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| Volume XXIII Number 1 | January 11, 2002 |
Big Cypress Water Project To Break Ground
BIG CYPRESS - A groundbreaking ceremony for Phase I of the Big Cypress Reservation Water Conservation Plan Critical Project is scheduled to take place on Jan. 15, 2002.The project provides for water needs on the west side of Big Cypress. While this project will improve environmental conditions, it will also improve water supply and flood protection for all land uses on eastern Big Cypress.
The first phase of the project, the construction of the east conveyance canal project, will build a canal and improve network capable of delivering the Tribe's entitlement water across the Reservation. The new canal network will deliver a new water supply source to the Tribe.
The new water delivered by the new and improved canal network will supply pastures and cattle on the east side of the Reservation. This new canal network also will transport new water supply westward to the Feeder Canal system, and from there to fields and groves in the western portion of the Reservation.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a nation-wide and state-wide leader in ecosystem restoration. Tribal leaders determined that the health of the Tribe was dependent, in part, on the health of the Tribe's environment. The Tribe developed a Water Conservation Plan for the Big Cypress Reservation in the early 1990's.
The Water Conservation Plan is designed to improve water storage and irrigation, flood control, and water quality for all water users on the Reservation, including the "environment." The Tribe looked to the federal government for assistance in building this comprehensive project.
One of the federal programs the Tribe is participating in is the Army Corps of Engineers' (COE) Critical Project program. The Tribe's Big Cypress project was ranked sixth out of over 100 initially considered by federal-tribal-state-local groups.
This project is not only important to the Seminole Tribe, it is also important to the overall South Florida Ecosystem Restoration effort. Also, this project is the largest joint initiative the Corps has ever undertaken with a Native American Tribe.
This first phase of the joint Tribal/Army COE project, construction of the east conveyance canal, will occur entirely on Reservation land east of the North Feeder canal. Construction is planned to start in February and should take from 9 to 12 months to complete.
Over the next five years, the remaining phases of the Water Conservation Plan will be built.
If you have any questions about project construction, please contact Jerry Benock at (863) 902-3200, ext. 1411.
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