9:00am - 10:15am

Playing Defense: Protecting the Remaining Habitat and Watershed of the Everglades

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Elizabeth Fata Carpenter, Everglades Law Center

While the state and federal governments are making significant investments to advance Everglades restoration, local governments are developing away our remaining habitat and watershed recharge areas across the Greater Everglades. Throughout South Florida, development is being fast-tracked as highway and energy development and urban sprawl continue to rule the day. Though Floridians consistently value preservation – and show that commitment clearly at the polls when given the opportunity to vote on conservation issues on the ballot – local leaders continue to side with developers, shunning the voices of environmental and community advocates pleading to slow sprawl development in favor of a more conservation-minded and thoughtful vision for our state’s future. This panel will overview several timely development threats and discuss strategies to shift to a culture of conservation.
 

10:30am – 11:45am

From Planning to Reality: Status Report on Restoration Progress

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Marisa Carrozzo, National Parks Conservation Association

In the past few years, a number of long-awaited restoration efforts have made significant strides forward – and not a moment too soon. Restoration of the Kissimmee River is now complete, and a number of CERP and related restoration efforts across the Greater Everglades are near-complete and delivering on incremental benefits to improve water flow and habitat functionality. This session will highlight several projects across the Greater Everglades, and panelists will overview the ecosystem issues they were intended to address, status of construction/operations, ecosystem benefits seen to date, and lessons learned through project planning and implementation that can help us improve restoration efforts here in the Everglades and in other ecosystems in the years ahead.
 

12:00pm – 1:15pm

Lunch

Hosted by

1:30pm – 2:30pm

Future Leader Roundtable

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Reinaldo Diaz, Lake Worth Waterkeeper

In this special session, we will invite a number of the Everglades Coalition scholarship recipients to join a moderated discussion about the future of Everglades protection and restoration. Students will have the chance to talk about their conservation priorities, concerns, outlook, and any research they may be undertaking in their studies. The session will culminate in asking each student to share their ideas about how the Everglades community can better engage the next generation of ecosystem stewards to learn, explore, and advocate. We hope the session will leave conference attendees hopeful about the future, and with new ideas and strategies to engage with students and youth advocates.
 

2:45pm – 3:45pm

Opportunities Abound: A Look at the Northern Everglades

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Caitlin Newcamp, Audubon Florida

LOSOM has put into very clear focus that in order to reach water storage goals, TMDLs, and BMAPs, we have to develop a plan for north of the Lake. Lake Okeechobee has been suffering from harmful algae blooms, declining SAV coverage, and poor water quality because it is treated as a reservoir rather than an ecosystem. As LOSOM comes online and we provide relief to the estuaries and send more water south, we also have to think critically about how to develop more water storage and treatment opportunities. STAs and large reservoirs may soon be a relic of the past as more areas of the state are developed. We propose a discussion focusing on the northern Everglades with an eye toward distributed water storage, public/private partnerships, the Central Florida Water Initiative, payment for environmental services, conservation easements, Florida Forever, and more.
 

4:00pm – 5:00pm

Everglades Restoration and Wildlife Corridors

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Jaclyn Lopez, Stetson University

Much of Florida’s biodiversity is dependent on a preserved and restored Everglades. Intact, functioning habitat is key to species persistence and recovery. This panel will assemble scientists and policy experts who will illustrate just how important Everglades restoration is for the continued existence of some of Florida’s most beloved wildlife, like the Florida panther and Florida black bear. The panel will explore how the recently passed Florida Wildlife Corridor Act will benefit biodiversity, wildlife corridors, and the Everglades.
 

5:30pm – 6:30pm

Reception

6:45pm – 8:45pm

Dinner

Hosted by

9:00am – 10:15am

Climate Change Perils of Florida's Wildlife Management Plans

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Elizabeth Fleming, Defenders of Wildlife

Discussions by Key Wildlife Experts on the shortfalls of Florida's Wildlife Management Plans and the Hidden Drivers of Policies and Current Legislation specifically involving Climate Change and Urban Sprawl. The focus would be from a holistic ecological approach including all wildlife creature stakeholders from soil/water microbes to mega fauna Florida Black Bears, Panthers and Manatees. Development of connecting ecological chains that link various wildlife recovery plans because each plan cannot exist without affecting in some manner all life systems. Concentration of feedback loops should be considered with future implications. Carbon sequestering, soil and water quality perils in the mist of increasing temperatures, droughts, flash floods, fires and storm intensity. Future forecasts and possible policy changes for unforeseen consequences.
 

10:30am – 11:45am

Making of a Watershed Moment

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Cara Capp, National Parks Conservation Association

Over the past decade, state and federal funding for Everglades restoration more than tripled from a combined $150M in 2012 to over $650M in 2022. For years, the Everglades community watched in distress as we fell further and further behind on key restoration projects, and projections about how long it would take to complete the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) became more distant with each new budget cycle. Yet the past few years have brought renewed hope and opportunity to the Everglades, with not only record-setting state and federal annual appropriations, but an additional national investment of over $1 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to complete key projects like the Indian River Lagoon C23/24 Reservoir, Broward County Water Preserve Area C-11 Impoundment, and the Central Everglades Planning Project S-356 Pump Station. What were the successful strategies that led to this historic level of funding – and political support – that has fundamentally changed the pace of Everglades restoration? This panel will overview the historical perspective of how CERP began, the ups and downs along the way, lessons learned, and what still needs to be accomplished in the years ahead if we hope to truly protect and restore America’s Everglades.
 

12:00pm – 1:15pm

Lunch

1:30pm – 2:30pm

Stories of Sustainability: Protecting Our Waters and the Communities They Sustain

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Kelli Doré, Everglades Law Center

TBA
 

2:45pm – 3:45pm

Navigating Current Threats to Federal Protections

Panelists

• TBA

Moderated by Tania Galloni, Earthjustice

Effectively protecting the Everglades depends on rigorous government oversight at both the state and federal levels, as well as robust public participation. Several efforts are underway to rollback federal safeguards that are vital tools for Everglades advocates. This panel will address rollbacks to federal permitting protections, attempts to modify NEPA and cases of interest at the U.S. Supreme Court.
 

4:00pm – 5:00pm

Tragedies & Triumphs: Addressing the Everglades Biodiversity Crisis

Panelists

• TBA

Moderater TBA

Habitat destruction and pollution continue to threaten biodiversity in the Everglades. This panel will feature some of the most charismatic – and imperiled – plants and animals that rely on the greater Everglades ecosystem. Creatures, like the Florida Panther and the Ghost Orchid, are facing critical agency decisions in the next year. This panel will address the urgency of this moment and will highlight experts who are uniquely specialized in addressing these challenges.
 

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Dinner

Hosted by