Hydrologic and Biologic Aspects of the Big Cypress Swamp, 1970" (page 10): The Everglades National Park annually receives an average of 541,500 acrefeet of water from subarea C, 56 percent of the total received by the park from outside sources. Water from subarea C, however, reaches 16 percent of the park area. Officials of the Department of the Interior have also stated that 85 percent of the total water available to the park comes from rainfall within the park itself. This leaves 15 percent to flow into the park from elsewhere. As stated above, 56 percent of the total received by the park from outside sources comes from subarea C. 56 percent of 15 percent is roughly 8.4 percent. However, the U.S.G.S. report also points out that this inflow reaches only 16 percent of the park area. It, therefore, follows that none of the water from subarea C in Collier County reaches the remaining 84 percent of the park. Further in this connection, it is understood that measurements of the flow of water from subarea C into the park were taken from gauges placed in openings at U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail). As U.S. 41 is located at distances varying from 3 to 16 miles north of the park boundary, it is felt that, very little, if any, of the water measured at U.S. 41 would ever reach the park due to evaporation, transpiration and absorption into the ground between U.S. 41 and the park boundary. It is entirely possible that the placing of additional gages at intervals along the present northern boundary of the park may indicate that sufficient water is available in the area between the park and U.S. 41 to meet the needs of the park. If this be true then U.S. 41 should become the northern boundary of the park and no land lying north of U.S. 41 would be required. It is our understanding that the Federal Government, through the U.S. Department of the Interior, is currently conducting a study entitled, "South Florida Environmental Project", at a cost of about $3 million. I believe that this study is now in its second year and is scheduled for completion at the end of the third year. In view of certain questions, still to be resolved, it would appear to be the better part of wisdom to await the completion of this "South Florida Environmental Project" before taking further action with respect to the acquisition of any part of the so-called Big Cypress Swamp. If, however, it is the considered judgment of the Congress that some additional buffer zone is urgently required and cannot await the completion of the environmental project, then it would appear that U.S. 41-Tamiami Trail-should be the northern boundary-as suggested above-and the area lying between the present park boundary and U.S. 41 should be acquired in fee simple by the Federal Government. In any event, whatever lands may be deemed necessary should be acquired in fee simple and no lands should be made subject to compensable land use regulations. I wish to thank the committee for the opportunity of appearing before you today to discuss the complex question of the so-called Big Cypress Swamp. If I can furnish additional information, please do not hesitate to call on me. Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, Mr. Herren, for a very fine statement. Mr. HERREN. Thank you. Mr. TAYLOR. I have one question. You are chairman of the Collier County Coastal Area Planning Commission. As we flew over Collier County, we noticed a great many drainage canals, leading, of course, from the inland to the sea. Is your commission concerned with these canals and the fact that many more are being constructed taking fresh water from interior and bringing salt water in? Mr. HERREN. We are concerned, Mr. Chairman. As I mentioned a while ago, we have a water management board. The county also has a county manager. We have a county engineer. Steps are being taken and in some cases have already been taken to place self-actuating weirs in various canals, certainly those which would carry a considerable amount of water. Self-actuating weirs operate from the bottom. This would tend to hold in the fresh water supply north or to the landward side of these weirs and at the same time prevent the intrusion of salt water. We find that some tests have shown this to be the actual case. Mr. TAYLOR. Well, does Collier County or does the State of Florida have any control over the construction of these canals? Mr. HERREN. I believe that the water management board, Mr. Chairman, has these controls. I would ask our county manager here if he can answer that. Mr. TURNER. They do have, and Mr. TAYLOR. Come to the mike if you are going to answer. Mr. TURNER. The board does have control over these through the water management board. These canals that you are speaking about have weirs constructed in them. The design was made by consulting engineers and so designed that people could live on the land but also so that there would be at least 2-foot water, 2-foot freeboard of water during the rainy season. There are weirs in the canals. Mr. TAYLOR. As county manager, do you see any danger in the continuous construction of these canals which is draining the fresh water out to sea? Mr. TURNER. I do not know of any canals that we will continue to construct there. They are just about complete and, of course, any new canals that come up now would be-we would examine thoroughly all the policies set up by the county and the State, the Corps of Engineers and everybody else involved in it. Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, sir. The gentleman from Colorado. Mr. ASPINALL. What is the legal authority of the Collier County Coastal Area Planning Commission? Mr. HERREN. It is an advisory commission, Mr. Congressman, that was appointed under a special act by the board of county commissioners. It is a five-member commission that is appointed by and responsible to the board of county commissioners. We are advisory only. We have no legislative powers. Mr. ASPINALL. Are the members of the commission paid? Mr. HERREN. No, sir; I regret to say. Mr. ASPINALL. They help you here. What are the major interests of the Barron Collier organization? And where is it chartered? From what State does it come? Mr. HERREN. It is chartered in Florida. We have our main office in Naples, Fla. We have two smaller branch officers, one in the town of Everglades, and in the town of Immokalee, both in Collier County. Mr. ASPINALL You have given 41,600 acres to the use of the public. is that correct? Mr. HERREN. That is what I have enumerated here, sir. Yes, sir. There are additional lands that have been given that I did not include. Mr. ASPINALL. What is Naples' current population? Mr. HERREN. The city itself, I believe. is about 5,500, and the immediate Naples metropolitan area is about 25,000. Mr. ASPIÑALL. I thought that you stated that there are 40,000 people in the county. Mr. HERREN. In the county there are about 38.000-plus. I believe I said less than 40,000. Some 38,000-odd residents in the county. Mr. ASPINALL. Now, may I just suggest a little bit of protocol. Who is your Congressman? Mr. HERREN. Our Congressman is the Honorable Paul Rogers. Mr. ASPINALL. And on August 31-no, August 13, 1971, you sent a letter to Secretary Morton. Mr. HERREN. Correct. Mr. ASPINALL. A very good letter. You saw fit to send copies of that letter to designated individuals, Hon. Reubin O'D. Askew, Hon. Ed Gurney, Hon. Lawton Chiles. Then the next sentence reads: Members of the Florida Delegation, U.S. House of Representatives. Who is your closest representative in the Federal Congress? Mr. ASPINALL. You bet your life. You should have designated him as a recipient of a copy. Mr. HERREN. Well, we sent him a copy. I put a little note Mr. ASPINALL. Sure. You sent him a copy and all he saw was that he was just a Member of Congress from Florida. Mr. HERREN. I am sorry to hear that. I pinned a little note on it. Mr. ASPINALL. Just a little protocol that would have helped us a little bit. Mr. HERREN. I realize this. Mr. ASPINALL. We are very jealous of our membership. Mr. HERREN. Well, I think you should be and I am awfully sorry for that oversight but I did pin a little note on it. Mr. ASPINALL. Well, I am glad to know that. We could not have told that from this copy of the letter, however. Thank you. Mr. TAYLOR. The gentleman from California. Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Herren, you had a very well prepared statement here, pointing up many things that have not been said. How many acres come under your jurisdiction within your corporate structure in Collier County? Mr. HERREN. In our Collier organization? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. Mr. HERREN. It is something in excess of 400,000 acres. Mr. JOHNSON. And it all lies within Collier County. Mr. HERREN. Yes, sir. There is-well, there is a little spillage over into Hendry County. Mr. JOHNSON. That is all right. What I am trying to Mr. HERREN. I do not know whether this map will show, but you Mr. JOHNSON. You are by far the largest landowner in the county and much of your land is involved in this proposal. Mr. HERREN. We do have some lands that are involved in the proposal, right. Mr. JOHNSON. What amount? Could you say? Mr. HERREN. Well, I have not run a calculation on it because there have been so many different lines drawn that I did not know which one to go by. Mr. JOHNSON. Well, we have about 584,000 acres in the administration's proposal and most of that being in Collier County, so I presume you are the largest landowner in the affected area. Mr. HERREN. I would assume that we are the largest single landowner. Is this map with the green on it, is this the area that is under discussion today? Mr. JOHNSON. No. The other one-somebody has reversed it. The other one is on the other side. Mr. HERREN. That is the Senator Chiles' bill there? Mr. JOHNSON. I imagine that is Chiles' bill, but-this is the latest proposal, the administration's bill. That does not make much difference there. I think you can point it out on that map there. Mr. HERREN. Our ownership