District or the Army Corps of Engineers for Everglades fires that closed Alligator Alley may not have been here long enough to understand this environment.

Fire is a natural and crucial part of the Everglades system. In fact, the SFWMD recently set fires in some areas to mimic the natural ones and achieve environmental benefits.

The water-management system established more than 50 years ago made it possible for all of us to live here. Managing rainfall, Lake Okeechobee, rivers and canal systems is an immense task
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When Lake Okeechobee's water level is unusually high, river discharges are required.

Reasonable people know that water flows from north to south in Florida, and it is unfair to blame agriculture, at the lake's southern rim, for all of the lake's problems or for corrective measures.

There has been unprecedented cooperation between the government and the stakeholders in addressing environmental issues.

Farmers have volunteered to store excess lake water on their lands to assist with Lake Toho restoration; stormwater-treatment areas are working; water flowing to Everglades National Park is cleaner than ever.

Everglades restoration is on time and under budget, with strong support from the agricultural community.

Progress is being made to restore the environment — and agriculture is part of the solution.

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