SAVING THE GLADES, ONE CASE AT A TIME
Before environmental damage becomes irreversible, Everglades Law Center steps in
Photo by Greg Clark
In August 2026, Florida’s conservation groups began to sound the alarm about a major threat to the Everglades. Around eight active development proposals were being planned for areas near Miami-Dade County’s Urban Development Boundary, putting wetlands, drinking-water resources and ecological restoration at risk.
Running roughly 78 miles and separating the county’s urban areas from rural and environmentally sensitive land, the UDB planning line effectively prevents most development in the western part of the county. It directs growth toward existing roads, transit and public services while protecting agricultural areas and land needed for Everglades restoration.
Some applications proposed industrial uses on wetlands. Others sought to build beyond the boundary, pushing development closer to the Everglades and onto land vulnerable to flooding. Together, they raised a larger question: How much of South Florida’s natural defenses will be sacrificed for its explosive urban growth?
For the attorneys of Everglades Law Center, this issue is not abstract. Their work spans the Greater Everglades, nearly 18,000 square miles stretching more than 200 miles from the lakes of Central Florida to the islands of the Florida Keys.
“We could hire 10 more lawyers and still have work for them,” says Elizabeth Fata Carpenter, executive director of Everglades Law Center. “So if we’re spending the time and energy on a particular issue, it means it’s really problematic.”
Elizabeth Fata Carpenter of Everglades Law Center | Photo by Greg Clark
For Elizabeth, that work began with the waters of her childhood. She grew up near Palm City and Stuart along the Indian River Lagoon, where boating, fishing and environmental summer camps shaped her early life. She also watched the ecosystem deteriorate as discharges from Lake Okeechobee contributed to fish kills and bacteria that frequently made the water unsafe.
“I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to do something in the environment, and I also knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” Elizabeth recalls. When she discovered environmental law at the University of Florida, the path became clear. “As soon as I heard it, I was like, ‘That’s it. That is my calling.’”
Her route to Everglades Law Center took her through environmental education at Oregon Caves National Monument, sustainable aquaculture work in Alaska, the University of Miami School of Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic and commercial litigation. She first started at the Everglades Law Center as an intern, continued working with the organization through pro bono work and joined the staff in 2019. Now she’s the one calling the shots.
Elizabeth describes the center’s approach in three steps: “Advocate, negotiate and (only when necessary) litigate.” The attorneys study permits, regulations and development plans; consult scientists and community partners; and explain the legal and environmental consequences of government decisions. They negotiate while problems can still be corrected. Litigation only begins as a last resort when the law has been violated and other avenues have failed.
At that point, Elizabeth notes, the organization can become “the last line of defense” for South Florida’s ecosystems and communities when development projects or government decisions threaten irreversible harm.
Julia Saltzman, Hanna Rubin, Lisa Interlandi, Elizabeth Fata Carpenter, Ansley Samson & Francesca DiJulio |
The Everglades Law Center Team | Photo by Greg Clark
Holding the Line
Elizabeth points to the South Dade Logistics and Technology District as a clear example of a project that goes beyond what’s reasonable: a nearly 400-acre industrial development proposed beyond the UDB.
In November 2022, Miami-Dade County commissioners voted 8–4 to approve the necessary land-use change. The site was in a coastal high-hazard area and within the planning footprint of the Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration project.
Conservation groups such as the Tropical Audubon Society had spent years opposing the plan. Lauren Jonaitis, executive director of the society, explains that the organization often serves as an early-warning system, tracking development applications and identifying threats to wetlands, wildlife habitat and restoration lands. Everglades Law Center helps its partners understand the legal framework and determine when a challenge is possible.
“They are amazing in helping us turn our conservation advocacy into meaningful, lasting protections,” Lauren adds.
After Miami-Dade approved the project, Everglades Law Center challenged the decision on behalf of Dr. Nita Lewis, a longtime county resident whose property borders the proposed development. In March 2024, the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County ruled that Miami-Dade had missed the statutory deadline, leaving the land-use amendment withdrawn and legally void. Florida’s First District Court of Appeal upheld the ruling in February 2025.
The victory was a reprieve, but it didn’t put an end to the pressure. A scaled-down version of the proposal later surfaced.
For Elizabeth, the issue is not whether South Florida should grow, but where and how.
“We’re not opposed to development,” Elizabeth stresses. “We’re opposed to unsustainable development.”
Large parcels farther west may be cheaper and easier to develop, but they require new public infrastructure and place residents farther from jobs and transit.
Elizabeth argues that South Florida already has better places to grow.
“There are so many great places for redevelopment that could bring jobs and affordable housing and access to nature to our communities,” she explains. “Putting housing all the way west, away from job centers, with long commutes, where it’s going to flood—that’s not sustainable development.”
