Miccosukee Tribe

The tribe celebrated plans to spend the money to replace gas and diesel-burning school buses and other vehicles with electric vehicles at a ceremony that included students and federal officials.

Their proposal comes amid continued interest in expanding oil production within the Big Cypress National Preserve, an Everglades wilderness they consider sacred.

A 30-year plan to restore the Everglades impacts millions of people who live, work and play in South Florida, from fishing captains and others who make their living on the water to birders and recreationists to scientists, Miccosukees and environmentalists who have invested professional and personal lives in the world’s largest environmental restoration project.

The Everglades restoration is among the largest aquatic restoration efforts to ever occur, with dozens of projects spanning 18,000 square miles from Orlando to Biscayne Bay, and from Florida Bay to the Caloosahatchee River.

A new plan, hatched by the Miccosukee tribe and a nonprofit, might mean the end of future prospecting and drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres of land within Big Cypress, a crucial part of Florida’s Everglades.

If passed, the Tigertail Historical Tree Island Repatriation Act would authorize the Army Corps of Engineers "to realign a portion of the levee located within the Tigertail Camp to give Miccosukee."

The money will be used for restoration projects that have dragged on for years, including building a reservoir and undoing damage from old bridges built in the Everglades.

Native American environmentalist and artist Houston Cypress is concerned that climate change will harm native plants that are integral to Miccosukee cultural practices. His nonprofit, Love the Everglades, combines education, art and spirituality to advocate for restoring the land that he calls the river of grass.

Rocky Jim Jr. has been an alligator wrestler for over 31 years. He learned from his father, Rocky Jim Sr., and comes from a family of alligator...