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SWFL ENews: Jan 26, 06 SWFL ENews:
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BIG CYPRESS

Feeding Alligators
Editorial /Naples Daily News /Jan 19
Some people just dont get it. They think that a deadly alligator attack cannot happen to them, or theyre just ignorant of the danger. Consider the seasonal influx of gawkers at a watery alligator enclave on East U.S. 41 at Turner River Road. That is in the western end of the Big Cypress National Preserve. Florida Wildlife officers are doing extra duty there these days to keep spectators at a safe distance and remind them to never, ever feed gators. That can help erase gators natural fear of humans and lead to the next senseless,vicious attack. Southwest Florida has endured a series of such attacks. In 2004 alone, two people were killed by gators in Lee County. Wildlife officers say they are so frustrated they had to issue about 10 citations in Collier year to people who insisted on feeding alligators, thereby putting themselves and others in harms way. Ther ...

Deputies put the squeeze on illegal berry pickers
Leon Fooksman /Sun Sentinel /Jan 18
Off the highway and deep in the brush, a trail of discarded water and soda bottles leads to prickly, rattlesnake-shading stalks of saw palmetto plants. The garbage is a telltale sign of migrant poachers slicing their way with machetes into the thicket of protected public lands to steal olive-shaped berries from the shrub-like palms and feed a multi-million dollar business that offers relief to those with prostate problems. "There's a lot of money to be made out here," Palm Beach County Sheriff's Deputy Charles Robinson said, standing amid enormous fields of the plant in remote county-owned land in northern Palm Beach County, where pickers are known to strike. "If you get a crew of 15 people, you can come in and out of here with huge sacks of the berries." Intruders are illegally picking millions of berries every year from county, state and federal preserves and park ...

Hunters renew push for access
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Jan 17
Lyle McCandless, an avid hunter, wants Southwest Florida sportsmen to lay aside their usual weapons for a new one: the power of numbers. McCandless, a former president of the Collier Sportsmen and Conservation Club, is forming a new group to renew the push for more access at Big Cypress National Preserve. More than five years ago, preserve managers restricted swamp buggies, hunters' favored mode of transportation, to designated trails and eliminated existingtrails in the most fragile areas. They went too far, McCandless said. "We've got to go in there and slug it out," said McCandless, a 62-year-old LaBelle resident. "We need to make sure it stays a preserve. We need to makesure reasonable access stays in there." He has recruited a score of hunters who feel the same way, he said. Collectively, they are known as the Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance. The group's founding c ...

Everglades homesteader finally packs up
staff /Naples Daily News /Jan 13
NAPLES, Fla. - A man who fought for years to keep his home in the rural Everglades finally packed up to move, acknowledging he'll have to leave some of his belongings behind on land the state claimed for an environmental restoration project. Jesse Hardy, 70, a disabled former Navy Seal, reluctantly reached a settlement and got a check for $4.95 million last summer for thesecluded property on which he's lived for three decades. He'll be moving to a bigger, nicer house, but he said that doesn't make him feel any better about leaving. "I will never see the turkeys run up and down the road again," Hardy told the Naples Daily News on Thursday. "I will never see my deer feed in my yard again....I will never be able to freely do what I wanted to do." State officials went to court to take the land using eminent domain, saying the 160-acre property sits in the path of an ...

Naples Bay mangrove replanting project struggling to sprout
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Jan 20
A pilot project to replant mangroves along Naples Bay has not had much more success than Mother Nature. Crews from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida planted 1,114 red and white mangrove seedlings at various spots around Naples Bay in two planting cyclesbetween 2000 and 2002.Of those, only 95 red mangrove seedlings have survived, or about 9 percent, according to monitoring results reported in a December 2005 report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the Conservancy a $25,000 grant in 2000 to conduct the pilot project. The results illustrate the high hurdles scientists will have to jump to regrow mangroves as part of a larger effort to restore Naples Bay. It will take more than a green thumb. Conservancy researchers have estimated that Naples Bay has lost some 70 percent of its mangrove forest to development. Mangrove loss has d ...

