The purpose of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is to capture fresh water as it runs toward the sea, and direct it back to the ecosystem for revitalization. The plan is also supposed to improve water supplies for people and farms.

The 20-year project, considered the most ambitious wetlands restoration in American history, covers 18,000 square miles in 16 counties of southern Florida. A total $2.2 billion of the $8.4 billion will be used to purchase private property and protect it from any future development.

To accelerate land acquisition, environmental activists want the state to borrow money in the form of bonds to pay the state's portion of the plan. They are worried that development pressure is driving up prices on land slated for restoration projects, potentially making them too expensive to buy.

But in a videotaped message to more than 200 people at the annual conference of the politically influential Everglades Coalition, an alliance of 42 environmental activist groups headed by the National Wildlife Federation, Bush said he would consider borrowing only if necessary, after first exercising every other option.

Under Bush's plan, $25 million per year would come from the $300 million per year Florida Forever Act land-buying program; $50 million from surety bonds issued against cash in current conservation land-buying programs; $12.5 million from a housing program; and $12.5 million from excess revenue in state documentary stamps.

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Funding for Everglades Restoration Plan Runs Into Maelstrom

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