"It is difficult for one who has not seen the Everglades to form even an approximate idea of that far-extending expanse of sedge, with its stretches of shallow water, its scattered clumps of bushes and its many islands. Photographs fail to convey the impressions of distance, or remoteness, and of virgin wildness which strikes the visitor who for the first time looks out across that vast expanse."
Samuel Sanford
“PLEASE HELP THE ANIMALS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!
Give the animals some gifts to show them that you care
Donations of the following items are needed to help care for the animals at the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital…
· BIRD SEED: All types (wild bird, parrot, cockatiel, finch, etc) & NUTS (unsalted)
· FRESH PRODUCE (GREENS, FRUIT) JARRED BABY FOOD, YOGURT,
· CHICKEN WINGS, FISH, BEEF, MEAL WORMS, CRICKETS, SUPER WORMS
· CAT or DOG FOOD (DRY OR CANNED)
· HAY, ALFALFA, KITTY LITTER, ASPEN SHAVINGS
· FERRET, RABBIT, TURTLE, SKUNK & MOUSE FOOD
· HAND FEEDING FORMULA (EXACT, LAFEBER, KMR, ESBILAC)
· PAPER TOWELS, XX-Lg HEAVY DUTY GARBAGE BAGS, SM.PAPER PLATES
· BLEACH, DAWN DISH DETERGENT, LAUNDRY DETERGENT,
· GIFT CARDS TO HOME DEPOT, LOWES, PUBLIX, WAL-MART, PET STORES, ETC.
· MULCH, PAVERS, STEPPING STONES, SAND, GRAVEL & CLEAN FILL
· $$$ FUNDS TO PURCHASE MEDICAL SUPPLIES & PHARMACEUTICALS
1. The Center is a private, non-profit organization, which provides environmental education and care for injured, sick and orphaned native wild birds, & animals. The center does not receive any state, county or city funding and must rely on donations to fulfill their mission. All donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated. All gifts can be dropped off at the Center in Sportsplex Park, at 3000 Sportsplex Drive, Coral Springs. For more information about the Center, its educational programs, Camp Wild, volunteer opportunities, or membership please call 752-WILD (9453). Or check their website at www.Sawgrassnaturecenter.org.
Write a letter to your editor
Sierra Club is urging residents of The Sunshine State to submit letters to the editor of their local papers saying that Floridians support greening transportation infrastructure starting today. People need to be informed that FDOT must move forward immediately on a state transportation plan that moves us beyond oil.
You have a powerful voice that has the capability of influencing countless others. If transportation issues in Florida impact your life and the lives of family and friends, you need to write a letter.
Go here and follow the directions. It’s quick and easy with talking points provided. Thanks.
Join Oceana and activists in December for a beach clean up!!
Let’s let our lawmakers know that we are doing all we can to protect the oceans and we hope their New Year's resolution is to do their part to protect our oceans by putting a permanent ban on offshore drilling.
Sunday, December 19th Beach Clean Up at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park from 12 until 2 p.m. We will be meeting at the picnic tables near the playground, look out for our Oceana banner! The beach’s address is 1100 Seabreeze Blvd Fort Lauderdale, FL, if traveling east on Las Olas Blvd you take a right (South) on A1A and the park will be located on your left.
If you can attend, please RSVP to kparrish@oceana.org so we know how much supplies and refreshments to bring. We will bring food and beverages, feel free to bring any snacks though!
If you are interested in helping out with our New Years Resolution campaign or beach clean up events, please contact Katie at kparrish@oceana.org or call 305-741-9416.
For Our Oceans,
Katie Parrish
305-741-9416
Sierra Club Florida News: House and Senate Powering Up
The elections are over and important environmental policies will soon be decided. This is a brief on some of the legislators who will wield influence on issues important to Sierra Club Florida
The House Rules (pp. 6-22) and Senate Rules empower Speaker Cannon and President Haridopolos to exercise control over the legislative process. They appoint chairmen and name the members of committees and subcommittees in their chambers. They refer bills to all the committees they must pass in order to come to a vote on the floor. And for the first time, both leaders have the power of adding an extra vote in any committee by sending in an ex officio member. President Haridopolos is the first Senate leader to import this practice from the House which has done it for years.
Since Chairs of committees have the power of the agenda – whether a bill gets heard or not – they too control the prospects of a bill. Not surprisingly, both Speaker Cannon and President Haridopolos have appointed members who are largely in sympathy with their stated aims to the most important chairmanships.
Traditionally, the most important committees are the ones dealing with money (obviously) and rules (not so obvious – until you realize that Rules sets the agenda for what bills get placed on special order for floor votes – and being on special order can make the difference between a bill passing or dying on the calendar.)
In the House Rep. Denise Grimsley has been named the Chair of the Appropriations Committee. She was first elected in 2004 and serves Glades, Hendry, and parts of Highlands and Collier Counties. Her committee will be charged with shaping the House’s budget proposal which will include such items as funding for Florida Forever, further sweeps and diversions from environmental trust funds, and funding for state agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection. Her Senate counterpart will be Sen. J.D. Alexander who will repeat his role as chair of the Senate Budget Committee in the coming two years. Sen. Alexander’s district includes Hardee, Highlands, and parts of DeSoto, Glades, Okeechobee, Polk, and St. Lucie counties.
The House Rules Chair is Rep. Aubuchon and Senate Rules will be headed by Sen. John Thrasher. Rep. Aubuchon Chaired Transportation Appropriations last year and Sen. Thrasher was chair of Ethics and Elections.
In the House, the State Affairs Committee which oversees four important environmental subcommittees will be chaired by Rep. Seth McKeel who sponsored last year’s memorial to end the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The subcommittees are:
- Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Energy and Utilities
- Federal Affairs
- Government Operations
Speaker Cannon will name the chairs and members of these committees the week of Dec. 6, 2010.
In the Senate, Environmental Preservation and Conservation will be chaired by Sen. Charles Dean who sponsored last year’s bill to preempt localities from adopting strict fertilizer ordinances. This year Sen. Dean has filed SB 130 to repeal the septic tank inspection portions of last year’s water bill SB 550. President Haridopolos has named two new members to the committee: Sen. Latvala, who previously served in the legislature from 1994 – 2002, and Sen. Oelrich who served on the last year’s Select Committee on Water.
- Senator Steve Oelrich (R)
- Senator Nancy C. Detert (R)
- Senator Dennis L. Jones, D.C. (R)
- Senator Jack Latvala (R)
- Senator Nan H. Rich (D)
- Senator Eleanor Sobel (D)
Senate President pro tem Mike Bennett returns as chair of Community Affairs and newly elected Sen. Lizbeth Benaquisto chairs Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities.
The full roster of committee chairs and members in both chambers will be completed next week and will be available on the legislative websites: www.flsenate.gov and http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/.
