The South Florida Water Management District takes a systemwide approach to protecting and restoring the Southern and Northern Everglades. These inter-dependent ecosystems stretch across most of South Florida and include the Upper Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and estuaries, Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park with adjacent water conservation areas and South Florida's coastal bays.

A comprehensive effort is under way to protect and restore these ecosystems. Planned and ongoing restoration projects are improving regional water quality, hydrology and ecology – all of which were fundamentally altered by a series of public and private development projects that began more than a century ago. These improvements are called for in Florida's Everglades Forever Act and the state-federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.