OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 26, 1999

Stephanie Hanna (O) 202/208-6416

TALISMAN LAND EXCHANGE FINAL AND SIGNED BY INTERIOR SECRETARY BABBITT AND FLORIDA GOVERNOR BUSH
Water Storage to Make Clean Water Available to Everglades During Dry Periods

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today joined Governor Jeb Bush of Florida in signing the final agreement for the landmark Talisman land exchange to benefit the restoration of the Everglades.

Today's agreement and related transactions involve the purchase or exchange of about 95,000 acres of land owned by six sugar producing companies in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), south of Lake Okeechobee. The complex agreement marks the culmination of more than 16 months of negotiations.

As a result of these transactions, the South Florida Water Management District, with funding from federal and state governments, will take title to over 63,000 acres. Approximately 11,700 of this acreage will be available to the District to construct natural storm water treatment areas to filter phosphorus from water flowing off sugar cane fields in the EAA before the water reaches the Everglades ecosystem.

More than 51,000 acres will be available for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin building in 2005 a vast water storage reservoir which will accumulate overflow water from Lake Okeechobee in the wet season for release to the Everglades during the dry season. The Corps is scheduled to complete this part of the restoration program in 2009.

"As the Everglades ecosystem restoration project is developed, today's exchange will go a long way toward delivering water at the right time, in the right amount and of sufficient quality to nourish and restore the network of national parks, refuges and conservation areas that are today suffering a slow death from starvation and pollution," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said.

"This is a wonderful example of how an effective state-federal partnership, working with private landowners, can achieve results for conservation," Governor Jeb Bush said. "The proposed reservoir is the lynchpin of Everglades restoration. Together with Secretary Babbitt and the Congress I will do all I can to ensure that construction of the reservoir begins on schedule."

The agreements were reached among representatives of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, State of Florida, South Florida Water Management District, The Nature Conservancy, St. Joe Company, Knight Holdings Ltd., Woerner South Inc., and a coalition of sugar producers composed of Florida Crystals Corp., U.S. Sugar Corp., and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative.

In its Everglades "Restudy" the Corps of Engineers has identified the need for storage throughout the ecosystem, but storage in the EAA is one of the highest priorities of the restoration effort, a vital component of the Administration's $1.5 billion plan to restore the Everglades ecosystem.

Under the terms of the agreement, sugar producers can continue farming most of the District's new land until March 31, 2005. After that time, the lands can be leased for agricultural purposes until the Corps needs them for restoration purposes. Money derived from these leases will be set aside in a fund dedicated for future purchases of conservation lands from willing sellers.

"The Talisman exchange is a conservation legacy to future generations," Secretary Babbitt said. "It is a testimony to cooperation over conflict and to the importance of partnerships in weaving together the framework to carry out the most ambitious environmental restoration project ever attempted."

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