Right from the start, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making a splashy show of his commitment to improve water quality and address the state's other urgent ecological needs.

While not embracing the politically fraught term "climate change," he has vowed to take actions like speeding aid to hurricane-ravaged Mexico Beach in the Panhandle and adding a state scientific officer to monitor rising seas.

DeSantis says he wants a $1 billion boost to Everglades restoration projects over the next four years, for a total of $2.5 billion. If the Republican legislature agrees, the state's 2019-2020 budget will earmark $625 million to replenish the water resources that are crucial to Florida tourism and sustainability. The specter of last year's blue-green algae infestation, which massacred sea life and closed beaches, looms large.

"What we're doing in the budget is historic. It will have a very big impact on the quality of life for Floridians," DeSantis declared at a Jan. 29 press conference in the Rookery Bay national preserve near Naples on the Gulf Coast.

He sent packing former Gov. Rick Scott's South Florida Water Management District board over a lease with sugar giant Florida Crystals that would have interfered with a vast agricultural reservoir. So far DeSantis has named two new board members, Sanibel City Council member Chauncey Goss and "Alligator" Ron Bergeron, a Fort Lauderdale businessman and prominent Everglades activist, respectively.

The Republican governor's underlying message: On this issue he's his own man, not the Donald Trump acolyte he modeled during his gubernatorial campaign, and not an anti-environmentalist like Scott. Conservationists reviled DeSantis' predecessor for, among other things, disbanding the growth watchdog Department of Community Affairs and replacing it with a Department of Economic Opportunity.

Ron DeSantis speaks to the media during a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Oct. 6, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Before Scott, "Florida had the best growth management in the Southeastern United States," says Jonathan Webber, deputy director of Florida Conservation Voters. "Governor Scott closed the whole thing down. There's not even a growth management law on Florida's books." Webber says the effects show up in polluted water, overburdened sewer systems and toxic red tide.

In contrast, DeSantis' opening moves had some environmentalists voicing praise and hope. He announced his wide-ranging plan in an executive order on Jan. 10, two days after his inauguration.

"It's pretty extraordinary to see a governor on his second full day in office making such a bold statement for water conservation and outlining a tangible road map for how to get to that vision, rather than just speaking in generalities," says Julie Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida. "That it featured so prominently among his priorities is a great sign."

Wraithmell's optimism isn't universally shared. Criticism and concerns target DeSantis' history in the House, where he was a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus; the likelihood of follow-through, and what he hasn't said or done yet.

As a U.S. congressman, DeSantis represented his Jacksonville district for five years before moving to the governor's mansion. During his time in Congress, the League of Conservation Voters gave him a scathing 2 out of 100 points on environmental issues.

"His previous record in Congress was just terrible. It's almost hard to do as bad as he did," says Webber, whose nonprofit is loosely affiliated with the D.C.-based league. Webber is watchfully waiting to see if DeSantis exerts the leadership required to sell his environmental vision.

"We'll know more once the final budget is passed," Webber says. "Is his staff going to be fighting for the governor's budget at the Capitol, or is this just kind of a media hit?"

Matthew Schwartz thinks he knows the answer to that question. "A lot of the environmental solutions that are put out there are political," says Schwartz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association.

The Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir DeSantis champions is a $1.6 billion project that depends on federal as well as state funding. Schwartz calls it "a boondoggle" that will help farmers, sugar interests and cities before trickling down to replenish Florida wetlands during the dry season. "It won't end the discharges, it won't stop the algae blooms, and it just underlines the need to restore wetlands to save Florida's water resources," Schwartz says.

But restoring wetlands and creating green spaces require conserving land instead of developing it, and Schwartz sees too little effort directed at that goal – and not much help from DeSantis. Schwartz and Webber agree that reviving the Department of Community Affairs to oversee growth would be optimal.

"Bring back the department and growth management laws," Webber says. "They were smart and progressive and a model for other states around the country."

Another big item on Webber's wish list has to do with climate change: reducing carbon emissions. "A lot of climate change resiliency is proposed by Governor DeSantis, which is important and necessary," he says. "But if you're not looking at actually getting cars off the road or reducing reliance on dirty fossil fuels, that's the other part that needs to be discussed, and right now we're not seeing enough action from him on that."

DeSantis' office did not respond to a request for comment.

Wraithmell of Audubon Florida scorns the idea of saying, "You gave me A through Y, but what about Z?" DeSantis is new at his job, and she believes he's showing political smarts by acknowledging what she knows. "The public is aware and united and aggrieved and people recognize that Florida's environment is the basis for our economy. It you care about tourism and property values, you recognize the expediency of fixing our water problems."

"The national media has been making a big deal about a red-blue divide on conservation in Florida, and I would just say that it has long been a green issue, it doesn't belong solely to either party," Wraithmell says.

"We have a long history of both parties doing the right thing because it is so core to our economy," she says. "Voters have signaled this is one of their very top priorities and so it should not come as a surprise that wise elected officials are heeding those concerns and acting quickly."

