Brief info and
history
The
Miccosukees and Seminoles live in the Everglades on special preserves
for them. Both tribes were not here
when Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, or when the Spanish settled.
Many of the Indians in those days died of sicknesses, diseases, wars, and
missionary activity. The remaining Indians spread out all through Florida.
That is how the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes generated.
The Issues
Ten years ago, the Miccosukees
filed a lawsuit
about the water quality in the marshland. Their land was between protected agriculture and the
Everglades. The Miccosukees noticed
that the agriculture land was releasing high phosphorus-laden water into the
Everglades. Phosphorous is a
chemical used in fertilizers. If it is released into the Everglades, cattails
will grow, and the Everglades would not be the same.
The phosphorous made its way to the Miccosukee's land, causing serious
problems for them.
Attorney Dexter Lehtinen sued the state in the year 1988 for not doing
their role in protecting the Everglades. The
lawsuit was settled in 1991, when the state made a deal, which laid out a plan
to clean up the Everglades by 2002. However,
the Everglades Forever Act altered the date to restore the Everglades.
What the Tribes have done
The Miccosukees and Seminoles have set up
their own environmental plan to help save and protect the Everglades.
The projects are made to help save and protect the sand and water systems
in the tribe’s reservation which making certain a endurable financial and
cultural future for the tribes.
In November of 1989, the Seminole Tribal Council created the Seminole
Water Commission to look at the Water Resource Management Department (WRMD).
The WRMD’s job is to protect and judge the Tribe’s land and water
resources and to help the wise use and protection of these resources by their
sections.
The Tribe’s Tribal Environmental Programs comprise: the power to apply
the Clean Water Act inside the Tribe’s authority, spill avoidance plans for
about aground, storage tanks and elimination of programs for underground storage
tan services, and to participate in duty forces to re-establish the South
Florida ecosystem.