PARENT SESSION
Symposium #20: Restoring Natural Capital.

Organized by: J Aronson and E Higgs
Wednesday, August 7. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Maricopa Meeting Room, TCC.

Quality assurance for large restoration projects: The Florida Everglades case.

HATCHER, KATHRYN^*,1, ¹ University of Georgia, Athens, GA

ABSTRACT- The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is a $7.8 billion initiative, led by the US Army Corps of Engineers, to restore and replumb the Everglades for water supply to benefit both the wetland ecosystem and economic development in south Florida. The Plan -- which includes numerous construction projects such as storage reservoirs, wells, pumping stations and diversion canals to provide water supply -- may be designed to benefit construction and development interests at the expense of the publicized restoration objective. Could a better plan have been designed? This paper reviews the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan for consistency with two sets of project guidelines: (1) the Society for Ecological Restoration's "Guidelines for Developing and Managing Ecological Restoration Projects," and (2) the U.S. "Principles and Guidelines for Planning Water and Related Land Resources Projects" which apply to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers work. Recommendations for extending these Guidelines to provide design guidance with quality assurance for multiple purpose restoration projects are discussed. The roles of peer review and of technical advisory committees, particularly the National Academy of Sciences Committee for this Everglades project, are considered with recommendations for increasing their effectiveness.

KEY WORDS: restoration, planning, quality assurance, decision analysis