Marco sewer plan
Editorial /Naples Daily News /Jan 26
When the Conservancy of Southwest Florida last year launched a systematic review of Southwest Florida estuaries for water quality and habitat, the idea was for the data to attract attention and be used. The Conservancy hoped that would mean citizens would be watching for updates for improvements or declines. Fast-forward to today on Marco Island, where the Conservancy backs theinstallation of central sewers that opponents say are unnecessary and expensive. The civic debate is already heated and both sides of the matter are bound tolook for supportive evidence to curry public favor. The Conservancys report card on waterways is coming into play, with sewer foes citing A grades plus for water quality and minus for habitat in the Ten Thousand Islands as proof for their side. That is a reach. ...

Corkscrew Swamps nesting woodstork population looking great
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Jan 26
FLYING ABOVE CORKSCREW SWAMP SANCTUARY From 500 feet in the air, the clusterof woodstorks resembled grains of sugar. To Jason Lauritsen, the sight was just as sweet. Oh, look at this. Nice, Lauritsen gushed as the Cessna 172 rolled to the right to give the four passengers a better view. Its not a big colony yet, but itslooking great. Theyre making use of some trees they havent used in the last five years. Lauritsen, a science coordinator at the Audubons Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, saw Wednesday reason to hope that this years woodstork nesting season would not be a repeat of last years catastrophe. In 2005, the endangered birds produced 338 nests but no chicks. Less than a month into this years season, Lauritsen counted about 450 possible nests. That number could drop after he eyes digital pictures of the flocks to eliminate those that are still building nests or g ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

SW Florida's future rests in Babcock, Lake O decisions
Opinion /News Press /Jan 06
Two of the most important issues in Southwest Florida will be featured at meetings this week, providing people an excellent chance to learn and to have their say. The management of Lake Okeechobee water and the proposal to build a new city on 17,000 acres of the Babcock Ranch northeast of Fort Myers will be the topics. Some of the information will be technical, but delving into such material is the bread and butter of citizen involvement in this area. We have technical problems. On both of these issues, the management of Lake Okeechobee and the fate of Babcock Ranch, public involvement has been crucial. We should not let up now.Wednesday, the Lake Okeechobee Committee of the South Florida Water Management District's Water Resources Advisory Commission will meet from 9 a.m. until 3:15 p.m. in Fort Myers to get an update on the lake water operations and — per ...

Lee commission backs Lake O releases
Jamie Page /News Press /Jan 24
Although Lake Okeechobee water releases aren’t typically sent east or west this time of year, lake managers are recommending low level releases into the Caloosahatchee estuary, and Lee County commissioners backed that decision today. While commissioners are frequently seen opposing lake releases into the estuary because it harms aquatic life, this is something they have asked in past years of the South Florida Water Management District, which manages the lake. Currently, the lake is almost down to 15 feet and no discharges are being done to the east or west coasts. The release schedule is decided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, and for this time of year, it’s not practice to release water to the east or west, said Kurt Harclerode, spokesman for the district. Because no freshwater is coming into the Caloosahatchee estuary, its saltwater levels are r ...

Lee calls for Lake O reservoir filter
Jamie Page /Naples Daily News /Jan 11
While a west coast reservoir is being designed to store Lake Okeechobee water releases, some county commissioners say it lacks water quality components and want it halted for now.Some Lee commissioners say a natural filtration system needs to be added to the design of the C-43 reservoir to be built near LaBelle. It's 30 percent into the design phase. Commissioner Ray Judah suggested a "filtration marsh" — a separate pond with natural vegetation that extracts harmful nutrients from the waterbefore it moves into the reservoir and ultimately into the Caloosahatchee River. On the east coast, the C-44 reservoir will include this type of stormwater treatment area, said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District."We are just asking for equal treatment on the west coast," Judah said. Adding a filtration marsh would mean acquiring more than 4 ...

Babcock Ranch water promises dry up for Charlotte County
Sara Lubbes /Herald Tribune /Jan 11
PORT CHARLOTTE -- The promise of 10 million gallons of water per day for Charlotte County sweetened the deal for a new city at Babcock Ranch. But the county utility director says Charlotte will probably never see a drop of the Babcock water. "It's going to be an uphill battle, at least, and very likely something that will never happen," said David Schlobohm, who delivered the bad news to the County Commission on Tuesday. What the revelation means for plans for a new city at Babcock is unknown. But one thing's for sure: Water is a hot-button political issue in Florida. Charlotte's problem with access to the water stems from state policies that dictate how water can move between water district lines.Babcock Ranch falls within the South Florida Water Management District, while the major developments in Charlotte County sit in the Southwest Florida Water Management District.Char ...

Alternatives to Lake O releases demanded
Kevin Lollar /News Press /Jan 26
Citing environmental degradation, loss of tourist dollars and emotional distress, Lee County residents Wednesday demanded alternatives to harmful releases of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River. About 150 people attended a meeting of the South Florida Water Management District's Water Resources Advisory Committee to discuss Okeechobee releases. After last year's rainy season, heavy releases from the lake have upset the balance of fresh and salt water in the Caloosahatchee estuary, which has changed the dynamics of estuary life. Water from Okeechobee also carries large amounts of nutrients, which can cause two types of algal blooms. One type can cause fish kills; the other can smother seagrasses. Bad water quality cost Lee County between $4.1 million and $4.6 million in tourist dollars from September through November 2004, said ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Future drainage from Lake Okeechobee questioned
Suzanne Wentley /Sun Sentinel /Jan 24
In Belle Glade, the first Howard Johnson hotel will be built this year. A new water treatment plant is under construction, along with two large housing developments and a new business park to bring in jobs. But those redevelopment plans don't fit in with calls from east and west coast officials and activists to move more Lake Okeechobee water into the agricultural fields surrounding the communities. On Monday, officials from the targeted area's towns took a tough stance against what they say will increase flooding and hinder economic growth. "Some communities simply don't realize there are people who live over here, and they may not be aware of the consequences of their decisions," said Houston Tate, Belle Glade's city manager. "They don't realize there are many products this area provides ... that could affect them in their gated communities." Tate and with ...

Lake Water Releases
Editorial /Naples Daily News /Jan 16
In response to protests from Lee County, the South Florida Water Management District says it might be able to reduce Caloosahatchee River pollution by building reservoirs for Lake Okeechobee overflow. That would mean storing water above ground rather than releasing it to the west, causing toxic blue-green algae and threatening Southwest Florida tourism. Lee County and other interested parties, such as Sanibel Island, ought to bepleased that their newly vocal protestations are getting attention. At the same time, thank goodness Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah is troubleshooting the details of that response. He rightfully wonders whether those reservoirs could become pools of hot, stagnant, nutrient-laden water that in the long run would cause and breed more pollution rather than less — unless there are assurances the water would be cleansed before ever heading west. Judah' ...

Belle Glade envisions lock for Lake O to boost economy, attract developers
Mitra Malek /Palm Beach Post /Jan 15
There isn't much to behold at the waterfront in western Palm Beach County. That's because you can't see or reach Lake Okeechobee without crossing over a three-storyridge. The upper canals that once carried people, produce and yard goods from the lake tothe Atlantic are dormant, but for the debris lodged near concrete slabs where wooden boat locks swung open and closed decades ago. But water is there nonetheless, and waterfront and waterways seem to offer more perks than land alone. So a vision is taking shape out west: Build a boat lock in Belle Glade so folks can access the lake easily and beautify the old canals with their historic gates. All of that could entice developers, spurring economic growth in the county's most depressed region. At least that's what government leaders and residents are hoping. "We have to be offensive," Belle Glade City Manager Houston Ta ...

