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SWFL ENews: Dec 1, 2006 SWFL ENews:
Dec 1, 2006 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

Meeting planned tonight on living among panthers
staff /Naples Daily News /Nov 16
Panther experts will offer advice to residents tonight on how to protect themselves and their properties from Florida panthers. A successful breeding program, combined with a shrinking habitat, have driven the endangered Florida panther into communities along Collier County’s urbanfringe. Panthers have attacked livestock or pets in at least six incidents this year, although there are no reports of a Florida panther ever having attacked a human. Golden Gate Estates, particularly the isolated portion just north of Interstate 75, is most at risk, officials said. The sprawling community also sits within a few hours’ walk of the panther refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve, two of the species’ last large chunks of habitat. Panthers once roamed across the Southeast U.S. Their numbers had dwindled to a few dozen before scientists introduced eight female Texas co ...

Preservation of our national parks is a priority we cannot ignore
Bob Youngerman /Citizen Times /Nov 16
In addition, the Park Service is faced with a number of problems, many of which are man-made while others are due to the whims of nature. Traffic plagues parks from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Grand Canyon. Gridlock is the order of the day in peak summer months causing considerable stress on the parks’ eco-systems. One response is to close off stretches of a park to private vehicles, and requiring visitors to ride on clean, quiet propane-powered buses. This has worked particularly well in Utah’s Zion National Park. Off-road vehicles (ORVs) have gouged 23,000 miles of tracks across south Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve. New regulations now limit ORVs to 400 miles of designated trails. Everglades National Park staff estimate that boats have damaged 10,000 acres of seagrass beds that provide crucial habitat for wildlife. Urban sprawl plagues parks from ...

Local forum attempts to find peaceful co-existence between panthers, people
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Nov 17
Golden Gate Estates residents asked pointed questions Thursday night at a forum designed to educate them about how to live peacefully with Florida panthers.About 50 people listened as panther experts described the plight of the endangered cats and offered tips on how to protect themselves and their properties. Some accused officials of not doing enough to thwart aggressive panthers in a year in which there have been six encounters in Collier County. “It’s my property, not the panther’s property,” said Mildred Mercado of Golden Gate Estates. “I paid for it. They didn’t pay for it.” One of the written questions that was read aloud referred to the Florida panther as a “government-sponsored lethal animal.” The sudden rise in panther encounters is due to the growth in both panther and human populations, said Darrell Land, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildli ...

Brushes with Florida big cats on rise
Byron Stout /News Press /Nov 16
An encounter with panthers last spring by 22-year hunting guide Mark Clemons and his client, John Woods, may be the most alarming of all incidents documented by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Clemons and Woods were hunting turkeys on the McDaniel Ranch in HendryCounty when they found themselves encircled by four menacing panthers. Increasing encounters between endangered Florida panthers and people living in rural areas are posing enough concern to wildlife officials to hold a town hall meeting at 7 tonight on how to live safely with the big cats. Although attacks by closely related cougars have occurred in California, no attacks on humans by Florida panthers are known. But since January, there have been six confirmed incidents of of panthers preying on pets and livestock. Those cases involved three panthers, the FWC reported. In 2004, the ...

Down and dirty
Jennifer Brannock /Naples Daily News /Nov 19
Even though she had already spent two hours standing thigh-deep in water, 11-year-old Carter Gerard was skeptical about her group’s next assignment. Rolling up her sleeves, she looked questioningly at her group-mates. “Anyone else wanna do it?” she asked. “I will!” classmate Kathleen Sorbara quickly volunteered. Without a moment’s hesitation, Kathleen, a ballerina who performs at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, plunged her polished fingernailsinto the water, and it disappeared into the black soil. Immediately, the 11-year-old appeared to regret her spontaneity. Kathleen’s face soured as she hesitated to bring the sloppy soil to the surface.“Be a man!” Carter cheered her friend on. With a grunt, Kathleen lifted the muck from the crystal clear swamp water, and the once girlie-girls, all reservations forgotten, grabbed at the gooey sample of earth. ...

Bush, Cabinet seek to change designation of Big Cypress
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Nov 19
Nothing was more controversial in Collier County in 1973 than Florida’s efforts to enact environmental protection rules across hundreds of thousands of the county’s most remote acres. Decades later, state growth regulators who are considering wiping the Big Cypress Area of Critical State Concern off the map have a fight on their hands to keep the rules in place. In a report Friday to Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet, state Department of Community Affairs Secretary Thaddeus Cohen recommended starting the process of dropping the Area of Critical State Concern and leaving the job of environmental protection to the county’s landmark 2002 growth plan. The idea could come up for a Cabinet vote as early as Dec. 5. ...

