The Everglades Glossary

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Acre-foot:

The volume of water (43,560 cubic feet or 1,233.4 cubic meters), that will cover an area of one acre to a depth of one foot.

Adaptive Assessment:

A process for learning and incorporating new information into the planning and evaluation phases of the restoration program. This process ensures that the scientific information produced for this effort is converted into products that are continuously used in management decision making.

Adverse Impact:

A detrimental effect relative to desired or baseline conditions.

Affected Environment:

Existing biological, physical, social and economic conditions of an area subject to change, both directly and indirectly, as a result of a proposed human action.

Agricultural Privilege Tax:

An annual tax levied on farming activities in the Everglades Agricultural Area and C-139 Basins to support Phase 1 of the Everglades Program.

Air Quality:

A measure of the health-related and visual characteristics of the air, often derived from quantitative measurements of the concentrations of contaminating or injurious substances.

Annual Report Card:

A document produced annually by the RECOVER Leadership Group as a means of informing the public on the progress being made toward meeting the goals and targets of the Comprehensive Plan.

Anthropogenic:

Human-created or caused.

Apple Snails:

The Florida Apple Snail (Pomacea paludosa), a gastropod mollusk commonly found in shallow wetland environments in wetland environments in south Florida, which is the primary food of the endangered Everglades Snail Kite.

Aquatic:

Consisting of, relating to or being in water; living or growing in, on or near the water; or taking place in or on the water.

Aquifer:

An underground geologic formation, a bed or layer of earth, gravel or porous stone, that yields water or in which water can be stored.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery [ASR]:

A technology for storage of water in a suitable aquifer via a well during times when excess water is available and recovery from the same aquifer when the water is needed to meet peak emergency or long-term water demands.

Back Pumping:

The process of pumping water in a manner in which the water is returned to its source.

Base Year Condition:

A projection of the most likely future condition (e.g., water quality condition) at the time that the project becomes operational.

Basin:

A large area of lower elevation than surrounding areas.

Benthic:

The bottom of rivers, lakes or oceans, and the organisms that live on the bottom of water bodies.

Best Management Practices [BMPs]:

The best available land, industrial and waste management techniques or processes that reduce pollutant loading from land use or industry, or which optimizing water use.

Biodiversity:

The number and variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region; or the variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.

Biological Opinion:

A document issued under the authority of the Endangered Species Act stating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or National Marine Fisheries Service finding as to whether a Federal action is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a threatened or endangered species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of a critical habitat. This document may include a description of the Critical Habitat, and offer either a Jeopardy Opinion or a No Jeopardy Opinion.

Canal:

A human-made waterway that is used for draining or irrigating land or for navigation by boat.

Candidate Species:

A plant or animal species not yet officially listed as threatened or endangered on a national level, but which is undergoing status review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Central and Southern Florida Project:

A multi-purpose project, first authorized by Congress in 1948, which provides flood control, water supply protection, water quality protection and natural resource protection.

CERP Guidance Memorandum (CGM):

A document of prescribed format which officially captures decisions of the program managers and promulgates their guidance regarding implementation of the CERP. CGMs address an array of subjects including definitions, direction and procedures for reporting, web management, financial management and program controls.

Channel:

A natural or artificial watercourse, with a definite bed and banks, to confine and conduct continuously or periodically flowing water.

Chlorophyll:

Green pigments found in plants, which are essential for photosynthesis.

Coastal Ridge:

Area of land bordering the coast whose topography is elevated higher than land further inland.

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan [CERP]:

The plan for the restoration of the greater Everglades ecosystem.

Comprehensive Plan:

See Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Comprehensive Plan Refinement Team:

An interagency, interdisciplinary task team of the RECOVER Leadership Group, which recommends refinements to the Comprehensive Plan and provides Comprehensive Plan Updates for Project Implementation Reports.

Confined Aquifer:

An aquifer bounded above and below by impermeable or confining layers of distinctly lower permeability than the aquifer itself.

Control Structure:

A human-created structure that regulates the flow of waters or the level of waters.

Conveyance Capacity:

The rate, generally measured in cubic feet per second (cfs) at which water can be transported by a canal, aqueduct or ditch.

Critical Habitat:

A description, which may be contained in a Biological Opinion, of the specific areas with physical or biological features essential to the conservation of a listed species and which may require special management considerations or protection; these areas have been legally designated via Federal Register notices.

