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ENVIRONMENTAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Restoring the Florida Everglades: Social Impacts
Ecological restoration is not simply an engineering feat. Restoration
efforts require institutional rearrangements, which can have both
beneficial and adverse effects on the lives and livelihoods of human
populations. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) recog-
nizes the human dimensions of environmental restoration, requiring that
social impacts be considered as part of an environmental assessment
whenever major federal actions may affect the environment.
Impact assessments begin with a "scoping" analysis to determine the key
issues to be examined. Determining which issues merit investigation reflects
value judgment as much as fact. Social scientists are skilled in exploring
value systems and judgement processes.
The key aims of social impact assessment (SIA) are to document changes
expected to result from a proposed project or development program, and to
determine how these effects are distributed geographically and socially. In
other words, who wins and who loses?
Even where environment-disturbing projects receive wide support, serving
national and regional interests, this public benefit is usually achieved at a
price. Inevitably, even the best planned projects impose burdens on local
communities. Social impact assessment provides tools to anticipate this
tradeoff between public benefit and local burden, and to mitigate the most
harmful local effects.
Social impact assessment also helps decision-makers determine appropriate
points of policy intervention, accommodating environmental change or
seeking to slow the rate of human-accelerated changes by rethinking funda-
mental institutional arrangements. In the case of the Florida Everglades, for
example, it may help the ecological restoration efforts succeed if attention is
directed simultaneously to curbing the urban sprawl and agricultural develop-
ment that have disrupted the region's complicated hydrological regime.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
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Central and South Florida
Flood Control System
Many research nhethods necessary to follow the guidelines of
an SIA are not often in the regular repertoire of environmental scientists
and project managers, who usually are trained in the physical or biologi-
cal sciences and quantitative assessment methods. Assessments
should take into account the issues that are really important to
affected communities and not only those things that are easy to
quantify. Environmental perceptions and values may be of critical
importance to the identity of a community, but perceptions cannot
be captured with numbers alone.
In order to assess impact equity SIA guidelines recommend
Courtesy of Uia South Florida Water Management District
Tha Central and South Florida Flood Control
System covers an enormous territory, relying a
far-reaching network of collaborators from
fodaral, tribal, state, and local government.
involving
cultural, I
a diverse public, including groups that, because of
nguistic and economic barriers, do not routinely partici-
pate in government decision-making. Outreach strategies to such
groups will be most effective if developed with an understanding of
how these communities are organized, how community members
perceive their relationship to the environment, arid how they
understand environmental programs that affect them.
;
Anthropologists and other social scientists have training in specific
methods [designed to help them characterize community values,
organization, and practices. Effective use of this knowledge
increases the potential for cooperation among the various parties
involved in restoration efforts.
This Ret/few highlights projects, sponsored by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA),
aimed at more fully integrating the human dimension into the largest [
ecological restoration project ever attempted in the United States — '•
the restoration of the Florida Everglades. • '
Florida Everglades Restoration
For thousands of years, humans lived as an integral part of the
Florida Everglades - an ecosystem that produced an abundance of
aquatic life, supported larger animals such as the Florida panther,
and was large enough to recover repeatedly from the effects of hurri-
canes, fires, anci other natural disturbances. ;
i i f
Things changed with 20th century development. Rapid population growth
and agricultural [expansion along the Florida coasts created strong public
demands for drinking water, irrigation, and flood protection. In 1948,
legislation created the Central and Southern Florida Project - a water
management project authorized to provide flood protection and fresh
water to South Florida. Today, this project encompasses 18,000 square
miles in 16 counties, and includes 1,000 miles of canals, 720 miles of
levees, and almost 200 water control structures. While the project
achieved its mandate of providing more flood protection and water supplyr
for agricultural and residential needs, it did so at tremendous ecological >
cost. ',
Today, the Everglades are half their original size, and water flowing
through the system has been reduced by 70 percent. Since 1950 there
has been a 90 to 95 percent reduction in wading bird populations; 68
plant and animal species are threatened or endangered. Over 1 million
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Restoring the Florida Everglades; Social Impacts
acres of the ecosystem are under health advisories for mercury contami-
nation. Drinking water sources are threatened by saltwater intrusion.
Water shortages and water restrictions are now a way of life in some
parts of South Florida.
Concerned over the serious deterioration of the Everglades ecosystem,
and recognizing the importance of a viable Everglades in Florida's
society, economy, and environment, the U.S. Congress passed the Water
Resources Development Acts of 1992 and 1996. These acts gave the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the mandate to develop a comprehensive
plan to restore and preserve south Florida's natural ecosystem, while
enhancing water supplies and maintaining flood protection.
The Plan does not attempt to return the Everglades to their historic size.
Instead, it aims to re-establish historical patterns of water storage and
flow. But re-routing water affects farmers and other Everglades residents
in varying ways. Some will gain and others will lose resources, livelihood,
homes, and community.
Social Science Symposium
Given the social and economic consequences of engineering
decisions, it makes sense to bring social and physical scientists
together to discuss program strategy. With this goal in mind,
Environmental Anthropology Project intern Laura Ogden garnered
support for a Social Science Symposium while working with the South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force "Working Group" and the
Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida.
The 3-day Symposium involved six groups of social scientists, who
teamed up with other technical experts, many of them senior level project
managers, to develop strategies that could better identify and address
social impact, public participation, and related concerns. Participants
evaluated projects and identified social science information or program
needs they found lacking, and translated these information gaps into
research recommendations or more programmatic recommendations
(such as integrating a community involvement strategy in the project
scoping phase).
Social scientists suggested various community assessment techniques
to provide policy makers with a more comprehensive portrait of affected
communities. Methods suggested included:
• participant observation
• life history research
• snowballing interviews
• structured and unstructured interviews with a stratified sample of group
representatives
• surveys to elicit socio-cultural characteristics, group composition, views,
interests and issues.
This expanded knowledge base could also be used to develop more
effective community education and participation strategies.
Social impact
Assessment
Changes to the physical landscape
accompanying ecological restora-
tion may disturb or destroy cultural
resources; involve wetlands or
watersheds; and require the
involuntary resettlement of families,
neighborhoods, or communities.
The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) requires that federally
funded projects include social
impact assessments as part of
environmental assessments and
environmental impact statements.
Social Impact Assessment offers
tools for analyzing the effects of
environmental disturbance on social
systems. Based on this information,
one can forecast how these may
change if a proposed action or
alternative is implemented, and
develop ways to mitigate adverse
effects on a particular population.
Special attention must be paid to
disproportionate and adverse
impacts on the health and well-
being of low-income and minority
populations. For more information,
see:
.
Laurence R. Goldman, Editor, Social
Impact Analysis: An Applied Anthropol-
ogy Manual (2000, Berg Publishers).
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ENVIRONMENTAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
The Social Science Symposium provided a valuable opportunity for social
scientists and othjer technical experts, each drawing from his or her own
specialized trainirjg, to discuss the impacts of restoration efforts on
communities, labor forces, or economies, and the importance of under-
standing how restoration efforts may disturb or destroy cultural resources.
The outcome was the South Florida Action Plan for the Social Sciences.
The Plan has bee'n used to brief Everglades restoration policy makers
and to guide gran't writing and develop projects associated with restora-
tion plans. It helped shape the core element of a "socioeconomic and
environmental justice" program plan, and a Critical Ecosystem Studies
Initiative for Everglades restoration. For more information on Ogden's
project see: http://www.sfaa.net/eap/oaden2.html
Restoration and Flooding in a Rural Community
T
Pholoi Madeleine Fortin
The 8.5-squars mile area in rural Dade
County has been subject to periodic
Hooding since Everglades restoration
efforts raised the groundwater table.
Tho tack of productive dialogue between
rosictents and policy makers has been
costly. Resident refusal to relocate has
brought restoration efforts to a halt as
agencies decide what is to be done.
he dual challenge of improving environmental quality while accom-
modating the potentially affected social groups is well illustrated by
eyents concerning an 8.5-square mile region in the
unincorporated area of Dade County. Restoration efforts
raised the ground water table and caused flooding in this
rural community, leaving roads nearly impassible and the
land practically worthless. Home to about 1,000 people -
generally low-income Spanish-speaking farmers - this
economically disadvantaged area is at the center of a
controversy that has simmered for almost 20 years,
inj/olving all levels of government, from local to state and
federal agencies. i
Environmental Anthropology Project intern Madeleine
Fortin conducted research in this 8.5-square mile area,
collecting data on community life and local views of the
restoration. She found that outreach efforts by restoration
planners had been unsuccessful in engaging community
members and had even increased community distrust of
restoration efforts. Language used by agency staff at public meetings was
too technical to hblp the audience understand the project or how they
might work with planners to mitigate adverse impacts to their family and
community.
