WET Expands to Southwest Florida

Excellent news! Primarily based on the WET’s demonstrated utility in figuring out precedence areas within the Central Florida Water Initiative and Lake Okeechobee watershed, Audubon is happy to announce the enlargement of the software into the southwest area of Florida. Like different areas of the state, Southwest Florida faces growing growth stress and wishes methods to extra successfully handle stormwater in an more and more constricted panorama.

Traditionally, Florida’s wetlands, floodplains, and soils had been expansive sufficient to buffer dry durations. However growth has changed many of those methods with roads, pavement, and drainage infrastructure designed to maneuver water off the panorama shortly. This reduces our means to retain water throughout moist durations and carry it into dry durations, making drought impacts extra instant and extreme. Moreover, pulse fast water releases by means of drainage infrastructure (like culverts) may cause extreme environmental injury by abruptly altering salinity ranges, introducing excessive nutrient hundreds, and triggering dangerous blue-green algae blooms.

With elevated coastal flooding occasions coupled with extra excessive wildfires, the identification of areas in Southwest Florida for storing water on the panorama turns into more and more pressing, significantly given the estimated lack of over 30,000 acres of wetlands in Collier and Lee counties since 1996. By increasing the WET into this area, Audubon will be capable to higher help native governments, water administration districts, and landowners in pinpointing alternatives for floor water storage, wetland restoration, and aquifer recharge. Moreover, enlargement of the WET right here will play a vital function within the growth of the Corkscrew Watershed Initiative restoration plan by guaranteeing that the substantial restoration funding is spent on initiatives that may ship the best advantages to the watershed, together with Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

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