For too long Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida has been treated akin to a sacrificial lamb by the National Park Service and Interior Department, as decisions on wilderness designation and oil exploration in the preserve have gone against the Park Service's prime directive, which is to preserve nature for future generations' enjoyment.

If Charles Sams hasn't yet been sworn in as director of the National Park Service, when he is he and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland need to sit down and agree that the country's very first national preserve has suffered too many indignities over the years and that needs to stop.

The most recent slight is the preference by the Big Cypress staff to turn a cataract-clouded eye to the damage Burnett Oil Co.'s heavy equipment did to the preserve in 2017 and 2018 in a search for recoverable oil reserves beneath the marl prairie.

Prior to that, though, was the Park Service's decision to conduct an environmental assessment as opposed to a more intensive environmental impact statement on Burnett's request to conduct the exploration work.

Prior to that, was a 2015 assessment of wilderness quality lands in the preserve, which hugs Everglades National Park's northern border, that proposed to open lands closed to ORV trails by a 2000 off-road management plan. That plan had cut 23,300 miles of dispersed ORV trails in the preserve down to just 400 miles of designated trails. 

Six months later, early in 2016, a backcountry access management plan proposed by the preserve staff called for an increase in ORV trails in all but one of the preliminary alternatives while holding non-motorized trails somewhat static. The one alternative that didn't increase ORV use? It called for preserving the status quo.

There also was the time back in 2011 when the preserve staff decided not to take the "environmentally preferred" alternative when crafting a wilderness plan for "the Additional lands," a 147,000-acquire parcel the Park Service obtained from the state of Florida as part of a land swap. The NPS approved the preferred alternative -- which the agency acknowledged would "maximize motorized access, provide the least amount of wilderness, and develop limited new hiking only trails" -- despite criticism from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, members of Congress, and conservation groups. 

In light of those actions, perhaps it's not surprising that now the Park Service wants to let Burnett walk away from the damage its vibroseis vehicles, which can weigh 33 tons, did to the preserve's landscape during the 2017 and 2018 dry seasons while searching for oil.

Oil exploration, and even drilling, can be allowed in Big Cypress because the mineral rights underlying the marshy surface are privately owned. But that doesn't mean they have to be allowed. As we noted earlier this year, the preserve's enabling legislation gives the Interior secretary the authority to step in and block it.

"No improved property, as defined by this Act, nor oil and gas rights, shall be acquired without the consent of the owner unless the Secretary, in his judgment, determines that such property is subject to, or threatened with, uses which are, or would be, detrimental to the purposes of the preserve."

Impacts from 2017 and 2018 exploration work in Big Cypress were clearly visible in March 2020/Kurt Repanshek

Already the detrimental aspects of oil exploration are clear. Under its exploration permit, Burnett was to erase damage to the landscape on a daily basis with crews following behind heavy equipment and physically smoothing out soils to natural gradients. But when I visited the preserve in March 2020 with writer Kim O'Connell, the on-the-ground damage was clearly visible. And according to conservation groups, what we didn't fully see were the more than 500 bald cypress trees that were cut down during the exploration work.

Yet Big Cypress officials continue to say Burnett lived up to most of the permit requirements on roughly 202 acres -- nearly 111 miles of the preserve. Early last month the Park Service, in proposing that Burnett instead perform restoration on 272 acres in the preserve's Bear Island Unit, far from where the latest damage was done, said too much time had transpired from the 2017 and 2018 exploration work for Burnett to now complete the restoration and mitigation work as originally required.

Now, it should be noted that among the nearly 48 mitigation steps Burnett agreed to when it received the permits for the exploration work was one that allowed for the company to perform restoration in another area of the preserve as compensation for any damage to the hydrology in the exploration area. But that doesn't cure the preserve of the damage done to more than 200 acres by the exploration work.

Acres, by the way, that are eligible for wilderness designation, something the Park Service evidently didn't weigh heavily enough in considering Burnett's exploration proposal or when requiring that it hew to the mitigation plan.

"While their official inclusion into the National Wilderness System will be made by future Congressional action, all lands deemed 'Wilderness Eligible' are supposed to be treated as Federal Wilderness until Congress takes final action," Matthew Schwartz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association, stressed in his comments on the current restoration proposal. "This also means that any use of machinery is to be done based on 'least tool' technology – or the least mechanization possible. Here again, NPS bent over backwards to allow Burnett the use of heavy machinery in wilderness-eligible lands, scarring those lands in a way that Federal Wilderness should never be subjected to. Again, NPS’s decision maximized Burnett’s ability to gather data at the expense of eligible federal wilderness – an irreplaceable resources of the preserve."

Schwartz also thought it ironic that, in proposing that Burnett turn to another area of the preserve to conduct restoration work, the Park Service was after-the-fact acknowledging "how sensitive these lands are. Just returning to the sites on utility vehicles will cause further damage."

The prospect of doing severe damage to the landscape possibly was not entirely overlooked by the Park Service when it was mulling the exploration permits. There was a 2015 test into the possible impacts from vibroseis vehicles that failed miserably when one of the ponderous vehicles got stuck in a ditch and "heavy equipment from a nearby oil and gas production site (had to be called) to come pull the vehicle out."

Yet still the Park Service was confident an environmental assessment, not a more robust EIS, could adequately predict what damage might be done to the landscape and its unique flora and fauna.

In their comments on the new restoration plan, three dozen groups ranging from the National Parks Conservation Association and Coalition to Protect America's National Parks to the Florida Trail Association and Turtle Island Restoration Network told the NPS that the agency should "require Burnett Oil to fully compensate for the wetland damage it caused during its Phase I oil exploration activities in Big Cypress National Preserve through more robust on-site mitigation in addition to fully restoring and revegetating all of the seismic survey lines it created (as required by federal and state permits) that still visibly remain today."

"A supplemental (National Environmental Policy Act) analysis to support modification of Burnett Oil’s access permit and compensatory mitigation plan should be developed in addition to requiring Burnett Oil to complete reclamation of the damage it caused by, at minimum, replanting cypress trees and revegetating the denuded seismic lines the company created (and then re-starting the monitoring period)," the document continues.

"The damaged areas within the preserve occur in wetlands located in the heart of the Everglades ecosystem and are also located near the Florida National Scenic Trail – a major recreational trail and access point – in addition to being squarely within otherwise pristine and eligible wilderness areas. Given the significant calls from members of the public and elected leaders in calling for NPS to fully restore damage that Burnett Oil caused, we are deeply concerned that NPS has not made an effort in the Proposed Action to require restorative management actions commensurate with the wilderness character of the area in order to “correct past mistakes [and] the impacts of human use” as required by NPS Management Policy on Wilderness Preservation and Management..."

If this plan is allowed to sail through, will it be a surprise when the Park Service permits Burnett's drilling plans?

Past Traveler stories pertaining to this project include:

Mixing Oil And Water At Big Cypress National Preserve

Army Corps Finds Big Cypress National Preserve Oil Exploration Caused Adverse Impacts

Army Corps Reverses Position On Oil Company's Impacts On Big Cypress National Preserve

Groups Want Florida To Purchase Big Cypress National Preserve Mineral Rights

Burnett Oil Inching Towards Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve

Groups Call On Interior Secretary To Block Oil Drilling At Big Cypress

Oil Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve Might Not Require EIS