Wearing secondhand skates purchased for the occasion, St. Paul’s next mayor completed puck-handling drills Tuesday at the downtown TRIA rink as she weighed joining the Northland Cup, the annual hockey game between employees of the city and Ramsey County.

Kaohly Her has plenty of experience as an ice skater and rollerblader, but the intensity of a hockey game — even one played as a friendly fundraiser to benefit victims of domestic violence — is an entirely different arena. The same could be said for a policymaker suddenly holding executive office in a city government spanning more than 3,000 employees and serving over 300,000 residents.

The city’s “strong mayor” system of governance leaves key decisions directly in Her’s hands. Rather than contribute to a collective body like the House, the former state representative will take center stage in the contact sport that is city politics: hiring and firing city leaders, wrestling the city council over budget matters and setting the municipal agenda at a tumultuous time for the city, state and nation as a whole.

As a result of the city’s transition to even-year elections in 2028, Her’s term will span three years, giving her especially little time to do all of the above and more.

Her, the city’s first Hmong mayor and its first female mayor, will be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony Jan. 2 at St. Catherine University. That same day, she’ll attend a private ceremony with her family and members of the city’s Hmong community, where Hmong leaders will lead her through their own cultural swearing-in of sorts.

Her’s transition team still is choosing the venue for an inaugural gala, Jan. 30. In the meantime, she’s been active, if not prolific, on social media, especially Facebook, where her “Kaohly Her For St. Paul Mayor” page reads like a roadmap through the city’s cultural organizations.

In one social media post, she’s lighting a giant Hanukkah menorah. In another, she’s visiting with the West Side Community Organization about air-quality concerns. In yet another, she’s congratulating Meg Luger-Nikolai for winning the DFL primary in House District 64A, the seat Her gave up just weeks ago.

“Today I spent time helping deliver groceries to families who are fearful of leaving their homes,” Her wrote Wednesday from her “MayorKaohlyHer” account on Instagram, in a caption beneath pictures of herself at a Latin grocery. “Less than a month ago … our friends at this Eastside Mercado were stopped by ICE and interrogated. They were targeted because of how they look.”

“Thankfully but sadly, they had passports on hand and ICE could not apprehend them,” she wrote. “Many people are looking to their elected officials to do something about the chaos this federal administration is inflicting on our communities, but in all honesty, there is not much we can. What we can do is show up in community and help those in need.”

Re-evaluating city programs

Her, who won 48% of the vote in the five-way mayoral race after ballot reallocation Nov. 4, unseated two-term incumbent Melvin Carter, the city’s first Black mayor, who in his first term eight years ago also was its youngest mayor and arguably its most progressive.

Will Her stay the course on Carter’s progressive agenda, refocus it or abandon it completely? That remains uncertain, perhaps even to her. At a time of rising property taxes, growing questions about neighborhood quality-of-life issues and vacant and foreclosed properties downtown, she’s promised to reevaluate potentially duplicative services, on top of rebuilding connections with key partners, including state lawmakers and the Ramsey County Board.

So far, she hasn’t indicated whether she’ll overhaul Carter’s slate of department directors or some of the mayor’s projects and Cabinet roles, though some turnover has long been in process. Current directors have been asked to stick around for now.

Her “extended an invitation to department directors to continue in their current positions into the new year,” said Matt Wagenius, her campaign and transition team spokesperson, in a written statement on Wednesday, “so they can continue getting to know one another, ensure continuity of service across the departments, and make a proper evaluation of whether they are a good fit in their current capacity for our new administration.”

Still, some department leaders already have left, and several positions have long been in a kind of semi-permanent transition.

Fire Chief Butch Inks retired from city employment this month, and some departments — such as the Office of Financial Empowerment, which Carter created in his first term, and the department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity — have been led by interim directors or co-directors for more than a year. Brooke Blakey recently stepped down as director of the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, another Carter innovation.

Her, who was Carter’s policy director in his first term, worked closely on establishing the city’s $15 minimum wage and college savings accounts for the city’s newborns, two initiatives she’ll now be in the position of reevaluating, alongside many others.

With regard to program priorities, Wagenius said Her received “detailed briefings from all 15 city departments as of late last week, and now she is in the evaluation phase. No decisions have been made regarding changes to existing programs.”

