USGS Strategic Science Plan in Support of Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration

The Greater Everglades ecosystem is a unique subtropical network of diverse habitats that encompasses a large part of the southern Florida Peninsula. Part of the area-mostly publicly controlled parks, preserves, sanctuaries, and refuges managed as Department of the Interior(DOl) trust resources-remains in nearly undeveloped condition, whereas much of the area has been dramatically changed due to major urbanization and agriculture (fig. 1). Water is the principal driving force within this system, and supplying sufficient water to support these diverse habitats is a continuing challenge for water and resource managers. The major changes to the natural hydrology of the system have had profound effects on the natural habitat and have driven a number of species, such as the Florida panther, to the brink of extinction. Recognizing that historical and current human activities have altered the natural ecosystem of South Floridas Greater Everglades, a number of efforts have been initiated to identify and implement programs to address key information needs necessary for restoring this unique ecosystem. In direct support of the Greater Everglades ecosystem restoration efforts, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the Greater Everglades science initiative. USGS's Greater Everglades science initiative has had from its inception in the mid-1990s a strong emphasis on addressing the science information needs relevant to Greater Everglades restoration. During these earlier stages of CERP implementation, the USGS science initiative will more closely address the needs of the CERP and other Greater Everglades restoration-related projects in partnership with our DOl partners as well as our other Federal, State, and tribal restoration partners. USGS science includes integrated, multidisciplinary targeted studies combined with discipline-based, fundamental process research. This combination of fundamental and applied research has made the USGS a world leader in scientific information gathering for over a century. USGS's nation-wide Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) initiative was developed to focus the expertise of USGS scientist on complex biological, chemical, geologic, hydrologic, and geographic components of an ecosystem- in this case the Greater Everglades ecosystem. The outcomes of USGS science activities, detailed in this plan, support the present and future needs of the agencies responsible for implementing CERP and other Greater Everglades restoration projects and of the resource management agencies, including the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Information on past and present conditions of the ecosystem and the ability to predict future responses of the system to changing conditions, form a sound scientific basis for managers to establish baseline conditions, restoration targets, and accurate pred1cttve models. Sustainable, cost effective, and coordinated land management decisions must be based on relevant, reliable, unbiased science that examines the myriad of complex and interconnected physical, biological, and chemical relations within the Greater Everglades ecosystem.