The Everglades Foundation

The Everglades Foundation is dedicated to restoring and protecting America’s Everglades through science, advocacy and education. While nine million Floridians depend on America’s Everglades for their water supply, approximately 400,000 jobs in tourism, recreation, boating, fishing, agriculture, real estate, and numerous other sectors also depend upon, and benefit from, a healthy Everglades and the freshwater it provides. Through the advancement of scientifically sound and achievable solutions, the Foundation seeks to reverse the damage inflicted on the ecosystem and provide policy makers and the public with credible scientific resources to help guide decision-making on complex restoration issues. Through its thoughtful and K-12 Everglades Literacy curriculum, which is focused on free teacher training and integrated into existing public school standards, the foundation educates and empowers the next generation of Everglades stewards.

The Everglades Foundation seeks to restore and protect America’s Everglades through science, advocacy and education.  The Everglades Foundation's team of PhD scientists uses cutting edge science and technology to pinpoint sources of pollution, identify and recommend low-cost remedies to pollution reduction, and design and sequence restoration projects that provide for the needs of the ecosystem while balancing the needs of stakeholders.  The desired outcome is a healthy and protected Everglades ecosystem capable of supporting abundant plant, animal and human life. Through education, the Everglades Literacy curriculum promotes a more secure future for one of the world’s most remarkable yet threatened natural environments by educating and empowering K-12 teachers and students. The foundation subscribes to a "cradle to career" approach to education, with programming that encourages young families to connect with this great natural resource, the K-12 curriculum, a paid internship program for undergraduate students and research scholarships for graduate students. This education effort also extends to the public, with a robust communications and engagement initiative that includes social and traditional media, local business partnerships, and public forums.  A citizenry with the knowledge needed to make informed and responsible decisions regarding the Everglades and its future is the desired outcome.     Through advocacy, The Everglades Foundation builds consensus for action by collaborating with traditional and non-traditional partners ranging from businesses, sportsmen’s groups, and environmental and conservation organizations to build support for Everglades restoration at all levels of government. Its "education" efforts include informing elected officials to encourage funding and implementation of cost-effective projects guided by the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) that provide maximum restoration value.

Since its founding in 1994, the Everglades Foundation has become a leading voice for Everglades protection and restoration. It is the only science-based, non-profit dedicated solely to protecting and restoring this vital ecosystem. In addition to diverse business, civic and environmental backgrounds, a wide variety of geographic regions are represented on the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The Foundation’s Board, working in concert with staff, ensures that the Everglades Foundation remains unique in its commitment to a fact-driven, bi-partisan focused approach to solving problems and advancing restoration yet allowing our economy to grow. Original research and analysis by Foundation staff ensures that the best available science determines the organization’s policies, positions and actions. Peer-reviewed articles written by the Science Team at The Everglades Foundation have drawn national and international attention to the research being compiled on water quality in the Everglades and the international crisis of nutrient pollution in waterways worldwide. The Foundation routinely partners with the best local, national and international organizations to form coalitions, set priorities, share information and devise strategies to unite and strengthen the voices for Everglades restoration. Significantly, the Foundation is highly respected at state and federal levels for policy initiatives and has a history of success in working with agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and government officials. The Foundation is also a respected provider of highly sought-after graduate fellowships and internships to ensure that the next generation of Everglades experts will be well-trained to face the mission in front of them.

Over the past 3 decades, The Everglades Foundation has become the undisputed leader in restoring and protecting America’s Everglades. The foundation led the fight for Congressional passage in 2000 of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, CERP. It remains the largest environmental restoration project in the world, with more than 60 separate massive water infrastructure projects, each funded jointly by the federal and state governments. In recent years, the foundation has energized tens of thousands of advocates and built coalitions to ensure that Tallahassee and Washington meet joint restoration funding obligations under the plan, while its world-class science team has helped guide its implementation. Thanks largely to these efforts, clean fresh water is now flowing into the Everglades beneath bridges constructed along the Tamiami Trail. Two vital reservoir projects east and west of Lake Okeechobee are nearing completion, and construction of the Everglades Reservoir – the keystone project of Everglades restoration – is finally underway. Once complete, the Everglades Reservoir will reduce the discharge of toxic water into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers by 55%. Core programs and achievements include:
• Advocacy – From our CEO serving on the governor's transition team to our foundation leading a group of fishing and boating businesses to Tallahassee and Washington to advocate for Everglades funding, we have organized our partners and allies with consistent messaging. This unified voice has proven to be highly effective. Funding at the state and national level has been at historic highs in the past few years.
• Science – Our staff includes 6 Ph.D. scientists who are experts in hydrology, water quality, economics, ecology and engineering. They educate and train environmental partners, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and provide expert testimony in legal proceedings and input at public hearings. Through a competitive scholarship program, our science team partners with graduate students to collaborate on research. Our scientists collaborate with experts from top universities conducting hydrological, spatial modeling, engineering and economic research in the Everglades.
• Education – Despite the Everglades’ significance, Florida schools are not required to teach about it. To address this gap and foster the next generation of environmental stewards, we have created a comprehensive K-12 Everglades Everglades Literacy program. Our vision: to integrate Everglades learning into every K-12 student's life so all Florida children grow up connected to this natural wonder in their backyard. To date, this effort has trained 3,500 teachers and reached 100,000 students across Florida.