The long-suffering Everglades may get a louder voice in the Legislature thanks to the launch this week of a new coalition of South Florida lawmakers.

State Rep. Steve Perman, D-Boca Raton, started the Everglades Legislative Caucus, which pledges to push for more money for Everglades restoration during a time of deep state spending cuts.

The bipartisan group contends that investing in protecting what remains of the Florida’s famed River of Grass is more than an environmental cause: It’s also about protecting South Florida’s drinking water supply and a tourism industry tied to the water.

“The Everglades is a rare, natural jewel,” Perman said from a farmers market beside the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, at the northern reaches of the Everglades in Palm Beach County. “No one is happy at the pace at which the Everglades is being restored.”

Restoring the $300 million a year the state once set aside for land purchases aimed at Everglades-preservation efforts is a priority for the new group, said state Sen. Thad Altman R-Viera, co-chairman of the Everglades Caucus.

Acquiring more land among the vast swaths of sugar cane and other farmland south of Lake Okeechobee is needed for water storage and treatment areas that hold onto and clean up stormwater that can replenish the Everglades, according to Altman.

The group also plans to call on Congress to start picking up more of the tab for Everglades restoration.

“We have a long way to go,” Altman said. “We need to find longer-term funding sources.”

The Everglades Caucus offers a forum to push for restoration issues that affect the water supply and tourism, said Dawn Shirreffs, Everglades Coalition co-chair.

“Florida has a compelling reason to do Everglades restoration,” Shirreffs said. “The ecosystem has continued to decline in the face of delay.”

The Everglades suffers from decades of draining land to make way for agriculture and sprawling South Florida communities. Stormwater loaded with phosphorus that washes off agricultural land also pollutes the Everglades.

Florida and the federal government in 2000 announced a long-term plan to share the costs of Everglades restoration, but none of the more than 60 projects to store, clean and redirect stormwater has been completed.

Gov. Rick Scott in October unveiled am Everglades plan that calls for cutting restoration costs by avoiding buying more land to build reservoirs and treatment areas.

Lawmakers who joined Altman and Perman on Monday in announcing the new caucus included Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach; Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart; and Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach. They said their numbers would grow during the legislative session that will begin in January.

During recent budget-cutting amid the struggling economy, the needs of Everglades restoration too often faded into the background, according to the caucus.

Florida needs to “get back in the business of restoration,” Altman said, “get back on track.”