David Cullen, Sierra Club Florida lobbyist
Read about wildlife around the world
Birds
Banded Loggerhead Shrike Observations Requested:
Much time and effort has been put into Loggerhead Shrike research and recovery in Ontario, Canada, where the species is critically endangered. Breeding shrikes found in Ontario are banded with metal and/or color leg bands in an effort to address the greatest knowledge gap for recovery of Ontario shrikes -- migration routes and wintering areas.
We are asking for your help by determining if any Loggerhead Shrikes you find are banded. Report banded Loggerhead Shrikes sightings to Jessica Steiner jessica@wildlifepreservation.ca
Stop a Deadly Journey for Birds
Attracted by the steady glow of lights, millions of birds are killed during their annual night migrations as they collide with communications towers and related structures. But many of the deaths could be prevented.
After years of urging by Defenders of Wildlife and our conservation partners, the Federal Communications Commission is finally undertaking an environmental review of its tower registration program -- and the agency needs to hear from you.
Hagner to speak at Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival
Birder’s World Magazine editor Chuck Hagner will deliver a keynote address, give a presentation on bird photography, and co-lead two fieldtrips during the upcoming Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in sunny Titusville, near Merritt Island NWR, January 26-31, 2011. The only thing that could make him happier is if he saw you there!
Does the ivory-bill still exist?
In the spring of 2005, news swept the United States and much of the world that the ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, had been found in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas.
The news was electrifying to birders and conservation groups.
Gene Sparling, an amateur ornithologist from Hot Springs, Ark., had reported seeing one adult male ivory-bill in the Cache River refuge on Feb. 11, 2004. Other ornithologists soon searched for documentation and proof that ivory-bills still existed. They seemed to make their case when David Luneau of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock made a short, blurry videotape of a reported ivory-bill taking flight from a tree.
Some of the groups that reviewed the evidence and supported the claim that the woodpecker, with its 3-foot wingspan and signature whitish-ivory bill, still existed included the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Some wanted to believe that the gigantic woodpecker, known by such names as white-back, pearly bill and even Lord God bird, still flew safely somewhere. The name “Lord God bird” came from people seeing the bird and exclaiming, “Lord God, what a bird!”
Had the short video clip been clear, that would have been one thing. However, ornithologists across the country weighed in, and many believed the searchers had spotted the smaller, common pileated woodpecker.
Not long after the reported Arkansas sighting, a team led by an Auburn University professor said it had audio recordings of what members believed were the sounds of one or more ivory-bills in the Choctawhatchee River basin in the Florida Panhandle. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) mobilized a team to deal with questions and issues about the Choctawhatchee finding, which proved untrue.
To understand the discussion as to whether ivory-bills still exist, you have to understand something of the bird itself and the history of our country.
Adult ivory-bills measured 19 to 21 inches, were bluish-black in color and had white markings on the neck, sides and back, resembling a white saddle. Both male and female birds sported a prominent top crest, which was red in males and black in females.
Early settlers and frontiersmen reported that male Native American Indians, particularly chieftains, wore the bills of ivory-billed woodpeckers on their belts or as part of breast plates. The author of “In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker,” Jerome A. Jackson, points to the archaeological record showing that the heads and bills of both ivory-billed and pileated woodpeckers were much in demand by Indians, sometimes far outside the birds’ range. He mentions the recent discovery of an Indian burial in Colorado with ivory-bills on the deceased, more than 1,000 miles from recognized ivory-bill habitat.
Jackson and other authors accurately point to the fact that Indians armed with bows and arrows weren’t the death knell of the species. Logging was.
Ivory-bills were found primarily in the Southeast’s virgin hardwood forest river bottoms and longleaf pine forests, and were well documented in Florida and a dozen other southeastern states. With their powerful chisel-like bill, they foraged on lots of dying and dead trees such as sweet gums, ash and longleaf pine, removing the bark in search of insects and larvae. Ornithologists say ivory-bills needed immense areas to feed – perhaps 10 to 12 square miles of old-growth forest per pair.
As one forest after another fell to an expanding country’s insatiable demand for wood, ivory-bills began to vanish. Ornithologists say the species was extremely rare after 1900. Nowhere was this more evident than in Florida.
Whether an ivory-bill was actually spotted in the Cache River NWR is still a matter of debate. I have my own ideas, but if the sighting was accurate, it would have required dozens and dozens of breeding pairs of birds over the past 100 or so years for birds to still exist today.
Following the Cache River announcement, river-bottom searches were initiated in Florida and five other states. No definitive sightings emerged.
We still have the pileated relative of the ivory-bill. Yet we want to believe the most magnificent of North American woodpeckers still exists, somewhere. Although it seems unlikely, time will tell.
By Rodney Barreto, Chairman Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)
Volunteers Lend Least Terns a Hand in Clearwater
Least Terns are the subject of a great article, Least Tern Rooftop Nesting Colonies – Year Two, from Wing Beat, the Clearwater Audubon newsletter. It was written by John Hood, with assistance from Marianne Korosy.
Least Terns are listed as Threatened in Florida by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Progressive increases in beach recreation and coastal development have disturbed the nesting cycle of Least Terns to the extent they have attempted to adapt by nesting on gravel-covered rooftops. In Pinellas County the birds have nested on roofs of warehouses, office buildings, auto dealerships, grocery stores, ―big box stores and private dwellings.
Clearwater Audubon volunteers work together with volunteers from St. Petersburg Audubon and Dr. Beth Forys, Eckerd College, to survey rooftops throughout the county searching for nesting colonies and then conduct daily shifts of ―chick checking at occupied sites.
We had a very successful second year in our rooftop Least Tern nesting program. Six rooftops were utilized by the birds this year but 99% were at the Ulmerton Industrial Mart (UIM). The season lasted about 5 weeks. UIM was covered by a team of dedicated volunteers who braved scorching sun, the occasional rainstorm and some irate shopkeepers.
Most of the local merchants were very supportive. Some would capture birds for us and HanCo Roofing Services went onto the roof and repaired several tar pits that were trapping both adults and chicks.
We also washed cars for one merchant whose auto shop was surrounded by cars covered in droppings. UIM was monitored by volunteers working 5 shifts per day totaling 11.5 hours. Activity started at 7AM and sometimes wouldn’t end till 11PM. In all, the volunteers put in about 500 hours of time.
There were 994 human bird contacts. We returned 850 birds to the rooftop and banded 378 chicks. Each chick got three bands – a metal band with a unique federal ID number on one leg and two color bands designating site and year on the other leg. If all these bands were placed end to end they would stretch 20.4 feet. One bird liked the ride down the drainpipe so much that it fell 14 times and was returned to the roof alive after its last fall. We had some unexpected results in that we spotted some of the birds that we banded last year on our beaches. They weren‘t supposed to return until next year. Guess they didn‘t read the scientific literature.
