Environmental science advances in South Florida
Diane Noserale /Sun Herald /Oct 19
The U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University and the University of Florida will begin a new phase Friday in scientific cooperation in the Greater Everglades Restoration -- signing an agreement that creates the South Florida Science Consortium, the USGS announced Monday. The consortium will facilitate collaboration and expand the capabilities of the four research facilities in the Greater Everglades Restoration, the largest environmental restoration in the world and the largest public works project in U.S. history. The area includes the entire South Florida region, from Lake Kissimmee to the Florida Keys, and encompasses a wide variety of unique environments, such as the Everglades, Florida Bay and the coral reef system of the Florida Keys. To effectively restore the area, human activities need to be appropriately balanced with those of the ec ...

Engineers' fix for Everglades restoration is in the pipeline
curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Oct 21
The Everglades needs more water. Lake Okeechobee often has too much of it. But the water lapping at the big lake's leaky dike has become sopolluted from surrounding farms, ranches and development that letting it flow straight into the Everglades would hurt more than help. Now federal engineers are floating a fix for one of the biggest problems in Everglades restoration: a $1 billion-plus, 30-mile-plus pipeline across and -- the key feature -- under the Everglades muck. It's supposed to work this way: The pipeline, buried in a canal already scheduled to be filled in, would deliver lake water directly to western Miami-Dade County canals, where it would be used to recharge wellfields. The pipeline will leave sensitive sawgrass marshes untouched and untainted. The Everglades, meanwhile, would get water filtered through 40,000 acres of marshes in western Palm Beach Cou ...

Disaster planners focus anew on Lake Okeechobee, Miami area
AP /Bradenton Herald /Oct 23
MIAMI - Disaster planners will use $4 million in federal money to map out preparations for two catastrophic Florida hurricane scenarios: the failure of the dike around Lake Okeechobee and the impact of a powerful Category 5 storm in the Miami area. "Florida is the most vulnerable state in the country for large hurricanes," said David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Paulison told reporters Monday at the National Hurricane Center that airborne lasers will be used to create maps around Lake Okeechobee to provide a more accurate picture of where flooding might occur and how fast the water might rise. That, in turn, will be used by state and local planners to determine which areas to evacuate and how to provide recovery resources if a breach of the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike appears likely in thefuture, he said. About 45,000 peop ...

S. Florida's wading birds are increasing in number
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Oct 25
Wading birds, elegant symbols of the Everglades, appear in the midst of a remarkable rebound. An annual survey found nearly 55,000 nests in the Everglades andsurrounding nature areas this season -- the second time in four years breeding has reached levels approaching the 1940s, when flocks of white ibis, snowy egret and other birds could fill a marsh sky. And that's a ''conservative estimate,'' said Mark Cook, a seniorenvironmental scientist with the South Florida Water Management District, which compiles the South Florida Wading Bird Report that was released this week. ''This could have been one of the best years we've had,'' he said. There may have been as many as 70,000 nests of nine wading species, if the estimates were adjusted for new survey methods, Cook said. That would match a 2002 total that stunned biologists and documented a gargantuan gathering unsee ...

Cloud Grove developers propose refuge for birds
Suzanne Wentley /TCPalm /Oct 26
FORT PIERCE — An old, square-mile-sized reservoir in the proposed Cloud Grove development could be transformed into a wetland home for rare birds, thanks to a deal reached by Audubon of Florida scientists and Cloud Grove developers. The restoration, which will benefit an endangered bird called the snail kite, also will improve the quality of water flowing from the 5,000-acre property along the St. Lucie-Indian River county line. The plans — mentioned briefly in an application submitted this week bydevelopers Lennar Corp. and Centex Homes — are part of a growing trend for land developers to improve the value of their projects by adding more environmental work than required, St. Lucie County officials said Wednesday."We're seeing it more now than we have in the past," said Vanessa Bessey, the county's environmental resource director. "It's because developers are ...

