Alternative Text Description for CERP Project Boundaries

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAP OVERVIEW

This map displays the boundaries of projects under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) across southern Florida. CERP represents a large-scale environmental restoration effort involving multiple organizations and projects coordinated through GIS technology. The map identifies 67 distinct project boundaries, including Expedited projects, showing where restoration activities are planned or underway across the greater Everglades ecosystem. This layer serves as an official reference map for researchers and collaborators working within the CERP process.

GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT

The map covers southern Florida, extending from the northern boundary near Lake Okeechobee southward to the tip of the Florida peninsula near Homestead and the Florida Keys. Major geographic features and cities labeled include Florida to the north, Lake Okeechobee in the north-central portion, Port Charlotte to the northwest, Cape Coral and Naples on the southwestern coast, Immokalee in the interior southwest, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton on the eastern coast, Coral Springs and Hollywood in the southeast, and Miami in the far southeast. The map also shows portions of the Gulf of America to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

KEY INSIGHTS

CERP project boundaries are concentrated in several distinct geographic clusters across southern Florida. The most prominent concentration appears as a large, continuous area surrounding and south of Lake Okeechobee, forming the central focus of restoration efforts. Additional significant project clusters appear in the interior region between Immokalee and Miami, in a north-south corridor along the eastern urbanized coast from West Palm Beach through Miami to Homestead, and in scattered smaller project areas near Naples and Cape Coral on the western coast. The spatial distribution suggests that restoration efforts focus on both the core Everglades ecosystem and the interface between natural areas and urban development along both coasts.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

CERP Project Boundaries

The CERP Project Boundaries layer represents the geographic extent of individual restoration projects within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

CERP Project Areas (yellow-green polygons)

Appearance:

Project boundaries are shown as yellow-green colored polygons with defined edges. Some boundaries are large and contiguous, while others are smaller and more fragmented.

Distribution:

Project boundaries appear throughout southern Florida with the heaviest concentration in the Lake Okeechobee region and the central Everglades area. Additional project areas extend along the eastern urban corridor and western coastal communities.

Notable locations:

The largest continuous project area surrounds Lake Okeechobee, extending south into the interior Everglades. A substantial cluster of smaller, gridded project boundaries appears in the agricultural and transitional zone between Immokalee and Miami. Elongated project boundaries follow the eastern coast near West Palm Beach, with additional concentrations near Homestead. Western coastal projects appear near Naples and in isolated areas near Cape Coral.

Spatial patterns:

Project boundaries show distinct clustering patterns. The Lake Okeechobee area features large, continuous boundaries suggesting watershed-scale projects. The central interior region displays a more fragmented, grid-like pattern of smaller adjacent projects, possibly reflecting land ownership patterns or hydrological management units. Coastal project areas tend to be linear and narrow, following the interface between developed areas and natural systems. Some isolated project boundaries appear as islands surrounded by non-project areas.

Overlapping Patterns

While individual project boundaries do not overlap on this map, their collective distribution reveals coordination between interior ecosystem restoration projects and coastal water management efforts, creating a network of interconnected restoration activities across the region.

SYMBOL GUIDE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This map serves as the official reference for CERP project boundaries and is intended for use by all researchers and collaborators in the restoration process. Each project boundary contains attribution data including project names, key contacts, and other critical information for the 67 different projects shown. The map is designed to facilitate coordination among the many organizations and projects involved in this large-scale environmental restoration effort. Additional information for each project and the various programs involved is available at www.evergladesrestoration.gov. At this scale, all 67 project boundaries are visible, showing the full geographic scope of CERP restoration activities across southern Florida.

DATA CONTEXT

Data Source:

The data is maintained by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Land Acquisition Program. The updated version is stored on an Oracle SDE server in feature dataset SFWBNDS, feature class CERPBnds. The official layer name in the SFWMD's GIS library is 'bdwmdcrp'. Data source layer name: SFWMD_CERP_AREA_AUG22.

Definition Query:

No definition query or filter criteria was applied to this layer; all CERP project boundaries are displayed.

Scale Information:

The map displays the full extent of CERP project boundaries across southern Florida, showing regional-scale project distributions. At this scale, individual project boundaries are visible, though detailed internal project features are not shown.

Coordinate System:

NAD_1983_HARN_Florida_GDL_Albers (WKID 3087).

Time Period of Content:

The layer represents the August 2022 version of CERP project boundaries (indicated by AUG22 in the data source layer name).

Limitations:

This map shows only the geographic boundaries of CERP projects and does not display project status, phase of implementation, or other characteristics beyond spatial extent. The attribution data containing project names, contacts, and additional information is not visible on this map view but is available in the underlying GIS dataset.

Map Coverage:

The map extends across southern Florida from approximately Lake Okeechobee in the north to the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, and from the Gulf of America coast in the west to the Atlantic coast in the east. Portions of Florida outside the CERP project areas are shown in gray for geographic context.

The alternative text description of this map was AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies.