MIAMI (AP) - A historic plan to restore the dying Florida Everglades is getting even smaller.

A modified contract between the state and U.S. Sugar Corp. was posted Wednesday. It calls for the initial purchase of 26,791 acres for about $197.4 million.

It's a far cry from the initial plan announced by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2008: $1.75 billion to buy all of U.S. Sugar's 180,000 acres. But the state maintains the right under the contract to purchase the remainder of that land.

The South Florida Water Management District will vote on the new contract Aug. 12.

Critics have called the deal a waste of taxpayer money that will only slow other key restoration efforts.