Politics of the Everglades

In 2019, Ron DeSantis became the fourth Florida governor to preside over the state half of the state-federal Everglades project. 

A Yale student when Congress approved the Everglades plan in 2000, the Jacksonville area politician was first elected to Congress in 2012 and quickly crossed swords with the influential sugar-growing industry. As a co-founder of the GOP’s House Freedom Caucus, a small-government conservative group, DeSantis opposed the industry’s and nation’s sugar price support program as “corporate welfare.” 

In 2018, the sugar industry backed his rival, then Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, in the GOP gubernatorial primary, while DeSantis won the endorsement of the Everglades Trust in that race and in the general election against Democrat Andrew Gillum. 

Upon taking office, DeSantis delivered for environmentalists. He sacked the leadership of the South Florida Water Management District. The board of the 16-county government agency upset environmentalists by leasing to a sugar concern land it wanted — but didn’t need yet — for an Everglades reservoir. DeSantis also promised $2.5 billion over his four years for water resource protection, including $780 million to date for Everglades work.  

Under DeSantis, state funding has hit historic highs, says Col. Andrew Kelly of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal half of the state-federal effort. 

DeSantis lobbied then President Donald Trump to increase spending on South Florida ecosystem projects to $200 million from an initial $67 million request to Congress. DeSantis directed the state to buy 20,000 Everglades acres to stop oil exploration. He pushed reservoir construction. 

“It’s the single most important position on the planet for the Everglades, the Florida governor,” says Kimberly Mitchell, Everglades Trust executive director. “The governor has been from the outset — even before we endorsed him — committed to pushing past the status quo and the good ol’ boy network that keeps the system broken.” 

Meanwhile, three years after Congress approved Everglades replumbing, a new force with old roots began taking shape in environmental politics in Florida — the Everglades Foundation staffed up and began asserting itself.  

The organization dates to 1993 and co-founders George M. Barley Jr., a real estate developer who died in a 1995 plane crash, and hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II, both Keys homeowners and fishermen upset by the poor condition of the environment. 

The foundation packs a big checkbook. According to the organization’s 2018 tax return, the foundation dropped hundreds of thousands on lobbying and spread $1.19 million to other environmental groups: $375,000 to Audubon Florida, $100,000 to the Everglades Law Center, $120,000 to the Sierra Club Foundation and $175,000 to the National Parks Conservation Association. 

The foundation had $8.3 million in net assets in 2018. Its Palm Beach gala and a lesser event in Naples netted $2.2 million that year. Salaries included $313,287 for CEO Erik Eikenberg, who held a spot on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ transition team. The foundation is chaired by Barley’s widow, Mary. Directors include Jones, fellow billionaire William “Beau” Wrigley, entertainer Jimmy Buffett and golf legend Jack Nicklaus.