White Paper on Minimum Flows and Levels and Indicator Species for Biscayne National Park

Serafy, Joseph

The South Florida Water Management District is required by state law to establish Minimum Flow and Level (MFL) rules for water bodies that have been identified as a priority (LECRWSP, 2000). Biscayne Bay, including the waters of Biscayne National Park has been identified as such a water body deserving of a high priority MFL. The purpose of the MFLs rule is to prevent significant harm to the Bay. Significant harm is defined as "the temporary loss of water resource function, which results from a change in surface or ground water hydrology, that takes more than two years to recover, but which is considered less severe than serious harm" (LECRWSP, 2000 . As two thirds of Biscayne Bay is encompassed within the boundaries of Biscayne National Park, the National Park Service has a keen interest and stewardship responsibility to assure a well founded MFL is established to preserve and protect Bay resources. As such, the Park describes the use of a salinity envelope or range that is based upon an understanding of current salinity conditions and how they relate to historic conditions and the use of a suite of organisms that have reasonable scientific information tying them to specific salinity conditions.