“This is about putting it back to the way it was in the 1890s,” Mr. Guest said. “What will happen is that if you come back here in 20 years, it will look indistinguishable from the way it looked before the white man arrived.”

The future challenges will probably intersect with the land’s more recent history. Since 1931, United States Sugar has farmed the area, using fertilizers that have often released phosphorous into the water. The legacy of their efforts could prove hidden at first. Efforts to reflood and clean up Lake Apopka near Orlando ran into trouble over the last decade when polluted sediments rose to the surface in unexpected levels.

The company has long denied that its efforts severely damaged the land, and executives said that the sale would benefit the Everglades, and shareholders.

“It’s dollars and cents and the right thing to do,” said Robert H. Buker Jr., the company’s president, in an interview after the announcement. “If I had to go out I’d rather  all of us would rather it went out to make the state of Florida better.”

The company will face some hurdles. The lawsuit involving former employees will not disappear but will probably include fewer plaintiffs, said Curtis Miner, one of the workers’ lawyers. Some, like Randy Smith, 57, who cashed out last year at $194 a share after 25 years with the company, said Tuesday’s deal only proved that he did not receive his fair share.

“I got ripped off pretty good,” he said.

Those most affected though will be current workers, and they could decide whether the purchase goes through. United States Sugar took its stock off the public market in 1983 to create an employee stock ownership plan, so technically the company is owned by the workers.

Mr. Buker said he expected the workers would approve the deal because of the money they could make. But at a meeting with workers in Clewiston on Tuesday, opinions seemed mixed. Some workers said they were angry they were left out of the loop. As recently as Tuesday morning, bosses told them that rumors of a sale were not true.