REPORT SHOWS DRAMATIC DROP IN GROWTH
OF CATTAILS IN FLORIDA EVERGLADES

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – August 26, 2003 – The South Florida Water Management District has released a study that shows a 67 % decrease in the growth of cattails in the Florida Everglades.

The study's findings are a significant indicator of the improving health of the Everglades and can be attributed to on-farm phosphorus cleanup by sugar farmers begun in the mid 1990s and to the 2000 completion of a 6,400-acre storm water filter marsh on the northwest border of the cattail study area. The water management district praised the findings as more proof that farmers' efforts are working to cut phosphorus leaving their fields and that the filter marshes are effective at further cleaning the water from farms, urban areas and Lake Okeechobee. "It's a positive indication good things are occurring out there," said Chip Merriam, District deputy executive director for water resources.

"This is outstanding news for the efforts to restore the Everglades," said Judy Sanchez, spokesperson for U.S. Sugar Corporation. "Day after day, report after report shows that the combined efforts of the farmers, the state and the water management district have produced dramatic results. The restoration partnership is working and everyone concerned about the health of the Everglades should be very happy."

"We are particularly encouraged by the fact that one concentrated area of cattails in WCA-2A actually has been replaced by saw grass and other healthy habitat. Impacts experienced over 50 years were reversed in eight years. That is the best news of all," said Sanchez.

Since farmers first fully implemented Best Management Practices or BMPs in 1996, the new soil and water management techniques have been successful in reducing phosphorus in water leaving the farms by over 50%. Areas of "dominant" cattails have not been expanded since 1995. Some areas have actually decreased.

The District study found that the cattail growth had slowed to an average of 785.2 acres per year from 1995 to 2003, compared to 2,374 acres per year from 1991 to 1995. The study discredits environmental critics claims, made as recently as this summer, that the spread rate of cattails was approximately 9 acres per day (3,300 acres per year). More than 50% of the cattail areas mapped in the study are categorized as "sparse" in density. The study area covered 104,000 acres of the state-owned Everglades, west of Broward and southern Palm Beach counties.

The water management district has built a series of filter marshes to further reduce the phosphorus before it goes south to the Everglades. Nearly 50% of the planned storm water treatment areas will not be fully operational for another year, forecasting additional reductions as they come on line.

To read more about the drop in growth of cattails
in the Florida Everglades, please click here.