Big Trouble on the Big O
Chris Christian /Florida Sportsman /Jan 06
Recent aerial detail of Lake Okeechobee, near Clewisston, is nearly unrecognizabnle to locals. High water has snuffed out aquatic grasses that once thrived among these islands. From far left is sugar country, U.S. Highway 27, the levee and the Rim Canal.Each January, state biologists run a trawl sampling on Lake Okeechobee to assess the black crappie population. They pull the trawl net six or seven times, a cycle lasting about 15 minutes. The average total catch is around 500 crappie, with the norm being 50 to 75 percent juvenile fish and the rest harvestable adults. That indicates the population is healthy and in balance. That didn’t happen in 2005. “We pulled eight times,” says biologist Steven Gornak of the Florida Freshwater Commission, who has been working on the Big O since 1992, “and found a fraction ofthe crappie we normally get. We pulled eight more times an ...

Mack to seek Lake O funds
Jamie Page /News Press /Jan 06
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV assured Lee County officials Wednesday that he would push for federal dollars to pay for two key short-term solutions to restrict water releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River. The Fort Myers Republican vowed to commit several staff members to studying the need for more water storage around the big lake. But he asked county commissioners to agree on how to attack the issue and get plenty of local support so that he could impress other members of Congress with the urgency of the issue. Commissioners want something done fast to limit the water releases, which have been blamed for dirtying the river and killing plants and wildlife. They asked Mack to support funding for solutions that would be much faster than the planned construction of three reservoirs.One is a $75 million project to install forward pumps so the lake still ...

Experts describe cancer-causing pollutants caused by treatment for agricultural runoff
David Guest /Earth Justice Founda/Jan 12
Miami, FL-- An expert today testified in federal court that polluted water from nearby farms and towns pumped into Lake Okeechobee leads tocancer-causing poisons that are infecting drinking water supplies for thousands of south Florida residents. Conservation groups are challenging the pumping of polluted water into Lake Okeechobee in federal court. In a trial that began January 9 in Miami, former state regulator Herb Zebuth testified today that pollution runoff from nearby sugar plantations and urban run-off water is pumped directly into Lake Okeechobee. The lake is Florida’s largest surface drinking water supplies. When water is treated with chlorine for drinking, dangerous trihalomethanes (THMs) are formed. THMs increase the risk of bladder and colon cancer, and may belinked to heart, lung, kidney, liver and central nervous system damage. In August 2001, when polluted wat ...

Trial opens challenging Okeechobee water pumping
staff /SP Times /Jan 10
MIAMI - A trial began Monday in a federal lawsuit by environmental groups and an Indian tribe challenging the decades-old practice by state water managers ofpumping contaminated water into Lake Okeechobee. They say the South Florida Water Management District should have to get federal permits for the pumping under the federal Clean Water Act, which could force the district to clean the polluted water or send it elsewhere."Lake Okeechobee is a drinking water supply and ecological treasure," said David Guest, representing the Florida Wildlife Federation. "These pumping operations are ruining the water supply and threatening to kill the lake." Since the 1970s, the water district has pumped water from nearby sugar-growing lands into the lake for flood control and to boost the lake's water supply during drought. The discharge contains agricultural chemicals and runoff from ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Critics not sure if Foley deserves environmental award
Jim Turner /TC Palm /Jan 25
STUART — The selection of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley as Martin County's second annual Everglades/Indian River Lagoon Champion Award has drawn some fire from critics who question his receiving donations from sugar giants. A small protest — perhaps comprising just a single woman — is expected to greet county commissioners and the Treasure Coast Republican before tomorrow's 9:30 a.m. award ceremony in the commission chambers. Karl Wickstrom, founder of Stuart-based Florida Sportsman Magazine and a monthly columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, acknowledged Foley's support for the Indian River Lagoon Restoration plan, but suggested "Everglades" should be removed from the county award. "How can we give an award to someone who's a devoted giver-and-taker with Big Sugar and is a major player in maintaining the status quo?" Wickstrom asked. "Although he's done some g ...