Environmental pollutant radically changes birds' mating behavior.
Exposure to mercury pollution could be hitting some wild birds' reproductive prospects hard by causing males to pair with other males.
American white ibises (Eudocimus albus) from south Florida that consumed methylmercury (MeHg), the most toxic and easily absorbed form of mercury found in the environment, were more likely to engage in same-sex pairings — a phenomenon unknown in wild populations of this species with no exposure to the pollutant.
The main sources of mercury globally are coal-fired power plants and gold mining though in Florida, mercury was likely to have been released by the burning of medical and municipal waste. The metal is converted into methylmercury by some species of bacteria, usually found in wetlands that also tend to be home to many different bird species.
The Hummingbirds of winter
Across the Southeast, volunteer banders and backyard birders team up to study apparent shifts in the cold-weather ranges of several hummingbird species
When Annabeth and Donald Proctor first started feeding hummingbirds near Charleston, South Carolina, more than two decades ago, they would take their sugar-water feeders down each September. Like their neighbors, they assumed the ruby-throated hummingbirds that summered in their magnolia and live oak-filled yard were about to head south to the Tropics. But a funny thing happened about ten years ago: “I started hearing hummingbirds during the winter,” says Annabeth. “Eventually I realized there were some here all year.” Soon she began to leave one feeder up during the autumn, then another and another. Today she hangs a dozen or more feeders during the coldest months, and it is not unusual for the Proctors to have as many hummingbirds in December as they do in June.
Similar reports have come from backyards across the Southeast, piquing the curiosity of scientists and casual birders alike. Do these wintering hummingbirds represent a new phenomenon or have they been here all along? Are the same birds staying in the Southeast year-round or do breeding ruby-throated hummingbirds leave for Mexico and Central America, replaced by others from farther north? How do the birds survive below-freezing temperatures?
To try and find answers to these and other questions, I began banding hummingbirds several years ago at the Proctors’ home and elsewhere along the Carolina and Georgia coasts, part of an informal coalition of about 30 federal- and state-licensed bird banders in the region. Some, like me, are studying wintering ruby-throated hummingbirds.
Others are documenting western hummingbirds that sometimes forsake Mexico—where bird guides tell us they are supposed to go—and migrate instead to the southeastern United Sates. Hundreds of “hummer hosts,” people like the Proctors who maintain feeders during fall and winter, are a critical part of this effort.
Invasive species
Victory in fight against GE trees
As 2010 comes to a close, the campaign to stop dangerous and irresponsible genetically engineered trees (GE trees or GMO trees) is building steam.
Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) has won a major victory against GE trees in the U.S. this year. ArborGen had requested permission from the USDA to plant billions of GE eucalyptus trees in commercial plantations across the southern U.S., and recently the USDA turned them down.
This victory is due to the 17,500 people like you who signed petitions or sent in comments to the USDA opposing GE eucalyptus trees. While this is not a permanent victory, as ArborGen will likely request permission again later, their plans have been successfully stopped to get GE eucalyptus commercialized in 2011.
Thousands of weed-chomping carp released into Sunrise canals. They pour -- literally -- into South Florida by the thousands every winter, but unlike more familiar seasonal visitors, this group comes looking for something besides balmy weather.
They're here for the hydrilla.
Water managers on Tuesday released about 12,000 Asian grass carp into the C-42 canal system in Sunrise, the latest annual infusion of a fish with a voracious appetite for the exotic vegetation that clogs the region's drainage canals.
``Grass carp are the most economical way for us to manage plants,'' said Ellen Donlan, a senior scientist with the South Florida Water Management District. ``They are cheaper than chemicals and they are cheaper than the manpower to apply the chemicals.''
The fish, now less than year old and a foot long, can live 10 years or more in South Florida's canals, and grow fat and happy on their vegan diet. Some can top 40 pounds and occasionally reach a whopping 60. They'll take the biggest bite out the canal during their initial year, as they grow, said Donlan, who manages the carp program for the district.
``They're like teenagers,'' she said. ``They eat and eat and eat.''
Unlike Burmese pythons and other exotic species that have pushed into wild areas at the expense of native critters, these farm-raised carp are specifically bred not to spread. They are produced from roe exposed to pressure shocks that leave the adult fish unable to reproduce.
Hydrilla, an Asian exotic plant that grows rapidly, is their primary food, but they will also target other aquatic vegetation. Because they could potentially also dine on native plants that provide food and shelter to indigenous fish, the state bans them from use in the Everglades, the Kissimmee River or other natural areas. They are frequently used in lakes, ponds and canals.
The triploid grass carp are related to silver carp, whose leaps when they are spooked have injured boaters and skiers in some states. Grass carp aren't known to exhibit similar dangerous traits.
The district has been importing carp for about 15 years without problems, said Donlan. The district picks canals each year that are heavily choked with aquatic plants that can restrict the flow of storm water and potentially increase the risk of flooding.
Florida Panthers
Florida panther births raise hopes; State sees 29 kittens born in 2010
Despite 23 known deaths There were 29 documented Florida panther kittens born in 2010, and another 30 to 40 likely were born to uncollared panthers, according to recent data from state wildlife officials.
This is a big leap in panther population growth — especially compared to 23 documented panther deaths this year — but the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“Not all the kittens survive,” said Mark Lotz, a panther biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Lotz did say 2010 was still a good year for Florida panther kittens.
“Typically, panthers only give birth every two years,” Lotz said. “We had a high number this year with radio-collared females. Next year, they will be busy raising kittens. So next year I expect to have fewer kittens being born. We might only have 15 kittens being born next year.”
In 2009, five panthers gave birth to 11 kittens. In 2008, five panthers gave birth to 13 kittens, but two of those died before ever leaving the den.
It seems 2010 is the third-best year for documented births since 1996, behind only the 43 kittens born in 2007 and 35 in 2002.
Read more
Biologists capture, collar male panther near recent calf depredations
Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have successfully captured and collared a male panther near the recent calf depredations in eastern Collier County. The capture went smoothly and occurred without incident.
FWC Works to Protect Livestock from Panthers The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has confirmed at least six panther depredations since the beginning of December in the Golden Gate Estates area of Collier County. In the past week alone, panthers have killed several goats and a pig.
Other depredation reports have come from the Immokalee area. Some of the most recent depredations occurred on properties less than three-quarters of a mile from each other, off Golden Gate Boulevard, according to the FWC. Over the past weekend, four goats were killed east of Everglades Boulevard. At the time of all the depredations, the domestic animals were not secured in predator-proof enclosures.
