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SWFL ENews:
Sep 21 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

National parks grapple with surge of illegal off-road vehicles
Mark Clayton /Christian Science Mo/Sep 7
The Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida is crisscrossed with so many illegal swamp-buggy ruts - more than 23,000 miles of them - that park officials in August began limiting off-road vehicles to 400 miles of trails in order to protect the Florida panther and the preserve. ...

Researchers hope small fish provide big answers
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Sep 12
The success of Everglades restoration can be measured in fish. That's the hope of researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Audubon of Florida. ...

Fleischmann family likely to reject offer for zoo land
Laura Layden /Naples Daily News /Sep 15
As the Trust for Public Land presented Collier County's second bid for more than 166 acres of prime land in the heart of Naples that includes the region's zoo, the owners appeared ready to reject it. ...

Oysters being used to save Naples Bay
staff /NBC2 /Sep 17
"The idea is to try and put the right salinity back into the bay, so that Naples Bay can become a thriving ecosystem again," said Mike Savarese, co-leader of the restoration project. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Experts: Fla's rough weather will cause challenge
Pam Hayford /The News Press /Sep 7
Not since the 1930s has the weather been this bad in Florida — record rainfall, high levels of water in Lake Okeechobee and a hurricane season that may be among the worst in history. ...

Some afraid water from New Orleans will damage Gulf
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Sep 18
The Gulf of Mexico's deep currents follow a path that wiggles and jiggles every year as it loops through waters hundreds of miles offshore. Oceanographers call it the Loop Current, and its gyrations are getting more attention this year, for the same reason nothing along the northern Gulf Coast will ever be the same: Hurricane Katrina. ...

Local officials worry that dead fish will drive tourists away
RIDDHI TRIVEDI-ST. CLAIR /Naples Daily News /Sep 17
For the last week, large numbers of dead fish have been washing up on Lee and Collier County beaches, and tourism officials are worried how that will impact tourism. Fortunately, unlike a 2003 red algae problem that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in beach clean-ups and some demands for hotel room refunds, this fish kill came at what is typically the slowest time of the year for tourism. ...

NOAA program to track red tide in Southwest Florida
KATE SPINNER /Naples Daily News /Sep 16
As early as this fall, one of these Brevebuster vessels — named after the noxious red tide algae Karenia brevis — will start cruising off the coast, sucking in Gulf waters and transmitting information to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ...

Red Tide Blamed for Fish Kills in Florida
AP /Washington Post /Sep 13
A tenacious red tide bloom that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico off Tampa Bay all year now is being blamed for recent fish kills 100 miles off southwest Florida, state biologists said. ...

Red tide suspected in fish kills at Collier, south Lee beaches
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Sep 10
Cleanup crews are picking up the aftermath of a growing fish kill on Collier County and Naples beaches this weekend. "They'll work until the job's done," Jack Wert, tourism director for Collier County, said Friday afternoon. Dead fish began washing up on city beaches Thursday and, by Friday morning, had washed up on beaches north of the Naples city limits and in Bonita Springs. ...

Better red tide warnings needed, reps say
Greg Martin /Sun Herald /Sep 18
This week, there were reports of a red tide bloom that washed a 200-pound grouper up onto a Naples beach.Area red tide scientists say that, despite the increasing drumbeat of stories about red tide, data is lacking to say with certainty whether the blooms are increasing, or whether human activities are having an impact.But regardless of the cause, scientists agree red tide is having a harmful effe ...

Florida red tide worst in years
AP /Tallahasee Democrat /Sep 14
From the Big Bend to the Tampa Bay area, this has been a bad year for red tide.A tenacious red-tide bloom that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico off Tampa Bay all year now is being blamed for recent fish kills 100 miles south of Lee and Collier counties, state biologists said. ...

Coalition to discuss damaged Gulf's future
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Sep 14
With signs of the Gulf of Mexico's ailing health on full display, a new coalition is meeting today in Sarasota in search of cures. More than 100 residents, elected officials, marine researchers, and others are expected to line up at Mote Marine Laboratory's headquarters to help shape the way federal and state leaders fix the Gulf. ...

River toxins prompt action
Jamie Page /The News Press /Sep 21
Concerned with potentially harmful levels of toxins in the Caloosahatchee River, commissioners have given Lee County staffers two weeks to develop recommendations to deal with the issue. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Shame of '28 Hurricane echos loudly
Fred Grimm /Miami Herald /Sep 8
Everybody knew the dike was vulnerable to a hurricane. That if the Big One hit, flood waters would burst through the earthen embankment in a torrent of death and ruin.But politicians balked at the cost. Rather than spend the money to shore up the dike, they gambled that the hurricanes would go elsewhere. They bet against the inevitable. ...

Hendry County seeing signs of a population boom
staff /NBC2 /Sep 8
City leaders say it is a sign that communities in Hendry County are beginning to see a population boom. Clewiston, an area known for sugar and spice could soon be welcoming new residents. ...

Algae in St. Lucie River creates stink
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Sep 9
"It stinks to high heaven, smells just like a septic tank," she said. "We're trying to figure out where it's coming from." When she brought a baggie full of the brown stuff into the Martin County Health Department this week, health officials said they didn't even have to test it. Instead of worrying about a leaking sewage line, health officials said Pessolano's report was just one of many they've ...

Lake O and Katrina hurricanes teach the same tragic lessons
Jill Barton /Tuscaloosa News /Sep 8
The devastation wrought by Katrina and the Lake Okeechobee hurricanes are sadly similar. In 1928, Florida officials knew a big storm could flood the farming communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee with devastating consequences. ...