Whenever local communities are asked to bear the burden for a regional
benefit, it is especially to important to anticipate possible conflict. Discus-
sions with community groups about mitigation measures or alternatives
should be conducted in the early stages of project planning, before
groups with different interests become locked in confrontation.
For more information see: http://www.sfaa.net/eap/fortin/fortin.html
4
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Restoring the Florida Everglades: Social Impacts
Brownfields and Ecological Restoration
Brownfield redevelopment efforts in South Florida represent the
inversion of Everglades restoration. Water subsidies, urban sprawl
and leap-frog development leave older industrial zones abandoned
and untouchable for redevelopment purposes unless clean-up standards
are relaxed, and new owners are not held fully responsible for eliminating
all traces of the existing pollution. With the population expected to triple in
the South Florida region in the next half century, brownfield redevelopment
could decrease the pressure for the urban sprawl that undermines Ever-
glades restoration.
Due to growing popular concern and legal battles associated with the
potential influence of contaminants on the public health, the EPA and
developers alike have become interested in involving local residents early
in brownfield redevelopment. Located in northwestern Miami Dade County,
the Poinciana community was selected to become a national pilot site
under an EPA initiative that pays local governments to support the creation
and implementation of participatory approaches to redevelopment.
Sponsored by an Environmental Anthropology Project fellowship in asso-
ciation with the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida,
David Driscoll conducted qualitative research in the Poinciana community
to develop a replicable strategy for identifying and involving community
members in the redevelopment planning of urban brownfields. Driscoll
used anthropological methods that have proven especially helpful in
assessing and interpreting sociocultural factors that might affect the
behavior of target groups. Ethnographic research methods used in rapid
assessment procedures (RAP) showed that the Poinciana community was
composed of three separate neighborhoods with very different ethnic and
socioeconomic characteristics. Community behavior, organization, interest
and concern also varied within and among the different neighborhoods.
About Brownfields
Brownfieids are lightly
contaminated urban sites
that have good prospects
for cleanup and re-use.
The properties once
operating on the Poinciana
site included a pesticide
manufacturing plant, several
dry cleaners, industrial
welding facilities, and a
variety of auto repair and
repainting shops.
For more information,
please see http://
www.oecd.org/tds/bis/
brownfields-chapl .htm
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ENVIRONMENTAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Rapid
Assessment
Anthropologists designed
Rapid Assessment
Procedures to gain a
descriptive understanding
of a situation in a limited
timeframe that could aid
the design and implemen-
tation of further research
or social change. Gener-
ally speaking, RAP
techniques involve three
basic anthropological
concepts: getting an
Insider's perspective of the
important elements of the
community, their relative
importance, and how they
relate to each other; the
trfangulation of data - i.e.,
the collection of data from
individuals with differing
backgrounds, and/or using
different research methods
to provide cross-checks,
and thus improve the
quality of the information
gathered; and iterative
data collection and
analysis - using feedback
from ongoing research to
refine progressively the
direction and scope of
research questions as new
information is gathered.
For more information, see
James Beebe, Rapid
Assessment Process
(2001, AltaMira Press).
Photo: David Driscoll , n;, . , .I. , !
To most people outside the Poinciana community, it might appear to be just one more pocket
of concentrated poverty "passed over in South Florida's phenomenal metropolitan expansion.
But it really is made up of three distinctive neighborhoods, and public involvement efforts will
be most effective in these and similar locales by recognizing these important social
distinctions. [ I
[
Information obtained through ethnographic methods guided the design of
specific outreach messages about remediation options aimed at different
segments of the population. One message focused on health ramifica-
tions, a second op the consequences for local jobs, and a third on poten-
tial changes in prbperty values. The research findings also provided
suggestions about where and how to target the outreach messages to
increase the likelihood of resident response. Driscoll's work showed that
a combination of rapid assessment procedures and social marketing
techniques can be a quick, effective, and replicable way to elicit commu-
nity involvement in environmental restoration efforts.