Seminoles offering slots in remote Big Cypress tent as challenge to Florida
Jon Burstein and David Fleshler /Sun Sentinel /Nov 22
About 20 miles north of Alligator Alley, up a two-lane road that winds past grazing cows, stands the Seminole Tribe's newest casino.Housed in an air-conditioned white tent, it offers 63 slot machines and little else. Three vending machines stand in a corner. The restrooms are in a portable unit out back. At 5:30 p.m. on a Friday, there are no customers, just a manager and two employees. The remote Big Cypress Casino, which isn't listed on the tribe's Web site with the other casinos, is one of the main reasons the Seminoles and Gov. Jeb Bush in April broke off negotiations over a gambling compact. A compact, an agreement governing tribal casinos, would mean bigger profits for the Seminoles, with a share going to the state government. It would allow the tribe to install Las Vegas-style slots at its casinos, in place of bingo-style machines, which typically offer lowe ...

ATV protest planned for Everglades event
staff /Naples Daily News /Nov 27
Top state environmental officials will be greeted by protesters Wednesday at an event marking a milestone in an Everglades restoration project in eastern Collier County. A group of outdoor enthusiasts plans to protest the South Florida Water Management District's failure to meet an Oct. 1, 2005, deadline to find 640 acres of land suitable for an off-roading park. Collier County commissionershave threatened to sue the district and the state's top environmental agencyunless the sides can come to an agreement soon. "We don't want to get rowdy. We want to respect their event. But we want to let them know that we are to be reckoned with," said protest organizer Dennis Bolanos, a 37-year-old Fort Myers resident and avid all-terrain vehicle rider. He estimated that five protesters will be on hand, but there would be more if the event weren't being held during a weekday.Di ...

County wants state protections for Big Cypress preserved
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /Nov 29
Collier County’s support Tuesday for a set of environmental protection rulesacross much of the county’s most remote areas raised new questions about howlong the rules will stay on the state’s books.County commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday to oppose dropping the state’s Big Cypress Area of Critical State Concern designation. Commissioner Frank Halas was absent. The vote did not shut the door completely to removing the designation at some future point, and the state’s Area of Critical State Concern Administrator Clark Turner said after the vote that he would raise the issue with Gov.-elect Charlie Crist after his administration takes office. Tuesday’s vote capped two weeks of uncertainty that started when the state Department of Community Affairs declared the job of protecting the 830,000 acres within the area’s boundaries complete and proposed that Gov. Jeb Bush and the Ca ...

Project will have to wait 10 years
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Nov 28
A wildlife underpass aimed at preventing vehicles from colliding with Florida panthers on U.S. 41 East at the Turner River bridge won't be built for at least a decade, a state transportation official said. The delay isn't sitting well with the wildlife advocacy group that called for the underpass. Seven panther strikes have occurred near the bridge since 1984, six of them since 1996. "It seems like a long time to us because panthers are getting killed there now," said Elizabeth Fleming, the Florida representative of Defenders of Wildlife."But it would probably take that long anyway if they said they were going tobuild that bridge now." Defenders applied for a $4 million Florida Department of Transportation grant in June to fund the underpass's construction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the protection of endangered species, agreed to spo ...

Florida panthers threatened as development overtakes habitat
Brian Skoloff /AP /Nov 29
FLORIDA PANTHER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Fla. - Biologist LarryRichardson waxes philosophical about the Florida panther, equating its protection to the overall need to maintain nature in one of the fastest growing states in the nation. Among the most endangered species on the planet, the Florida panther may soon become a novelty seen only in captivity. The big cats once roamed by the thousands throughout the Southeastern U.S., but asdevelopment encroaches on their only remaining habitat in southwest Florida, extinction may be certain. It's the last of the puma population east of the Mississippi River. "The way we're building, we're going to push the panthers out. They're going to lose. My big concern is the panther will become a zoo relic," said Richardson, ...

Cost for Collier portion of Everglades restoration drops by nearly $50M
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /Nov 30
Skyrocketing construction costs and a federal flood-control directive in thewake of Hurricane Katrina have inflated the projected cost of the state’s Everglades campaign from $1.5 billion to nearly $2 billion. But the lone Collier County project in the state’s fast-track plan has bucked that trend. The projected price tag for the Southern Golden Gate Estates restoration project has dropped from $362 million to $313 million due to an engineering review aimed at cutting costs. Carol Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, said Wednesday the Everglades campaign is facing the same pressures everyonefaces in the construction industry. “Any government, be it a city, county or state, is dealing with the rise in construction costs. I imagine every government is asking itself what they need to have versus what they want to have,” said Weh ...

