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BIG CYPRESS

You've got to love it
Steve Waters /Sun Sentinel /Aug 26
When much of the Everglades was closed to hunting because of high water in the mid-1990s, Muguerza started hunting in the Big Cypress. He tried to talk to other hunters, but they were either unwilling or unable to provide information. So he learned about the vast area by walking and walking and walking. ...

Battle over controversial wetlands permit rages on
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Aug 28
File cabinets at engineer Rick Barber's office are overflowing with years of work to get a wetlands destruction permit for a proposed golf course community in northern Collier County called Mirasol. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has published a full-page newspaper advertisement to rally opposition to stop it. ...

Big Cypress oil could alleviate gas crunch
Jamie Yuccas /NBC2 News /Aug 31
"I think there's another 130 million barrels to find," said Bob Duncan, General Manager of Collier Resources.Collier Resources Company owns Raccoon Field at Big Cypress National Preserve. The field currently pumps out thousands of gallons of oil a day. One day the supply will dry up, so the company is looking at other areas of Southwest Florida to dig and drill. ...

Marco wins kudos for water conservation plan
Billy Bruce /Naples Daily News /Sep 4
Marco Island's water conservation rates aimed at curbing abusive use of the city's limited drinking water supply has drawn kudos from a state agency that holds a key to the city's ability to meet future water demands. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Scientists to track lake water releases from river to Gulf
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Aug 25
In October, the team will begin tracking the lake water as it flows down the river to its estuary. Locals blame powerful blasts of nutrient-loaded lake water for triggering a massive blue-green algae bloom that has tainted the river for more than three weeks. ...

FGCU researchers to study health of river, seagrass
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Aug 24
Lake Okeechobee water is flowing into the Caloosahatchee River at an unprecedented clip, but the system's regulators don't know how far the murky water is traveling or whether seagrass beds are paying a price. A team of researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation wants to find out. ...

Naples Pier a key point in red tide detection program
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Aug 31
Naples Pier is set to be on the front line of a new effort at earlier detection of red tide in the Gulf of Mexico. ...

River's algae match St. Lucie's
Pamela Hayford Smith /The NewsPress /Aug 30
Blue-green algae blooming in the Caloosahatchee River are the same species that are producing toxin in the St. Lucie River, test results confirmed Monday. ...

Hydrogeological study won't lead to changes
Charlie Whitehead /Naples Daily News /Sep 2005
Lee County's Smart Growth director says the county hydrogeological study now being reviewed by regulatory agencies and, he assumes, the private sector will not lead to major land-management changes in the wide expanse of southeast Lee specifically protected from intensive development. The study will, however, make it harder for developers to make old mine properties into new lakefront communities, ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

High water danger to bird
Pamela Hayford Smith /News Press /Aug 23
A federal policy favoring high water levels in Lake Okeechobee is harming an endangered bird by killing off its only food source, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. ...

St. Lucie makes pitch to save estuary
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /Aug 23
All five St. Lucie County commissioners hope to meet with the local congressional delegation and officials of the Army Corps of Engineers during the first week in October. County Administrator Doug Anderson said he's asked the county's lobbying firm, Marlowe and Co., to focus for the first time on issues related to local Everglades restoration and the health of the St. Lucie Estuary. ...

Environmentalists sue to save hawk-like bird
AMIE PARNES /Naples Daily News /Aug 23
Vying to save the endangered Everglades snail kite, the National Wildlife Federation and the Florida Wildlife Federation filed a lawsuit in federal district court Monday, claiming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has defied the Endangered Species Act and degraded an environment essential for the hawk-like bird's survival. ...

Martin County to sue over poor river conditions
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /Aug 24
For the second time in two years, the Martin County Commission voted Tuesday to start the process of suing water managers over the poor condition of the St. Lucie Estuary. "It's terrible. ...

Experts say St. Lucie Estuary cleanup to take 30 years
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Aug 24
Treasure Coast residents should develop some patience when it comes to expecting a quick fix to the polluted, freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie Estuary, state water managers said Tuesday. Top executives and scientists with the South Florida Water Management District said it will take at least 30 years to clean and store the runoff water that has contributed to recent al ...

Water wars get more complex
Opinion /The News Press /Aug 26
Lee County and other coastal areas demanding better management of Lake Okeechobee have picked up a valuable ally — maybe. ...

District lessens Lake O discharges
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Aug 27
Water managers agreed to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges by more than half Friday, after Hurricane Katrina's southerly path brought less rain to the area than feared. ...

USACE says lake is in good shape, Big lake can handle stormwater
Audrey Blackwell /Okeechobee News /Aug 26
Ms. Sylvester said there was a lot of water associated with Hurricane Dennis in the Kissimmee Basin, which flows into Lake Okeechobee, and the lake is very high. Because of this, they have been making pre-empted releases of water to try to get the level down."We had a major break in that the rain stopped at the end of July and today the lake is down to 15.69, about a half foot more than the 15.26 ...

New bids shave $5 million from Glades water plant
Tony Doris /Palm Beach Post /Aug 25
A do-over of construction bids for a long-needed water treatment plant for towns along Lake Okeechobee came in at about $20 million on Wednesday — $5 million lower than the first, rejected round.The lowest of four bidders was Poole & Kent Co. of Florida, at $19.7 million, whose previous, $25 million bid, was the lowest in April. A close second this time was R.J. Sullivan Corp., at $20.1 million. ...