Project to quench thirst in 'Glades
Neil Santaneillo /Sun Sentinel /Sep 18
The drinking water pouring from faucets in rural 'Glades communities has never been anything to boast about. It smelled. It had an unsightly tint and a more troubling taint, emerging from taps with chemicals linked to cancer. Moreover, it was costlier to generate for the region's low-income customers than the drinking water produced closer to the coast. ...

Advocates say sugar sours St. Lucie River
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Sep 18
As Lake Okeechobee swells, it's business as usual in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Within the patchwork of canals separating field after field of sugar cane south of the lake, workers on a recent day cut the green, fluffy crops with mechanical harvesters. ...

Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council dives into water quality debate
Jim Turner /TCPalm /Sep 17
Another regional planning board has waded into the fight for healthier water in the Lake Okeechobee system. Meanwhile, local taxpayers might initially have to pay for the water quality projects the federal government has been slow in funding, the vice chairman of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council said Friday. Frustrated by funding delays, the planning council agreed to send state and fe ...

Lake meeting gets heated; SFWMD, COE under fire from coalition
Pete Gawda /NewsZap /Sep 05
Things got a little heated at Thursday's meeting of the Coalition for Responsible Management of Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries and the Lake Worth Lagoon as Martin County Commissioner Sarah Hear expressed her dissatisfaction with water managers. The coalition is made up of county commissioners representing Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Martin, Lee, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, High ...

Lake Okeechobee much better prepared to deal with hurricane flooding
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinel /Sep 15
The corps said the two- to three-story earthen dike likely would not fail the way New Orleans' flood walls and levees did, from water "overtopping" it."We do not expect overtopping … as was the case in New Orleans," said Stephen Duba, chief of engineering for the Army Corps' Jacksonville District office. "We don't have a similar situation." ...

Improve plan to handle a break in Lake O dike
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Sep 10
A break in the dike around Lake Okeechobee isn't likely, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers insists, but emergency planners in Palm Beach and Martin counties are correct to look at "What if?" contingencies. Planners also should invite Okeechobee, Glades and Hendry county officials and representatives of Belle Glade, South Bay, Clewiston and other communities to talk about what's needed to keep the 4 ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Rainy, stormy cycle caused by warming in Atlantic has water district making adj ustments
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinel /Sep 8
South Florida is seeing a rare convergence of extreme weather and climate phenomena that might occur at this magnitude once every 50 to 100 years, water managers said Wednesday. Helping to fuel the combination of extremes is a slight, natural warming of the North Atlantic Ocean that could last 60 to 80 years, the South Florida Water Management District said.For the future, that could mean, on aver ...

Cost, scope of growth study splits Martin commissioners
Eve Samples /Palm Beach Post /Sep 7
A high-stakes study of Martin County's growth hasn't started yet, but already it is triggering dissention among the county commission. ...

Louisiana wetlands serve as warning, experts say
Matthew Waite & Craig Pittman /St Pete Times /Sep 6
Using satellite imagery, the St. Petersburg Times found that Florida has lost 84,000 acres of wetlands to urban development over the past 15 years.Unlike Florida, Louisiana's wetlands weren't replaced by subdivisions and strip malls. ...

Canals may be saved along with 'Glades
Steve Waters /Sun Sentinel /Sep 16
From the beginning, the Everglades restoration plan did not take recreation into consideration. The goal was to restore historic sheet flow to the 'Glades, which had been a slow-moving river through the grass from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. ...

Water managers threaten Martin
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Sep 15
Alluding to Martin County commission legal discussions as "infantile," state water managers played hardball Wednesday, threatening to pull the St. Lucie Canal reservoir off a list of fast-tracked projects if commissioners sued over the poor health of the St. Lucie Estuary. ...

Martin shelves Lake O lawsuit idea
Rachel Harris /Palm Beach Post /Sep 14
Martin County commissioners agreed Tuesday to hold off on sending letters of intent to sue water managers over discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River.But they haven't dropped the idea of a lawsuit. ...

Sides differ on elevating Tamiami Trial to improve Everglades water flow
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinel /Sep 14
"If government is really serious about restoring the Everglades, they need to build the skyway," said Jonathan Ullman, a Sierra Club senior field representative. "If they're not, they might as well pack up and go home." ...

We can compel our government to act
Mark D Perry /TCPalm /Sep 20
We have entrusted our political representatives with responsibility to enact laws and establish agencies to regulate and protect our lakes, coastal estuaries, lagoons and nearshore reefs. We should demand they accept the responsibility and take action now to stop the destruction of these valuable resources. Each can take specific action: ...

Senators push lagoon rescue after Katrina
Amie Parnes /Sun Sentinel /Sep 19
Two weeks before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid with an urgent request. ...

Future floods are 'when,' not 'if,' occurrences
Mike Thomas /Orlando Sentinel /Sep 13
If New Orleans is a bowl, then Florida is a pancake. This creates a flood hazard because water moves slowly on a flat surface. ...

Feds put block on S. Dade community
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Sep 10
Federal regulators have temporarily halted developers from filling hundreds of acres of wetlands at the proposed site of Florida City Commons, a step certain to complicate and even potentially derail plans for the controversial community. ...

Amid conflicting agendas, open the Tamiami drains
Editorial /TCPalm /Sep 13
Almost everyone agrees the unbearable conditions in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers would be improved if the "natural flow" of water through the Everglades could be restored. ...

Everglades plan criticized
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Sep 21
A Bush administration letter critical of local Everglades restoration efforts has officials with the Army Corps of Engineers scurrying to save federal funding for the project. ...



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