Audubon Urges Corps to Accelerate Construction Schedule

In January, Audubon weighed in on the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers Draft Built-in Supply Schedule (IDS) workshop — pushing to speed up development that can ship extra water the place and when it’s wanted whereas urging continued progress on the Paradise Run part of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan. The ultimate IDS draft was launched in late Could.

What’s the IDS?

The IDS is a doc that guides how and when Everglades restoration initiatives transfer from concept to development. It tracks the timing, sequencing, and success of restoration. At its core, the IDS serves as a shared roadmap between state and federal companions, aligning timelines and funding throughout the huge community of restoration efforts. It brings all restoration initiatives collectively in a coordinated schedule. In doing so, it makes an attempt to reply an vital query: Are we restoring the Everglades as shortly and successfully as potential?

The importance of the IDS lies within the interconnected nature of the Everglades system. Restoration shouldn’t be a set of remoted initiatives, however a posh, interdependent effort to reestablish the pure stream of water from the Kissimmee Basin to Florida Bay. The timing of 1 venture can decide the effectiveness of one other: storage should come on-line earlier than dangerous discharges could be decreased, conveyance have to be in place earlier than water can transfer south, and extra.

What’s the Paradise Run Challenge?

 Paradise Run is a comparatively intact stretch of the Kissimmee River’s historic channel and floodplain wetlands close to Lake Okeechobee that was excluded from the principle restoration venture. Water stream to this space is now remoted by the C-38 canal. Restoring it may reconnect about 4,000 acres of riverine habitat and develop the general success of the Kissimmee River restoration by as much as 20%.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2026 State of the Everglades Report.