$19 million for waterway projects sought from state
Rachel Simmonsen /Palm Beach Post /Oct 27
When state lawmakers reconvene in Tallahassee next year, they'll get their biggest request yet from a group of agencies aiming to restore the St. Lucie Estuary and the Indian River Lagoon. The St. Lucie River Issues Team will ask for more than $19 million to help pay for 29 projects in Martin and St. Lucie counties that include dredging a waterway and upgrading local drainage systems, as well as studies of things like nutrient levels in tributaries and discharges from Lake Okeechobee. The request amounts to nearly $3 million more than lawmakers allotted this year for the team, which comprises 17 state, local and federal agencies and groups like the St. Lucie River Initiative and the Rivers Coalition. "I personally believe that having the consensus of 17 different groups really shows how important these projects are," Kathy LaMartina, a program coordinator with the South Florida Water ...

Officials move to protect Fla. habitat of endangered bird
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Nov 1
MIAMI - Federal wildlife managers want to designate 71,000 acresstraddling western Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve as "critical habitat" for an endangered bird called the Cape Sable seaside sparrow. Though now home only to a small fraction of the population - 112 of the 3,088 birds in this year's estimate - federal scientists sayit's a historic breeding ground and the largest remaining swath suitable for one of Florida's rarest species. But the plan drew immediate fire from the Miccosukee Tribe, which argued the designation would muck up the $11 billion Everglades restoration effort, which is supposed to raise water levels in the seasonally dry marl prairies where the birds build nests less than a foot off the ground. Joette Lorion Rice, a spokeswoman for the tribe, said the plan would perpetuate a water-management scheme that, according to th ...

Refuge to build new offices, visitor center
Julie Waresh /Palm Beach Post /Nov 1
The Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge west of Boynton Beach is finalizing details this month for a new $4 million headquarters and visitor center. It can't come soon enough for the aging center, where buckets are used to catch leaks whenever it rains. NEW EXHIBITS $600,000 worth of interactive exhibits are planned for the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge's new visitor center: History and geology timeline: An exhibit of Everglades history, management and mismanagement. Benefits of wetlands: An interactive question and answer exhibit. ...

Florida alligator comeback may ease hunting rules
Michael Peltier /Scotsman /Nov 1
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - The once-endangered alligator has made such a phenomenal comeback in Florida that state wildlife officials are consideringmaking it fair game once again. Once hunted to dangerously low levels and displaced by urban development, the "gator" population in the state is now estimated at 1 million, or one alligator for every 18 Florida residents Increasing numbers of gators and people make increasing encounters more likely. At least two people died in alligator attacks this year. Before that, there had only been 18 fatal alligator attacks in Florida since 1948. The population boom is prompting state wildlife officials to reconsider hunting restrictions that continued to protect the species after the American alligator came off the federal endangered list in 1987. In December, the state government will be asked to approve proposed chan ...

State may downgrade gators to 'game' and allow killing by homeowners
Brian Skoloff /Sun Sentinel /Oct 31
WEST PALM BEACH -- State wildlife officials have developed several potentialchanges to Florida's alligator management program, including removing the reptile from its list of imperiled species and allowing homeowners to deal with nuisance gators themselves. The proposals come after the first broad review of the alligator management program in its 20-year history, developed through public input over a 10-dayperiod in September. A draft proposal was posted on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Web site Monday. The commission will hear the options at its December meeting and will make recommendations to state scientists. Some of the new rules could take affect by late next year. State alligator coordinator Harry Dutton said Tuesday that further public input is also needed before anything takes affect. Officials estimate there are up to 2 million all ...

State should nix idea of letting people shoot reptiles in their backyards
Editorial /Florida Today /Nov 2
There are good ideas and there are stupid ideas. Here's a good idea: State wildlife officials may overhaul Florida's alligator management plan by removing the reptiles from the imperiled species list and expandinghunting privileges. That makes perfect sense and deserves approval, considering there are about 2 million gators in Florida and the species has come storming back from the brink of extinction in the 1960s. Here's a stupid idea: As part of the overhaul, the state could lift restrictions that make it illegal for a person to kill a nuisance gator on their property. Instead, they must call officials who send a trapper to remove the reptile. This notion should be scrapped fast, because it would open the door towho-knows-what kind of backyard mayhem between people -- many, no doubt, armed with loaded weapons -- and the dangerous reptiles. The current policy ...