KEEPING FLORIDA
BEAUTIFUL
Florida’s natural resources will be protected for generations to come because of Governor DeSantis’s focus on providing historic funding to protect our environment.
Everglades Restoration
Since 2019, nearly 50 Everglades restoration projects have broken ground, hit a major milestone, or finished construction. These projects include:
- EAA Reservoir Project to send clean water south, while reducing damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee. This project started a year ahead of schedule.
- Raising the Tamiami Trail to increase the flow of clean, fresh water south. The roadbed removal was completed six months ahead of schedule.
- Broke ground on C-43 Reservoir to intercept and store water released from Lake Okeechobee and local stormwater runoff.
- Completed and activated the C-44 Stormwater Treatment Area, which can store 50,000 acre-feet of water and will reduce harmful algal blooms.
Governor DeSantis pledged to secure $2.5 billion over four years for Everglades restoration and protection of water resources, and he surpassed this goal by $800 million, for a total of $3.3 billion over four years.
Red Tide & Blue-Green Algae
Governor DeSantis is committed to combatting red tide and harmful algal blooms. He restored the Red Tide Task Force in 2019, which had been dormant for over 15 years. Since he took office, over $40 million has been invested to combat red tide and aid local governments in cleanup efforts. In 2019, Governor DeSantis created the Blue-Green Algae Task Force to ensure that objective and sound science informs Florida’s environmental decision process.
Office Of Accountability
The Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency was created to organize and direct scientific research and analysis, address environmental concerns most pressing to Floridians, and ensure environmental objectives are clearly communicated to the public. Governor DeSantis appointed the state’s first Chief Science Officer to lead the Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency.
Resilient Florida Program
In 2021, the Resilient Florida Program was established to better prepare Florida’s coastal and inland communities for the impacts of intensified storms and flooding. Since 2019, $1.1 billion has been secured for resiliency planning and projects. The Governor created the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection and appointed the state’s first Chief Resilience Officer.
Invasive Species
Over the last four years Governor DeSantis invested $5.6 million in python removal efforts. To combat the invasive species, over 17,000 Burmese pythons have been removed from the state since 2000, more than half of which have been removed since Governor DeSantis took office. The Florida Python Challenge®, an annual ten-day conservation effort in the Everglades to remove these predators, had more than 600 registrants last year.
Florida Wildlife Corridor
Governor DeSantis signed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law, officially designating the Florida Wildlife Corridor as a network of connected conservation lands with a goal of permanently connecting land to allow wildlife to move safely throughout the state, unimpeded. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection was directed to invest in land acquisition and conservation easements to address habitat loss and fragmentation, enhancing areas critical to wildlife survival. Three hundred million dollars was appropriated for the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and since 2019, over 100,000 acres within the corridor have been acquired.
Manatee Protection
More than $50 million has been dedicated to manatee protection during Governor DeSantis’s administration to enhance and restore manatee habitats. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, along with partners like SeaWorld, are working to nurse manatees back to health and return them to the wild.
