Reclamation of Florida Everglades, Business Plan Example

Introduction

The marshy sub-tropical swamp that makes up the 4000square miles in southern Florida is called the Everglades, and has been the subject of contention recently, because 1the ecosystem is threatened and is the only one of its kind in the world.

In its pristine condition, the Everglades is characterize by slow moving water, saw grass, palms pine, mangrove, forest, and solidly packed black mud, due to millions of years of vegetation decay in the perpetually stagnant water from a far back as 1928.

The habitat was disrupted by the building of roads and other infrastructure, and as a result there have been seasonal rhythmic alterations, increase salination of the south parts of Florida bay, and the dehydration of animal and plant life, due to the channeling of water into the Gulf of Mexico.

As environmental  awareness increase globally, pressure began to be mounted by  environmental groups to have the Everglades restored , beginning from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, and the government began to slowly respond.

However, before this project can be successful, the project managers appointed must prepare a scope management report that will entail defining the project, managing environmentalist and other stakeholder’s expectations, create a project overview, statement before submitting to his superiors for approval. (Wysocki, R.K., 2003)

Article Synopsis

The Florida Restoration of the Everglades Project was launched in 1994, and was aimed at removing the levees, re-flooding the drained swamplands, and ensuring managerially, that the former habitat is regained overtime. It also took the Federal Government two years to join the state in this multi-million dollar project, and another 4 years for congress to pass the bill authorizing the sharing of the cost between Washington and Florida.

One of the success criteria for the project was the agreement with the United States Sugar , that it gradually phase out its operation, and at the end of 6 years, it turns over the 187,000 acres north of the Everglades National Park, the 2 sugar factories, , 200 miles of railroads, as well as all the other assets.

However, a deepening recession in the financial environment led to a downsizing of the project after only 5 months. The project manager’s effort to establish conditions for satisfaction then had to change, when the state indicated that it could only purchase 92,800 acres of the of the sugar land. It also reported that it had secured the option to buy the remaining acreage at a future date while the sugar company continued operating.  (www.topics.nytimes.com, 07/19/10)

Exceptional skills in managing change will be required of the state project manager as the Everglades reclamation drive experiences a setback of this magnitude, but the environmentalist remained hopeful that Governor Crist’s deal with the company was the best option at this time.

The project has started but the conducting of milestone reviews has to be an integral part of the strategy to maintain relevance, interest, in a very dynamic situation. Plans made after 5 months has to be re-visited to see if any economic, financial, political, or environmental factors were negatively impacting on the criteria previously established. (Wysocki, R.K., 2003)

In terms of financial analysis, the urgency of completing the reclamation of the Everglades, the project management team would do well to emphasize the uniqueness of the ecosystem and its propensity to earn greater revenue in the long and medium term that the sugar manufacturing entity. This would attract the attention of those responsible for approving the purchase of the remaining acreage under sugar cane.

A major area of concern is that the longer the project is delayed, the greater will be the environmental damage to the plants and animal life in the ecosystem.

Conclusion

The possibility of the Everglades being completely reclaimed in the next decade will be a difficult reality, due to the continuing economic downturn, and the fact that the United Stated Sugar was still making valuable contribution to the Florida economy especially in terms of providing employment and paying taxes.

Effective Project Scope Management will be challenging going forward, because of the continuing bureaucracy between Washington, and the state. Remembering that it took two years for the Government to come on board with the state on the project, and the fact that funds presently allocate may be re-allocated to meet other more pressing financial needs.

The project could get more support from the community and other stake holders, if the project management teams sell the concept in several forums, where the public can participate and get a better understanding and appreciation of the importance of the sustainability of the Everglades

This case provides ample learning opportunity, regarding the importance of the influence of the environmental and political stakeholder in any project management exercise. Their actions can expedite or retard the m scope management aspect of the project, and it ids critical that managers engaged them constantly, to ensure success.

It seems a hard sell for a company like United States Sugar to be persuaded to go out of business, unless they are experiencing decreasing returns to scale, but this report did not indicate such prevalence. There are also the employees of the company that should be factored in the demise strategy of the company, if the project team was concern about meeting the expectations of all stakeholders

I am in agreement with the author that efforts to restore the everglades has seen an increase in urgency in the last  decade , but without skillful coordination between the project leaders , the environmentalists, political leaders, the community , the remaining areas will not be a reality any time soon.

This article supports the PMBOK body of information in that project scope is applicable at the start of the project, and when there were need to change due to the government’s inability to purchase all the lands. Finally the use of a cost benefit analyses as a tool to persuade prospective signatories to the project, is also applicable, should the project leaders sees it appropriate some time in the future.