Cubic Feet Per Second [cfs]:

A measure of the volume rate of water movement; as a rate of stream flow, a cubic foot of water passing a reference section in one second of time.

Culvert:

A concrete, metal or plastic passage that transports water under a road or embankment.

Dam:

A human-created embankment that controls or confines water [dike].

Decomposition:

The action of microorganisms causing the breakdown of organic compounds into simpler ones and the release of energy.

Density:

The mass per unit volume of a substance under specified conditions of pressure and temperature.

Discharge:

The rate of water movement as volume per unit time, usually expressed as cubic feet per second.

Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.):

The concentration of oxygen dissolved in water, sometimes expressed as percent saturation, where saturation is the maximum amount of oxygen that theoretically can be dissolved in water at a given altitude and temperature.

Dry Season:

The months associated with a lower incident of rainfall, hydrologically, for south Florida, October through April.

Dune:

A mound or hill of sand created by dune grasses, which trap sand grains being moved across the ground.

Duration:

The period of time over which a task occurs, in contrast to effort, which is the amount of labor hours a task requires; duration establishes the schedule for a project, and effort establishes the labor costs.

Ecology:

The science of the relationships between organisms and their environments, also called bionomics; or the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Ecosystem:

An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit.

Endangered Species:

Any species or subspecies of amphibian, bird, fish, mammal, reptile or plant that is in serious danger of becoming extinct throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Environmental Consequences:

The impacts to the affected environment that are expected from implementation of a given alternative.

Environmental Impact Statement [EIS]:

An analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act for all major Federal actions, which evaluates the environmental risks of alternative actions.

Epiphyte:

An air plant that receives water and nutrients from the air and rain, and which usually uses other plants for support.

Estuary:

The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by ocean tides; or an arm of the sea at the lower end of a river; where freshwater and salt water meet.

Eutrophication:

The natural or cultural enrichment of an aquatic environment with plant nutrients leading to rapid ecological changes and high productivity.

Evaporation:

The process by which water is released to the atmosphere by evaporation from the water surface or movement from a vegetated surface (transpiration).

Evapotranspiration [ET]:

Water evaporated from plant and soil surfaces or transpired by plant tissues.

Everglades Agricultural Area [EAA]:

Land in the northern Everglades that was drained for agricultural development.

Everglades Construction Project [ECP]:

Composed of twelve inter-related construction projects located between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, the cornerstone of which is six stormwater treatment areas (constructed wetlands) totaling over 47,000 acres, which use biological processes to reduce the level of phosphorous entering the Everglades to an interim goal of 50 parts per billion.

Everglades Stormwater Program:

A program to ensure that water quality standards are met at all structures not included in the Everglades Construction Project.

Everglades Trust Fund:

A fund created by law (Chapter 97-258, Florida Statutes) to support ecosystem restoration.

Exotic Species:

An introduced species not native to the place where it is found.

Extirpated Species:

A species that has become extinct in a given area.

Fallow land:

Cultivated land that lies idle during a growing season.

Federally Endangered Species:

An Endangered Species which is officially designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service and published in the Federal Register.

Flood Control Storage Capacity:

Reservoir capacity reserved for the purpose of regulating flood inflows to reduce flood damage downstream [compare with reservoir storage capacity].

Floodplain:

Land next to a stream or river that is flooded during high-water flow.

Flow:

The volume of water passing a given point per unit of time, including In-stream Flow Requirements, Minimum Flow and Peak Flow.

Greater Everglades Ecosystem:

An area consisting of the lands and waters within the boundary of the South Florida Water Management District, including the built environment, the Everglades, the Florida Keys and the contiguous near shore coastal waters of South Florida [also shown under South Florida Ecosystem].

Groundwater:

Water stored underground in pore spaces between rocks and in other alluvial materials and in fractures of hard rock occurring in the saturated zone.

Groundwater Level:

The water level in a well, which is a measure of the hydraulic head in the aquifer system.

Groundwater Pumping:

The quantity of water extracted from groundwater storage.

Groundwater Seepage:

The groundwater flow in response to a hydraulic gradient.

Groundwater Table:

The upper surface of the zone of saturation, except where the surface is formed by an impermeable body.

Habitat:

The area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs.

Hammock:

Localized, thick stands of trees that can grow on natural rises of only a few inches in the land.

Hydrologic Condition:

The state of an area pertaining to the amount and form of water present.

Hydrologic Response:

An observed increase or decrease of water in a particular area.

