the Picayune Strand Restoration Project

Transcription

1 Picayune Strand Current Status and Future of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project David J. Bauman Biologist Jacksonville District July 14, 2010 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration 2010 US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS JACKSONVILLE Jacksonville DISTRICT District

2 Project Status Project consists of four construction phases. Each phase involves the filling or plugging of one of the four major canals draining the project area Chronologically, the phases are: Prairie Canal (no pump station required) Merritt Canal and Pump Station Faka Union Canal and Pump Station Miller Canal and Pump Station

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4 Prairie Canal Phase Completed by SFWMD North section (2 miles) filled about six years ago South section (5 miles) filled about three years ago Most roads removed or degraded between Prairie and Merritt canals Logging trams not removed

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9 Merritt Canal and Pump Station Phase Currently under construction with the Corps as the construction lead agency Merritt Pump Station construction in progress Road removal or degrading in progress, working from south to north Logging tram removal in progress Anticipate pump station completion in 18 to 24 months, followed by canal plugging

10 Project Status Prairie Canal Phase Completed by Third level Fourth level Fifth level

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14 Faka Union and Miller Phases Anticipate awarding contract for Faka Union phase construction by September 30, 2010 Plan to award Miller construction contract by September 2012 Both phases will be similar to Merritt and will involve pump station construction, road removal or degrading, logging tram removal or degrading, and canal filling or plugging g

15 Future Challenges Vegetation Management During Operations Phase Recipe for Restoration Success Restore natural hydrology Restore natural fire regime Control or eliminate invasive, exotic or nuisance native plants

16 Future Challenges Vegetation Management During Operations If project goals are obtained, team is confident that restoration success will be achieved for most or all targets and performance measures Greatest concern is regarding the third goal, control or elimination of exotic and nuisance plants

17 Future Challenge Vegetation Management During Operations Vegetation Management during construction phase in the construction footprints is not an issue. Funding is available and is being used to effectively control exotic plants in the construction footprints

18 Future Challenges Vegetation Management During Operations Team consensus that exotic and native nuisance plants must be controlled or eliminated to achieve full restoration ti benefits Uncertainty about future availability of funding and level of multi-agency commitment to control invasive, exotic and native nuisance plants

19 Future Challenges Vegetation Management During Operations Florida Division of Forestry (DOF) has primary responsibility for forest management and exotic plant control but does not have adequate funding to effectively control or eliminate i invasive, i exotic and nuisance native plants throughout the entire project area. DOF is not likely to have sufficient funding in the foreseeable future

20 Future Challenges Vegetation Management During Operations Management and control of invasive, exotic and nuisance native plants at PSRP should ultimately be a multi-agency responsibility and may require multi-agency funding to adequately address the problem during operations Long term vegetation management would present an opportunity to use adaptive management practices

21 Future Challenges Sea Level Rise Engineering Circular requires projects to consider direct and indirect effects of projected future sea level rise Project team directed d to conduct a seal level rise analysis and consider future scenarios of sea level rise in one foot increments between 1 and 5 feet.

22 We ve Come a Long Way Baby!!! Huge Natural Area Huge Development Huge Land Acquisition Effort Huge Planning Effort Huge Implementation Effort Monitoring Engineering Construction Lots of Lessons Learned that We Hope Will Benefit e Future CERP Projects

23 Questions?