Three days into office, newly elected Gov. Ron DeSantishad already pledged $2.5 billion for Everglades restoration, promised reduced poisonous discharges to algae-plagued waterways and demanded the resignations of the largest water management board in Florida.
The early 2019 whirlwind followed an environmental apocalypse the previous summer. Toxic blue-green algae bloomed in scabby crusts on freshwater estuaries force fed nutrient laden Lake Okeechobee water.
Red tide had been on a killing spree, heaving the stinking corpses of manatees, dolphins, turtles, goliath grouper and tons of fish onto southwest beaches as if Florida’s waterways were rejecting the very thing that attracted so many to the Sunshine State.
Even the traditionally red tide-free
Florida east coast was blasted by the toxin which had coastal residents wheezing, forced schools to hold recess indoors and pushed officials to close scores of beaches.
“We want to make sure everyone is rowing the same way,” DeSantis said in Jan. 2019 when he very publicly asked for the former Gov. Rick Scott-appointed South Florida Water Management District Governing Board to resign. “We need to move forward together as Floridians united.”
In two terms as governor, DeSantis has secured about $9 billion for water quality projects and Everglades restoration. The money has launched, continued and finished construction initiatives meant to mimic the natural flow of water from Lake Okeechobee through the River of Grass before South Florida was carved up, dried out,scarred by canals, and corralled for farms and homes.
A 2024 progress report from the National Academies of Sciences said Everglades restoration has “continued at a remarkable pace, supported by record-high levels of federal and state funding.”
"Six Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects are under construction, one CERP project and two major project components have been completed, and one additional project is essentially-complete," the report noted.
And conservationists whose focus is on fixing the Everglades give DeSantis only accolades for his role in jumpstarting anddoggedly pursuing CERP projects.
The bipartisan CERP — a roadmap of construction and demolition needed for restoration — was signed in December 2000 by then President Bill Clinton. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose brother at the time was having the U.S. Supreme Court decide whether he or then Vice President Al Gore would be president, attended the signing.
“Ron DeSantis will go down, as history will record, as one of the greatest Everglades champions to serve in the Governor’s mansion,” Everglades Foundation Executive Director Eric Eikenberg said.
But ask environmentalists with a wider array of concerns — over development, climate change, water pollution, gopher tortoise survival, Florida panther deaths, manatee starvation, state parks, local control— and they offer a different perspective of DeSantis’ environmental legacy.
Elise Bennett, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, didn’t hesitate to give DeSantis a failing grade.
“In the end, history will remember DeSantis as someone who used the environment as a tool to boost his political profile but was too callous to address the real threats to wildlife and clean water,” Bennett said. “I think he has utterly failed and actively thwarted, at times, efforts to improve what makes Florida so special.”
Critics say DeSantis lacked follow-through on his environmental promises
Eve Samples was a journalist on the Treasure Coast when DeSantis became governor. She saw positive signs in the early days that he was dedicated to improving the environment and fixing water quality problems in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries that many thought were exacerbated by agriculture interests that wanted Lake Okeechobee held at higher levelsto ensure water for crops.
On Jan. 12, 2019, DeSantis issued an executive order establishing a blue-green algae task force, mandated the continued pursuit of the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir, appointed a Chief Science Officer, and pledged $2.5 billion for Everglades restoration and protecting water resources.
A year later, Samples became executive director of the Friends of the Everglades and said she hasn’t seen the promises fulfilled.
“What we’ve found is a total lack of follow through,” Samples said. “At one point we did a progress report on what he achieved and more than 80% of what was in the executive order was not followed through on.”
One key provision in the executive order was the push to complete the Everglades Agricultural Reservoir. The 10,500-acre reservoir with a 6,500-acre manmade marsh in western Palm Beach County, will hold and clean overflow Lake Okeechobee water before it is sent trickling south to Florida Bay.
It’s meant to keep areas of the Everglades hydrated when needed but also reduce the harmful lake discharges that are sent through the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries when the lake gets too full. Historically, the lake would flood over its banks periodically, sending a slow spill of water south, which created the Everglades.
DeSantis touts the reservoir as one of his major achievements, calling it the “crown jewel” of Everglades restoration. The state has already completed the marsh, and the reservoir will be done in 2029, which is four years ahead of schedule.
Part of the fast-tracking was facilitated by DeSantis when he and the Army Corps signed an agreement that allowed federal money to go directly to the state for Everglades projects. Everglades restoration projects are meant to be a 50/50 federal and state partnership.
“He took the state to a higher level and said, ‘We can do some of this and let us get going on it because we can move faster,’” said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society, about DeSantis. “That was monumental.”
But Samples, and other environmental groups, say the reservoir in the heart of sugarcane country doesn’t have a big enough footprint to be effective and blame the state's lack of resolve to take on ag interests to get more land. Some estimates said 60,000 acres were needed for the reservoir.
