16 U.S.C. § 410n — Drainage of lands; right-of-way

This section addresses drainage from lands east of Everglades National Park. Unless the Secretary finds, after giving notice and a chance for a hearing, that doing so would seriously harm the park's plants and animals, the Secretary must permit drainage. This means allowing water to flow through the park's natural waterways, and allowing artificial structures to be built, run, and maintained to carry that water. This drainage serves the reclamation of specific lands lying east of the park's eastern boundary — land in particular townships and ranges (township 54 south, ranges 31 and 32 east; township 55 south, ranges 32 and 33 east; and township 56 south, range 33 east) — for the State of Florida, one of its political subdivisions, or a drainage district organized under Florida law. Before granting this permission, the Secretary must confirm two things: the State of Florida has approved an overall master plan for draining these lands, and that plan is engineering-feasible and designed to minimize disruption to the park's natural state. Any right-of-way granted under this section is not permanent. It can be revoked if the party holding it breaks the conditions it was granted under. Those conditions can also be enforced in other appropriate ways. If the right-of-way is revoked, the party that held it must remove any improvements it built and restore the land to how it was before.