State and federal leaders Tuesday expressed “optimism” and the need for cooperation for the future of the Everglades, calling for more partnerships with -- rather than continuing to punish -- ranchers and farmers who work alongside the River of Grass.

Gov. Rick Scott downplayed the increase in funding he’s requested for Everglades maintenance, saying the key is to spend any money correctly, during a panel discussion that was part of the Everglades Water Supply Summit at the Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center in Tallahassee.

“We put something on the table, and basically all the federal agencies have to go through it,” Scott said during a panel discussion on the future of the water system. “We’re sharing all our modeling, all our information, and I’m sure they’re going to have ideas that will improve what we put on the table.”

Meanwhile, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said progress is being made as governments work together rather than fight over the restoration efforts in court.

“The governor and I have many conversations about this,” Salazar said. “We’re not interested in litigation, we’re not interested in finger-pointing; what we’re interested in are results that matter and for us having success in the restoration is very important to the president of the United States. It’s very important to this governor and it’s very important to me.”

See video of Gov. Rick Scott and Ken Salazar after the panel discussion here.

Earlier Tuesday, Salazar attended an announcement about the federal government supporting the $97 million Tamiami Trail Bridge project, which is designed -- by raising a one-mile section of the road into a bridge -- to help restore freshwater flows to Everglades National Park and the South Florida ecosystem.

On Wednesday, Salazar will hold a similar announcement at the Central Florida headwaters of Lake Okeechobee in Haines City, to announce a $45 million project to improve the water quality in the Kissimmee River.

Still, state leaders say they expect Florida will be relied upon more and more to undertake the needed repairs to the national treasure to maintain freshwater quality and quantity for the 7 million South Florida residents.

Not every panelist expressed bipartisan kumbayahs.

Paul Tudor Jones, chairman of the Everglades Foundation, compared the decades of damage that has been done mostly by agricultural interests to the Everglades to a slow but steady version of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The only difference is that this has been incremental and invisible, so you don’t get that fantastic shot of the tremendous pollution coming out of the broken well,” Jones said.

The comment drew a quick rebuttal from Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who noted the Jones analogy ignores the sprawl west of Florida's Turnpike in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“Agriculture in Florida is a partner in land stewardship and conservation, and there is not enough money, there will not be enough money, and it is not good public policy to eradicate them, because what will follow them?” Putnam said. “Do you really think you’re going to buy up everything south of Lake Okeechobee?”

Putnam noted that the 1996 voter-approved Everglades Restoration Act has generated $200 million from growers, while the majority of farms around Lake Okeechobee have agreed to best management practice to reduce nutrient loads that reach area waters.

“The important thing that has changed is that we are seeing a much better conversation between agriculture and the environmental community because all of us have watched in the last 10 years when development just explodes,” he said.