Hiring timeline

Applications closed Dec. 24 for a handful of positions internal to the mayor’s office, including associate of constituent services, policy aide, and the mayor’s scheduler and executive team coordinator.

Her spent two days last week at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., meeting with other mayors from across the country for a crash course in municipal leadership through the Bloomberg Center for Cities.

“We’ve been diving deep into case studies on building high-performing teams and modernizing organizational structures,” Her wrote Dec. 17 on Facebook. “I’m walking away with new tools for city management and a roadmap for fresh funding and foundation partnerships. I can’t wait to put these insights to work for Saint Paul!”

Her has also kept busy since Election Day visiting the city’s seven political wards, meeting with city council members and community leaders.

She toured Highland Park and Macalester-Groveland with Council Member Saura Jost, the Midway and surrounding areas with Council Member Molly Coleman and part of the East Side with an aide to Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who is on family leave following the birth of her first child.

Among those she encountered during her Ward 7 tour were Latino business owners concerned about federal immigration enforcement operations scaring away their customers, shop owners worried about a state road construction project along Arcade Street, a church leader raising money for a community center, and nonprofits like St. Paul Urban Tennis, which has big plans for a former dumping ground.

In the final week of December, the new mayor will tour downtown, Grand Avenue, the West Side and surrounding areas with Council President Rebecca Noecker, and the Frogtown and Summit-University neighborhoods with Council Member Anika Bowie.

In the first week of January, Her will visit the East Side with Council Member Nelsie Yang and the North End and Como area with Council Vice President HwaJeong Kim.

The professional life of a mayor isn’t a clear-cut 9-to-5 job, and Her’s semi-social calendar already is filling up outside of business hours. The World Junior Ice Hockey Championship skates into downtown Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, bringing the best skaters under age 20 from 10 countries to Grand Casino Arena and the University of Minnesota along with 250,000 hockey fans, press and entourage.

On New Year’s Eve, as thousands of visitors exit the U.S. vs. Sweden game at Grand Casino Arena, Her plans to be there to greet them.

In a festive and early start to the new year, Visit St. Paul — the city’s tourism bureau — will drop a giant, disco-themed hockey puck in downtown Rice Park around 8 p.m., immediately followed by fireworks. It’s perhaps as fitting a metaphor as any for the optimism and concerns surrounding new beginnings and tumultuous times.

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By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — People stop reading in adulthood for lots of reasons. But it’s never too late to turn the page on old habits and start again.

Curling up with a good book can reduce stress, increase creativity and boost empathy. A recent analysis of U.S. government data found that the percentage of Americans who read for pleasure during an average day has fallen to 16% in 2023 from 28% in 2004. That includes not just books but audiobooks, e-books and periodicals like magazines.

Some people say they’re fatigued from years of assigned reading in school. Others don’t have the time or would rather zone out by doom-scrolling on social media. And many just got out of the habit.

“It’s difficult for people who are really tired and busy to think about getting into reading if it’s not something they’re used to,” said Jacqueline Rammer, director of Menomonee Falls Public Library in Wisconsin.

For those looking to set reading goals or resolutions in 2026, here’s how to get back into the habit.

Choose the right book

When picking your next book, avoid dense nonfiction or a 500-page doorstop.

“Your first book should be something that you think will be joyful,” said Jocelyn Luizzi, a software engineer from Chicago who blogs about books.

Everyone’s taste is different, so get recommendations from a variety of places including friends, booksellers and online communities like BookTok.

Rammer and her staff ask library visitors: What was the last book, TV show or movie that you really enjoyed? Then, they look for similar genres or themes.

Many libraries offer access to a service called NoveList which suggests “read-alikes” for various books and authors.

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Set a reading routine

To create a habit that sticks, “start by scheduling reading into your day,” said Gloria Mark, an attention span expert with the University of California, Irvine. Read five pages during a lunch break or right before bed.

If you’re reading a physical book, Mark said to avoid distractions by keeping phones and laptops out of sight.

But experimenting with other formats can make reading more convenient. E-books are portable and audiobooks are a good candidate to accompany chores or the morning commute. You can likely access both for free by downloading an app called Libby and signing in with a library card.

