WATCH as Friends of the Everglades policy director Gil Smart voices concerns about declaring premature victory regarding the completion of CERP at the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting November 13, 2025.
In recent comments to the SFWMD Governing Board, Friends of the Everglades policy director Gil Smart cautioned that completing the EAA Reservoir won’t mark the end of Everglades restoration. Decades of scientific consensus show that roughly a million additional acre-feet of water storage is still needed south of Lake Okeechobee to truly protect the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and deliver enough clean water to the Everglades and Florida Bay.
In his comments, Smart urged governing board members to begin planning now for the next phase of restoration — including substantial new land acquisition south of the lake, as outlined in Friends’ Rescue the River of Grass campaign— to ensure Florida doesn’t lose momentum once CERP projects are complete. This need is especially urgent as new development proposals emerge in the EAA and climate extremes require more large-scale water storage and treatment in South Florida.
As he put it, “Let’s not declare premature victory. If we do maybe the Everglades survives, but the northern estuaries will still be under perpetual threat. We’re accomplishing good things — but we’ve still got a long road ahead.”