“That land was never acquired so the reservoir that the governor calls his crown jewel was built on 16,500 acres,” Samples said.
Samples was also a vocal opponent to the controversial immigration detention facility Alligator Alcatraz, which was built on an old airstrip in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
“DeSantis has tried to minimize the environmental impacts, but you can’t proclaim yourself the Everglades governor and build a mass detention center in the middle of the Everglades,” Samples said.
Scores of ecosystem restoration projects underway under DeSantis
The South Florida Water Management District, a state agency thatoversees flood controland environmental projects for 16 counties from Orlando to the Keys, touts that there have been 90 “ribbon cuttings, ground breakings and major milestones” for restoration initiatives since 2019.
They include:
- The completion of a 10,000-acre reservoir to hold rainfall runoff and Lake Okeechobee water before it reaches the Caloosahatchee River.
- The Picayune Strand Restoration Project, which restores water flow through 55,000 acres of native wetlands in southwest Florida.
- The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project, which brings water to southern Biscayne Bay and Biscayne National Park.
- The Blue Shanty Flo Way, which sends water into Everglades National Park by going under Tamiami Trail bridges.
Also since 2019, the state has committed more than $1.5 billion to the Florida Forever Program, which buys land for conservation, and DeSantis has emphasized the Florida Wildlife Corridor with a law that aims to better connect Florida's natural lands.
"As Governor, Ron DeSantis has prioritized conserving Florida's natural resources since his first day in office, recognizing the direct link between Florida's environment, our economic competitiveness, and quality of life," said DeSantis Press Secretary Molly Best in a statement.
University of Central Florida associate professor of political science Aubrey Jewett lauds DeSantis for those kinds of landmark projects touted by the administration with showy golden shovel events and press releases.
But he said he would give the governor a grade of C overall in environmental protection because of legislation that has curbed local control of growth management and the lack of restrictions against allowing harmful chemical runoff into waterways.
Also, while money has been earmarked for items to mitigate for things like sea level rise, less has been done to reduce the human contributions to climate change, such as implementing net-zero emissions targets, Jewett said.
"He's been willing to spend money on clean up but not to help pass laws that might start to cut down on pollution in the first place," Jewett said.
The Covid-19 crisis andDeSantis’ run for the Republican presidential nomination possibly distracted from his environmental agenda or added tweaks that made it fit with a more conservative audience nationwide.
In 2019, DeSantis appointed chief science officer Thomas Frazer, who talked about climate change and said about then Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein that he was “clearly on the record as saying climate change is real and humans are responsible for it and my view is consistent with that.”
It seemed a change from the previous administration that was accused of prohibiting state employees from using the terms “climate change” and “global warming.”
But by the spring of 2021 Frazer was out after being appointed to the non-salaried Florida Environmental Regulation Commission. In 2025, DeSantis signed legislation that erased most references to climate change from state law so that it was no longer a priority in the state’s energy policy.
“What was emphasized and what (DeSantis) started to do has kind of changed,” Jewett said. “Critics will say he talks about the Everglades a lot and then uses his support there to gloss over and greenwash some of the other things that have happened.”
'Over my dead body': Golf courses, hotels at state parks cause widespread backlash
In 2024, state proposalsto build hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other amenities at Florida State Parks brought swift criticism from Floridians who vigorously fought the plans. The firestorm included disapproval from early DeSantis supporter U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, who said development at Jonathan Dickinson State Park would happen only "over my dead body."
The state's “Great Outdoors Initiative” was ultimately scrapped. DeSantis played down the controversy saying it was an attempt to build a “narrative” from the political left.
“Some people try to stylize (DeSantis) as Teddy Roosevelt, and that may be a bit of a stretch,” Jewett said.
Still, in the most southern reaches of the state, Everglades activists have praise for DeSantis including an 82-year-old Gladesman and successful developer nicknamed “Alligator Ron” Bergeron.
Bergeron’s grandfather was a game warden in the Everglades who taught him to respect the River of Grass. While Bergeron later became a successful developer he has continued to fight for Everglades restoration.
Bergeron served as a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioner and in 2019 was appointed to the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board by DeSantis after the previous board resigned.
“I’ve been involved in the Everglades since 1973. I’ve sat with governors all the way back to Reubin Askew. And my personal opinion is I give Gov. DeSantis an A-plus, five-star rating,” Bergeron said. “He realizes the journey of water from sawgrass to seagrass is the lifeblood of Florida.”
Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, a clean-water advocate and a 2019 governing board appointee, also praises DeSantis.
“In 20 years, when we look back, we will say ‘Thank you Gov. DeSantis,’” Thurlow-Lippisch said. “It’s not always perfect. Nothing is perfect. There are always problems. But we will say thank you.”
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for the USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA. She covers weather, the environment and critters as the Embracing Florida reporter. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Was DeSantis an Everglades champion or ecological villain? | Exclusive