Try to read in a quiet setting, but don’t be afraid to make it a social activity. Many cities in the U.S. and around the world host silent book clubs where people read their own books together in coffee shops and libraries.

Setting a reading goal for the year or joining a local library’s winter reading challenge can help with motivation — but if it feels like added pressure, don’t do it.

Shannon Whitehead Smith, a book blogger from the Atlanta area who also works in marketing, says scrolling through lists of other people’s reads on social media and trackers like StoryGraph encourages her to keep the habit.

“Seeing all these other people reading motivates me to put my phone down and pick up this book that’s sitting beside me,” she said.

Feel free to skip a read

If a book feels particularly sluggish, it’s OK to put it down and start another. Reading “shouldn’t feel like a burden,” said Jess Bone with University College London, who analyzed the survey data about American adults reading for pleasure.

Routine readers say the habit helps them stay curious and release the stress of the day. Rammer, the library director, reads mysteries rife with twists and turns, and romances that cycle through roller coasters of emotions.

Most of all, she likes books that end with a “happily ever after.”

“I think the guarantee of knowing that things are going to end up OK is really reassuring,” Rammer said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Even with inflation, endless air travel complaints and the recent flight cancellations caused by the government shutdown, millions of Americans, including me, will begin their holiday celebrations on a plane. And while some are already making their packing lists, I am more concerned about what I should watch. In addition to getting you where you want to go, those hours spent in uncomfortable seats — first at the gate and then on board — are a guilt-free opportunity to catch up on or revisit great shows and films.

In-flight viewing is a specific, and sometimes unintentionally communal, viewing experience; not everything works. Choose tearjerkers and musicals with care. Ugly crying over “The Notebook” or singing along with “Wicked” might feel great, but it can cause your fellow passengers unnecessary consternation and/or annoyance.

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If you are traveling with or seated near children, you should avoid hard-R-rated fare — as I discovered while briefly attempting to watch “Game of Thrones” while seated beside my then-young son, nudity and beheadings don’t need the sound on to be inappropriate.

Likewise, avoid anything that involves tragic or problematic air travel — catch up on the “Final Destination” franchise another time — and you also might want to skip full-attention-demanding subtitles. The perfect airplane watch allows you to immerse yourself while also remaining aware of what’s happening around you. (Including and especially requests from flight attendants.)

With all these considerations in mind, here are some suggestions.

Watch at the gate

Comedy series are best, for obvious mood-sweetening reasons (should delays occur), but also because the episodes are short and tend not to have dramatic moments that might keep you watching even after your group number has been called.

“Schitt’s Creek” (Amazon)

Each episode of this perfectly addictive series about a once-rich (and very dysfunctional) family that finds itself forced to start anew in a small town will make you laugh no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

“Derry Girls” (Netflix)

Those unfamiliar with the Northern Ireland accent may find it necessary to use subtitles, which I just cautioned against. But this show is worth breaking the rules for. Living through the Troubles in 1990s Derry, five Catholic school friends and their families cope hilariously with everyday issues, including school life under the redoubtable eye of Sister Michael (Siobhán McSweeney).

“New Girl” (Hulu)

The shenanigans of friends/roomies Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Winston (Lamorne Morris) and Cece (Hannah Simone) are always a delight.

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Netflix)

Any time’s a good time to watch the greatest police comedy series since “Barney Miller.” Andy Samberg’s Jake Peralta heads a misfit but inevitably successful team of New York detectives, headed by the driest, wisest chief in TV history — Captain Holt, played by the late, great Andre Braugher.

“Abbott Elementary” (Hulu)

Celebrate the holidays with this quick-witted, revelatory and very sweet teacher-centric mockumentary-comedy created by and starring Quinta Brunson. Compared with classroom chaos, even the airport will seem like an oasis of tranquility.

“What We Do in the Shadows” (Hulu)

If you somehow missed this hilariously unique comedy-horror mockumentary about a group of vampires living in modern-day Staten Island, now is the time to rectify that.

Watch on domestic flights

All of the above comedy series work here as well — but movies are best, especially if you can time it so the film begins when altitude is achieved and ends as you’re returning your seat backs and tray tables to their full upright positions.