For more information on the South Florida Brownfields project see
http://www.sfaa.net/eap/driscoll/driscol.pdf
For more information on Brownfields and curbing urban sprawl, see:
http://www.epa.gov/region5/air/sue/sprawl.htm ;
http://www.oecd.org/tds/bis/brownfields-chap1 .htm
http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/tabloid/SprawlAided.html
http://www.cLhouiston.tx.us/departme/health/newnote5.htm
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Restoring the Florida Everglades: Social Impacts
Summing Up
One of the main challenges in ecosystem restoration is to understand
the complex interactions between communities and landscapes.
Environmental restoration plans often focus on the technical aspects
of refashioning the physical landscape without adequate consideration for the
place of humans in the ecosystem. This oversight can lead to project delays
and rising expenses if restoration efforts are contested in court, or if there is
a lack of political will to implement the project.
For the Everglades to be restored, fundamental changes in public attitudes,
behavior, and institutional arrangements must occur through the meaningful
involvement of affected communities. Well-grounded social science research
can help environmental planners, managers, and policy makers by identifying
the potential social impacts of the projects and developing strategies to elicit
the participation of those whose lives will be most directly affected.
Photo Courtesy of the Miccosukee Tribe
This photo illustrates human induced flooding occurring on the Miccosukee Tribal Land that killed an
estimated 85% of the deer population and damaged many of the tree islands.
Photo source: "Facing Up to Problems in Everglades Restoration," Minority Report
from the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force by Dexter Lehtinen
(General Counsel to the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida), April 1999.
www.evergladesvillaqe.net/miccosukee/tfproaress
Additional Resources:
The Comprehensive Plan
for Everglades Restoration.
Information about the Compre-
hensive Plan to restore the
Florida Everglades, and copies
of their various plans and
reports can be found at
Everglades Information.
For information about Ever-
glades history and conditions,
and to gain access to scientific
and technical reports, natural
history writings, educational and
interpretive materials, datasets,
maps, photos, and a directory
of other Internet sites relating to
the greater Everglades, see the
Everglades Digital Library at
8.5 Mile Community
Perspectives. For a transcript
of the March 2000 testimony by
8.5 Square Mile Community
residents to the Water Resource
and Environment Congressional
Subcommittee on Transporta-
tion and Infrastructure, see
Miccosukee Perspectives.
To review a copy of the
Miccosukee Tribe comments on
the South Florida Ecosystem
Restoration Task Force Report
for 1999, see "Facing Up to
Problems in Everglades
Restoration" Minority Report, by
Dexter Lehtinen (General
Counsel to the Miccosukee
Tribe of Indians of Florida),
April 1999. This report is
published at
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jir- The Society for Applied Anthropology
Environmental Anthropology Projects focused on community-baSsed
approaches to environmental protection throughout the U.SJ
Environmental anthropologists analyze and resolve human
i
and ecological problems posed by energy extraction and
use; agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, and other
resource development; pesticide exposure, toxic waste
i
disposal, and other environmental health issues; I
environmental restoration; tourism, public lands,
and cultural resource management; the protection
of traditional knowledge, values, and resource rights;
and environmental education '
The Society for Applied Anthropology
was incorporated in 1941, with the mission
of promoting the scientific investigation of
"the principles controlling the relations of human
beings to one another" and the wide application
of those principles to practical problems."
In 1996 the Society established the Environmental
Anthropology Project, funded through a five-year
cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency. The aims of the project
were to provide technical support for community-
based approaches to environmental protection
and to improve the understanding of how cultural
values and social behavior affect environmental
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Theresa Trainor served as EPA's project officer
from the project's inception. Barbara Rose
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The Society for Applied Anthropology is grateful
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please see our web site: www.sfaa.net.
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© 2001 Society for Applied Anthropology. This Review has been prepared by the Society for Applied Anthropology, and does not imply any
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