The Everglades Foundation will host an Everglades, Jobs and Water Supply Summit in Tallahassee on Jan. 17, 2012. The event will feature hundreds of business and civic leaders, sportsmen, government officials, and representatives from the conservation community, according to a letter released today on the Foundationās website.
The inaugural Everglades Summit was held in Washington, D.C., in 2010, and was hosted by Tom Brokaw, who led a discussion with top state and federal officials on Everglades restoration efforts.
ā[O]n the heels of Floridaās worst drought in decades, securing our water supply and saving the Everglades are more important than ever,ā reads a letter on the 2012 event.
The Florida Everglades, one of the most revered natural wetlands in the country, has been faced with its fair share of problems in recent years. The area is suffering the effects of crippling methylmercury pollution, but there remain no regulations to stymie the problem.
The health of the vast variety of flora and fauna who call the Everglades home, like the snail kite, has also suffered in recent years ā due in part to drought, but also to the abundance of agriculture in the area. Recently, politicians on both the state and national scene have remarked that they wouldnāt be opposed to drilling for oil in the area, though there is no real push to do so.