FILMS:

“The Da Vinci Code” (AMC+)

The perfect in-flight film, “The Da Vinci Code” offers something like cultural edification (the Louvre! The Knights Templar! Biblical history!) while not forcing you to think too much. A tour of Paris, great action sequences, the always endearing Tom Hanks and a literally beatific conclusion.

“Spy” (Amazon)

Melissa McCarthy is an everywoman intelligence agent who chooses to go into the field for the first time in this strangely unsung hero of modern comedy. Guaranteed to make you laugh even if you’re stuck in the middle seat. (Also set in Paris, it’s a perfect double feature with “The Da Vinci Code” for those five-hour flights.)

“Crazy Rich Asians” (Netflix)

Jon M. Chu’s glorious romantic comedy will transport you into a world far beyond the dreary confines of contemporary air travel and make you feel, if only for a moment, that you too are flying in a first-class compartment that contains an actual double bed.

“Iron Man” (Disney+)

Travel back in time to the moment when Robert Downey Jr. jump-started the Marvel Cinematic Universe and remind yourself why. It really is that good.

“Sense and Sensibility” (Amazon)

The exquisite nature of the performances, writing, direction, cinematography and score has made one of the best Jane Austen adaptations a go-to comfort film for when you’re feeling ill. Which is why it’s perfect while flying.

“Paddington” and/or “Paddington 2” (Netflix)

Come for the adorable bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw), stay for the adventure and sweet hijinks (and, in “Paddington 2,” Hugh Grant!). You will reach your destination feeling more kindly to your fellow travelers, which can only improve any trip.

“Edge of Tomorrow” (Netflix)

Tom Cruise teams up with Emily Blunt to battle an alien invasion, with some help from time travel. Classic dystopian thriller with several clever twists. If you’re feeling hot and cramped, just think of Cruise and Blunt in those super suits.

“The Martian” (Netflix)

Feel bad that your flight got delayed and you might not make your connection? A little time spent with Matt Damon’s astronaut, stranded for years on Mars, will put everything in perspective. At least you don’t have to figure out how to grow potatoes in hostile soil.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (Amazon)

The ultimate full-immersion movie sees four teenagers sucked into a survival adventure game in which their avatars are played by Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan.

“Skyfall” (Amazon)

Honestly, most Bond films are a good choice but Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond and “Skyfall” features a more-than-usual presence of M (Judi Dench). Also, the song.

“Knives Out” (Amazon)

A classic manor house mystery, which revived the genre when it became a hit in 2019, “Knives Out” is the ideal blend of mystery and wit, with a cast of characters to keep you company.

SHOWS:

“Hawkeye” (Disney+)

If you’re looking for a five-hour (or so) miniseries with plenty of Marvel action and a holiday theme, look no further. A year after the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” Hawkeye super fan Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) teams up with her reluctant hero, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), to face down enemies new and old. Oh, and celebrate Christmas in New York.

“Black Mirror” (Netflix)

This sci-fi anthology series is perfect plane viewing because a.) It’s so very good and b.) Each episode is its own story, so you can construct however many hours you need (and, perhaps, catch up on a show so many people continue to talk about).

“Sherlock” (PBS)

Same principle — each episode is essentially a short film and you get to wallow in the wonder of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Martin Freeman (Watson), Mark Gatiss (Mycroft) and all the rest as they solve crimes in modern twists on the classic tales.

Watch on international flights

For flights six hours and longer, you can hunker down and make your way through a film franchise or an entire season or seasons of a television series.

FILMS:

“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (HBO Max)

Pick the director’s cut of all three and your journey through Middle-earth will take you almost 12 hours, which is about as long as it takes to fly from L.A. to New Zealand, where it was filmed.

“Hunger Games” (HBO Max)

The four films in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and friends attempt to wrest a shattered land from the tyranny of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) clock in at about nine hours total, which, with bathroom and meal breaks, should get you from L.A. to London or Paris.

“Mission Impossible” films (Amazon and other platforms)

Although they often include mishaps in the air, the fantastic (in both senses of the word) nature of “Mission: Impossible” makes these films an ideal high-altitude binge. From first to last, they run more than 18 hours, which is, quite frankly, far too many hours of consecutive movie viewing. But with plenty of installments to choose from, you can accept whichever assignments (and Cruise stunts) appeal to you.