Hydrology:

The scientific study of the properties, distribution and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.

Hydropattern:

A depiction of water levels through annual cycles; this includes water depth and duration, along with quantity, timing and distribution of surface water to a specific area.

Hydroperiod:

For non-tidal wetlands, the average duration of flooding, which is based only on the presence of surface water and not its depth.

Indicator Species:

An organism, species or community which indicates the presence of certain environmental conditions.

Invertebrate:

An animal that does not have a backbone; examples include crayfish, insects and mollusks.

Irrigation Water:

Water made available from the project which is used primarily in the production of agricultural crops or livestock, including domestic use incidental thereto, and the watering of livestock; this also includes water used for domestic uses, such as the watering of landscaping or pasture for animals which are kept for personal enjoyment.

Jeopardy Opinion:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service opinion that an action is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat; the finding includes reasonable and prudent alternatives, if any.

Juvenile:

Young fish older than one year but not having reached reproductive age.

Landfill:

A method of waste disposal wherein materials are buried; environmental protection laws require the sites to be constructed with impermeable barriers to prevent hazardous wastes or pollutants from escaping to the surrounding soils or air.

Latitude:

The angular distance north or south of the earth's equator, measured in degrees along a meridian.

Levee:

A human-created embankment that controls or confines water.

Limnology:

The scientific study of the physical characteristics and biology of lakes, streams and ponds.

Littoral Zone:

The shore of land surrounding a water body that is characterized by periodic inundation or partial saturation by water level, and is typically defined by the species of vegetation found there.

Lock:

An enclosure in a canal with gates at each end used to pass boats from location to another.

Longitude:

The angular distance on the earth's surface, measured east or west from the prime meridian at Greenwich, England, to the meridian passing through a position, expressed in degrees (or hours), minutes and seconds.

Macrophytes:

Visible plants found in aquatic environments, including sawgrass, sedges and lilies.

Mangrove Forest:

A community of mangrove trees that may consist of the red mangrove, black mangrove and white mangrove.

Marl:

Soil comprised of clays, carbonates and shell remains.

Marsh:

An area of low-lying wetlands.

Mass Loading:

The mass of material entering an area per unit time, such as phosphorus loading, generally expressed as metric tons per year.

Master Program Management Plan [MPMP]:

A document which describes the framework and processes to be used by the USACE and the SFWMD for managing and monitoring implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Mercury:

A heavy metal that is toxic to most organisms when converted into a byproduct of inorganic-organic reaction; it is distributed into the environment mostly as residual particles from industrial processes.

Mesohaline:

The next salinity region [after Oligohahine] of an estuary, of typically five to fifteen parts per thousand.

Methylmercury:

A particularly toxic organic form of mercury that concentrates in aquatic food webs.

Minimum Flow:

The lowest flow in a specified period of time.

Minimum Flows and Levels [MFLs]:

A calculation that uses the best available information to calculate a minimum flow and minimum level for each water body, and that reflects seasonal variations when appropriate; Florida Statute requires water management districts to set water levels for each major body of water at which further withdrawals would be significantly to the water resources or ecology of the area.

Mitigation:

To make less severe; to alleviate, diminish or lessen; one or all of the following may comprise mitigation: (1) avoiding an impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action; (2) minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of an action and its implementation; (3) rectifying an impact by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring the affected environment; (4) reducing or eliminating an impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of an action; and (5) compensating for an impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.

Model:

A way of looking at reality, usually for the purpose of abstracting and simplifying it to make it understandable in a particular context; this may be a plan to describe how a project will be completed, or a tool to mathematically represent a process which could be based upon empirical or mathematical functions.

Monitoring:

The capture, analysis and reporting of project performance, usually as compared to plan.

Muck lands:

Fertile soil containing putrid vegetative matter.

No Jeopardy Opinion:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service finding that an action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat.

Non-consumptive Water Use:

Water uses that do not substantially deplete water supplies, including, for example, swimming, boating, water skiing, fishing, maintenance of stream-related fish and wildlife habitat, hydropower generation and other uses.

Nutrients:

Elements essential as raw materials for the growth of an organism.

Oligohaline:

A low salinity region of an estuary, of typically 0.5 to 5.0 parts per thousand.

Peak Flow:

The maximum instantaneous flow in a specified period of time.

Peat:

Soil rich in humus or organic material (exerts of oxygen demand) which is highly porous.

