Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz visited Everglades National Park to see how critical restoration projects are going with support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law during a South Florida tour.
Haaland and Estenoz met with conservation leaders and state and local stakeholders in Florida Bay to discuss the importance of collaborative partnerships for the success of the Everglades and discuss impacts of climate change on critical infrastructure, according to a Jan. 30 Interior Department news release.
“@AsstSecEstenoz and I spent today in South Florida. The Everglades ecosystem is unlike any other in the world and is a critical ally in addressing the climate crisis,” Haaland said in a Jan. 29 post on Twitter.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited Everglades National Park Jan. 28-30.
| U.S. Department of the Interior/Flickr
She and Estenoz also toured Shark Valley to learn more about the river’s habitat for a variety of wildlife species and viewed Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and visited Big Cypress National Preserve and the newly renovated Guy Bradley Visitor Center, the release reported.
The Biden administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has directed more than $6.2 billion to the state for transportation to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, ports and airports and more than $275 million for clean water, according to a White House fact sheet. As of November 2022, more than $1.3 billion has been allocated to Florida for infrastructure resilience in 2022 including $32.5 million through the Army Corps of Engineers for flood mitigation.
Leaders from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe were among groups that met with Halaand in her work to show the department’s commitment to tribal sovereignty, honoring the government-to-government relationship, incorporating indigenous knowledge in the department’s decision-making and investing in Tribal climate resilience, the Interior Department release reported.
