|
|
||
|
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE PROTECTION AND RESTORATION OF BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE, FLORIDA1. The Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) ProblemBig Cypress National Preserve ("Big Cypress"), located in south Florida, is a vast, expansive wetlands area, which teems with cypress stands, hardwood swamps, mangroves, and pinelands. At about the size of Rhode Island, or 729,000 acres, Big Cypress slopes northeast to southwest into the Florida Everglades National Park and into the Florida Bay.
However, Big Cypress is also widely regarded as the worst example of off-road vehicle – or "ORV" – related environmental degradation in the National Park System. For almost three decades, the National Park Service has permitted thousands of ORVs virtually unrestricted access into the Preserve – including street legal 4 x 4s, airboats, all-terrain vehicles, and homemade swampbuggies – only rarely requiring the vehicles to stay on designated trails or meaningfully limiting Preserve access points.
ORVs also harass Florida panthers, causing behavioral changes and
triggering panthers’ avoidance of Big Cypress during the annual
hunting season in favor of neighboring lands – and recent increases
in panther mortalities resulting from impacts with automobiles could
indicate that young panthers are crossing busy roads in search of
suitable habitat. Due to these environmental effects, the Preserve
is widely considered to be the worst example of ORV abuse in the
entire National Park System. Indeed, the National Parks Conservation
Association included Big Cypress among the organization’s 2001
list of the Ten Most Endangered park units in the National
Park System. 2. The National Park Service’s Management Plan for ORVs in Big CypressTo induce the Park Service to finally address its complete lack of meaningful management of ORVs in Big Cypress, the Florida Biodiversity Project – a grassroots environmental group which has been the leading advocate for environmental change in Big Cypress for a decade – sued the agency in 1995. FBP argued that the Park Service, while promising to develop a comprehensive management plan for ORVs in Big Cypress in 1991, had failed to do so, and, thus, was in violation of federal environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders. The parties settled the lawsuit in October 1995 and the Park Service agreed to issue an ORV Management Plan by April 25, 1999. 
To comply with the terms of the settlement agreement, the Park Service adopted an ORV Management Plan in September 2000 that, once implemented, will employ basic, common-sense restrictions on ORV use in the Preserve, including a comprehensive system for 400 miles of primary designated trails and access points, rules governing the operation of vehicles and enforcement of those rules, research, methods for monitoring of ORV-related impacts, and restoration of areas impacted by ORVs. However, in January 2001, seeking to have the Plan declared unlawful, ORV users filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Florida seeking to have the Plan set aside, and there are indications that the Bush Administration is preparing to settle the lawsuit with ORV users by weakening the Plan. The Plan is a major victory over an entrenched, laissez-faire management regime that has long favored ORV use over conservation and preservation of Big Cypress resources. Thus, the Plan is a hard won victory that is still in jeopardy from ORV interests with close ties to the Bush Administration. At the same time, the Plan constitutes the bare minimum of what is truly necessary to protect Big Cypress from further ORV-related degradation and begin the Preserve’s recovery from pre-existing damage. Conserving Big Cypress, its natural resources, and endangered wildlife from further ORV-related degradation will require both defending the Plan from attempts to invalidate it or dilute its measures, and several more years of rigorous monitoring and oversight of the Park Service to ensure that agency’s implementation of the Plan and enforcement of its terms. Indeed, much more remains to be done in the coming years in order to guarantee that Big Cypress assumes its rightful place among the nation’s natural treasures and ensure that the Preserve and its resources are enjoyed by generations to come, rather than managed as a private playground for a few. back to the topWildlife Advocacy
Project Phone: (202) 518-3700 |
Congress
established Big Cypress in 1974 to ensure a fresh water supply from
its wetlands into the western half of the Everglades. Located in
the midst of a booming south Florida human population and encroaching
development, the Preserve is a haven for wildlife, including great
blue herons, anhingas, kingfishers, alligators, and at least 1,600
plant species. It is also habitat for 30 wildlife species and 60
plant species that are protected under federal or state law or international
treaty, including the West Indian manatee, Cape Sable seaside sparrow,
red-cockaded woodpecker, American alligator, and the critically
imperiled Florida panther.
Recent
estimates put the total miles of ORV trails in Big Cypress at 23,000,
or almost enough miles to encircle the planet, and 20 times more
than the Park Service’s own previous estimate of 1,240 miles.
Widespread rutting, caused by repetitive and cumulative ORV use,
inflicts havoc on basic Preserve ecological functions, including
soil and vegetation degradation and surface water channelization.
Hunters use ORVs to gain deep access into Big Cypress to hunt white-tailed
deer and feral hogs, and, in so doing, reduce the prey base of the
embattled Florida panther.