Percolation:

The downward movement of water through the soil or alluvium to the groundwater table.

Performance Measure:

A desired result stated in quantifiable terms to allow for an assessment of how well the desired result has been achieved; or a quantitative indicator, along with a target, used to determine the degree to which an alternative plan meets the planning objective, and compare the relative performance of alternative plans.

Periphyton:

The biological community of microscopic plants and animals attached to surfaces in aquatic environments, for example algae.

Permeability:

A measure of a porous material's ability to allow fluids or gases to flow through its pores; an important property of rocks that determines how much and how rapidly fluids or gases can move through them, for example, how much water can be pumped from an aquifer.

Phosphorus [P]:

An element or nutrient required for energy production in living organisms; distributed into the environment mostly as phosphates by agricultural runoff and life cycles; frequently the limiting factor for growth of microbes and plants.

Physiographic:

The genesis and evolution of land forms.

Pineland:

Nearly level land composed of coarse, poorly drained soils and dominated by pine trees.

Potable Water:

Water that can be consumed by humans without ill effects; government agencies have adopted standards of quality that specify limits of chemical constituents in water sources.

Prairie:

Land predominately covered in grasses.

Pre-Construction Engineering and Design Phase [PED]:

The phase of project development that follows the study phase and precedes the construction phase. While the Comprehensive Plan comprised the study phase of this program, Project Implementation Reports, Detailed Design and Plans and Specifications comprise the PED phase.

Precipitation:

Water discharged from the atmosphere in the form of fog, rain, sleet, hail or snow.

Program Area:

Geographical expanse of program; for CERP, approximately 18,000 square miles from Orlando to the Florida Reef Tract, including the Everglades, Big Cypress, Lake Okeechobee, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, the Florida Reef Tract, near shore coastal waters, the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, the Florida Keys, Immokalee Rise and the Kissimmee River Valley.

Programmatic Regulations:

Section 601(h) of WRDA 2000 states that the overarching purpose of the Comprehensive Plan is the restoration, preservation and protection of the south Florida ecosystem while providing for the other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection. The purpose of the regulations is to ensure that the goals and objectives of CERP are achieved.

Project Cooperation Agreement [PCA]:

A document that describes the roles and responsibilities of the USACE and SFWMD for real estate acquisition, construction, construction management and operations and maintenance.

PSTA:

PSTA or "periphyton-based stormwater treatment area", a water quality treatment system that utilizes "periphyton" as a dominant component. Periphyton is a mat-like assemblage of algae, phytoplankton and other microscopic organisms that occurs naturally in the Everglades. Periphyton is important to phosphorous removal technology because it has been demonstrated that the calcareous mat removes phosphorous from water.

Pump Station:

A human constructed structure that uses pumps to transfer water from one location to another.

Receiving Waters:

The water bodies immediately downstream of the project.

Recharge:

The processes of water filling the voids in an aquifer, which causes the piezometric head or water table to rise in elevation.

Release:

An intentional opening up of water control structures to allow stored water to flow out to lower water stage to acceptable levels or to make available water for ecological, agricultural or urban water supply demand.

Release Zone:

The zone representing water level differentiation determining the manner of release to be performed, such as pulse releases to simulate a storm or gates wide open.

Reservoir:

An artificially impounded body of water.

Reservoir Storage Capacity:

Reservoir capacity normally usable for storage and regulation of reservoir inflows to meet established reservoir operating requirements [compare with flood control storage capacity].

Restoration:

The recovery of a natural system's vitality and biological and hydrological integrity to the extent that the health and ecological functions are self-sustaining over time.

Restudy:

The Central and South Florida Project Comprehensive Review Study, authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, which examined the Central and Southern Project to determine the feasibility of modifying the project to restore the south Florida ecosystem and provide for other water-related needs of the region, and which resulted in The Final Integrated Feasibility Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, which was transmitted to Congress on July 1, 1999.

Retainage:

A portion of a contract payment that is held until contract completion in order to ensure full performance of the contract terms.

Riparian:

Areas along or adjacent to a river or stream bank whose waters provide soil moisture significantly in excess of that otherwise available through local precipitation.

Scrub:

A community dominated by pinewoods with a thick understory of oaks and saw palmetto, and which occupies well-drained, nutrient-poor sandy soils.

Seepage:

Water that escapes control through levees, canals or other holding or conveyance systems.