Everglades gets back to nature
Joel Moroney /News Press /Nov 30
The scars of development are healing in the Everglades south of Alligator Alley, where thousands of motorists pass the unseen effort in the vastwetlands that stretch to the Gulf of Mexico.Backhoes churn amid flocks of birds while miles of blacktop and canalsslowly disappear. The land is returning to its roots, salvaged from damage caused by developers of what in the 1960s was to become South Golden Gate Estates. State officials met at Picayune Strand State Forest on Wednesday to mark the second anniversary of the first Acceler8 project, a 30-year, $11 billion effort to restore the Everglades. "It's already bringing back the sheetflow and bringing back the plants," said David Anderson, of Audubon of Florida. "It not only works, but it's working faster than the people involved could have hoped."Several hundred people are working to remove 290 miles of roads; plug 48 ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Southwest Floridians asked to conserve water
staff /News Press /Nov 2
The South Florida Water Management District is asking residents and agricultural water users to voluntarily reduce water consumption to avoid or forestall potential water shortage orders and mandatory waterrestrictions this upcoming dry season.The district is asking residents to voluntarily limit irrigation times and reduce wasteful water habits. Additionally, permitted users within theLake Okeechobee region are encouraged to reduce withdrawals from the lake, as water levels there remain troublingly low. “The South Florida Water Management District clearly does not want to issue any water shortage orders or impose water use restrictions, but we have learned lessons from the many similar situations we have faced over the years,” Carol Ann Wehle, the district's executive director said in a press release issued this morning. “At this point, we feel compelled to inform ...

Water woes are partly home-brewed
Opinion /News Press /Nov 2
So Lake Okeechobee is low and quiet, and we are still suffering from piles of stinking algae on beaches? The red drift algae currently plaguing the beaches of Sanibel is a sharp reminder that the assault on our coastal environment doesn’t let up because polluted water releases from Lake Okeechobee have stopped for the time being. This is a constant attack, and repelling it is a year-round war, fought on several fronts. Much, maybe most of the current outbreak is the delayed effect of pastlake releases of water rich with agricultural pollutants; some is from the farms and septic tanks in the river basin downstream from the lake. Some of it may be a natural phenomenon. But a significant part of the pollution hitting our coastal system is coming from overfertilized and otherwise poorly managed lawns in areasdeveloped for people. Nutrients washed by rainfall and exces ...

Southwest Florida wildlife refuges lose staff under federal cuts
Julio Ochoa /Naples Daily News /Nov 3
Federal cuts to national wildlife refuges across the country will hit home for three of Southwest Florida’s crown jewels. The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island must cut up to four positions from its 21-employee staff and possibly close its visitorscenter a couple of days a week, according to a new management plan from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan also states the Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands national wildlife refuges, which encompass 60,000 acres in Collier County, must cut a law enforcement officer from their already meager shared staffs. The directive is intended to offset relatively flat funding as operational costs to run the refuges continue to increase, said Thomas MacKenzie, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s southeast region. “Downsizing or cutbacks or closures are never pretty, especially w ...

Foundation seeks $2.8 million for satellite units, land, costs
Joel Moroney /News Press /Nov 7
State-of-the-art submersible water satellites may be coming to the troubled waters off Southwest Florida.The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation launched its annual fundraising drive Monday with a $2.8 million goal and plans to buy at least six of the $62,000 devices. The rest of the money would be used for operating and program expenses and to buy a 25-acre tract of land along the island's unique freshwater river. An osprey perches on a dead Australian pine on the 25-acre parcel off Casa Ybel Road on Sanibel. The satellite units would measure water quality from the mouth of LakeOkeechobee, down the Caloosahatchee River and into San Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound, including Blind Pass and Redfish Pass. Sensors would take samples in real time and feed them to a central computer using e-mails sent from cellular connections inside thesatellite.Run by solar and ...

Caloosahatchee salinity level could hurt water supply
Julio Ochoa /Naples Daily News /Nov 14
Salinity levels in the Caloosahatchee River are climbing to dangerously highlevels due to a lack of releases from Lake Okeechobee. If the river gets too salty it not only kills off sea grass beds but also could affect Lee County's water supply. Lee County gets some of its water from the river at the Olga Water Plant. The plant has the capacity to supply the county with roughly one-fourth of its water supply. When the river gets too salty, the county must shut the plant down, said Wayne Daltry, director of Smart Growth for the county. The river depends on the South Florida Water Management District to release a minimal amount of water from Lake Okeechobee during the dry season to keep salinity levels from rising too high. District records show that the river received no fresh water releases from the lake over the past week. ...

