STATEMENT OF HON. C. W. BILL YOUNG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA

Mr. Chairman, on February 11th, Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton requested legislation to establish a Big Cypress National Fresh Water Reserve. H.R. 13017, the Big Cypress legislation of which I am a co-sponsor, provides for this Fresh Water Reserve of 584,000 acres.

The Big Cypress Swamp is a unique ecosystem located in the Southern part of my state of Florida. This area, in addition to its own beauties, provides water supplies wihich are vital to many areas of our state. The Big Cypress Swamp provides over half of the surface water vital to the fragile ecology of the Everglades National Park. It is also a huge fresh water reserve which provides water supplies for many of the rapidly growing cities on Florida's Gulf Coast. As the Congressman from a Florida Gulf Coast District, I am vitally interested in the future of this unique area which provides a major source of fresh water for the people I represent.

At the present time, this area is very vulnerable to the unwise use of man, The Big Cypress Swamp area is owned individually by about 21,000 private ownership interests. Unfortunately, we tend to focus on the short-term gains of development for "progress" and realize too late the greater long-term benefits of wise planning. The end of the Big Cypress Swamp would not only severely cut back South Florida's water supply, but would also mean the destruction of the Everglades National Park. This legislation is a responsible attempt to guarantee the preservation of the Big Cypress Swamp, a unique ecosystem very vital to the preservation and development of the great state of Florida and I urge the Committee's favorable consideration of it.

Mr. TAYLOR. The next witness is the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Nathaniel P. Reed.

Mr. Secretary, you were with us when we went to Florida. I was impressed with your knowledge of the area, the birds and wildlife and by your great enthusiasm for the place.

STATEMENT OF NATHANIEL P. REED, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ACCOMPANIED BY DAVID D. THOMPSON, JR., DIRECTOR, SOUTHEAST REGION, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE; JACK E. STARK, SUPERINTENDENT, EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK; JAMES H. HARTWELL, HYDROLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI; FRANK NIX, HYDRAULIC ENGINEER, EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK; WILLIAM B. ROBERTSON, JR., RESEARCH BIOLOGIST, EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK; HARDING L. SMITH, APPRAISER OF REAL ESTATE; R. K. GRISWOLD, CHIEF, DIVISION OF LEGISLATIVE COORDINATION AND SUPPORT; AND PHILIP STEWART, CHIEF, DIVISION OF LAND ACQUISITIONS

Mr. REED. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Chairman Aspinall.

It is with great pleasure that I appear here today to present the Department's enthusiastic endorsement to H.R. 13017 and II.R. 13115, the administration's proposal to authorize the Big Cypress National Fresh Water Reserve in the State of Florida.

Mr. Chairman, it gives me particular pleasure to be accompanied by a very distinguished group from the State of Florida, headed by Senator Randolph Hodges, executive director of the Florida Department of Natural Resources; Mr. Kenneth Woodburn, Mr. Joel Kuperberg,

executive director of the Florida trustees of the internal improvement trust fund, and Dr. Marshall, an acknowledged expert on the Big Cypress ecosystem. These four gentlemen have been stalwart friends of mine and have given so much to the State of Florida that I would like to publicly acknowledge our thanks to their dedication and interest. Mr. Chairman, most members of this committee are completely familiar with water problems, yet the water problem which must be solved in Big Cypress watershed is different from any you are likely to encounter in the West. Often water management in the West means structural manipulation to capture runoff during periods of rain to be used during dry periods. In the Big Cypress watershed we have a natural reservoir which functions best if it is not manipulated.

In a countryside where a ridge may mean a 6-inch rise in elevation, the drainage is sheet flow rather than stream flow. Rainfall accumulates in the watershed and then flows overland in a southwesterly direction, passing through the northwestern portion of Everglades National Park and on into the Gulf of Mexico. This runoff is the only overland flow entering the northwest portion of the park. On an average, this flow amounts to more than 540,000 acre-feet per year.

During the rainy season, direct rainfall floods this portion of the park. As the rain abates, water from the Big Cypress continues to flow steadily overland into the park for most of the remainder of the year, sustaining its aquatic plants and animals until the next rainy season begins.

The Everglades National Park is one of the unique ecosystems of the world. The biological values of the park, which include habitat for the continued existence of a number of endangered species, depend on external fresh water supplies.

