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The U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday named a longtime Everglades advocate and Florida Keys native to the top position.
Shannon Estenoz, who led the agency’s Everglades restoration efforts under the Obama administration, will become principal assistant secretary overseeing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.
Mr. Estenos previously served as chief operating officer of the Everglades Foundation.
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Estenos was unable to comment on the appointment Wednesday. But in an interview with WLRN late last year, the fifth-generation Conti said he began his work to save the Everglades about 30 years ago when he was with the World Wildlife Fund and the National Park Conservation Association.
“I feel like I’ve worn pretty much every hat,” she said. “I’ve never been a farmer. I’ve never been a rock miner or anything. I’ve been everything else.”
After four years under President Trump, Estenos returns to a very different department run by secretaries with ties to the oil and gas industry and accused of conflicts of interest. Biden made history last month when he nominated New Mexico Congresswoman Deb Haaland to become the first Native American Cabinet member.
“We are excited for her,” said Eric Eichenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, which hired Estenos in 2018. “They are committed to our nation’s natural resources and environment. “We’re bringing in an extraordinary woman.”
Former Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Ms. Estenos to the South Florida Water Management District in 2007, where she was appointed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to coordinate work between the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Management District, the center of South Florida’s Everglades restoration efforts. He served as Mr. Estenos until he was asked to become a person. Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey.
Estenos will take over the job from his former boss at the agency, Terrence C. “Rock” Salt, and Nathaniel Reed, another Everglades icon who helped pass the Endangered Species Act under President Richard Nixon. He will assume the position he previously held.
Asked about the decades-long effort to restore the Everglades, Estenos said he always knew the obstacles would be formidable.
“I think a lot about Everglades restoration is an infrastructure project that re-pipes an area twice the size of New Jersey that is home to millions and millions and millions of people. That’s the thing,” she said. “There were a million agencies serving different regions of the Everglades. We had to almost reinvent the way government was organized.”
And be patient, she said.
“If we’re going to save the Everglades, it’s a long game. We don’t need to be discouraged by bumps in the road or resistance along the way,” she said. “As I’ve experienced, we’re progressing, so we just keep moving forward. That’s right.”
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