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SJRWMD FY 2017-2018 Final Budget • The District is working with the City of Ocala to conduct Lower Floridan aquifer (LFA) pump tests in an effort to determine if water use can be shifted from the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) to the LFA so that flows can increase within Silver Springs. Natural Systems ($43.5 million) • Invasive plant management program has increased from $1.5 million in FY 2015-16 to $2.7 million in FY 2017-18; in part, as a result of the Land Management Trust Funds the District receives. • The District has begun multiple surveys to track the spread of Lygodium presence and density throughout the District. This invasive species, also known as the old world climbing fern, threatens plant life and habitats within the District and the state. As of October 2016, a total of 147,958 acres of District lands have been surveyed. Furthermore, the District completed the first phase of its mapping of Lygodium within the upper St. Johns River and Ocklawaha River basins. • The District's stewardship toward natural systems is divided between lands it has acquired as well as the natural lands and waters within its boundaries. • Most of the natural systems benefits to the lands not owned by the District come from effective permitting, water quality improvement projects, minimum flows and levels, and cost -share projects. • The District is the lead manager of more than 425,000 acres of public land it has purchased, while it manages another 185,000 acres through a variety of partnerships with numerous agencies and local governments. • In the cost -share funding the Governing Board approved in June 2017, two of the approved projects focus on natural systems restoration and are estimated to provide 3 to 5 million gallons per day (mgd) of aquifer recharge. • Also among the 43 projects approved in June are 15 springs restoration projects benefitting Outstanding Florida Springs, including three projects to benefit Silver Springs. • The Silver Springs projects include a Marion County wellfield optimization project that will move water withdrawals further away from Silver Springs. • Another to benefit Silver Springs is an Ocala groundwater recharge wetland project providing 3 to 5 mgd of recharge to the Upper Floridan aquifer and reducing nutrient loads by 59,000 pounds per year of total nitrogen and 30,000 pounds per year of total phosphorus. Flood Protection ($15.6 million) The District has repaired damaged and aging structures necessary to ensure the operational readiness and satisfy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) requirements. These structures were constructed by the USACE in the late 1960s, which the District has operated and maintained including: • Moss Bluff Lock and Dam structure, replacing upstream and downstream safety barriers, gates, and sheet pile walls and completed work necessary to ensure the operational readiness and satisfy USACE requirements. Page 21