Lee to ask for Lake O water releases
Kevin Lollar /News Press /Nov 15
In an ironic environmental twist of environmental, Lee County will soon ask the South Florida Water Management District to release fresh waterfrom Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River. The problem is that parts of the river have become very saline due to dry conditions and a lack of freshwater releases from the lake — high salinities threaten plant and animal species as well as drinking-watersupplies. “We’re concerned and we’ll likely request environmental releases from the district within the week,” said Kurt Harclerode, operations manager for the Lee County Division of Natural Resources. “They have no trouble putting dirty water on us when there’s plenty of it. But when it’s lowwater, we’ve got to grovel to get environmental releases for the upper end of the estuary.” Over the past two years, the county has wanted the water district — even to t ...

Take a breath, commissioner
Editorial /News Press /Nov 24
Nobody can accuse freshly installed Lee County Commissioner Brian Bigelow of backing into his new job. Bigelow showed up for his first meeting Tuesday with a lot of items todiscuss, from the broad and complex to the trivial, including getting voice mail on his office phone. We’re glad Bigelow’s determined to keep his campaign promise to improve growth management and natural resource protection. But he needs to realize that his election agenda needs to be tailored to the realities of governing. Suing the Corps of Engineers over pollution from Lake Okeechobee, for example, might be a last resort and useful saber-rattling, but is verypremature now.Bigelow’s passion is welcome, but he needs to learn more before he proposes. Otherwise, he’ll be a loose cannon rolling around the courthouse. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Agencies work on lake flood evacuation plans
Jerome Burdi /Sun Sentinel /Nov 3
West Palm Beach · If disastrous flooding hits the Glades communities -- the result of a break in the Herbert Hoover Dike or a powerful hurricane -- the federal, state and county governments plan to be ready with a coordinated response. Palm Beach County already has a draft of its response plan. Coordinating a regional evacuation plan among all agencies for the Lake Okeechobee area was the goal of a daylong session Thursday among federal and state officials and representatives of eight Florida counties. The unified plan should be ready by February and could be put to a rehearsal in May, officials said."As the [lake's] water level goes higher and a large storm approaches, the threat level goes up," said David Halstead, chief of the Bureau of Preparedness and Response for the State Emergency Response Team, who is overseeing the entire operation. The Federal Emergency Ma ...

Lake O sewage plant is rejected
Jason Schultz /Palm Beach Post /Nov 4
STUART — State growth-management officials this week squashed a developer's plans to build a sewage treatment plant on the banks of Lake Okeechobee.The state Department of Community Affairs rejected an amendment to Martin County's comprehensive growth plan that would allow developers to build a tourism district including motels and restaurants on about 50 acres owned by the Camayen Cattle Co. near Port Mayaca. State officials were concerned that the location of the sewage treatment plant could pose a danger of pollution being released into the lake, department spokeswoman Alexis Antonacci said. The rejection notice says the developers could address those concerns by providing more information on why a package plant was needed and how the developers planned to protect water quality in the lake. Jack Carmody, the attorney representing the developers, said they provided all of the info ...

Expedite Lake O repairs
Editorial /TC Palm /Nov 5
Many recognized before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans that the city would face devastating floods if such a storm breached its levee system. But, upgrading the system was not completed when Katrina took its toll in the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. Many are now saying that a hurricane could breach the Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee, causing irreversible damage to the Everglades, threaten the lives of 60,000 people, including about 45,000 closest to the lake, and pollute the drinking water supply for millions in South Florida.Before that scenario plays out, major repairs to the leaking dike must be made. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees maintenance of the 143-mile, 70-year-old earthen dike, adopted a new plan for repairs last month and has said that if the project is expedited, it could be completed in about five years, ...

22 Martin, St. Lucie property owners sue federal water managers
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /Nov 10
JENSEN BEACH — Twenty-two waterfront property owners in Martin and St.Lucie counties sued federal water managers Thursday claiming thegovernment took away their right to enjoy the St. Lucie River by polluting it with dirty water from Lake Okeechobee. Organized by the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund, the property owners — with about 100 other Treasure Coast residents holding protest signs — packed a meeting room at Indian RiverSide Park to announce plans to demand $50 million from the federal government to compensate them for "taken" property. "We've been fighting for clean water since we moved here in 1990," said Gerry Tafoya, a Port St. Lucie resident and plaintiff in the lawsuit. "I have my grandchildren here. I'd like nothing better than to let them jump in the river and swim. I dream of eating fish from the river. That's just not going to happen. It's sad." Coal ...

