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SWFL ENews:
May 16 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

Lake Trafford to be tested after possible fish kill
Daily News staff /Naples Daily News /May 3, 2005
Collier County Pollution Control officials will conduct tests after a possible fish kill at Lake Trafford, near Immokalee. ...

Released panther dies in second bout with vehicle
GRANT BOXLEITNER /The News-Press /May 8, 2005
A Florida panther that spent 10 months in captivity recuperating from injuries caused by a collision with a car was killed Saturday night by another vehicle along the same stretch of U.S. 41 where the first one happened, state wildlife officials said. ...

Woodpecker could inspire other conservation efforts
staff /The News-Press /May 8, 2005
If Arkansas can harbor an ivory-billed woodpecker, why not Florida?The odds against it are long, but not so long as they were before one of these magnificent creatures was found in eastern Arkansas recently, more than 60 years after the last confirmed U.S. sighting. ...

Officials work to educate public on dangers posed by alligators
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /May 7, 2005
State and federal authorities have issued citations and warnings in recent weeks to more than two dozen visitors to Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County as part of a crackdown on the dangerous habit, authorities said. ...

Housing sticker shock slams soon-to-be millionaire Everglades exile
Roberto Santiago /Miami Herald /May 16, 2005
Jesse James Hardy can't believe South Florida home prices nowadays. He recently looked at a three-bedroom, two-bath home set on 2 ½ acres in rural Collier County and was hit by sticker shock.''They want $400,000 for that!'' exclaimed Hardy, who in 1976 purchased 160 acres -- only a few miles away from the house -- for $60,000. ...

Corkscrew tallies zero wood stork fledglings this season
CHAD GILLIS /Naples Daily News /May 13, 2005
Wood stork nests in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary are void of tiny chirping chicks this year as the nation's largest stork nesting preserve is expected to tally zero fledglings for the 2005 season. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Dirty water on its way to Lee County
Amanda Inscore /The News Press /May 15
Last year's storms will deliver us yet another blow — the delayed effects of the battering taken by Lake Okeechobee.Thanks to last year's hurricanes, Lake Okeechobee is an overloaded bowl of muddy soup, and massive amounts of that nasty water are headed for the Caloosahatchee River estuary in Lee County. ...

Don't give up on preserving Babcock Ranch
KATHY PROSSER /Naples Daily News /May 15
The Babcock family's rejection of the state's offer to purchase the family's 91,000-acre ranch has left many in favor of preserving the land feeling defeated. But we cannot afford to become discouraged or downtrodden, and we cannot allow setbacks — no matter how disheartening — to deter us from the cause of preserving this land. ...

Estero Bay advisers agree to build C.R. 951 away from environmental land
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /May 10
"The first option is (don't) build," ABM member Matt Bixler said after the meeting. "But if it has to be built, build it as far west as possible." County Road 951, known as Collier Boulevard in Collier County, is in the planning stages. A county-funded study looking into the feasibility of the road and potential environmental impacts should be completed later this year. ...

Enjoy wonders of Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve
staff /The News Press /May 14
With more than 9,000 acres to explore, Koreshan State Historic Site is a great place to start your journey. Conveniently located in the heart of Estero, the park has a boat ramp with access to the Estero River and offers canoe rentals by the hour. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Tap water from lake leaving a bad taste in West Palm
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinal /May 4
Caught in a dry-weather squeeze, the city utilities department in March began drawing larger than normal amounts of Lake Okeechobee water into its water storage area to keep the city's thirst quenched.But that lake water, stirred chocolate with sediment, organic material and other lake-bottom gunk from last September's hurricanes, arrived via canals with a huge taste turnoff: a musty flavor that m ...

$26.8M given for water cleanup
George Andreassi /TCPalm /May 4, 2005
In what looms as the first concrete project designed to clean up the St. Lucie River, the Martin County Commission agreed Tuesday to provide $26.8 million toward a $468 million reservoir and stormwater treatment facility near the Okeechobee Waterway. The project is one of eight proposed by the South Florida Water Management District to jump-start the $8.4 billion Everglades restoration. ...

To fix the rivers, fix the big lake
Sally Swartz /Palm Beach Post /May 4
At 6:15 a.m., the sky still is dark enough that light from a hefty chunk of moon is welcome.Mist curls off the St. Lucie River's North Fork as Gregg Gentile eases the boat out of Rivergate Park in Port St. Lucie. Mr. Gentile is a fishing guide. We've known each other since 1998, when a deluge of dirty water from Lake Okeechobee devastated the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers, leaving fish with sores an ...

Last chance for Lake O
Editorial /Palm Beach POst /May 11
But even that money, totaling $30 million in separate 2005-2006 budget appropriations, will be inadequate unless it starts a serious, expensive campaign to clean up the ailing lake. This money will be used to buy land and build reservoirs and filter marshes north of the lake, to hold and clean water that otherwise would further pollute it. Some of the money also will go to farmers to encourage bet ...

Officials looking to map future for Glades farmland
Hector Florin /Palm Beach Post /May 10
Growth management has become a bigger priority for Palm Beach County's vast westernagricultural area, where state and county officials are struggling to balance farmlanddevelopment with the multibillion dollar effort to restore the Everglades. ...

Strategic drawdown designed to revive Lake Okeechobee
Neil Santaniello /Orlando Sentinal /May 13
The South Florida Water Management District proposes to rescue the struggling lake by draining it down to 12 feet -- 2.6 feet below its current level and "the bottom end of its healthy range," said Susan Gray, district lake division director. The drought would take place by mid-April 2006 and last 12 weeks, she said. ...

We must act to save lake, 'Glades
Thom Rumberger /Sun Sentinal /May 13
The badly polluted water spewing out of Lake Okeechobee and into household faucets, spotlighted in Neil Santaniello's recent article, underscores the critical need for restoring America's Everglades. ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Consistency is priority for new water board chief
Carol Wehle /TCPalm /May 2
Carol Wehle, the newly appointed executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, talked with the editorial board of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers last week. ...

Urgent need in Martin for new land-buy plan
staff /Palm Beach Post /May 8
A grass-roots group considering another push for a 1-cent sales tax to buy sensitive lands inMartin County is on the right track. Even the cost of an off-year special election would be worth it because the need is clear and urgent. ...

County planners push state task force on ag area
Hector Florin /Palm Beach Post /May 11
County planners support having the state kick-start joint planning efforts within the Everglades Agricultural Area — home to abundant, yet shrinking, farming production and considered key to Everglades restoration efforts. Gov. Jeb Bush recently expressed interest in studying growth management in the area, generally south and east of Lake Okeechobee, where development speculation has increased. ...

No growth in cane fields
Staff /Palm Beach POst /May 15
Gov. Bush claims that an area in Central Florida demonstrates a way to "foster economicgrowth" while protecting natural resources. What might have worked in the Wekiva River Basin, however,is not the right approach for sugar-cane fields of the Everglades Agricultural Area in Palm Beach County. ...



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