What's up with the Lox. Part 2

A month ago I wrote a Facebook post about the bureaucratic knife fight between the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) over management of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge which I will refer to as The Lox from here on. The short version is that this isn't the type of intergovernmental disagreement that typically comes out in the open. Government entities tend to shield such disagreements from public view when possible.

The background is that the SFWMD owns The Lox, a 144,000 acre refuge in Palm Beach County. They signed a 50 year lease in 2002 for the USFWS to manage the site. Part of the lease requirement is to make an effort to keep invasive species in check. In 2015 the SFWMD wrote a letter saying that if the USFWS can't get control of one of the invasive species -- Old World climbing fern -- the SFWMD was going to end the lease and take back control of the refuge.

Snail Kite: Bird that nests in trees not covered with Old World Climbing Fern

Well, this week the battle escalated. The SFWMD sent the USFWS a notice of default. This is the first step in replacing the USFWS as managers of the refuge.

So what's happening here? Could it be as simple as a need to control a single fern. Admittedly Old World climbing fern is tough to control. It can choke out native plants and completely change the ecosystem if left unchecked. But isn't there an easier way to treat this fern that would be more cost effective than taking over management of the entire refuge?

Old World climbing fern: One tough invasive

I think the Florida budgeting process figures into this issue. In 2014 Floridians voted for Amendment 1 to dedicate a 33% of the document tax to acquire, restore, improve, and manage conservation lands. For the 2015-2016 budget year that money came to $724.5 million. Of that amount about 72% or $523 million went to environmental protection, where SFWMD gets its funding. The 2016-2017 budget assumes even more revenue from Amendment 1, increasing to $907 million for a 25% increase.

A lot changed with Amendment 1 money.

Now a lot of new projects are happening across the state. With a dedicated source of funds they can commit to completing large projects. Projects that had been on the back burner for years are now being worked.

Likes some invasive species. Not Old World fern

So, I think that's what's driving the SFWMD to want to take the Lox back. It was leased to the USFWS back in 2002 when there just wasn't money available for restoration projects. They had to come from the general budget and there was too much competition for that cash. Water projects sometimes take years to complete. Without a dedicated source of funds projects would be stretched much longer than necessary due to the waning funding.

Currently the USFWS budget for The Lox is about $5.2 million with about $1 million dedicated to invasive species control. The USFWS claims the spend another $1.5 million in non dedicated funds. This will be lost to Florida if SFWMD takes it over. The SFWMD says that a dedicated $5 million /year is needed to combat the invasive species in The Lox. Since SFWMD tends to operate leaner than USFWS they can probably manage The Lox with about $1.5 million instead of $2.7 million that the USFWS spent on General Operations.

In Millions

So here's how I see the budgets working. The SFWMD thinks we need to double the invasive species treatment budget to $5 million. But they will be more efficient than the USFWS in the general operation budget -- fewer people on sight that aren't working invasive species.

So the takeover will cost Florida about $6.5 million / year. Actually that seems like a pretty good price if they can rehabilitate The Lox. But it could be done for less cost to Floridians by keeping USFWS in charge (and funding a large share) and an agreement with SFWMD to help with the invasive costs. 

But I guess neither directors at the USFWS nor the SFWMD earned gold stars on Plays Well With Others. A pity, that.