Environmentalists were heartened today by the Bush administration's continued support of coastal restoration projects in Florida and Louisiana, but the modest increases in spending fall far short of what is needed to significantly advance the projects, they said.

The White House's proposed fiscal 2009 spending on South Florida restoration projects, including the multibillion-dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, came in at just over $215 million, with the lion's share of funding going to the Army Corps of Engineers for design, engineering and construction projects.

"Obviously the president recognizes the importance of Everglades restoration, and it continues to be a high priority for his administration," Stuart Applebaum, the corps' South Florida ecosystem restoration chief, said of the proposed $185 million spending package for the Everglades and related projects.

Roughly $50 million of the proposed new money will go to restore water flows into the southern portion of the Everglades, while $31 million will go toward Kissimmee River restoration and $29 million will aid in groundbreaking for a newly authorized CERP project known as the Picayune Strand Hydrologic Restoration.

The Interior Department received a slight tightening in Everglades spending priorities under the latest Bush administration proposal, at $29.8 million, down from $34 million in enacted spending for fiscal 2008.

Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, likened the administration's budget gesture to an "awkward kiss on the cheek" following eight years of intense courting between the federal government and Everglades advocates.

"It's a good start," he said of the proposed $54 million increase. "We'll certainly be working with the Congress to make a more bold statement."

In Louisiana, the Army Corps received $20 million to help protect and restore coastal wetlands, a $17 million increase over the 2008 enacted level. The re-establishment of Louisiana's wetland ecosystem is considered vital to ongoing efforts to protect New Orleans and surrounding parishes from hurricanes.

But even with the nearly 600 percent boost, the Louisiana pledge comes nowhere near what is necessary to rebuild wetlands lost to decades of natural and human-induced erosion, followed by the devastating hurricanes of 2005.

WRDA authorization

Congress, under the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, authorized nearly $2 billion to support wetland projects under the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration. Some experts have said the cost of complete restoration could run well over $10 billion, placing it on par with the Everglades project.

"We're glad to see it's increasing, but it's fair to say that's a drop in the bucket," said John Lopez, coastal sustainability program director for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. "Twenty-million dollars can do a good small project, but it's not going to amount to major restoration funding."

While not a restoration project, the president's budget also calls for $77.4 million to rehabilitate the Herbert Hoover Dike ringing Lake Okeechobee. The dike has shown signs of weakening in recent years, raising concerns about flood risk in areas immediately to its south.

Lake Okeechobee also provides much of the freshwater flows to the Everglades, and the corps and Florida agencies have worked hard to reduce phosphorus and other pollutants that have rendered large parts the lake lifeless and contributed to downstream water quality problems.