consists of lands in portions of three townships here, most of this township, which would be about 24,000 acres there. About, I would judge, 6,500 acres in this area south of the trail, so that south of the Tamiami Trail it looks like it would run a little better than 30,000 acres. And moving north, we do not have ownership in this township nor over here, but in these two townships, the one immediately south of Alligator Alley, the one immediately north, and the one immediately south of Sunnyland, which I think is colored in here, we own the major portion of those three parcels which would probably run to about a township and a half, or, say, some 36,000 acres. Mr. CAMP. 36,000 or 36 square miles? Mr. HERREN. I mean-no. It will be about 36.000 acres. About 24,000 to a township and it is about a township and a half here. I do not-I would say somewhere between 65,000 and maybe 70,000 acres, sir. Mr. JOHNSON. Well, now, you spoke about the water management districts. Now, are those created under State law, State enabling legislation allowing you Mr. HERREN. Yes. There was State enabling legislation that brought about the creation of the water management board and districts. These are again set up by the county commissioners. Mr. JOHNSON. Now, how do you acquire a water right? Does that go with the land? Mr. HANSEN. Well, it does not operate like it does in Colorado, but normally Mr. JOHNSON. I am not from Colorado. I am from California. Mr. JOHNSON. We have a lot of Mr. HERREN. I know Congressman Aspinall stepped out a little bit. but I know that they are used to water rights there. Normally here the water, whatever water may be beneath the surface would be the surface owners. Now, we do have instances where mineral rights have been reserved and the surface-severed from the surface. I mean that the surface is sold and the mineral rights are reserved. A provision is made in most cases where the surface owner is entitled to all of the water and other minerals for a depth of, say, 125 feet, and this then enables him to get all the water or morrow or lime rock or sand or whatever he may need to operate his home site on. Mr. JOHNSON. Well, now, in your operations there Mr. CAMP. Would you yield at that point? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. Mr. CAMP. Do you mean to say that if they retain their mineral rights down here that that gives them rights to water? Mr. HERREN. No, sir. What I said was that we retain the minerals rights and at the same time accept the first 125 feet, so that the surface owner then obtains all minerals for the first 125 feet. This does not present any problem at all if he wants to put down a well. If there has been no exception like that, the man can still go ahead and put down his water well but some people have come in and gotten a little squeamish if there was not such a reservation. Mr. JOHNSON. Now, in developing your land for agricultural purposes, naturally you need a great amount of water to produce your row crops. Mr. HERREN. Yes, sir. Mr. JOHNSON. And you take this from your land or do you take it from canals, drainage from other lands, or where do you get your water? Mr. HERREN. Generally speaking, and I say generally speaking because if it should happen that a farmer located alongside a very wide. large canal that was well supplied, he might well tap into that, but generally speaking, farmers will put down shallow wells and they are shallow in our part of the world. They may only go down two lengths of pipe. Say, maybe 42 feet. And it may be a 16-inch well. And they will pump the farm from that. The way they farm down here, being flat country, they dig a perimeter ditch and a dike, the dike on the outside. Then they use the perimeter ditch as a water reservoir and the well pumps into that ditch until it reaches that capacity. Then, of course, they irrigate the field from that ditch. They have laterals running all through the ditch which they control by little gates. Also this same canal, if it is a very wet season. is used as a collection point and they pump out over the dike and get rid of too much water. But the water will go back to the same source of origin. It is not like us humans. We live in a city and the water comes from miles away out in the country, and it gets to our homes and we use it and from there it never goes back to the source of origin. The farmer and the rancher, on the other hand, pull it from below the ground, irrigate on the ground, and except for whatever is lost in evaporation, goes back to the source. So it is not as serious a situation. Mr. JOHNSON. Well, is your return flow, your percolation waters, are they free of pollution such as salt content? We have an awful lot of trouble and our main problem now in much of California is getting rid of the water after it has been used for beneficial uses on the crops. and then the drainage water is a real problem. Now, what do you do with your drainage water, if anything? Mr. CAMP. Through the rock. Mr. HERREN. That is right. It just seeps through here. |