Since its inception, the Environmental Resource Management Department’s (ERMD) mission has been to protect, evaluate and conserve the Seminole Tribe’s land and water resources. The department, but not its mission, was recently reorganized as the Environmental Protection Office (EPO).

The Executive Operations Office (EOO) recently received guidance from tribal leadership to restructure the former Heritage and Environment Resources Office (HERO). The restructuring focused on bolstering the tribe’s protection of its natural environment, a critical component to the cultural identity of the tribe itself.

The EPO, headed by senior director Dr. Paul Backhouse, consists of three departments: Water Resources, Environmental Resources and External Environmental Compliance.

The EPO updates and modernizes the ERMD, which was created when the Seminole Tribe entered into the Water Rights Compact with the state in 1987. Back then, it was called the Water Resources Department but over the decades its scope of work expanded as the tribe has grown. Changing to the EPO structure allows the three departments to focus their efforts on specific areas critical to the environmental health of the tribe.

“We wanted to focus on the environment to meet the tribe’s needs,” Backhouse said. “For we need to be able to deliver at a really high level across all those resources. Our commitment to the community has been redoubled.”

Creating three separate departments allows each to prioritize and concentrate on its core services. However, the departments also work together to tackle issues that cross over into another department’s area of expertise.

Water Resources

The Water Resources Department maintains the tribe’s on-reservation surface water resources and ensures the safety of the water, maintains about 400 miles of canals and ditches to keep the water moving throughout the system, and works with the South Florida Water Management District (District) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Water Rights Compact with the state.

“We are revising the compact; some of the language needs updating,” said director Alfonso Tigertail. “We have the capacity in our system to provide water in the canals for cattle operations and for fires during droughts.”

The department also deals with an excess of water, such as a recent storm on the Big Cypress Reservation that dumped 16 inches of rain in 24 hours. Tigertail and his team are looking at data that shows how much the deluge, which left a lot of standing water on the reservation, raised the underground water table.

“Big Cypress was always a swampland,” Tigertail said. “Mother Nature is doing its thing. It took us 10 working days to get the water back to normal. We moved it from the residential areas to the south.”

In flooding situations, water is routinely pumped off the Big Cypress Reservation. The Water Resources Department coordinates with the District and the Army Corps so the water is moved strategically off the reservation. Tigertail said the best way to get water is from rainfall. The department’s goal is to keep as much of it as possible in reserve for the next drought.

“We don’t want to over drain,” Tigertail said. “We need to keep the water on the reservations in the underground water table. We have long conversations with the District and the Army Corps about this. We are getting better at managing our systems in Big Cypress and Brighton and we are getting better support and understanding from them, but we will still have those conversations. I want to make sure we have a certain level during the wet and dry seasons, to give us some flexibility.”

Environmental Resources

The Environmental Resources Department is responsible for permitting programs on the reservations, water quality and the environmental science program which consists of forestry, wildlife and wetland programs.

“It’s important for us to understand how everything impacts the ecosystem, water flow and water quality,” said director Whitney Sapienza. “We help to support the functionality of the different departments, there are interdependencies between the programs.”

The narrower focus of the department allows it to give the programs all the attention needed to meet tribal leadership’s intentions and expectations of tribal community resource management.

“It gives us the opportunity to look at ordinances and regulations that are in place and make changes that will meet the tribe’s current needs and sustainable practices,” Sapienza said.

For building permits on the reservations, the department coordinates with the Seminole Water Commission and plays a key role in development and building projects. It reviews how a project will affect storm water irrigation wells and makes sure the tribe is in compliance with federal regulations, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Act and the Clean Water Act.

The department collects and evaluates water samples as well as inflows, outflows and interior sites of the reservations and trust land as the tribe continues to grow. It shares those samples with the Water Resources Department.

The forestry program is responsible for distributing permits for palmetto berry season and taking inventory of and removing exotic vegetation, including Brazilian pepper and melaleuca.
The wildlife program assists with invasive wildlife such as Burmese pythons and conducts surveys of threatened and endangered species including the crested caracara, Florida bonneted bat and various amphibians.

“Burmese pythons have the potential to have the most impact on native resources because they can be so abundant,” Sapienza said. “They are hard to see, difficult to capture and can maintain several habitats. They are an opportunistic species.”

The wetland program helps maintain mitigation areas and native wetlands in Big Cypress and Brighton. The department helps Tribal Community Development (TCD) with field surveys to delineate wetlands as they relate to a potential new home or building.

“We do those surveys early in the process so they can shift a property to avoid impacting to the wetland system,” Sapienza said.

External Environmental Compliance

The External Environmental Compliance Department works with District, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Army Corps major civil works projects that are off the reservations. It reviews these complex projects by acting as a cooperating agency and through consultation, which means they are part of the planning process for these projects.

Some of the projects include the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the Central Everglades Planning Project, the Western Everglades Restoration Project and the Kissimmee chain of lakes, which all affect the reservations.

“The amount of responsibility when we were under ERMD increased tenfold over what was originally expected,” said director Stacy Myers. “All of these projects are also being fast-tracked and are going on all at once. We originally had only had 14 projects and now we have 40. It was clear we needed to create this department.”

The new structure allows Myers and his staff to review and comment on the plans. The pace of the projects requires the tribe to respond quickly.

“Because we are a sovereign government, we have a strong interest in the outcome of the projects,” Myers said. “There is only so much water to go around, so they need to balance the needs of all stakeholders. If their projects impact our water compact and supply, we want to be able to shape the way water is distributed in South Florida. We have a big stake.”

The Kissimmee River Restoration Project construction was started over 22 years ago and completed in 2021.

“Now we have the opportunity to shape the Everglades as it should be,” Myers said. “We have to get the water right. The Western Everglades Restoration Project should be a step in the right direction.”

The department also monitors other external projects that could impact the tribe, such as drilling in the Big Cypress Preserve and other activities that could affect wildlife sanctuaries and corridors.

“Not having to rely on external agencies to manage water resources is a major step toward tribal sovereignty,” Myers said. “We need to be very nimble, and I think we are clearly getting there.”

Two former departments of HERO – the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum – are now under the auspices of the Executive Operations Office. Backhouse said the plan was always to have strong tribal members lead THPO and the museum, which has come to fruition as Tina Osceola and Gordon Wareham fill those roles, respectively.

Backhouse said all the organizational changes are for the betterment of the tribe.

“We are doing this because it matters,” he said.