Update: United States Sugar is perverting the deal, successfully—the deal in many ways is now stopping restoration. Update, and slideshow, at the New York Times.

Thanks to the new Obama Administration finally working with local government, the Everglades have a second chance at a diminished survival, as detailed by the New York Times lead editorial today. Excerpt:

There are two reasons for the change. One is an infusion of federal cash. The administration included more than $100 million for Everglades restoration in the stimulus package, and Congress anted up another $100 million. The other is an infusion of high-level interest. Carol Browner, President Obama’s top environmental adviser, is a longtime Everglades champion. Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, is equally committed. The notoriously dysfunctional Army Corps of Engineers, which will have to do much of the actual work, is finally in the hands of people who care.

Other sections of the trail must be elevated, other projects begun. Gov. Charlie Crist’s ambitious plan to buy and retire from production thousands of acres of sugar cane fields north of the park must be brought to fruition…for the rest, click over to the New York Times.

Just what are the Everglades, you ask? Frankly, I had only a vague idea. Video: