FFCU Logo Header Photo
SWFL ENews:
Jul 11 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

June's rainfall washed away some Collier records
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Jul 2
This year, miles above the Earth's surface, troughs set up in the central Gulf of Mexico more often than usual, pumping wet weather across Florida, Swartz said. ...

Paving the way for Everglades annihilation
DIANE ROBERTS /St Petersburg Times /Jul 1
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the Glades, the state is doing its damnedest to open up 10,000-15,000 acres to development of epidemic proportions. There will be super Targets and super Wal-Marts, gated communities and McMansions on land vital to Everglades restoration, lands at the headwaters of the wild Loxahatchee, one of America's last free-flowing subtropical rivers. ...

Louisiana agonizes over the future of its cypress forests
Cain Burdeau /Associated Press /Jul 9
"There's a massive, massive, massive amount," says logger Jay Huber. "This timber is 80 years old. It will take a vast amount of time to cut it all and big business is coming there." ...

NOAA begins evaluation of Rookery Bay Reserve
Billy Bruce /Naples Daily News /June 29, 2005
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has begun an evaluation process that will determine just how far the reserve's 25-member staff has come in meeting its mission to help foster sound coastal decisions through land management, restoration, research and education. ...

Locals win wildlife awards
JerriLynn Merritt /NewsZap /Jul 2005
Annie, as she was affectionately known, and her husband Ski, owners of the Lake Trafford Marina and Campground, began to organize support for a lake cleanup after a 1996 algae bloom decimated the 1,500 acre lake. ...

Discovery of dead panther has biologists asking questions
Lance Gay /Scripps Howard News /Jul 2005
The discovery in June of a dead panther in an area of Northeast Florida where panthers haven't been seen for 20 years is prompting wildlife biologists to reconsider the cat's territorial range, and consider the prospect that there may be more such cats in the region they don't know about. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Grant awarded to help clear up red tide dispute
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /Jul 4
State and federal agencies are putting nearly half a million dollars toward water quality research in the Caloosahatchee River in an attempt to get a better grip on faltering conditions in the river and estuary. ...

Southwest Florida waters have avoided red tide so far this summer
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /Jul 9
A red tide bloom that's lingered off the west coast of Florida for months stayed relatively stagnant this week after showing up just days ago in northern Lee County. ...

Here's a list of past hurricane and tropical storms that have affected the Unit ed States
Staff /Miami Herald /Jul 8
Hurricane Donna, 1960: Donna struck Florida Sept. 11 and then moved north, eventually reaching New England. Donna is the only storm to produce hurricane-force winds in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. It was responsible for 50 deaths in the United States. ...

Mack surveys environmental issues in Southwest Florida
Charlie Whitehead /Naples Daily News /Jul 8
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack got a bird's-eye view of environmental issues facing Southwest Florida on Thursday, from polluted fresh water pouring down the Caloosahatchee River to unbalanced coastal estuaries to eroded beaches where residents are hoping for no repeat of last summer's hurricanes. ...

Beachgoers on edge after latest Florida shark attacks
Denise Zoldan /Naples Daily News /Jul 2
In fact since 1882, Collier County has reported only five shark bites, according to the International Shark Attack File. The last suspected shark bite in Collier County occurred when a fisherman hauling in a catch was bitten in the Ten Thousand Islands in 2002. Before that, a child was bitten while swimming at Wiggins Pass in 1996. ...

Red tide moves into Boca Grande Pass
Kevin Lollar /The News Press /Jul 8
A red tide that’s been hanging around Southwest Florida for seven months has moved a little south into Boca Grande Pass, and scientists are waiting to see what Hurricane Dennis will do to it. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Dike plan approved 75 years ago
Palm Beach Post /Eliot Kleinbergy /Jul 6
Hoover, then president-elect, had toured the ravaged Glades months after the 1928 hurricane had smashed the region, washing out a makeshift 6-foot berm and killing perhaps as many as 3,000 people. ...

Boat ramp slips through Okeechobee's fingers
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /Jul 10
"It makes me feel like, 'What's wrong with our state, our county, everything?' " said fisherman Harvey Ford, 73, who, like many local anglers, used the ramp a few times each month. "I'd see 25, 30 cars over there practically every day in the wintertime." ...

Fertilizer plants at center of feud over water
Kelly Griffith /Sun Sentinal /Jul 10
With state approval, fertilizer makers have dumped millions of gallons of water used in production into Central Florida streams this year, a move prompted in part by heavy rainfall. ...

State sets millions for projects to fix rivers
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /Jul 11
The state will spend more than $3 million this year for drainage system upgrades, research and a slew of other projects aimed at improving water quality in the suffering St. Lucie River. ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

The Islander: The Everglades: past and present
Meghan Nutter /Naples Daily News /July 1
If one floats silently on the grassy river called the Everglades, he may just barely notice the water flowing by as it moves slowly southward toward the sea. ...

Tumors plague local dolphins
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /July 1
In their third year studying dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon,scientists with Harbor Branch and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration examined 17 dolphins over 10 days this month between Stuart and just north of Merritt Island. Eight of the animals had tumors, including six of the 10 dolphins studied in Stuart this week. ...

Water flow over Lainhart Dam remains contentious issue
Michelle Sheldone /TC Palm /June 29
Environmentalists this week debated the amount of freshwater that should flow over the Lainhart Dam and into the Loxahatchee River's Northwest Fork during the dry season. ...

Water managers' prognosis for St. Lucie River bleak
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /June 29
Water managers gave a grim prognosis Tuesday for the St. Lucie River, where algae blooms and high bacteria levels have raised the specter of 1998's massive fish kill. ...

Wonders of the Everglades teach lessons Ð and may leave bug bites
Dennis Horgan /The Hartford Courant/Jul 3
As I took the third step from my car I was ambushed and attacked by a flock of mosquitoes, hundreds of tiny hungry darts appearing out of nowhere, covering me in a blanket of bugs, making me look like a strawberry ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles. Ouch. Yipes. Help! ...

Flood of debate rises on river plan
Michelle Sheldon /Sun Sentinal /Jul 3
Environmentalists are debating the amount of freshwater that should flow over the Lainhart Dam and into the Loxahatchee River's Northwest Fork during the dry season. ...

Managing the flow of water
Interview w Bob Howard /Miami Herald /Jul 2005
Q: Is all this rain beneficial right now?A: No it's not. During the rainy season, rain is good. But now we have so much rain that we can't hold it. Water canals have been flooded, Lake Okeechobee has too much water and, in general, our water systems cannot withstand all of the incoming rain. As of right now, I would say that this much rain is unhealthy for the environment. ...

Residents again forced to cope with a tortured St. Lucie River
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /Jul 3
The dolphins disappeared about three months ago.That was the first thing George Sharrow noticed. The creatures that had accompanied the rower's daily trips down the St. Lucie River weren't around anymore.Then came the algae — thick, bright green blobs that blossomed a little more than a week ago."The water's just terrible now, real brown, like coffee," said Sharrow, a Palm City resident. ...

Policy changes proposed by Rivers Coalition may help St. Lucie River
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /Jul 2
"My son is in third grade. He enjoys the environment, but he's been asking me why he can't go seining in the river and where are all the dolphins and fish?" said Repetti, a Palm City resident. "I'm fed up. What can we do?" ...

Researchers finding more tumors in dolphins
Dinah Voyles Pulver /Daytona Beach News /Jul 1
Scientists studying dolphin diseases in the Indian River Lagoon said Thursday they have turned up new distressing evidence this summer.More than a third of the dolphins examined by researchers in June had tumors, a dramatic rise from last summer, said Mark Schrope, a spokesman for Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce. ...

EPA to release ambitious Great Lakes plan
John Myers /Duluth News Tribune /Jul 7
In all, recommendations in the team reports total about $20 billion, much of it during the next five years. The big question, officials say, is how much Congress and the Bush administration will actually fund. The bill for Everglades projects is expected to top $8 billion. And that's for a relatively small area. Supporters of a federal Great Lakes effort say it will cost many billions more to do t ...

Scripps deal will promote urban sprawl
Carl Hiaasen /Miami Herald /Jul 10
P.T. Barnum should have been a real-estate promoter in Palm Beach County. Not only is a sucker born every minute there, but lots of them get elected to public office. ...

Outlook not very good for beleagured St. Lucie River
Ed Killer /TC Palm /Jul 8
Question: What's the difference between the St. Lucie River and a Superfund hazardous waste site? ...

Is Enough Being Done to Clean Up the Bay?
Opinion /Washington Times /Jul 8
Every time a storm like Tropical Storm Cindy dumps several inches of rain on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, it's a reminder to you. All that water will eventually end up in the Bay. ...

Sick St. Lucie River is fading fast
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Jul 11
Carol Ann Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, summed things up during a meeting last week with concerned Martin County commissioners. The short-term outlook, she said according to a report in Florida Sportman magazine, was bleak. ...



© FGCU 2006. This is an official FGCU web page.
Florida Gulf Coast University is accredited by the
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
(1866 Southern lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; Telephone number 404-679-4501)
to award associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees.

Florida Gulf Coast University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd S., Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
Contact the Webmaster