Water Management on Working Agricultural Lands

With the help of a vibrant public-private partnership, an innovative approach to restoring the natural ecology of the Everglades is emerging. The Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project (FRESP) is proving that water management alternatives on working ranchlands can deliver essential water-related environmental services—and, at the same time, enhance the ecological value and the economic viability of the ranches.

Since 2005, FRESP's progressive coalition of non-governmental environmental organizations, state and federal agencies, ranchers, and researchers has field-tested a Payment-for-Environmental Services (PES) program. If expanded in the Northern Everglades, this program would pay eligible cattle ranchers, selected through a competitive process, to provide documented water- and phosphorus-retention on private lands over a fixed, long-term contract.

The PES program achieves two important goals. It complements public investment by adding dispersed capacity for water retention and phosphorous removal. At the same time, it contributes to ranch economic sustainability. PES provides another source of income for ranchers, helping them to increase their profitability, and keeps ranchland from being converted to more intensive uses that could have adverse impacts on water quality and wildlife.

All of the Water Management Alternatives (WMAs) used in FRESP projects provide much-needed water retention and phosphorus reduction services to southern Florida. They use new and existing equipment and features—canals and ditches, berms, and water control structures—to retain water, rehydrate wetlands, and reduce phosphorus loads.

Depending on the site, FRESP's projects are currently:

• restoring previously drained wetlands,
• managing pasture drainage to increase water retention,
• pumping water from regional canals into a "treatment wetland" for natural nutrient removal, and
• building impoundments to store more water on ranches.