“Harry Potter” (HBO Max)

However one feels about J.K. Rowling’s politics, this is a delightful film franchise that’s even longer than “Mission; Impossible” — about 20 hours. But you can start, and stop, the series wherever you want (though I would urge you not to skip the underrated “Order of the Phoenix”).

SHOWS:

“Black Doves” (Netflix)

Keira Knightley and Whishaw play highly unlikely but ruthlessly skilled mercenary spies who work for an ice-cold Sarah Lancashire. The six-hour-long series tells a complete tale (though Season 2 is in the works) and as the events take place in London as Christmas approaches, makes a fine holiday thriller.

“House”

Pick a season, any season (there are eight of them, with an average of 22 episodes each) and the wit, wisdom and scathing insanity of Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) and his team will carry you through to any destination. And unlike other medical shows, most of the ailments are so bizarre that you won’t have to worry if that cough or twinge is a sign that you’re getting one of them.

“The Durrells in Corfu” (PBS)

It’s 1935 and young widow Louisa Durrell (Keeley Hawes) decides that the answer to her financial straits is to move herself and her four children to the island of Corfu. Sweet and scenic hilarity ensues, and includes the young Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”) and Callum Woodhouse (“All Creatures Great and Small”) as two of Louisa’s sons. Four seasons, 26 episodes. You’re welcome.

“Call the Midwife” (Netflix)

Seasonal purists could just download the dozen or so Christmas episodes of this long-running and still-exceptional drama about a group of midwives working out of a convent in London’s East End. (Between the nuns and the babies, the specials are always wonderful.) But if you haven’t seen the series, best to start with Season 1 and keep going.

“Mare of Easttown” (HBO Max)

If you somehow missed Kate Winslet’s turn as a small-town Pennsylvania cop (with a great Delco accent) who is trying to solve a brutal murder, then this is your chance. If you didn’t, well, it’s time for an eight-hour rewatch in which you can use the time you spent wondering who dunit to admire all the terrific acting.

“Slow Horses” (Apple TV)

The butt-numbing hours will fly by like minutes when you immerse yourself in the TV adaptation of the first five of Mick Herron’s Slough House novels. Gary Oldman is having a blast as Jackson Lamb, the greasy, rumpled, sharp-tongued and strategically flatulent keeper of a den of MI5 misfits. Who somehow manage to save the day.

“The Crown” (Netflix)

Think your flight is long? Consider the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, played over the course of six seasons by Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton. For a full immersive experience, it’s tough to beat the royal settings, period clothes and changing times. And with 60 hours at your fingertips, you can move through history without ever leaving your seat.

“30 Rock” (Hulu)

Tina Fey’s send-up of a fictional “Saturday Night Live”-type show, and satirical look at the television business in general, is just as biting and gimlet-eyed as it was when it premiered almost 20 years ago. It got better as it aged, so for purposes of downloading, look to Seasons 4 and 5.

“Parks and Recreation” (Peacock/Amazon)

Life is always better when you spend some time with Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and the many fine public servants in Pawnee, Indiana’s city government. The mockumentary series found its feet in Season 2, so you might want to start there.

“The Wire” (HBO Max)

David Simon’s five-season Baltimore-based crime drama is definitely R-rated (thus breaking one of our earlier stated rules) but it is the show that is consistently listed as one of the best — if not the best — TV dramas ever. So if a long-haul flight demands that you binge, why not binge big?

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The 20th century was horrible for the Everglades. The broad shallow river, one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet, was labeled wasteland and ruthlessly dammed, carved into parcels, dried out and diverted into near oblivion.

But at the end of the century, 25 years ago this month, Democrats and Republicans from Florida and Washington, D.C., joined forces and signed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan into law.

The ambitious 68-project plan was supposed to cost $7.8 billion, it was supposed to take 30 years to complete and it was supposed to save what was left of the Everglades.

That’s not how things have played out, at least not yet. Two of those three expectations have been vastly overshot — costs have tripled to $23 billion and it could take another 20 years to complete.

