Summary

The Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative is a complex, long-term effort to restore the ecosystem of South Florida, including the Everglades. The Initiative involves federal, state, and local governments; tribal groups; and private interests. The South Florida Ecosystem Task Force was created in 1993 to coordinate ongoing federal restoration activities. Although land acquisition is critical to the success of the restoration effort, this ecosystem is so large that not all of the lands within it can be bought and preserved. A recent GAO report concluded that a strategic plan outlining the steps involved in restoring the ecosystem would increase the Initiative's chance of success. (See GAO/RCED-99-121, Apr. 1999.) Similarly, a land acquisition plan that clearly explains the Task Force's needs and priorities to federal and state agencies would be valuable in coordinating land acquisition efforts. Without a plan, the Task Force cannot (1) determine how much property will be needed to achieve its goals, (2) estimate the full cost to buy this property, (3) measure progress in acquiring lands for the restoration, or (4) increase the likelihood that the lands acquired are those that are most needed. This information is an important part of the status reports sent to Congress and Florida, which are jointly funding the restoration effort. The Interior Department developed a cost-sharing policy under which Florida is to match the federal funds dollar for dollar. Interior has approved four grants, but it waived the matching requirements or accepted lands in place of money for three of the grants. Florida had already acquired or was in the process of acquiring the lands that it used for matching purposes. Had Interior consistently applied its cost-sharing policy, GAO estimates that an additional $77 million would have been available to buy land. This testimony summarizes the April 2000 report, GAO/RCED-00-84, Apr. 5 (67 pages).

GAO noted that: (1) the Task Force is developing a strategic plan, which is scheduled to be completed in July 2000; (2) until the Task Force completes the plan, however, GAO cannot determine whether it contains all the components of a strategic plan that GAO recommended; (3) in addition, although a conflict resolution process is not yet in place, Interior has developed recommendations that it will propose to the Task Force in April 2000 for resolving "the most difficult conflicts" among the federal, state, tribal, and local entities participating in the initiative; (4) while critical to the initiative's success, GAO found that the Task Force has not yet developed a land acquisition plan that identifies all of the lands needed to accomplish the goals of the restoration initiative; (5) to maximize the acreage acquired with the $200 million in Farm Bill funds, Interior developed a cost-sharing policy that required the state of Florida to match the federal funds dollar for dollar; (6) GAO found that Interior did not consistently require the state to match the funds; and (7) had it done so, an additional $77 million would have been available to acquire lands for the restoration initiative.