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SCCF Joins America’s Everglades Summit in D.C.
On June 10-11, SCCF attended America’s Everglades Summit, hosted by the Everglades Foundation. The summit took place in Washington, D.C. and brought together stakeholders, restoration managers, and leaders from every level of government to advocate for Everglades restoration.
CEO James Evans and Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis joined colleagues in D.C. to bring the message of the summit — “It’s Worth It” — to the halls of congress.
Other partners at the summit included Audubon Florida, Captains for Clean Water, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Florida Oceanographic Society, MHK Architecture, the Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce, and more.
After a day of panels and presentations discussing the importance of the largest restoration effort in the country to the environment and economy of Florida, stakeholders met with legislative leaders and their staff to confirm their support for Everglades restoration within the upcoming budget.
Prior to the summit, the federal administration released their budget ask, which contained a record $446 million for Everglades restoration.
“While the price tag is large, the benefits realized by protecting this trillion dollar asset vastly outweigh dollars spent, with a 4:1 return on investment,” DePaolis said. “By restoring America’s Everglades, we are protecting not just the environment and wildlife within the national park, but also drinking water for 8 million people, Gulf fisheries and clean water throughout the system. Restoring the Everglades will also provide storm buffering and carbon sequestration and strengthen the benefits from ecosystem services that we are only just beginning to be able to quantify.”
Over the summit, teams met with over 80 legislators to spread this message that will hopefully result in another year of robust funding for Everglades restoration.
“Everyone walked away aligned with the message that Everglades restoration is worth it — and it’s working,” DePaolis said.