Experts say restoration success hinges on two things: The engineering has to work and the people of Florida have to be willing to pay for the job to be finished.

But where do we stand 25 years in? After decades of funding delays, after heated controversies over reservoir size, after “lost summers” due to toxic blue-green algae, the pace of construction has finally quickened. The “crown jewel” of restoration — the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir — is finally under construction. More water is flowing under Tamiami Trail and into Everglades National Park.

Shannon Estenoz is the chief policy officer of The Everglades Foundation, a nonprofit focused on science and policy around the restoration plan. To use a sports metaphor about the restoration, she said, “I would say we are in the fourth quarter of the restoration program, and we’re ahead, we’re winning. But the game is still losable, we could still blow it. … We, the people, could get this wrong. So we’ve got to keep our heads in the game and stay focused.”

In a nutshell, the restoration plan looks to reverse the mistakes of the 20th century.

The Everglades once flowed 220 miles from south of Orlando to Lake Okeechobee, down through what is now the Everglades Agricultural Area, the Miccosukee Reservation and into Everglades National Park. The river terminated through vast mangrove-lined estuaries in Florida Bay and the Gulf.

An alligator peers at anglers during a Miccosukee Tribe fishing tournament that aims to remove invasive fish in the Everglades. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

But the modern world envisioned a dry farmable Everglades.

During the 20th century, the river was dammed and cut into boxes. Some became suburbia, some became farmland. Remaining wild areas were often parched, or in some cases, such as along Tamiami Trail, where the Miccosukee Reservation sits, flooded.

Florida Bay grew too salty without enough fresh water, and during wet years, as of 2025, half of the original Everglades has been destroyed.

The restoration plan has moved at a maddeningly slow pace for some, especially during weather extremes.

During dry years, Florida Bay has become so salty and hot that seagrass die-offs fuel algae blooms that in turn fueled more seagrass die-offs. Recovery takes decades. During wet years, such as 2016, canals shunted highly polluted Lake Okeechobee water east and west to estuaries near Stuart and Fort Myers, decimating those ecosystems and prompting “lost summers” of economic damage.

“You know, we were slow in getting out of the box,” said Steve Davis, The Everglades Foundation’s chief science officer, referencing the cumbersome process of planning and navigating funding cycles in Congress. “But now we’re kind of hitting all of those key metrics in terms of having projects planned, having them authorized, having the money to now construct and even accelerate something like the (Everglades Agricultural Area) Reservoir.”

The pace of groundbreaking, construction and completion of pivotal projects has undeniably accelerated in the last few years.

In July of this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency overseeing the restoration, agreed to allow the state to take the lead in construction on key projects, including the reservoir, which is now projected to be done by 2029 instead of 2034.

A catfish floating in an algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee near the Pahokee Marina. Lake Okeechobee water is high in nutrients that fuel algae blooms. When that water is discharged into estuaries, it can cause blooms there, and overwhelm saltwater estuaries with too much fresh water.

Since 2023, the Army Corps and South Florida Water Management District, which also oversees the plan, have made many gains, including:

— Completing the C-43 impoundment, which stores water off of Lake Okeechobee and doles it out into the Caloosahatchee estuary at a slower, eco-friendly pace, helping fish and oysters thrive.

— Breaking ground on the pivotal EAA Reservoir, which will store Lake Okeechobee discharges before the water flows into filtration marshes and eventually south to Florida Bay. It will also help the Army Corps reduce polluted Lake Okeechobee discharges to delicate estuaries near Stuart and Fort Myers.

— Breaking ground on the Blue Shanty Flow Way, which will move more fresh water under the Tamiami Trail and into Florida Bay. This will also lower water levels in the Miccosukee Reservation, where water is often too high for too long, damaging the ecosystem.

— Completing the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project, which filters suburban canal water through a restored wetland before it disperses more naturally into Biscayne National Park, where it helps seagrass and marine wildlife thrive.

— Additionally, the Army Corps and water management district have completed three miles of bridging along Tamiami Trail, which previously acted as a dam.

When will it all be done? Col. Brandon Bowman of the Army Corps said it will be “a couple decades” before every last one of the 68 infrastructure projects is finished.

