PW06 Life-Cycle Assessment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday
(PW051) Measurement of Success in Watershed Wetland Restoration: A Case Study of the Loxahatchee Watershed.
Balci, P1, Gunsalus, B2, 1 Ecology and Environment, Inc., West Palm Beach, FL, USA2 South Florida Water Management District, Stuart, FL, USA
ABSTRACT- The Loxahatchee watershed, located in southern Martin and northern Palm Beach Counties along the southeastern coast of Florida, was historically linked to the Florida Everglades. Today, the watershed drains an area of approximately 210 square miles and connects to the Atlantic Ocean via Jupiter Inlet. A portion of the lower Loxahatchee River is a federally designated ′Wild and Scenic River′ and is subject to special protections from development impacts. However, land development, construction and operation of drainage and flood control facilities and consumptive use withdrawals, especially during the past fifty years, have resulted in localized and region-wide changes in major wetland systems in the watershed. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is an 8 billion dollar restoration effort designed to improve quality, quantity and timing of water deliveries to the Everglades. Under the CERP planning process, every project implementation team develops a set of evaluation performance measures for alternative plan formulation, comparison and selection to restoration. The presentation describes the watershed approach to identify opportunities and integrate technical resources and tools in order to develop performance measures for the Loxahatchee watershed restoration. It also includes the processes utilized by modelers, wetland scientists, and watershed managers to communicate and understand current technical tools used to quantify hydrologic alterations that would provide the best opportunities for restoration success.
Key words: Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, modeling , integrated watershed management, Loxahatchee watershed