South Florida residents, farms asked to conserve water
AP /Bradenton Herald /Nov 9
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Attention South Florida residents: Please forget that one-hour shower, and while you're at it, don't water the lawn so much. That was the message sent out Thursday to the area's residents and agricultural sector, who are being asked to voluntarily lower their water consumption as the region deals with rainfall shortages. The request applies to Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties and is a precautionary measure, the South Florida WaterManagement District said. If the shortage persists, mandatory restrictions could be ordered, the district said. Residents were asked to irrigate lawns only when necessary and during hours when water is less likely to evaporate, such as between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. They were also asked to take shorter showers, wash only full loads in dishwashers and laundry machines, and reduce excessive toilet flush ...

Plaintiffs say they won't see profit in Lake O lawsuit
Jeremy Ashton /TC Palm /Nov 11
STUART — The 22 waterfront property owners who sued federal water managers Thursday to stop discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River will not personally profit from the lawsuit, plaintiffs said Friday. Before filing the suit in federal court, the property owners signed anagreement saying any damages won in the case will go to the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund, the suit's organizer. "The last thing we're looking for is money," said Port St. Lucie resident Gerry Tafoya, one of the plaintiffs and a member of the Rivers Coalition. "We're looking for the river to be cleaned up." The property owners are seeking $50 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to compensate them for property "taken" because polluted discharges from Lake Okeechobee deprived them of the use of the river.The agreement says the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund will collect any da ...

Martin deserved rebuke for risking lake pollution
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Nov 11
State growth-management officials rescued the Martin County Commission from a bad decision last week when they nixed a sewage treatment plant for a new tourist center developers want to build near Lake Okeechobee at Port Mayaca. In denying the amendment to the county's growth plan that would have allowed the development, Florida Department of Community Affairs officials said the plant could pollute the lake. Commissioner Sarah Heard, the only commissioner to vote against the plant, had pointed out that obvious problem, but the other four commissioners voted to approve it in September. Commissioner Susan Valliere was partiThe state's denial was part of routine procedures. The DCA must approve all amendments to county growth plans. Martin's growth plan does not allow water and sewer lines in that part of the county, where developers want to build a tourism district with motels and resta ...

Water regulators expected to approve Lake Okeechobee withdrawal reduction
Andy Reid /Sun Sentinel /Nov 8
South Florida's driest year in 75 years has water regulators proposingrestrictions for agriculture, utilities and others that tap into Lake Okeechobee. The South Florida Water Management District governing board Thursday is expected to approve a 15 percent reduction in water withdrawals from the lake. The district also plans to issue a warning to coastal counties, calling on residents to voluntarily cutback on lawn watering and other uses. After just an inch of rain in October, Lake Okeechobee's water level remained below normal at 12.65 feet going into Florida's dry season. "We need to plan for the worst case scenario," said Terrie Bates, the district's assistant deputy executive director. "We have got the entire dry season to get through." ...

Hikers preparing for Lake Okeechobee trip
Dan Scapusio /Sun Sentinel /Nov 12
The lush Florida landscape, vibrant flora and wildlife surrounding Lake Okeechobee, has been the site of the Big "O" Hike, a 110-mile trek around the boundary of the lake, for 15 years. The annual event, set for Nov. 18 through 26, had a simple beginning. Paul Cummings, 74, of Lake Worth, and the president of the Loxahatchee chapter of the Florida Trail Association, read about a 70-year-old couple who did the trek around the lake for their anniversary."My wife said, `Why don't we do that?'" Cummings said. And so they did. The Loxahatchee chapter of the Florida Trail Association organizes the hike. "We have about a half-dozen people that work on it and make sure things are going right," Cummings said. Hikers rise early each morning of the nine-day event to begin their daily walk. "We think of it as a leisurely event, even though it sounds difficult, nine days of wal ...

Strengthening Lake Okeechobee dike could cost $50 million
Andy Reid /Sun Sentinel /Nov 8
Houses, roads and railroad tracks stand in the way of a new plan to reinforce the aging Lake Okeechobee dike. Water regulators said Wednesday they will need a 150-foot-wide swath of landaround much of the Herbert Hoover Dike under a new plan to strenghten the 70-year-old earthen levee by adding berms. Many properties that stand in the way can be acquired through eminent domainpowers. But others, such as U.S. 27, railroad facilities and Pahokee's airport would be spared by tweaking the new construction plans and building around them. "We can design a fix," said Dennis Duke, of the Army Corps of Engineers. "It is going to be more expensive." The South Florida Water Management District, charged with assembling the extra property, has estimated it could cost $50 million to acquire the additional land. The agency is now taking the corps' construction plan and identifying ...