When FWC biologists receive a depredation complaint, they visit the depredation site within 12 hours, as directed in the Interagency Florida Panther Response Plan. While at the site, biologists provide residents with information about living near panthers, make husbandry recommendations and advise them of the state and federal laws that protect the endangered Florida panther.
“Vigilance is the key to protecting people’s pets and livestock,” said Mark Lotz, a biologist on the FWC’s panther team. “Livestock, such as chickens, goats and hogs, should be secured in enclosed structures at night. Electric fencing also can be an effective predator deterrent. Cats and small dogs should be kept indoors, particularly at night.”
If you live near panthers, there is an increased chance you may see one. If you encounter a Florida panther, the FWC recommends:
§ Avoid crouching or bending down;
§ Do not run or turn away from the panther;
§ Stand up tall and face the animal;
§ Make eye contact;
§ Do whatever you can to appear larger; and
§ Fight back if attacked.
Panther deaths near record in 2010
“Public safety is the FWC’s top priority,” said Capt. Jayson Horadam, with FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement. “We ask that people living near panthers be informed, cautious and aware of their surroundings.”
Wildlife researchers recovered the carcass of a Florida panther Thursday in Collier County, bringing this week’s body count for the endangered species to three.
The panther recovered Thursday, a 1 1/2-year-old female, is the 23rd documented death this year, two short of the record set in 2007.
This year, 16 panthers have been killed by vehicles; six, including the most recent cat, have been killed by other panthers; the cause of one death is unknown.
Panther mortality has been high over the past four years: After the 2007 record, which included 15 roadkills, there were 23 documented deaths in 2008 (10 roadkill), and 24 in 2009 (a record 17 roadkill).
Biologists estimate the panther population at 100 to 120, so about 20 percent of the population is dying every year.
Over the same time period, however, researchers have documented the births of 96 panther kittens — this number only includes kittens from females wearing radio collars.
“You have to take into account recruitment,” said Dave Onorato, a research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s panther section. “There are a lot of uncollared panthers, and some of those are producing kittens. The counts we do every year show the population is hovering around 100. It’s stable. We’re not seeing anything in the counts that show the population is crashing.”
Endangered Species
FWC and partners rescue cold-stunned sea turtles
Recent cold temperatures in Florida left many cold-stunned sea turtles close to death, floating listlessly in the water. Working with staff from county, state and federal agencies as well as volunteers, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologists helped to coordinate the rescue of hundreds of sea turtles this week.
Rescuers pulled more than 250 stunned turtles from the frigid waters. The majority of the rescues took place in the Cape Canaveral area of Brevard County. However, rescues also took place in Indian River, Gulf and Pinellas counties.
Sawfish Concerns Over Bonita Dredging
A recent critical habitat rule about juvenile smalltooth sawfish has led to scrutiny over dredging plans in the waters around Bonita Springs.
“That rule is causing a lot of concerns and problems,” said Shelley Norton, smalltooth sawfish and Johnson seagrass program manager for National Marine Fisheries Service.
The rule took effect in September 2009.
Chuck Listowski, executive director of the West Coast Inland Navigation District, recently secured a permit to dredge Government Cut and the shallow waterway between Bonita Beach Road and the Imperial River.
The permit has conditions for the smalltooth sawfish, a shark-like ray that is designated as critically endangered.
“Just like with manatees there are provisions, such as if there is a sawtooth observed, the operation needs to be shut down,” Listowski said. “There are some other conditions that we are not sure about.”
Listowski said he plans to meet soon with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to find out more. “I need to understand what the conditions are, and some of them are hard to understand,” he said.
Record numbers of manatees have officials urging boaters to be cautious
The holidays have seemingly cleared the highways of commuters, but manatee traffic is building to record numbers in Palm Beach County waterways, and wildlife officials are urging boaters to use caution.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that a recent aerial survey shows more than 800 manatees in Palm Beach County waters. That's the largest number of manatees counted in a single fly-over survey of the county, according to the state wildlife agency.
Most of the manatees were seeking the warm refuge in the waters by Florida Power & Light's Riviera Beach power plant and the Port of Palm Beach. But some small groups were traveling in the Intracoastal Waterway, the FWC reported.
Similar surveys counted 900-plus manatees in Broward County. They were gathering primarily around FPL's Port Everglades and Lauderdale power plants.
The latest warning comes on the heels of a Dec. 10 report of a record number of manatee deaths this year due to cold weather.
Biologists documented 699 manatee deaths in state waters, with 244 of those attributed directly to "cold stress" - a result of spending too much time in frigid waters during a lengthy January cold snap - according to state wildlife officials.
The huge jump in deaths is raising alarms because manatee deaths, which have been rising precipitously since 2007, numbered just 429 in 2009.
Cold Storage
It's a mistake to think that all of our fall migrants travel south. A few species move in other directions. The Gray Bat is one such contrarian.
Rather than seek out warmth, the Gray Bat prefers a nice chill for the winter and will leave its comfortable summer cave for one with a temperature closer to freezing. Sometimes that means saying good-bye to balmy Florida and flying to cooler Alabama or Tennessee.
The reason for the strange migration is that the Gray Bat hibernates during the winter, and it can do so effectively only in a chilly cave. Its heart rate plummets from several hundred beats per minute to twenty or thirty, and its body temperature takes a similar nosedive. Stored fat sustains the bat until spring, and when it's thirsty, it simply licks some of moisture off the cave walls or some of the condensation off its fur.
Click here to learn more about the Gray Bat.
Want to know which species are endangered or threatened and where they live?
Use eNature.com's Endangered Species Guide to get your free regional guide to threatened and endangered birds, butterflies, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
New population of Critically Endangered Gharials found on the Ganges After receiving several reports of sightings of Gharial in the Hooghly District on the Ganges, Innovative India Tourism Pvt. Ltd in association with iREBEL, Search, and with support from local government body of Hooghly & Burdwan district carried out an expedition in search of Gharials and Gangetic dolphins in the river Hooghly; with the aim of potentially creating a new Gharial and Dolphin Conservation Reserve.
To their surprise and delight, they recorded some 40 Gharial sightings and photographed 2 large females. They also found several small, newly hatched animals and have estimated that this population probably numbers ranging from 150-200.
In light of these dismal prospects, establishing the presence of Gharials in areas of their historic range where they have not been officially documented for over 40 years is tantamount to granting the species a possible reprieve from oblivion.
According to the IUCN Red Data List, the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a critically endangered species. Fewer than 200 breeding adults survive in the wild, and there are indications this number is declining precipitously. It has been extirpated from most of its historic range, including from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. It can now be found only in highly fragmented habitat in India and Nepal.
Over the course of the three-month survey four regions of maximum Gharial occurrence were identified. Amongst the sightings were reports of one-foot long babies to 17-foot males, and more than ten islands with potential as optimal nesting and basking grounds for Gharials were also identified.