Chief Science Officer of The Everglades Foundation to underwater vegetation Steve Davis, points on a map explaining Everglades wildlife in Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021. – The largest wetland in the United States is the battleground for one of the largest ecological conservation efforts in the world.
But time is running short, and global warming is threatening a subtropical wilderness that is home to more than 2,000 species of animals and plants. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Concerns linger, particularly with the ability to store and clear water.

“Yes, we’re 25 years into CERP (the restoration plan),” said Eve Samples, spokesperson for Friends of the Everglades, an environmental nonprofit. “But we still haven’t finished the job in terms of land acquisition.”

The lynchpin of restoration

Though breaking ground on the reservoir and accelerating its schedule has been cause for celebration, it has been the most contentious project on the restoration plan. Critics say its current footprint and functionality is insufficient.

Optimists in the early 2000s envisioned a shallow, 60,000-acre wildlife-friendly reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee that would have required the sugar industry to sell a significant amount of land.

The dream almost came true.

Gov. Charlie Crist cut a deal in 2008 with a company called U.S. Sugar to buy all the company’s EAA land — 187,000 acres — and convert some of it into the EAA Reservoir and filtration marshes.

Then the Great Recession hit and the state lacked the funds to buy the land. When Gov. Rick Scott was elected in 2010 he had the option to buy most of the land, but he chose not to. It was expensive, $1.34 billion, and when sugar prices rose, the industry, which had contributed handsomely to Scott’s Let’s Get to Work political committee, became reluctant to part ways with the land.

Scott would go on to cut state budgets devoted to land acquisition. It would be another nine years before the state signed a law funding a restoration reservoir in 2017, but the project would be limited to land the state already owned.

The project broke ground in 2023.

Once completed, the reservoir will be a 10,500-acre, 23-foot-deep, tub-shaped impoundment with 37-foot-tall banks. Its total capacity will be about two-thirds of the original plan.

There will be another 6,500 acres of critical filtration marsh, known as stormwater treatment areas to go with it.

This photo from July 2024 shows the EAA Reservoir under construction. The state expects to finish the impoundment by 2029. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel; Aerial support provided by LightHawk)

Critics say it’s not enough.

Scientists at Friends of the Everglades believe the system needs another 100,000 acres of water storage and cleaning south of Lake Okeechobee. That would require the state to purchase more land in the EAA.

“That (100,000 acres) sounds like a daunting number until you remember that we do have voter-approved land acquisition money from the state of Florida,” said Samples.

In 2014, Florida voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 1 , which appropriated tax revenue to land acquisition for the purposes of conservation. Conservation groups have sued the state Legislature over how the money should be spent.

Samples has concerns about the sugar industry selling their farmland to mines or housing developers.

“There’s still about 400,000 acres of sugar cane in the Everglades Agricultural Area, and we know that the industry is looking at other uses for that land because it has proposed a rock mine, for example, and there have been other development proposals in the EAA,” she said.

Samples said that changes in use would require government approval from Palm Beach County. “There are some forks in the road,” she said, “that are critical to the future health, not just to the Everglades, but to all of South Florida — our water supply, our ecology, our clean water-based tourism economy.”

Clean water worries

The size of the reservoir is not the only concern. By law, the water flowing into the Everglades must be clean.

Water from Lake Okeechobee and the EAA is laced with the fertilizer phosphorus, which wreaks havoc in the Everglades by spiking the growth of plants that don’t belong there, choking out the foundation of the whole system.

Stormwater treatment areas, known as STAs — managed marshes that filter the phosphorus — are seen by many to be the weak link in the restoration chain.

Their current setup has no redundancy, and sometimes they must be shut down. It’s illegal to send polluted water south, so the flow stops.

“They’re kind of unpredictable biological systems and unpredictable from the standpoint that we don’t know how much rain is going to come, when it’s going to come,” said Davis of The Everglades Foundation. “We don’t know when the hurricanes are going to come. They have an impact on STAs. … What we’ve seen is that we really have no redundancy in that infrastructure.”

A new STA is being built next to the EAA Reservoir, but it will only be able to handle about half of the reservoir’s annual outflow.

The rest will have to go to STAs that already get agriculture runoff. The lack of redundancy concerns both Davis and Samples.

