Environmentalists are urging Governor Rick Scott to sign a measure that would designate April 7th as Everglades Day in Florida. As Sascha Cordner reports, the Governor has until Saturday to sign the bill into law.
Dawn Shirreffs is the Everglades Restoration Manager for the National Park Conservation Association. She says environmental groups do not want a repeat of last year when the Everglades and other conservation projects did not get the necessary funds:
“It was costly in terms of the budget cuts that we faced for Everglades restoration and catastrophic on some of our growth management policies, which would really impact America’s Everglades. So, we wanted to establish a way to annually make sure that we are constantly educating our state lawmakers on how critical this ecosystem is to our way of life in Florida.”
April 7th was chosen as Everglades Day in honor of the birthday of Everglades activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas.