WEST PALM BEACH — The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has allocated $584,000 to build facilities, capture wild Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows (CSSS) and start a captive breeding program.

That investment is needed in order to operate billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure already built or in progress, SFWMD Division Director for Ecosystem Restoration Jennifer Reynolds explained at the Dec. 12 meeting of the  SFWMD Governing Board.

Reynolds said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has awarded the contract for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir -- the largest construction contract the USACE Jacksonville District has ever awarded. The reservoir, which will be complete in 2034, will accept water from Lake Okeechobee in the wet season and release it south to the Everglades in the dry season.

“Florida Department of Transportation is continuing work to uncork the flow under the Tamiami Trail,” said Reynolds. This $57 million project projected to be complete in Spring 2026. Removing portions of levees will reconnect the flow way to Shark River Slough.

Currently, flow under the Tamiami Trail is restricted nine months of the year to project the nesting area of a subpopulation of the CSSS.

“For decades the CSSS has been a challenge and a hurdle to moving water south,” said Reynolds. “The only tool we’ve had to help conserve the sparrow has been changing operations, regulating operations, throttling back on moving water south to protect the habitat.”

She said the CSSS population continues to decline. In 2024 survey of CSSS population, the numbers were the lowest survey numbers on record. The total CSSS  population is estimated at 2,176 birds– a 14% decline since last year. No CSSS were found in the "subpopulation A" area.

That puts US Fish and Wildlife Service in a critical spot, said Reynolds.

Two subcommittees working on conservation for CSSS are looking at multiple approaches.

One is looking at marl prairie – looking across the Everglades and across Florida and identifying areas CSSS could live long term. The other committee is looking at options like captive breeding so CSSS populations can be established in places it can thrive.

“This investment from the district is way to jump start that,” said Reynolds. “We can’t wait until all of this infrastructure is in place.

“This half a million dollar investment will protect billions of dollars of infrastructure,” she said.

SFWMD Governing Board unanimously agreed to partner with Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida for a CSSS breeding program.

The idea received widespread support from stakeholders at the meeting.

Julie Wraithmell of Audubon Florida, said 45 years ago, Florida faced the extinction of a similar species, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow. She said that bird species lived on the Spacecoast, and had dwindled down to just five remaining birds before the decision was made to attempt captive breeding. “At the last minute, they tried to bring them in for a captive breeding program with a compatible species but it was too late,” she said.

“Forty-five years later we have CSSS. The forecast is grim without intervention,” she said.

Wraithmell said she has great optimism that CSSS can be saved. White Oak Conservation has proven their husbandry skills, she said.

“They cut their teeth on the Florida Grasshopper Sparrows. That bird had even fewer individuals than we have now of CSSS,” she continued. “There is a greater chance of success by acting soon.”

“This species is on the brink and it’s a race against time,” said Kelly Cox of Audubon Florida.

Kevin Cunniff, speaking on behalf of the  Miccosukee Tribe, said constant high water throughout Central Everglades has damaged the tree islands and wildlife habitat north of the Tamiami Trail. Restrictions that have been in place to preserve the habitat for one endangered species have led to impacts on other endangered species, he continued.

The projects that allow more water to flow under the Tamiami Trail are critical to improving conditions in the Central Everglades, he said.

Lisa Interlandi of the Everglades Law Center  said the CSSS exists nowhere else on the planet. “We are happy to support moving forward with this,” she said.

“We can build it, and they will come,” said Newton Cook. “The question we have here is we can build it and will we be allowed to use it?”

He said another question is after a big storm when water flows at a rate of 18,000 to 30,000 cubic feet per second coming down the system, will that water flow at that rate under Tamiami Trail?

“The day we establish that, is the day we establish Everglades Restoration,” said Cook.

Nyla Pipes, of One Florida Foundation, said many people have been pushing for a CSSS captive breeding program for decades.

“This benefits the global system,” said Ron Bergeron. The changes and infrastructure that will allow 2.5 million acre feet to flow under the Tamiami Trail, that water’s not going east or west to the estuaries and it’s not stacking up in the water conservation areas, he explained.

“We’re getting to the threshold of getting benefits of projects we built 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.

He said construction of the Tamiami Trail cut off the natural flow of water south. “Since 1928, the park has suffered from not having the proper hydrology,” he continued. “Also we drowned over 5,000 fur-bearing animals in the Central Everglades.

“When we start letting water flow by gravity … that will be the greatest achievement of all the projects we have built,” he said.

Bergeron said while they care about the endangered CSSS, “there’s 70 endangered species on both sides of the Tamiami Trail.”

Reynolds said the captive breeding program will start with four breeding pairs and expand to 12 pairs in five years.

Larry Williams with US Fish and Wildlife Service said they are working with the district and USACE on the deviation proposed to allow the water control structures to stay open, based on conditions in the watershed.

“We want the deviation to work, and having the (captive breeding) program in place will help,” said Williams.