“There is no Everglades restoration unless the water is clean,” said Samples, “and we can’t clean adequate volumes of water unless more land is acquired in the EAA,” said Samples.

Bowman is more confident.

He says the water management district has become quite good at managing the STAs.

“So from what we’re seeing, the science is kind of getting dialed in, as long as they stay hydrated. I think they (the STAs) are going to do what they’re needed to do.”

Anglers fish in the Everglades as traffic passes on part of three miles of bridges along US Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail). The bridges, part of Everglades restoration, allow more water to flow south into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The Miccosukee flooding

Other issues persist. The Everglades are currently boxed off into massive swaths of land, some dotted beautifully with tree islands and a landscape much as it’s been for 5,000 years, some bereft of water flow and thus flattened into homogeneous plains of sawgrass that don’t support as much life, some of it too wet.

The Miccosukee Reservation sits at the south end of a series of levees that funnel water onto it. and the Tamiami Trail is not yet porous enough to allow that water to pass south quickly.

During wet years, the reservation ends up being too wet for too long, driving out wildlife and damaging plant life.

Miccosukee airboats partaking in the tribe’s annual Everglades Study. (Bill Kearney/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Construction on the Blue Shanty Flow Way, which helps move more water through the Tamiami Trail, also has been accelerated to line up with the reservoir’s completion.

Bowman said in addition to Blue Shanty and the three miles of bridging that already exists on the Tamiami Trail, the Army Corps is cutting culverts into several of the levees and canals that cause high water on the the reservation.

The culverts will allow Everglades flow to spread out more naturally in an east-west direction instead of hemming it in.

Pending risks

There are ecological concerns to the restoration’s success, but there are also political and social ones.

Davis said one of the threats to restoration at this juncture is complacency. “The risk is just thinking that, you know, we’ve got enough momentum to get us across the finish line. We don’t.”

Bowman of the Army Corps said that the pace of restoration is tied to funding from both the state and federal government, and that money hinges on public opinion. Completion is going to be based on funds availability — you know, how much willpower folks push on Congress and on Tallahassee to keep on funding it.”

Another long-term concern for environmental nonprofits, such as Friends of the Everglades, is what will happen if the Everglades Agricultural area, much of which sits in Palm Beach County, is developed into housing.

What will success look like?

Estenoz said the best way to measure success is to look at the ecological response — “when we stop depriving Florida Bay of fresh water, can seagrass recover?”

Wading bird nesting activity is one indicator.

Mark Cook, an avian biologist with the South Florida Water Management District, found in 2018 that nesting activity in South Florida was way up, particularly in the Everglades system, even reaching levels similar to the 1930s, but they’ve fluctuated since.

Even the topography can change relatively quickly, though.

Davis said that within five or 10 years of flow restoration, areas that are less than ideal — flat homogeneous sawgrass with no topography — can form sloughs of deeper water where fish can survive dry season and humps of dry land that wildlife such as bobcats to wading birds can exploit all year.

The L 67 Canal and levees divide an area with more natural topography, left, with one that has been flattened by lack of water flow. The restoration plan will cut culverts into the levees to enhance water flow. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel, Aerial support provided by LightHawk)

As far as estuary wildlife that should flourish as restoration kicks in, Davis is keen on a few indicator species — pink shrimp, juvenile crocodiles and spotted sea trout — which are all uniquely sensitive to Florida Bay salinity. “If we’re getting more flows south, we’re seeing improved conditions for those indicator species.”

He said the same will hold true for oysters and seagrass in the Caloosahatchee River and the St. Lucie River estuaries once massive freshwater pulses from Lake Okeechobee stop.

As large as those ecosystems are, Davis’ key vision for the restoration’s future is tiny, and tied to a memory from the past.

He started exploring the coastal Everglades in 1995 and witnessed dense lush seagrass beds beyond what he’d ever imagined.

“You’d have seagrasses that are so productive that they’re just producing excess oxygen — it looks like Champagne bubbles coming off of these blades, floating up to the surface. It was just phenomenal to see.”

Bill Kearney covers the environment, the outdoors and tropical weather. He can be reached at bkearney@sunsentinel.com. Follow him on Instagram @billkearney or on X @billkearney6.