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A large part of the southern portion of the Everglades wetland was designated Everglades National Park in 1947. Since 1983, the State of Florida has spent over $2.3 billion and acquired more than 1 million acres to prevent further damage to the Everglades ecosystem. (6) Congress mandated minimum flows to the Everglades. Unfortunately, ecological timing was not accounted for when the minimum flows were decided. The Everglades depends on certain amounts of water during specific periods of the year. The Rainfall Plan was authorized by congress to help correct the water problems troubling the Everglades. The Water Management District experimented with different solutions, but the effectiveness of these solutions to handle pre-drainage conditions is questionable. A change in administration in 1992 resulted in negotiations for an Everglades 'clean up' plan. The negotiations led to the Everglades Protection Act, which included on-farm practices to reduce the effect of agriculture on the Everglades. Artificial marshes were created to filter nutrient run-off from the farms and hopefully reduce the phosphorous content in the Everglades. The expense of this clean up plan was about $300 million. In 1994 the Florida legislature went beyond the provisions of the Everglades Protection Act and passed the Everglades Forever Act. This act made restoration efforts by establishing requirements for surface water improvement and management. Its goals were to improve both water quality and quantity, to return the Everglades to its natural duration of inundation, and to stop the spread of foreign plant species in the ecosystem. (3)
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