It is now crucial to identify and protect suitable breeding habitat for the newly identified population if they are to have a chance to persist and flourish, so this study necessarily includes an assessment of the extent and quality of potential Gharial habitat within the study area. Equally vital is addressing threats to specimens or the viability of its habitat.
Long-whiskered owlet one of the world's rarest birds has been seen several times in Ecuador.
Delighted birdwatchers were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime sighting when they observed the rare Peruvian long-whiskered owlet, a species previously seen by only a handful of people.
This owlet is so rare that it wasn't even discovered until 1976, and since then, the bird seems to generally prefer to be out of sight and out of mind, including a 26-year period without any confirmed sightings at all. But during a seven week period from the end of September to the start of November, six international tour groups spotted the owlet near the Owlet Ecolodge at the Abra Patricia Reserve in Northern Peru.
The species' habitat has been protected there by American Bird Conservancy and its Peruvian partner ECOAN.
The scientific name for the endangered long-whiskered owlet - Xenoglaux loweryi - means ‘strange owl' and refers to its small size, long bristles around the beak, and delicate feathers extending into ‘whiskers' outwards from the face’,
The fact that the long-whiskered owlet is nocturnal, only lives in this area, and exists in very small numbers means that the visitors had a very exciting, once-in-a-lifetime birding experience.
We are now starting to understand more about its habits and hopefully in the future more people will be able to see this, one of the ultimate birds for any birder,' said Sara Lara, International Program Director for American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the leading bird conservation organizations in the United States.
Cold weather in early 2010 took toll on manatees.
The cold weather earlier this year led to a record high number of manatee deaths in 2010. From the beginning of the year through Dec. 5, biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) documented 699 manatee carcasses in state waters.
This preliminary data indicates the number of manatee deaths documented from Jan. 1 through Dec. 5 is nearly double the five-year average for that time period.
The "cold-stress" category accounts for 244 documented manatee deaths, which were caused by exposure to low water temperatures. However, it is likely the cold temperatures also contributed to many of the 203 deaths in the "undetermined" category and the 68 deaths in the "unrecovered" category.
The 2010 cold-related manatee die-off was unprecedented in both numbers and geographic extent. A large number of manatee deaths identified as cold-related occurred throughout much of the state, as far south as the Everglades and the Florida Keys.
Although the cold weather was a natural event, this die-off underscores the importance of warm-water habitat for the long-term survival of the species.
"We are very concerned about the unusually high number of manatee deaths this year. Data from our monitoring programs over the next few years will tell us if there are long-term implications for the population," said the director of FWRI, Gil McRae. "The cold-related deaths this past winter emphasize the importance of warm-water habitat to Florida's manatees. Maximizing access for manatees to natural warm-water sites will continue to be a focus for the FWC and our partners moving forward."
The cold weather likely was responsible for fewer watercraft-related mortalities earlier in 2010. However, later in the year, watercraft-related deaths trended higher than average and as a result, the year-end total for water craft-related deaths will likely be similar to that of previous years.
FWC researchers, managers and law enforcement staff work closely together to evaluate mortality data and identify necessary actions. Managers focus on actions that can reduce risks to manatees and protect foraging and warm-water habitat.
The FWC's Division of Law Enforcement, in cooperation with partner agencies, uses knowledge of local boating habits, well-posted speed zones and up-to-date manatee information as part of its on-the-water enforcement operations. Enforcing manatee protection zones and informing boaters about manatee conservation is a priority for the FWC.
To learn more about manatee conservation, go to http://myfwc.com/manatee . For more information on manatee mortality research, go to
http://research.MyFWC.com/manatees<http://research.myfwc.com/manatees
Residents can help manatees survive by purchasing the manatee specialty license plate, available at all tax collectors' offices. The funds collected for these plates go directly to manatee research and conservation.
To report a dead or distressed manatee, call the FWC's Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
FWC moves forward on Broward manatee rule
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) directed staff Thursday to move forward with proposed changes to the state manatee protection rule for Broward County.
The manatee management plan, passed by the FWC in December 2007, provides a schedule for the review of existing manatee protection rules. The first review occurred in Sarasota County in 2009, with a final rule approved in April 2010. A review of Broward County’s rule began in 2009, because it is one of the oldest ones in Florida and new manatee and boating data from recent years in that area is available.
“It’s the goal of the manatee program to go back and evaluate manatee protection rules after they’ve been in place for awhile to see if revisions or modifications are appropriate,” said Kipp Frohlich, the FWC’s Imperiled Species Section leader. “We looked at a wide range of data and compared manatee sightings over the years with current manatee use and boat traffic of the waterways in Broward.”
FWC biologists also worked with law enforcement personnel and Broward County staff to help identify and evaluate potential changes.
“We identified 13 potential rule changes that might be warranted. We then notified Broward County officials in March, asking them to form a committee to consider the potential rule changes,” Frohlich said. “After 13 meetings in Broward County, the 10-member Local Rule Review Committee (LRRC) provided its recommendations to us in August.”
Frohlich told the Commission there is a high level of agreement between the LRRC and the staff. “The proposed changes would reduce risks to manatees and reduce speed zone complexity in Broward County,” Frohlich said. “The change on the water for boaters would be minor.”
The Commission directed staff to move forward by publishing the proposed rule changes, holding at least one public hearing and collecting more public comments on the proposal. A final rule will be brought back for consideration at either the April or June 2011 meeting.
To view the proposed changes and other information on the rule, go to MyFWC.com/Manatee.
Message from Save the Manatee Club:
We want the public to have the chance to vote on near-shore oil drilling and to ban the possibility of this destructive practice.
The Deepwater Horizon incident this summer showed the tragic consequences for wildlife when an oil spill occurs. While manatees appear to have avoided major direct impacts from this oil spill, only time will tell what long-lasting damage was done to their home, including seagrass beds and other submerged resources. Needless to say, we don't want to wait for the next spill to happen. Oil drilling in our state marine waters, which extend approximately three miles into the Atlantic Ocean and 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, is simply too great a risk to take.
Unfortunately, some of our elected leaders disagree, and as recently as the 2009 Florida Legislative Session, voted to end the present statutory drilling ban. Floridians asked the legislature to place the issue before the voters, but the legislature did not agree to allow Floridians to vote to amend the state constitution in the November 2010 general election.
In light of the inaction of the legislature, and to forestall any future attempt to allow near-shore oil drilling, Save the Manatee Club has joined with a coalition of environmental organizations to create Save our Seas, Beaches and Shores, Inc., a citizens' petition drive to place the oil drilling ban on the November 2012 ballot. This will not be easy. We will need approximately 700,000 verified petitions. This effort will take all of us!
Our state relies on clean beaches for our economic and environmental well-being. Please click here to download the petition, sign it, and mail it today! And feel free to make copies and share with others.
Thank you for your help on this important issue for Florida's manatees.
Sincerely, 
Katie Tripp, Ph.D.
Director of Science and Conservation
Save the Manatee Club
Legacy program tracks gopher tortoises
Students from the Osceola County School for the Arts are participating in a new hands-on environmental education program aimed at bringing students closer to nature.
The South Florida Water Management District started the Legacy program and is partnering with four sites in its 16-county district in 2010-11 to provide outdoor learning experiences for students. Officials said they eventually hope to expand the program to all 16 counties.
“This is real Florida and there's not much of it left,” Dan Thayer, director of vegetation and land management for the water district, said. “We're trying to build a connection between our youth and our lands. If we can get the kids involved and get some ownership, they may be our future advocates for maintaining Florida's special places.”
The Osceola County students are surveying gopher tortoises' burrows at the Osceola County School District’s Scrub Site in the Reedy Creek watershed in the Poinciana area. Nov. 18 was the first day of the program; students will return to the site in January, February and May.
“We're looking right now at ways we can grow this,” Thayer, who works closely with the Palm Beach County School involved in the program, said. “There are some really great science teachers out there.”
Everglades and Water Quality Issues
The Everglades ecosystem includes Lake Okeechobee and its tributary areas, as well as the roughly 40- to 50-mile-wide, 130-mile-long wetland mosaic that once extended continuously from Lake Okeechobee to the southern tip of the Florida peninsula at Florida Bay.
Since 1900 much of the Everglades has been drained for agriculture and urban development, so that today only 50 percent of the original wetlands remain. Water levels and patterns of water flow are largely controlled by an extensive system of levees and canals. The control system was constructed to achieve multiple objectives of flood control, land drainage, and water supply.
More recently, water-management policies have also begun to address issues related to ecosystem restoration. Extensive land subsidence that has been caused by drainage and oxidation of peat soils will greatly complicate ecosystem restoration and also threatens the future of agriculture in the Everglades.
The Everglades were formed in a limestone basin, which accumulated layers of peat and mud bathed by freshwater flows from Lake Okeechobee. Natural Flow Patterns (c. 1900)
The Everglades ecosystem has, in fact, been badly degraded, despite the establishment of Everglades National Park in the southern Everglades in 1947. Prominent symptoms of the ecosystem decline include an 80 percent reduction in wading bird populations since the 1930s (Ogden, 1994), the near-extinction of the Florida panther (Smith and Bass, 1994), invasions of exotic species (Bodle and others, 1994), and declining water quality in Florida Bay, which likely is due, at least in part, to decreased freshwater inflow (McIvor and others, 1994).
A thin rim of bedrock protects south Florida from the ocean. The limestone bedrock ridge that separates the Everglades from the Atlantic coast extends 20 feet or less above sea level. Under natural conditions all of southeast Florida, except for a 5- to 15-mile-wide strip along this bedrock ridge, was subject to annual floods. Much of the area was perennially inundated with freshwater. Water levels in Lake Okeechobee and local rainfall drove slow-moving sheet flow through the Everglades under topographic and hydraulic gradients of only about 2 inches per mile. Lake Okeechobee, which once overflowed its southern bank at water levels in the range of 20 to 21 feet above sea level, today is artificially maintained at about 13 to 16 feet above sea level by a dike system and canals to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
The first successful farming ventures in the Everglades began in about 1913, not on the sawgrass plain itself but on the slightly elevated natural levee south of Lake Okeechobee (Snyder and Davidson, 1994). Early efforts to clear, farm, and colonize the sawgrass area had little success, being plagued by flooding, winter freezes, and trace-nutrient deficiencies. (The soil beneath the sawgrass was later shown to be too low in copper to support most crops and livestock.)
In the 1920s the State of Florida established an Everglades Experiment Station in Belle Glade, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture established a Sugarcane Field Station in Canal Point. The combined efforts of these units gradually solved the plant- and livestock-pathology problems experienced by early farmers. However, the land was still subject to frequent, sometimes catastrophic inundation. The great hurricane of 1928 caused at least 2,000 fatalities and flooded the Everglades Experiment Station for several months.
A network of dikes and canals controls water movement, providing optimum irrigation and drainage for sugar cane. (Click on image for larger version.)
The damage caused by the 1928 hurricane convinced the Federal government to fund construction of a permanent dike around the southern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee. This more secure protection from flooding cleared the way for intensive settlement of the Everglades. It also permanently severed the natural connection between the Everglades proper and its headwaters. For millennia, the Everglades had been fed by intermittent, diffuse overflow of the imperfect natural levee south of the Lake. Now, its primary water source, other than local rainfall, would be a system of artificial canals.
Administration proposes more support for the Everglades
The Obama administration announced yet another funding proposal for Everglades restoration on Friday, a sign of on-going support despite growing concerns in Washington over deficit spending.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urged Congress to approve an additional 5.5 miles of bridging across the Tamiami Trail to restore water flow into Everglades National Park. Work already has begun on a one-mile bridge.
“If ultimately authorized and funded by Congress, this proposal will benefit the environment and economy of South Florida,” Salazar said.
The estimated cost for additional bridging -- including construction, design work and land purchase -- is $310 million.
Increased flows across the trail and improved water distribution are considered essential to the health of the park and to the survival of wildlife, including the endangered wood stork, Everglades snail kite and Cape Sable seaside sparrow.
The administration has consistently proposed funding Everglades restoration projects with each year’s appropriations, plus a big dose of stimulus money.
Everglades advocates -- who are concerned about budget-cutting in Congress next year -- were delighted.
The proposal “comes at the right time to benefit Florida’s wildlife and economy,” said Julie Hill-Gabriel of Audubon of Florida.
Tamiami Trail bridge plan moves ahead
Plans to build 5.5 more miles of bridges along Tamiami Trail are moving ahead, with a full endorsement coming Friday from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
The National Park Service previously endorsed the project, and released a final draft plan for the next phase on Friday.
The bridges will allow water to better flow to the southern Everglades.
After years of study and legal struggles, construction began about a year ago to raise a 1-mile section of the roadway, which connects Miami to Naples.
Carol Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, praised Salazar’s support for the project.
“The district applauds today’s proposal from Secretary Salazar as another critical step in restoring the historic flow of water in America’s Everglades,” Wehle said in a news release. “Another 5.5 miles of bridges on the Tamiami Trail would help ensure the success of ongoing and planned restoration projects by re-establishing a vital link to Everglades National Park.”
The Everglades covers most of southern Florida. The national park is only about one-third of the historic swamp region, and is entirely south of the Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41).
Federal judge who's been skeptical of EPA says new Everglades cleanup plan shows better effort
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold has praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts to limit water pollutants in the Everglades, even as the South Florida Water Management District was asking an appeals court to review those same efforts.
