Agriculture
Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project (FRESP)
WWF's strategic focus on agriculture evolved from an assessment conducted in 1999 of the major threats and opportunities for conservation in the Global 200 ecoregions. Through this work it became clear that in most cases, agriculture was a major threat to biodiversity conservation because of expansion into wild lands, farming marginal areas, and pesticide and nutrient pollution, and that WWF needed to address agriculture's impact on biodiversity conservation.
Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project
The Everglades once stretched south from what is now Orlando, toward Lake Okeechobee, and then on to Florida Bay. More than 100 years ago, public agencies and private landowners began to transform the land, building a vast ditch network that interrupted historic patterns of water flow. The lake itself was diked and an extensive system of drainage and storm protection works was implemented. Over the years, the drained wetlands supported agricultural production and more recently dramatic population increases. This change in land use has resulted in unanticipated and undesired environmental consequences. While it is still the "liquid heart" of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee now receives surges of water, drowning fish and bird-nesting and nursery areas while threatening the dike.
Decades of agricultural land use and urban development mean the water reaching the lake carries an unnatural load of phosphorus and other nutrients. When lake levels rise and threaten its ability to hold storm water, nutrient-laden fresh water is pumped through canals to the estuaries on Florida's coasts, dramatically altering their environmental condition. Florida is experiencing a water crisis. The future of the state - from people and wildlife to wetlands and nearly eight million acres of ranchland - hinges on efficient water management.
The Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project (FRESP) is a Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program offers ranchers in the Lake Okeechobee watershed an opportunity to provide environmental services like water retention and improved water quality in ways that save taxpayers money, provide additional revenue, preserve rural communities and enhance wildlife habitats. Cattle ranchers can use working agricultural land to provide valuable water related environmental services.
Since 2005, FRESP has taken a collaborative, entrepreneurial approach to addressing some of Florida's toughest environmental challenges. Now in the fourth year of a five year pilot phase, the program works by modifying existing water management systems on a ranch to capture water and reduce the amount of phosphorus in surface water drainage. The focus in the pilot phase has been on learning by doing. Eight volunteer FRESP ranchers - designed, constructed and are now implementing water management alternatives on their ranches. These demonstration projects are informing the design of a PES program so that it will be feasible to administer, generates needed water management services, and provides ranchers with a new source of income.
The coalition includes:
- Cattle ranchers in the Lake Okeechobee watershed
- Environmental partners, including WWF
- Research scientists
- State and federal agencies
FRESP partners have raised over $6 million in funding for the design and field-testing phases. Funding has been provided by: two Conservation Innovation Grants from the USDA NRCS; the South Florida Water Management District; Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Learn more
