$250 MILLION SOUGHT FOR EVERGLADES RESTORATION PROJECTS

It’s interesting to note that while a federal budget request seeks to cut about $15.5 million a year from Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper produced for U.S. military personnel around the world, president Donald Trump included $250 million for Everglades restoration projects in his proposed $4.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2021, observes Grumpy Editor.

As pointed out here last week, Stars and Stripes receives about $8.7 million annually in operations and maintenance funds and about $6.9 million in contingency operations funds to support news reporting in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Pentagon wants to reinvest funds in functions it considers more critical for warfighting.

Everglades National Park, a 1.5-million-acre wetlands preserve on the southern tip of Florida, is made up of coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes and pine flatwoods that are home to hundreds of animal species, including the endangered leatherback turtle, alligators, Florida panther and West Indian manatee.

Maintenance of the wetlands preserve is provided by entrance fees that range from $30 per vehicle to $200 per commercial motorcoach.

 

So an additional $250 million injection for the Everglades would be quite a boost.

 

 

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Comments

[Morgan St James]

Interesting observations, as always from Grumpy Editor. I question whether the Everglades really needs as much as $250 Million. If they got, say $235 Million, maybe Stars and Stripes could still receive critical funding. Just sayin'.