Statements by others have tended to downgrade the significance of Big Cypress sheet flow to the northwestern park. It has been adduced, for example, that the inflow from the Big Cypress to the park comprises only 9 to 11 percent of the water that accrues to the park. This estimate is fairly accurate when one considers the total water utilized by the biota of the park, but this calculation is a mixing of oranges (rainfall) and grapefruit (overland inflow). Both are citrus (water), but they are certainly not the same fruit. The treatment of water volumes in this manner infers that the quantities involved are relatively small and thus insignificant in the water picture of the park. The proper perspective is to handle rainfall and inflow separately.

The average annual inflow into the park from the Big Cypress watershed, as determined by the U.S. Geological Survey in their report, "Some Hydrologic and Biologic Aspects of the Big Cypress Drainage Area, Southern Florida, 1970," is 540,000 acre-feet. This flow is about 50 percent of all overland inflows to the park from outside its boundaries. So the inflows to the park from the Big Cypress watershed are of prime significance. Considering the water dependency of the western park, it is not important whether the percentile is 10 or 50 in playing the numbers game, but whether the natural flow from the Big Cypress watershed is maintained.

The central and eastern parts of the park have been damaged by development and drainage. The threat of further degradation has been minimized by assurances of water supply. A current agreement

between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Florida (Public Law 91-282) provides assured flows to the eastern park. The remainder of the park, however, is absolutely dependent upon the Big Cypress for its overland supply of fresh water.

Big Cypress has great significance to the park even beyond the maintenance of the inflow. Birds, mammals, reptile, and fish move freely from the park into the Big Cypress area. Water conditions within the Big Cypress are, therefore, critical to the feeding, breeding, nesting, and rearing of these creatures.

The unique productivity of estuarine areas is based on a delicate. saline balance. Excessive flow of fresh water by drainage of the Big Cypress will disrupt this balance in the adjacent estuaries of the gulf in and out of the park.

The annual wet-dry cycle in the Big Cypress allows the regeneration during the summer wet period of great populations of small aquatic organisms. When the water level drops in dry periods, these organisms concentrate in smaller areas where they supply nourishment to larger fishes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and many species of birds. If any of the links in this process are broken, the reproduction of the larger animals at the top of the food chain will fail.

The value of the Big Cypress must be measured in much more than its worth to the Everglades National Park, even though that critical significance can never be overlooked. The uniqueness, the beauty, the recreational value, and the ecological significance of Big Cypress can stand alone. The Big Cypress has great variation in soil types, terrain, and moisture conditions, and consequently, is an area of rich and varied plant and animal life. A large number of endangered species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and rare plants are found there. The list includes the American alligator, Florida panther, Florida Everglade kite, southern bald eagle, and the great white heron. Seven species of orchids, found nowhere else in the world, grow in the Big Cypress

area.

The present unplanned development of the area, which does not recognize ecological relationships, will continue if the reserve is not established. As demonstrated in other areas of south Florida, the land will be drained for residential, industrial or agricultural uses, and, in so doing, the existing water quality, quantity, and flows will be altered.

As development proceeds, the increased demands on the fresh water supply will consume water needed by the biota including that of Everglades National Park. Water quality will also be impaired as pollutants and excess nutrients are introduced by such development. With low flows, salt water intrusion will be encouraged and wells for domestic supplies may have to be relocated.

The ecological response will be dramatic. With reduced flow in the watershed, the ecosystem in the northwestern portion of Everglades National Park will be degraded. Shortened periods of sheet flooding will reduce aquatic animal populations and decimate the higher forms that depend on them. With a lowered water table the area will become very vulnerable to destructive fires. Deterioration of the estuarine habitats that are the spawning grounds for sport and commercial fishes will cause significant economic losses.

Environmental degradation will occur not only as a consequence of pollution but also of reduced habitats. Animals and plants whose ranges are limited to the Big Cypress may become extinct in the United States.

The wood stork provides an excellent and well documented example of this possibility. This large wading bird nests in the United States only in Florida, where, under the impact of habitat destruction by drainage, its population has decreased by more than 90 percent. Breeding adults numbered in excess of 50,000 in 1940; fewer than 4,000 last year. Most of the surviving wood storks are critically dependent upon feeding grounds in the Big Cypress during their nesting season. Failure to protect this habitat almost certainly means the extinction of the species in the United States.

