by Jack Reboul, F25 Environmental Clinic Student
The Everglades is a two-million-acre wetland ecosystem that spans across central and South Florida.[1] Known for its diverse wildlife, the Everglades supports over 360 bird species.[2] The region also serves as the natural habitat to twenty-seven species of snakes and a great diversity of plant life.[3] The Everglades was named a World Heritage Site, and represents the predominant water recharge area for all of South Florida through the Biscayne Aquifer.[4]
Despite its importance to Floridian life, by 2000, the Everglades was in dire condition. The Everglades shrank to just half its historic size due to human activities.[5] Further, invasive species like the Burmese Python had been introduced into the Everglades, decimating native species.[6] In response to declining water quality, habitat loss, and the introduction of invasive species, Florida and Congress acted.
In 2000, Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act.[7] The act created and provided a funding schedule for the “Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan” (CERP).[8] At the same time, the state of Florida created the “Save Our Everglades Trust Fund” to allocate funds for implementing the CERP.[9] Since its inception, the CERP has grown into the “largest hydrologic restoration in American history.[10]
Rather than the program’s size, political cooperation makes the CERP remarkable. Academics have coined the term “cooperative federalism” to describe state and federal collaboration on compounding legislation. Traditionally, cooperative federalism stands as the “enduring, organizing concept in environmental law.”[11] The federal government would enact specific policies and provide the states with the latitude to enforce them. The Clean Air Act is a perfect example. The Clean Air Act sets nationwide standards for certain emissions and tasks individual states with the enforcement of these standards.[12]
This is what makes the CERP so unique; there are no federal requirements. Rather, the creation of the CERP gave the state the power to establish the Everglades restoration system. The CERP establishes a task force to determine how the federal funding is to be used.[13] The task force consists of fourteen entities, seven federal, five state and local, and two sovereign native tribes.[14]
Allowing a collaborative task force to oversee the allocation of federal funds helps explain the initiative’s success. State and local governments are often more aware of all aspects of a situation. Additionally, these governments are more likely to be invested in finding a solution to issues that directly affect them. Professor Robert Fischman provides an explanation for this phenomenon. Fischman states that “the most interesting” instances of cooperative federalism “may be found where both the state and federal governments have exercised relatively great power over and interest in a subject.”[15] In this analysis, Fischman specifically points to initiatives relating to “pollution control, and imperiled species protection” as likely to warrant cooperation.[16]
The CERP provides a perfect case study for this theory. The Everglades make up a critical part of Florida’s identity. State and local actors have a vested interest in preserving the Everglades, beyond just the aims of the federal government. Combining federal resources with local and state knowledge presents an interesting blueprint for conservation efforts moving forward.
[1] https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Wild-Places/Everglades
[2] https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Wild-Places/Everglades
[3] https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Wild-Places/Everglades
[4] https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/news/parksignificance.htm
[5] https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/HTML/IF11336.web.html
[6] https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/sciencebitesvolume2/chapter/1-4-invasive-species-burmese-python-python-bivittatus-and-its-effect-in-florida/
[7] https://evergladeslaw.org/timeline/congress-enacts-water-resources-development-act-2000-authorizes-comprehensive-everglades-restoration-plan-cerp/
[8] https://evergladeslaw.org/timeline/congress-enacts-water-resources-development-act-2000-authorizes-comprehensive-everglades-restoration-plan-cerp/
[9] https://evergladeslaw.org/timeline/florida-legislature-creates-save-everglades-trust-fund-373-472-fla-stat/
[10] https://flgov.com/eog/sites/default/files/shared/2025/07/FDEP%207.18.2025.pdf
[11] Robert L. Fischman,Cooperative Federalism and Natural Resources Law, 14 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 179, 187 (2005)
[12] https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB11309
[13] https://www.evergladesrestoration.gov/overview
[14] Id.
[15] Robert L. Fischman, Cooperative Federalism and Natural Resources Law, 14 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 179, 185 (2005)
[16] Robert L. Fischman, Cooperative Federalism and Natural Resources Law, 14 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 179, 185 (2005)