Following the Waters
The law center organizes its work around three interconnected areas: Everglades restoration, land use, and urban water quality and climate resilience. In practice, however, they cannot be separated. A development decision near the Everglades can affect restoration, flood risk and the water that eventually reaches Biscayne Bay.
“People don't always realize just how interconnected the Everglades and Biscayne Bay really are. They think nature is over here and downtown Miami is over here, and those things aren’t related,” Elizabeth explains. “They’re all connected.”
The Everglades Foundation works with the law center on restoration planning, including the Biscayne Bay and Southern Everglades project, which aims to restore freshwater flows to those areas.
Begoñe Cazalis, the foundation’s director of communications, notes that the law center participated in planning meetings, evaluated project alternatives and advocated for outcomes that would maximize restoration benefits.
“The Everglades Law Center played an active role in the planning process, participating in Project Delivery Team meetings, evaluating project alternatives and advocating for outcomes that will help restore freshwater flows to Biscayne Bay and the southern Everglades,” Begoñe says.
That expertise helps connect long-term restoration goals with the government decisions that determine whether they can succeed.
The connection becomes visible in Miami-Dade’s stormwater system. Rain washes nutrients, oil, trash and other contaminants from roads and parking lots into drains that ultimately discharge into Biscayne Bay. The pollution contributes to harmful algal blooms, seagrass loss and habitat degradation.
The 2026 Stormwater Report Card evaluates whether Miami-Dade County and its local governments complied with 20 basic requirements under the federal Clean Water Act between 2021 and 2023. It was produced by Everglades Law Center, Miami Waterkeeper, the University of Miami School of Law Environmental Justice Clinic and the People’s Economic and Environmental Resiliency Group.
Overall compliance increased from 68.7% in 2020 to 75.1% during the 2021–2023 reporting period. The strongest gains came in planning, documentation and stormwater system mapping.
“With more up-to-date stormwater system maps and management plans now in place, municipalities are better equipped to identify and address problem areas, a critical next step in protecting water quality and community health,” Elizabeth notes.
But progress is uneven. Nearly one-quarter of municipalities received “low” or “poor” ratings. Inspections of pollution-control boxes, devices that capture oil and trash before they reach waterways, declined from 53.3% to 41.2% .
The report also found that municipalities with larger stormwater budgets generally performed better, while some communities with greater social vulnerability had lower compliance scores.
Miami Waterkeeper CEO Rachel Silverstein underscores the importance of that collaboration. “Everglades Law Center is an exceptional group of attorneys, and their legal expertise is essential to this work,” she says.
“Many communities want to improve but lack the funding and resources they need. Biscayne Bay is deeply connected to the broader Everglades ecosystem, so protecting it requires sustained investment and collaboration across the entire watershed.”
Instead of immediately turning to litigation after the first report card, the coalition met with municipal staff, explained permit requirements, shared best practices and identified barriers to compliance. Municipalities that received direct outreach generally improved more.
Biscayne Bay | Photo by Greg Clark
When it’s Not Enough, Lawyer Up
Other cases show what happens when collaboration and advocacy fail to get results.
In early 2026, Everglades Law Center and co-counsel Richard Grosso, P.A., Hartsell Ozery, P.A., and Douglas MacLaughlin reached a settlement in their challenge to a state permit for mining and water-management activity on an 8,632-acre site in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
The Law Center also represented the National Audubon Society in a challenge involving the Kingston development upstream of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Construction began in late 2025, creating concerns about irreversible damage while the case remained unresolved.
An August 2026 settlement did not stop the development, but it secured additional restoration and conservation measures, support for Florida panther corridors and the return of easements across sanctuary property.
These outcomes show the full meaning of “advocate, negotiate, litigate.” Sometimes the work invalidates an unlawful approval. Sometimes it produces enforceable protections through settlement. Sometimes legal analysis and technical assistance help governments improve before a lawsuit becomes necessary.
The public often sees environmental lawyers only when a case reaches court. But their intervention begins much earlier. They read permits, attend planning meetings, consult scientists, advise community partners and warn officials before damage becomes irreversible.
“I think lawyers get a bad reputation, sometimes, as just wanting to litigate all the time,” Elizabeth reflects. “We do the advocacy, we do the policy, we do the collaboration, and then we also have the teeth to litigate when we have to.”
With five attorneys responsible for issues across the Greater Everglades, every decision to intervene is also a statement about what is at stake.
Elizabeth concludes: “If we’re there, if we speak up against a project or we file a lawsuit on a particular issue, it’s because that issue really matters.”
This article is sponsored by The Miami Foundation. We’re grateful to our partners who collaborate with us to bring meaningful stories to life.
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