Lawsuit to save river needs help from Martin
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Nov 17
Last week, Martin County residents went to court with their despair over years of government-sanctioned pollution of the St. Lucie River. The lawsuit opens a needed front in the fight to save the river.Backed by the Rivers Coalition, an alliance of more than 40 businesses, fishermen, civic and homeowners' groups, 22 riverfront landowners told the court that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has violated their property rights. Discharging massive amounts of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the river, the plaintiffs said, limits their ability to fish, swim, boat or enjoy the wildlife the di"The goal is for them (the corps) to find somewhere else to put the water," said coalition Chairman Leon Abood. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, hinges on property rights rather than environmental laws, from which the corps has statutory immunity. Instead, the ...

Lawsuit to save river needs help from Martin
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Nov 17
Last week, Martin County residents went to court with their despair over years of government-sanctioned pollution of the St. Lucie River. The lawsuit opens a needed front in the fight to save the river. Backed by the Rivers Coalition, an alliance of more than 40 businesses, fishermen, civic and homeowners' groups, 22 riverfront landowners told the court that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has violated their property rights. Discharging massive amounts of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the river, the plaintiffs said, limits their ability to fish, swim, boat or enjoy the wildlife the di "The goal is for them (the corps) to find somewhere else to put the water," said coalition Chairman Leon Abood. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, hinges on property rights rather than environmental laws, from which the corps has statutory immunity. Instead ...

9-day Big O Hike passes through remote region
Nov 19 /Sun Sentinel /Mike Clary
Pahokee · The sun had risen just above the sugar cane fields Saturday when Paul Cummings picked up his two walking sticks and headed off to a Clewiston restaurant where for the 15th consecutive year he planned to sit down to a glorious Thanksgiving dinner. But between him and that first bite of turkey lay six days and about 90 miles of trail. "It's a beautiful day," said Cummings, a 74-year-old Loxahatchee sculptor, as he stepped forward into a fresh northwest wind that roiled the surface of Lake Okeechobee. Behind Cummings atop the Herbert Hoover Dike were about 120 other trekkers, including nine members of Girl Scout Troop 464 from West Palm Beach, who got up early to take part in the annual Big O Hike around the lake. "They are extremely excited," said troop leader June Vickers, whose daughterAlexis, 11, was among the group that spent the previous night in a lakeside ...

An emergency plan to lower the water level of Lake O has been delayed
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /Nov 24
An emergency plan to lower the water level of Lake Okeechobee throughout the year has been pushed back for six months, while federal water managers work to address concerns that the proposed new rules cause heavy releases to Florida's west coast. Water managers introduced the new rules in September in a draft form. They are designed to limit the massive discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, while keeping the lake below 17.25 feet above sea level to protect the Herbert Hoover dike. But the Army Corps of Engineers received more than 3,000 comments criticizing the proposal — mostly from Gulf Coast residents unhappy with the projected number of damaging releases, said Pete Milam, the corps'project manager.So instead of instituting the new rules — which were expected to go into effect through 2010 — in January, corps officials will unveil a new ...

Clewiston: Raising cane
Amy B Williams /News Press /Nov 26
Forget the stereotypes — it may be smack dab in the middle of south Florida, but Clewiston is anything but a tropical cliche. Instead of Gulf sands and coconuts, vast farm fields surround this Hendry County town. And while there's plenty of waterfront, it's neither sand-fringed nor salty; it's tucked away behind the high walls of the Herbert Hoover Dike.You can even see snow (of a sort) here, although it drifts down in wispy black flakes. The Clewiston Inn in downtown Clewiston is a popular dining spot. Lots of surprises are in store for a visitor to Clewiston (population 6,500 or so), chief among them just how much land and infrastructure are required to produce sugar, the town's agricultural mainstay, though citrus is a vigorous second. "A trip out here is a real eye-opener for most folks," says Hunter Latham, who leads Sugarland Tours' half-day treks throug ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Scientists gather here to assess multiple threats to complex ecosystem
Dan Egan /Journal Sentinel /Nov 1
"As much as I love the Everglades, I have to acknowledge that I look at that(restoration program) with a little jealousy," Barrett said. "I'm a fan of the Everglades, too," said UWM's Klump. "But I'm more than just jealous. I'm irritated. We need to pay more attention to this ecosystem." From the Nov. 2, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal SentinelHave an opinion on this story? Write a letter to the editor or start an online forum. ...

Developer's links to Masilotti places his Aggregates community in jeopardy
Andy Reid /Sun Sentinel /Nov 3
Enrique Tomeu has a give-and-take relationship with Florida's countryside. The rock his mining operation digs from western Palm Beach County helps pave the way for development. Yet the massive holes his Palm Beach Aggregates leaves behind have become reservoirs that help restore wetlands drained for farming and construction. The approval Tomeu won to build homes on 1,200 acres of Aggregates property set a precedent that could allow suburbia to stretch farther west. Yet Tomeu also helped form an organization dedicated to saving ranches that could otherwise be overrun by subdivisions. The 51-year-old son of Cuban immigrants has a reputation as a shrewd businessman who finesses his deals with a handshake and a smile.But federal prosecutors contend one of those deals allowed former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti to line his pockets while supporting Tomeu's bid for developm ...