Everglades conference set as doubts on project grow
Rachel Simmonsen /Palm Beach Post /Jan 23
Within the environmental community, their interests are as varied as a palette of paint: cleaning up the St. Lucie River, saving bird habitat, protecting the oceans. But when members of the Everglades Coalition get together this week at the Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort, it will be with a single goal in mind: pushing ahead on the Everglades restoration. The coalition — an alliance of about 45 local, state and national environmental groups — will kick off its 21st annual conference Thursday, more than five years after Congress approved the $10.5 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. "We all kind of have our regional focuses, but this pretty much pulls together everybody," said Mark Perry, co-chairman of the conference and executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society. The conferences also regularly draw politicians and government o ...

Are the 'Glades getting better? Groups hope so
suzanne Wentley /Sun Sentinel /Jan 22
So, are we making progress? That's what activists from 49 state and national organizations will ask whenthey meet on Hutchinson Island this week for the 21st annual Everglades Coalition conference. During a four-day conference beginning on Thursday, the coalition members will hold panel discussions with state and federal water managers, as well as hear from speakers such as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Bruce Babbitt, the former secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. "It's getting everyone in one room and talk about specific issues dealing with comprehensive Everglades restoration," said Mark Perry, the executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society and co-chairman of the coalition. "There's a network of groups that get advocacy going. They interface ...

Stuart Pimm to Receive Award
staff /Duke University pape/Jan 17
The Society of Conservation Biology (SCB) has named Stuart Pimm,Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, as the recipient of the 2006 Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award. ...

In Martin, growth pressure on
Sally Swartz /Palm Beach Post /Jan 18
A crowd of about 50 women and a few men listened Monday as two former Martin County commissioners crossed swords in a duel of ideas. At issue: The county's western lands. On the side of making a new plan to develop those lands: Mary Dawson, whose Friends of Martin County — a group of landowners, developers andothers, financed by a benefactor she has refused to reveal — spent several months talking about development ideas. Defending the county's growth plan, which allows 20-acre ranchettes on the land: Maggy Hurchalla, who served 20 years on the Martin commission and is a court-recognized expert on the plan. The discussion at a League of Women Voters meeting, which new county Administrator Duncan Ballantyne attended, was lively. It's a preview of whatMartin residents could be listening to for the next several months. The county decides Feb. 7 whether to go ahead with a $52 ...

It's cool, but 'Glades bass fishing is hot
Steve Waters /Sun Sentinel /Jan 17
If you're into catching numbers of fish, then the Everglades is the place to be.According to Capt. Alan Zaremba of Hollywood, fishing for largemouth bass has been terrific in the canals along Alligator Alley and U.S. Highway 27. Although most of the fish are less than 2.5 pounds, there have been plenty of them. Best of all, the bass were biting topwater lures. George May of Plantation caught more than 30 bass fishing with Zaremba this past week in the finger canals west of Highway 27 using Pop-Rs and Rapalas. The next day, Zaremba and Ted Saunder of Cooper City caught 216 bass fishing with Rat-L-Tops and Rapalas along Alligator Alley west of the Miami Canal. "It's a great time to take the kids fishing out there," said Zaremba, who also had a good day fishing with Joe Schillace of Weston in the lake behindSchillace's house, where they caught 63 largemouths up to 3 ...

Congressional Hearing Examines Health of Florida National Parks
Jason Bennis /USNewsWire /Jan 11
MIAMI, Jan. 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- At a congressional field hearing today at City Hall, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) expressed frustration about the critical funding needs of national parks in Florida. The hearing, hosted by Government Reform, Criminal Justice Subcommittee ChairmanMark Souder (R-Ind.), and attended by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-18-Fla.), was the eighth in a series of congressional hearings to examine the funding needs of America's national parks. "Frankly, I am frustrated by the lack of congressional oversight and a lack of consistent funding to deal with all of the problems facing Florida's national parks," said NPCA National Council Member Nathaniel Reed, who was assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior in the Nixon and Ford administrations. In its written testimony, NPCA raised concern about the ...



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