In a petition filed at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal, the water district had asked the court to review the $1.5 billion dollar plan created by the EPA in September, claiming the plan goes beyond the EPA's legal authority. District officials said the appeal was filed "to preserve our right to due process in a case in which we are not even a party."
The district contends that EPA's tightened pollution standards are too expensive. "We plan to continue working with our federal partners at the EPA to develop affordable solutions for achieving our shared goals for improving water quality in America's Everglades," the release said.
The EPA plan was developed after U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ordered it to accelerate Everglades restoration by reducing phosphorus levels in water entering the Everglades.
Gold, who has been harshly critical of the EPA's efforts for years, did not rule on the plan during a three-hour hearing Friday, but said he was satisfied that the agency had taken charge of efforts to restore what is left of the Everglades. "There has been a strategic and significant change of position by the EPA," Gold said.
EMCOR Group, Inc. Subsidiary Awarded Contract for Installation of Pump Station for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Picayune Strand Restoration Project
EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE: EME), a Fortune 500® leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure and facilities services for a diverse range of businesses, announced that its Harry Pepper & Associates, Inc. subsidiary has been awarded a contract for $78,862,154 for the installation of a Pump Station for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Picayune Strand Restoration Project, Faka Union Pump Station, in Collier County, Florida.
Harry Pepper & Associates will be responsible for construction and installation of all the mechanical and electrical systems for the Pump Station, which will slow the flow of water through existing canals and redistribute it. The Picayune Strand Restoration Project is part of the comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Scope of work for the Pump Station, which will have a total of 9 pumps, 9 bays, and a capacity of 2,650 cfs, principally consists of:
Mechanical equipment to be provided and installed including diesel engine and electric motor driven pumps, bridge cranes, standby diesel generators, vacuum priming systems, HVAC equipment, cooling water pumps, fresh water pumps, water treatment equipment, lubricating water equipment and potable water equipment.
Electrical and instrumentation equipment to be provided and installed including station power distribution systems, station switchgear, motor control centers, local and station programmable logic controllers to control and monitor all ancillary mechanical equipment, grounding cable system, lighting, control room operator work station with monitoring and control computers, uninterrupted power service equipment, remote terminal unit system, all supporting switches, wiring, conduits, junction boxes, etc. to interconnect with equipment for control and monitoring.
The transformer pad and primary conduit are to be provided and installed in accordance with Florida Power and Light requirements.
Excavation, station substructure, backfill, fully enclosed buildings for the equipment, access bridges, fuel storage areas with containment and all associated equipment, sanitary facility, approach and discharge canals, retaining walls, trash racks and related civil works.
“We’re honored to have an opportunity to play a significant role in this important project,” stated David Pepper, President and CEO, Harry Pepper & Associates. “We look forward to our role in the restoration of the hydrology and ecology in this beautiful part of Florida, helping to generate positive effects on the vegetation and wildlife in the immediate area and surrounding public lands for years to come.”
Florida Everglades Cleanup: A River of Morass
On December 11, 2000, with Governor Jeb Bush at his side, President Bill Clinton signed a landmark $7.8 billion bill to revive the dying Florida Everglades. It was the largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the planet, and one of the most surreal ceremonies in the history of the Oval Office; that day, the Supreme Court was hearing Bush v. Gore, to decide whether Jeb's brother or Clinton's vice president would take over the office.
But if Florida's political swamp was dividing the nation into red and blue, Florida's actual swamp was uniting the antagonists around green. Outside the White House, reporters grilled Jeb about the partisan war raging down the street, but he waved them off, proclaiming that bipartisanship was still alive. "We're here to talk about something that's going to be long-lasting, way past counting votes," he said. "This is the restoration of a treasure for our country."
Ten years later, the Everglades is still dying, and the price tag for the restoration is up to $13.5 billion. The project looks long-lasting, all right; none of its 68 components has been completed. The basic problem with the Everglades — water that doesn't flow right and isn't clean enough — remains unsolved. Half the River of Grass is still gone, a maze of highways, levees and canals still slices and dices what's left, and the dysfunctional Army Corps of Engineers, which helped ravage the Everglades in the first place, is still in charge of resuscitating it. Meanwhile, the dike that protects millions of Floridians from Lake Okeechobee is leaking, the Everglade snail kite is flirting with extinction, and invasive Burmese pythons are running roughshod through the marsh.
Really, it's become a River of Morass.
Read more
Worsening drought feared as South Florida water levels drop
Good thing those cold spells are over. Now all South Florida has to worry about is a drought.
The May-through-October wet season accounts for two-thirds to three-fourths of the year's rainfall. The dry season accounts for the rest.
If you have a drier-than-normal wet season, you've got big trouble. But if you have a drier-than-normal dry season, it's not the end of the world.
"You expect less rainfall in the dry season," South Florida Water Management District official Susan Sylvester said last week.
But, she said, "What you don't expect is long periods of no rainfall."
South Florida's water bind is a cause for concern right now but could become a far more serious issue in coming months.
Already the tinder-dry region is under a growing threat of wildfires; several brush fires have erupted along the Treasure Coast.
Water levels are plummeting. Lake Okeechobee is about 2.25 feet below normal; a bigger drop could threaten its role as a key water supply for Glades farmers and a backup supply for the coast. The same goes for water conservation areas.
If water levels drop enough, fish and wildlife could be stressed.
The region already is under year-round lawn-watering limits.
A water crisis is about supply and demand. Rainfall deficits considered moderate or even minor at the end of World War II, when Florida had 3 million people, now generate a crisis, when six times as many people are turning on the tap.
No one's talking about going to tougher restrictions. But the district is urging people to take the current situation seriously and make sure they're using water efficiently.
Water war in Wacissa
A battle is brewing just east of the state capitol in rural Jefferson County, over the rights to water from a pristine river. Nestle has told local residents it is studying whether the company could take between a half million and a million and a half gallons from springs in the area to feed its water bottling operation in a neighboring county. Residents in the tiny town of Wacissa are up in arms.
The brand names are familiar. Deer Park or Zephyrhills…this Madison County Nestle waters plant pumps out more than a hundred thousand bottles an hour from a nearby spring….but Ken Koptiuch says the company needs more to meet demand.
“We don’t necessarily use water from the same source to put on a Sam’s Club product as we would on a Zephyrhills product”, says the plant manager. “So we look for alternate sources for that reason”.
Nestle is studying whether the springs that form the Wacissa River in Jefferson county can supply up to a million and a half more gallons a day. The water would be trucked across local roads to the bottling plant. Hardly a yard in the area is without a “say no to nestle sign” …Roland Brumbley was born here 65 years ago, and is a leading spokesperson against the plant. “We just want people to know that we love this river and we don’t want it destroyed. We don’t want these natural resources to go away”, says the 65 year old resident.