Despite prediction of wet winter, S. Florida faces threat of water restrictions
Patty Pensa /Sun Sentinel /Nov 3
Shorten your showers, shut off the sprinklers early and stop leaving the water on while brushing your teeth. Consider doing it now, or you might be forced to do it later. With this year's rain totals nearing a record low, water managers are urgingpeople to check their wasteful habits, lest they face water restrictions andpossibly fines later. Forecasters predict a wetter-than-normal winter, but rainfall is hard to predict. So the South Florida Water Management District,which is in charge of flood control, water supply and water quality, is taking a conservative approach by asking people to voluntarily cut back on their water usage. "We don't want to paint the picture that we're running out of water and the pipes are going to be shut down," said district spokesman Jesus Rodriguez. "But water levels across the state are troublingly low and a prudent course of action would be ...

Looser pollution standards on hold in Broward County
David Fleshler /Sun Sentinel /Nov 4 A Bro
nitrogen and phosphorus into the canals, causing excessive algae growth, ruining wildlife habitat and depleting fishing areas. ...

Caution: Parks Are 'Perishable'
staff /Sun Sentinel /Nov 4
Daniel Beard, assistant wildlife technician for the National Park Service, in recommending the establishment of the Everglades National Park way back in 1938, summed it up this way: "The reasons for considering the lower tip of Florida as a national park are 90 percent biological ones, and hence highly perishable." An unusual blueprint arrived in the mail this week. It purported to show plans for creating an artificial forest, complete with flame-retardant, lacquer-covered mechanical trees, foam-filled pine cones with photovoltaic kernels, and animatronic squirrels. Plans for the next Disney attraction: Magic Forest World? Not exactly.It was a PR gimmick cooked up by the National Parks Conservation Association, with the intent to make a simple but important point about our national parks: "It's not like we can make new ones," says Andrea Keller Helsel, of th ...

Miccosukee oppose government's bird-saving plan
curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Nov 2
Federal wildlife managers want to designate 71,000 acres straddling 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 say it'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 ...

Rock-mining exec denies scandal link
Robert King /Palm Beach Post /Nov 7
Enrique Tomeu sits atop a sprawling empire built from rock, real estate and gigantic holes in the ground. After fleeing Cuba at age 5 with his family, the West Palm Beach mining and trucking executive grew up to make big-money deals with the likes of developer Lennar Corp. and the South Florida Water Management District. He has been a major benefactor to President Bush and a host of Florida politicians, has dabbled in Hollywood and has played a sizable role in shaping future development in western PalBut now Tomeu, 51, is in an uncomfortable spot: in the middle of one of the biggest political scandals in county history. The scandal last month brought down former County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti, who has agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges stemming from a series of tainted land deals. Prosecutors say one of those deals involved Tomeu, who helped Masilotti gain ...

Everglades employ seven slithery secret agents
Curtis Morgan /Miami Herald /Nov 13
Scientists battling to eradicate the giant pythons that have invaded the Everglades unleashed an experimental weapon Monday -- another giant python. The 10-foot female, equipped with twin radio transmitters implanted under its iridescent skin, will become part of an expanded troop of ''Judas animals'' -- wired pythons set free to lead scientists to other snakes in the sawgrass, tree islands and other spots wherethey are showing up in record numbers. ''They sort of rat out their own kind,'' said Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow. By next year, researchers could even be concocting chemical weaponry -- a synthetic python love potion enticing enough to lure lust-driven constrictors into traps. They're all part of a growing arsenal in a campaign by the park,federal and state wildlife agencies and regional water managers to control the spread of the Burm ...

Feuding federal agencies must act quickly to complete Modified Water Deliveries System
Editorial /TC Palm /Nov 16
The drain at the base of South Florida's massive water conveyance system is plugged. And the problem won't be solved until two feuding federal agencies — the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior — settle their differences and agree on a solution. This was one of the main messages members of the South Florida Water Management District communicated recently to this newspaper's editorial board. It's a message that needs to reach the ears of the relevant movers andshakers in Washington, D.C. Most state residents are well aware that Florida has had its share of problems — and delays — with respect to restoring the Everglades, cleaning up polluted lakes and rivers, and moving water south from Lake Okeechobee to Everglades National Park.What you may not know is that, over the past 12 months, the water management district has started and/or com ...