As the resources of the area are depleted some or all of the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, overwhelmed by the non-Indian cultures developing around them, will need outside support for their survival. Under the expected pressures, the cultures of these peoples, dependent on a natural environment, will give way and cease to exist.

Mr. Chairman, the best way to solve the crucial water problems of the Everglades and Big Cypress is to own the land within the watershed. We have arrived at this conclusion only after exhaustive study of the alternatives. The major focus was on six possible alternatives to fee acquisition.

The first of these was control by State and county authorities through land use planning and zoning. The State of Florida has recently enacted land-use planning legislation that provides the State with new authority to plan and control the development of lands in Florida. But even this new authority would not be enough to protect the natural values of the Big Cypress watershed.

The very process of planning implies, in most cases, a system of reconciling differing needs. Even the best of planning and zoning could not offer what is most needed in the Big Cypress. Preserving the integrity of the waterflow, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities in the Big Cypress requires preventing further development, not controlling it, at least within that portion of the watershed that is essential to protecting the natural values downstream in Everglades National Park.

The second alternative studied by the Department was a form of joint State-Federal control through State or Federal legislation permitting counties to enter into agreements with the United States creating special zoning commissions. The counties would cede part of their zoning authority to such commissions, or to an authority created by the State to operate within the boundaries of the protected area. This method would have required Federal participation in the State of an actual prohibition of development within the watershed.

Another alternative considered was creation of a south Florida environmental trust, composed of representatives of local, State and Federal agencies. The trust would have developed a comprehensive plan to preserve, develop, and manage the resources of the seven-county area of south Florida. The trust would have required surrender of some local zoning authority, and established a Government land-use agency operating at a level that could have led to some duplication and a conflict.

A fourth proposal called for application of Federal land use restrictions to private property in the watershed. This would have involved Federal compensation to landowners who could demonstrate that the regulations had deprived the owner of property rights. The plan was met with considerable opposition from many State and Federal officials, who felt that the proposal offered inadequate protection to the Big Cypress and failed to properly protect the property rights of landowners.

Establishment of a public corporation, somewhat along the lines of TVA, was also considered. The corporation would have added to the trusteeship authority the devices of both acquisition and compensable Federal regulations. As with the land use restriction proposal, however, the public corporation idea was found to be too experimental and unwieldy to assure protection of the Big Cypress.

The last alternative, Mr. Chairman, was the more traditional approach of acquiring rights or easements rather than fee title. This was rejected for the simple reason that any agreement with landowners sufficient to protect Big Cypress would have had to provide that the landowner give up the right to ditch, dike, or drain the property. The landowner would, therefore, be left with property he could never develop.

It became apparent, Mr. Chairman, that only through acquisition would it be possible to protect the Big Cypress and the natural flow of water from Big Cypress into Everglades National Park. All of the resources available to the State and Federal governments have been brought to bear for the past 4 years to study the Big Cypress and its relationship to the Everglades. The legislation before you is the result of long and careful study of the area. While the entire Big Cypress watershed is of great importance to the economy and the environment of south Florida, we have recognized that the pressures of time, money, and existing developments limit the opportunities we enjoy.

The boundaries of the proposed Big Cypress national fresh water reserve represent the minimum area that must be preserved to maintain the integrity of the Everglades National Park's western watershed.

Indeed, the protection of this portion of the Big Cypress would mean that the western Everglades could survive, as it has for thousands of years, as a naturally functioning ecosystem. Up until this point, man had touched that part of the Big Cypress very lightly. If we choose, we can preserve an area that will serve us very well by simply being left alone. We need no dams, or dikes, or canals, or memorandums of understanding, or schedules of delivery.

The proposed legislation allows the Secretary of the Interior to authorize members of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes to continue their usual and customary uses of the land and waters within the proposed Reserve, including hunting, fishing, and trapping on a subsistence basis, and engaging in traditional tribal ceremonials.

In addition, members of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes who were, on January 1, 1972, engaged in revenue-producing commercial activities related to visitors to the area must be given the opportunity to continue to provide such services if the Secretary decides that such services do not jeopardize the protection and preservation of the reserve and should be provided.

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