Lake O similar to Lake Pontchartrain in LA
staff /NBC2News /Aug 29
Lake Okeechobee and Lake Pont are similar. Both are shallow, so big they can be seen from space and have an extensive levee system.Lake Pont's levee is metal and concrete. Lake Okeechobee's levee is just a wall of dirt. ...

Glades water plant $5 million closer
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Aug 30
The 30,000 people living around polluted Lake Okeechobee could not afford to build a water treatment plant when bidders in April said it would cost at least $25 million. They still cannot afford to build the Lake Region Water Treatment Plant now that new bids came in last week $5 million cheaper. ...

`Lake' no longer fits Okeechobee
Warren Resen /Sun Sentinel /Aug 28
The solution to the problems plaguing Lake Okeechobee is really quite simple:change the name to reflect the true current purpose of this body of water. It is a reservoir and is being managed as such. As the Okeechobee Reservoir, it would be held to different standards. ...

Suing to save the rivers
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Aug 28
Talk has had little effect on water managers' poor choices and bad decisions in managing the lake. Lawsuits are a last resort but may be the only recourse left to force agencies to keep their promises. ...

Legal action looming as water talk goes nowhere
Editorial /TCPalm /Sep 1
The Martin County Commission has again decided the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers talk a lot, but don't do much to improve the quality of water in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. ...

Corps says dike is safe
MaryAnn Morris /Okeechobee News /Sep 2005
"There has been some leakage, called ‘piping' or ‘boils' seen since the 1980s. These areas are repaired as they are observed," said Mr. Ruiz."We have good access roads completely around the Lake here and the materials we need to make repairs are stockpiled in a number of areas nearby. We have working agreements with the South Florida Water Management District, the county road departments and the F ...

Hurricane brings back memories for Floridians
MaryAnn Morris /Okeechobee News /Sep 1
"Very few people remember the first storm in 1926 but I remember it hit us in a hard way because of the location of our house. It must have struck in July, and it was a hurricane to us. ...

Draining excess water from Lake Okeechobee hurting St. Lucie River
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinel /Sep 4
River advocates say the blame goes beyond weather, arguing the lake is purposely kept overstocked with stormwater to protect 500,000 acres of crops in the Everglades Agricultural Area from drought. ...

Experts say Lake O manageable in face of hurricane
Pamela Hayford Smith /The NewsPress /Sep 2
Corps engineers said the lake's situation is much different; its waters are managed to prevent breaches; a monitoring system is in place; and a project later this year will begin restoring the structure, which is 73 years old in places. ...

Officials spar over lake plan
George Andreassi /Sun Sentinel /Sep 2
Tempers flared Thursday during a meeting in which state and federal officials tried to persuade the Martin County Commission not to file a lawsuit aimed at stopping the release of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River. ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Build the skyway
Opinion /Miami Herald /Aug 24
Building two bridges totaling three miles of elevated roadway on the Tamiami Trail instead of a seamless 11-mile skyway may appear to be the best compromise that the U.S. Corps of Engineers can contrive to resolve a decade-old conflict involving contentious stakeholders. ...

Nature's Revenge - New York Times
Editorial /New York Times /Aug 30
The damage caused by a hurricane like Katrina is almost always called a natural disaster. But it is also unnatural, in the sense that much of it is self-inflicted. New Orleans is no exception, and while the city has been spared a direct hit from the storm, its politicians and planners must rethink the bad policies that contributed to the city's vulnerability. ...

St. Lucie Estuary still 'going downhill'
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Aug 30
Just because water managers have lowered the discharges from Lake Okeechobee doesn't mean the St. Lucie Estuary is on its way to recovery, river activists said Monday. ...

Rare South Florida plants threatened
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Aug 29
The biggest threat is easy to see but difficult to overcome.Much of the forest that nurtured them was bulldozed decades ago, and it has dwindled since to less than 2 percent of its original size -- despite protections the county adopted in the late 1980s. ...

Hurricane takes its toll on sea turtles, alligators, butterflies
David Fleshler /Sun Sentinel /Aug 27
Hurricane Katrina washed away sea turtle eggs, tore holes in beaches and drowned alligator nests in the Everglades.But scientists and environmental officials expect most of the impact to be temporary. ...

Dangerous liaisons
Michael Canan /TCPalm /Aug 31
Alligator harvest season begins Thursday in Florida, and local hunters will stalk the waters in Lake Okeechobee, at several approved sites in Indian River County and in other areas around the state. ...

A grim reminder of 1928 chaos
Howard Goodman /Sun Sentinel /Sep 4
The worst hurricane ever known to blow through Palm Beach County came in 1928. It was a hell of wind and water, and it killed about 2,500 people. It still stands as one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. ...

Perspective: Our disappearing wetlands
Julie Hauserman /St Petersburg Times /Sep 4
In 1993, a dredging boat named the Katrina - really, that was its name - started a six-year project south of Morgan City, La., to restore destroyed coastal wetlands. The dredging project cost us federal taxpayers $2.6-million, and it helped only a fraction of the ruined wetlands south of New Orleans. ...

Comprehensive reef study has worldwide implications
AP /Orlando Sentinel /Sep 6
The data will show scientists for the first time the health of the entire reef -- about 300 miles from Martin County to the Dry Tortugas -- and identify the healthiest areas that are least affected by bleaching, the loss of corals' vibrant color. ...

End of the suburban commute?
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Sep 6
How much more does the price of gas have to climb to end this nation's infatuation with sprawl? ...



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