Coordinators of the 29th annual Everglades Coalition Conference in Naples said registration for the event and overall interest in Everglades restoration is at an all-time high.
Cara Capp, the National Co-Chair of the Everglades Coalition, said during a press conference Friday she thinks last year’s water releases from Lake Okeechobee, which degraded water quality east and west of the lake, have made Everglades restoration a hot issue.
“We wish it hadn’t had that impact in the community,” she said. “That’s certainly what we want to work to avoid in the future, but we do think that all the publicity – and really the passion of the people in these communities whose businesses and lives were impacted—will help us get more funding to remedying the issue in the future.”
State leaders have said Florida should prioritize projects aimed at reducing releases from the lake in the future. Everglades restoration is a key component of the effort.
Keynote speakers this year include Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell and a bipartisan group of U.S. House members.