Three nesting owl chicks cause $200,000 problem for Everglades cleanup project
Andy Reid /Sun Sentinel /Nov 16
Three barn owl chicks found nesting in an abandoned shed stand in the way of a key part of the multibillion-dollar project to restore the Everglades. State water managers, facing a December deadline to clean up polluted water, now plan to spend $200,000 to build around the federally protected owls."This is one of those little hiccups," said Tommy Strowd, an assistant deputy executive director for the South Florida Water Management District. "This is all part of building things in the swamps of South Florida."The owls are nesting in an old maintenance shed on former sugarcane fields in Hendry County where work crews are building a "flow way," a canal that is part of an $18 million project intended to clean water that otherwise would carrypollutants into the Everglades. It seems a little "silly" to alter a construction project aimed at helping the entire ecosystem jus ...

Author of 'The Swamp' talks about Everglades
Matt Conn /News Press /Nov 19
In the last 100 years, the perception of the Everglades has mostly gone from swamp of pestilence to national treasure, despite half of it being gone and the other half an ecological mess. During his research of Florida’s ecosystem, Michael Grunwald found this scenario has led to the ultimate test of sustainability, as the largest environmental restoration project in history continues its attempt to reverse so much damage. Grunwald, a Washington Post staff reporter, spoke about the Everglades and his book, “The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise,” Friday during the 16th Annual SouthwestFlorida Water Resources Conference held at Florida Gulf Coast University. “The story of the Everglades is about us,” Grunwald said, to a room that included professors, students and local politicians. ...

Everglades plan costs could hit $2.7B
staff /Palm Beach Post /Nov 20
Projected costs for a state Everglades initiative have exploded to nearly $2.7 billion from $1.5 billion in little more than two years since Gov. Jeb Bush announced it, water managers have estimated iThe jump includes huge cost increases for expanding Everglades filter marshes, restoring coastal wetlands near Miami and creating reservoirs in Broward County. Those estimates have more than doubled since 2004, partly because of the region's escalating construction costs and shortage of skilled labor, according to the South Florida Water Management District's projections.The increases also reflect the need to build the district's city-sized reservoirs to withstand hurricanes, plus the addition of more than $500 million in marsh, canal and pump projects that originally weren't part of the initiative. The new totals are labeled "projected" in a detailed, 39-page staff presentation dated Sep ...

S. Florida Parks Fundraisers A Scam, Officials Say
staff /CBS4 /Nov 21
HOMESTEAD South Florida residents who use the area’s National parks might be willing to donate a few bucks for restoration projects at Biscayne National Park and Everglades National Park, but officials of the National Parks Service are warning door to door solicitors seeking money for the parks in South Florida may plan to put the money into their pocket, not into the parks. National Parks Service spokesperson Linda Friar said Tuesday that people have been reported to be going door-to-door in South Florida, collecting signatures and requesting donation for parks projects in the area. Friar said the solicitation was first reported in Homestead, and led to an arrest, but that other areas are now reporting solicitors as the holidays approach. The solicitors claim to represent the National Parks Conservation Association, which says it does not raise funds door-to-door and is not asso ...

Everglades project may cost double projected $1.5 billion
AP /News Journal /Nov 21
WEST PALM BEACH -- Projected costs for a state Everglades cleanup initiative may have nearly doubled to $2.7 billion in the approximately two years since Gov. Jeb Bush announced it, according to a report. The most recent figure, up from $1.5 billion, is part of a 39-page South Florida Water Management District presentation dated Sept. 14 and obtained by The Palm Beach Post last week. District Executive Director Carol Wehle told the paper for Monday's editionsthat the figures were prepared at her direction but based "on absolutely everything that could possibly go wrong." She also said her staff is working on ways to reduce costs. At a public presentation to the district's board Nov. 8 the cost estimate was about $1.9 billion. Escalating construction costs and a shortage of skilled labor have contributed to the increased figures, according to the report. ...

Make Washington keep promise to Everglades
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /Nov 24
Saving the Everglades was supposed to be a genuine partnership between Florida and the federal government, a 50-50 split in which the state bought the land, and on it the feds built reservoirs and other projects to store and cleanse water. The Bush brothers - president and governor - shook hands on the deal when the governor was running for reelection. In June 2001, during the president's first an More than five years later, the marriage that was supposed to be the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is in deep trouble because only one partner - the state - has kept its vows. Florida has taken on almost the entire burden. The state has bought 55 percent of the land. But because Washington hasn't fulfilled its commitment, the South Florida Water Management District has started borrowing $1.9 billion to build reservoirs and filter marshes - Washington's responsibility - and starte ...



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