Semi-Confined Aquifer:

A condition where the movement of groundwater is restricted sufficiently to cause differences in head between different depth zones of the aquifer during periods of heavy pumping, but during periods of minimal pumping the water levels recover to a level coincident with the water table.

Sheet Flow:

Water movement as a broad front with shallow, uniform depth.

Slough:

A depression associated with swamps and marshlands as part of a bayou, inlet or backwater; contains areas of slightly deeper water and a slow current; can be thought of as the broad, shallow rivers of the Everglades.

South Florida Ecosystem:

An area consisting of the lands and waters within the boundary of the South Florida Water Management District, including the built environment, the Everglades, the Florida Keys and the contiguous near-shore coastal waters of South Florida [also shown under Greater Everglades Ecosystem].

Spillway:

An overflow structure of a dam.

Stormwater:

Surface water resulting from rainfall that does not percolate into the ground or evaporate.

Stormwater Treatment Area [STA]:

A human constructed wetland area to treat urban and agricultural runoff water before it is discharged to the natural areas.

Stream:

A natural water course; an ephemeral stream flows briefly only in direct response to precipitation; an intermittent or seasonal stream is one that is on or in contact with the groundwater table and that flows only at certain times of the year when the groundwater table is high; a perennial stream flows continuously throughout the year.

Subsidence:

The lowering of the soil level caused by shrinkage of organic layers. This shrinkage is due to desiccation, consolidation and biological conditions.

Sustainability:

The state of having met the needs of the present without endangering the ability of future generations to be able to meet their own needs.

Swale:

A shallow depression in the land's surface which may be filled with water.

Swamp:

A generally wet, wooded area where standing water occurs for at least part of the year.

Tailwater:

Water immediately downstream of a water control structure.

Threatened Species:

Legal status afforded to plant or animal species that are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their range, as determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Tide:

The periodic variation in the surface level of the oceans and of bays, gulfs, inlets and estuaries caused by gravitational attraction of the moon and sun.

Topography:

A detailed, precise description of a place or region; or the graphic representation of the surface features of a place or region on a map, indicating their relative positions and elevations.

Total Supply:

Total water supply available to an area; surface water plus groundwater.

Transmissivity:

A property of an aquifer which defines the rate at which water moves through it.

Transpiration:

Part of the life process of plants by which water vapor escapes from leaves and enters the atmosphere.

Treatment Wetlands:

Constructed wetlands, known as stormwater treatment areas, to treat urban and agricultural runoff water before it is discharged to the natural areas throughout the system.

Tributary:

A stream feeding into a larger stream, canal or waterbody.

Vertebrate:

An animal that has a backbone.

Wastewater Reuse:

Utilization of water whose source contains contaminates from human activities.

Water Budget:

An account of all water inflows, outflows and changes in storage for a pre-specified period of time.

Water Conservation Areas [WCAs]:

Everglades marshland areas that were modified for use as storage to prevent flooding, to irrigate agriculture and recharge well fields and as input for agricultural and urban runoff. The Water Conservation Areas WCA-1, WCA-2A, WCA-2B, WCA-3A and WCA-3B comprise five surface water management basins in the Everglades; bounded by the Everglades Agricultural Area on the north and the Everglades National Park basin on the south, the WCAs are confined by levees and water control structures that regulate the inflows and outflows to each one of them. Restoration of more natural water levels and flows to the WCAs is a main objective of the CERP.

Water Preserve Areas [WPAs]:

Multi-purpose water management areas planned between urban areas and the eastern Everglades, which will be utilized to treat urban runoff, store water, reduce seepage and improve existing wetland areas.

Water Quality Objective:

A statement of something that an alternative plan should be formulated and designed to accomplish in order to achieve a project purpose.

Water Resources Development Act (WRDA):

A WRDA is legislation which provides for the conservation and development of water and related resources and authorizes the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes deemed appropriate by the U.S. Congress and the President of the United States.

Water Table:

In an aquifer, the upper surface of the zone of saturation under unconfined conditions; water in the rocks is at atmospheric pressure.

Watershed:

A region or area bounded peripherally by a water parting and draining ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water.

Wet Season:

Hydrologically, for south Florida, the months associated with a higher than average incident of rainfall, May through September.

Wetlands:

Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction.

Wildlife Corridor:

A pathway used by animals to transverse from one habitat arena to another.

Willing Sellers:

A term used to describe individuals who would be interested in selling real estate holdings.