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Apr 20 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

Everglades holdout now agrees to sell rustic home
AP /AP /April 2005
A man who fought for years to keep his swampy home and rock mine business in the rural Everglades settled for $4.95 million with the state, which plans to restore the former wetlands area.The deal, approved Wednesday by a Collier County circuit judge, gives Jesse Hardy until the end of November to get off the 160 acres. ...

Jesse Hardy: Beneath humble exterior lies top-notch negotiator
Editorial /Naples Daily News /April 15, 2005
Predictable. What else can you call Jesse Hardy's settlement with the state for his 160-acre Southern Golden Gate Estates property, one of the last pieces needed for Everglades restoration? His strategic place in line assured top dollar, nearly $5 million, which made even Gov. Jeb Bush wince. ...

THE SKUNK APE 'Ape-man' meets Glades showman
CARA BUCKLEY /Miami Herald /Apr. 19, 2005
The skunk ape, alias swamp ape, apparently smells like bad eggs and goat dung, an odor attributed to its poor bathing habits and penchant for sulfurous alligator caves. ...

Stream of success
SUSAN COCKING /Miami Herald /Mar. 27, 2005
The East River in southwest Florida's Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve is narrow, buggy and ominously dark in parts. It also is pristine, devoid of litter and hauntingly beautiful. And until recently, it seemed, hardly anyone knew about it. I've been paddling this winding, five-mile watercourse every once in a while since 1988, usually in a small group led by Broward canoe outfitters John Judy an ...

Collier deputies cite ATV owners riding illegally in Picayune Strand
DIANNA SMITH /Naples Daily News /April 16, 2005
While local environmentalists search for a playground for off-highway vehicle owners, deputies from the Collier County Sheriff's Department have started riding their own OHVs. But not for pleasure. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Manatees could be off endangered list
By Capt. Fred Lifton /Marco Island Sun Tim/04/21/2005
No legally sane person that I know wants to hurt, maim or kill manatees. These critters are a great regional treasure. But come on. To stop humans from responsibly enjoying the local waters by regulating the hell out of them ostensibly to save sea cows is overkill, as in the case of wanting to establish a no-wake zone in all of Naples Bay citing the danger of manatee mortality when the actual numb ...

Mote discusses red tide research
Gavin Off /UNknown /4/15/05
Scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory say a new fleet of red tide-detecting machines could lead to forecasting, controlling and eventually treating the effects of the algal bloom.The Sarasota-basedlab has assembled 12 BreveBusters, devices fixed to buoys, channel markers or sub-autonomous machines that use light to measure when red tide has entered the area. ...

County calls for action on red tide
Uknown /Boca Beacon /April 15, 2005
"Since the 1950s, there has been a fifteen-fold increase in red tide biomass, on average, withinfive kilometers of shore," said Larry E. Brand, a professor of marine biology with the University of Miami, "and the red tide blooms now extend further off shore." ...

Editorial: Caloosahatchee River
Editorial /Naples Daily News /April 14, 2005
A short note on a long river what to do about upstream pesticides and fertilizers detected at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee in Lee County. We can either face up to the problem now and fix it, or waste years on consultants and studies. ...

State wildlife panel set to impose boat speed zones
CHAD GILLIS /Naples Daily News /April 14, 2005
State wildlife officials are set to impose a list of boating controls today that will place most of Lee County's coastal waterways under some type of speed regulation nearly two years after a Fort Myers judge ruled the same zones to be unconstitutional. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Pruitt, Negron making right moves to help lake
Editorial /TCPalm /April 17, 2005
Fortunately, the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan moving through the state Legislature has strong supporters from our area. State Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and state Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart. Their districts include portions of northern Palm Beach County. ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Orchid Recovery Program in the Everglades
Carol Glassman /Naples Sun Times /4/14/05
Within a few years, Scott Stewart and Larry Richardson hope to be able to educate anyone who is interested in the details. However, it's a little more complicated than stirring one's botanical, ecological and biological awareness. ...

Carol Wehle gets top post for South Florida Water Management District
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /April 14, 2005
... transition from the popular Dean to a new top official needs to be "seamless" -- especially in light of the planned $8.4 billion Everglades restoration effort ... ...

Turtle study to test water quality of Lake Worth lagoon
Neil Santaniello /sun-sentinel /April 17, 2005
Only 25 percent of the sea turtles found dead or stranded in the Lake Worth Lagoon, which extends from Boynton Beach to Jupiter, have harmful, lobe-shaped external tumors called fibropapilloma, compared to a 50 percent rate in the Indian River Lagoon, and scientists would like to know why, said Carly de Maye, a county environmental analyst. ...

Away for the Day: Shark Valley
Michel Fortier /Naples Daily News /April 16, 2005
Jane and Jay Stibal guess they've seen just about every national park. Last week they added one more to their roster: Everglades National Park. The retired couple from LaHabra, Calif., spend their days traveling the United States and the world. ...

Everglades Restoration Named Best Engineering Achievement
ACEC /Water and Wastewater/Apr 13, 2005
A 26.5 square-mile wetlands designed to save the Florida Everglades ecosystem has been named the most significant U.S. engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies' 39th annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). ...

'Endangered' redefined
Editorial /Miami Herald /April 20, 2005
At a time of record population growth and new development in Florida, the state should make sure that its protections for 118 threatened and endangered species are stronger than ever. Yet it's not at all clear that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's 7-0 approval of a policy change will guarantee adequate safeguards to save Florida's panthers, manatees and other dwindling speci ...

Burns & McDonnell gets top engineering prize
KAREN DILLON /Kansas City Star /Apr. 12, 2005
For decades, fertilizer washed off farmland into the Florida Everglades, boosting cattails, choking the water flow and shrinking a natural wonder.But in the past 10 years, a Kansas City engineering company has had a big hand in attempts to save the Everglades ecosystem.For its work in stopping thousands of tons of fertilizer from polluting the Everglades ...



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