The company says it is just studying the idea…no decision has been made and won’t for at least 6 months. Koptiuch says The company will look out for the river..and pay attention to local residents. “If the scientific study shows this is not a feasible project, we will walk away”.
If approved and after paying a couple hundred dollars for a use permit, Nestle could take a million and a half gallons a day and never pay another cent. The fact the water is almost free burns local residents like Brumbley even more. “And here is a foreign company, not an American based company, coming and taking something that belongs to the people of the State of Florida for free”, says Brumbley.
Nestle says if it is going to be charged for the water by the gallon…every user should have to pay the same fee.
Governor Charlie Crist proposed a six cent a gallon extraction fee for water in 2009, but if never got a legislative hearing.
Please take this 15 minute survey – your information is helpful
This has been a promising year for Everglades restoration - it is with optimism that I look forward to the January 2011 Everglades Coalition Conference. Several local project groundbreakings coupled with increased political will have sparked a momentum that is propelling us in the direction of successful restoration.
Yet, the answer to the important question "What is successful restoration?" remains elusive. Definitions of restoration success are currently both fuzzy and scattered among environmental partners. At this juncture, it is important for environmental organizations and their supporters to reflect on what restoration success looks like and what it means in order to build a clear, shared vision for the future. Such a common vision will become increasingly important in guiding the Everglades restoration program and in positioning environmental organizations as leaders in the design of effective restoration projects.
In light of these concerns, I have been working with the Everglades Coalition, the National Science Foundation's Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program, and other restoration advocates to put together a panel called “Defining Restoration Success” for the 2011 Everglades Coalition meeting. As part of our efforts, we have designed an online survey, "Visions of Everglades Restoration Success," which is an important vehicle for collecting the data we need to begin to answer the question "What is successful restoration?" This survey will produce information that will help us to work together as a better-informed community of restoration advocates with a common purpose. I encourage you, your staff, your membership and your board to take the time to complete this short survey. Your answers and insights are very valuable.
Please review the survey details below. Thank you in advance for your support.
Sincerely,
John C. Ogden
Visions of Everglades Restoration Success Survey: Information
This survey looks at how the Everglades Coalition’s environmental organizations and supporters define Everglades restoration success. Preliminary survey results will be presented during the panel “Defining Restoration Success” at the annual Everglades Coalition Conference in January 2011.
We ask that you please distribute this survey to the board, the staff and the membership of your environmental organization and encourage them to fill out the survey. The thoughts and opinions of those people affiliated with your organization are very important and valuable to this research study, so please help spread the word!
Please click on the following web link to take the survey: https://fiu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6mLMb8duyCuGqkQ
You will need to enter the following password to access the survey: Everglades
This survey is available online and will remain open through Tuesday, December 28, 2010. It should take participants approximately 15 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact either Dr. Laura Ogden at ogdenl@fiu.edu or 305-348-6663 or Rebecca Garvoille at rgarv001@fiu.edu or 954-330-7412, the project's Principal Investigators at the National Science Foundation's Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program, located at Florida International University.
Thank you for your participation!
Water on the Legislature’s Mind
This week, Speaker Cannon announced the creation of the House Select Committee on Water Policy, to be chaired by Rep. Trudi Williams (R-Ft. Myers). At a time when water quality criteria proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have polarized legislative discussion about wetlands and water resources, this broadly tasked committee is poised to make some dramatic changes in the way Florida manages our most vital resource. Florida Audubon Executive Director Eric Draper said, “The Speaker is correct that Florida’s water regulations are in serious need of examination,” noting problems with supply and water quality.
After the Speaker's announcement, Audubon pointed out that water policy reform must maintain current protection of freshwater resources such as spring flow, lake levels and the delivery of freshwater to estuaries. Also, water policy must provide for a mechanism to clean up Florida’s impaired waterways with an emphasis on reducing phosphorous pollution of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. As always, Audubon will be engaged especially in preserving the public interest standard for wetlands as well as ensuring sufficient water supply for the environment as well as people.
In the Senate, the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee chaired by Sen. Charlie Dean (R-Inverness), heard testimony from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the EPA’s proposed water quality criteria. Despite comments by DEP staff about the flexibility of the rules, delays to allow staged implementation, and availability of exemptions, testimony from regulated interests and the committee itself blasted the new federal requirements. Concerns largely centered on the economic cost of compliance to businesses and local and state government.
Cape Coral Adopts Fertilizer Ordinance
On Monday night, November 29, 2010, the Cape Coral City Council unanimously adopted a fertilizer ordinance, after two years of lobbying efforts by volunteers and staff. Cape Coral was the last municipality in Lee County to pass such an ordinance and its adoption was significant. The Cape has 400 miles of canals and those waterways impact the Caloosahatchee River.
Twenty ordinance supporters were in attendance; including Cape Coral homeowners, members of the business community as well as members of the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, Calusa Group of Sierra Club, Sierra Club staff, and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
While the ordinance mirrors the Lee County fertilizer ordinance in most issues, there is one exception. The Cape ordinance allows the hand dispersion of fertilizer within the ten feet fertilizer-free zone. Sierra Club and its Cape Coral Coalition made the recommendation to excise that section of the ordinance, keeping the ten feet fertilizer - free zone without the allowance of hand fertilizing. That recommendation was rejected by the Council.
Despite that one issue, the Cape Coral fertilizer ordinance is similar to previously adopted fertilizer ordinances in Lee County. Having an ordinance in place will help protect the Caloosahatchee from further degradation.
Read more
Nestle draws fire for plans to pump more water from North Florida springs
Citizens in North Florida are gearing up for what many foresee as a drawn-out battle with Nestle Waters North America, the country’s largest water bottler, which recently completed test wells in Jefferson County as part of its process to determine whether to apply for a permit to begin withdrawing spring water from sites along the Wacissa River.
While the Swiss-based corporation insists it is only in the preliminary stages of the process and has yet to submit a formal proposal to the scientific body charged with overseeing the region, the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), citizens and local officials are already voicing concern with placing increased strain on Florida’s spring system without creating any new jobs and providing little or no benefit to the state or surrounding community.
If approved, the Nestle load station will serve as a supplemental water source, drawing approximately 400,000 gallons per day that will be transported 40 miles via tanker trucks to Nestlé’s Madison Blue Springs bottling facility. Local critics insist their small, rural roads cannot support the additional traffic or degradation that 70 trucks a day would bring, while springs experts note that flow rates for the Wacissa River need to be established before sustainable withdrawal amounts can be determined — something that isn’t scheduled to take place until 2016.
State Rep. Leonard Bembry, a Democrat whose district includes both Madison and Jefferson counties, says that he’d be surprised if the district approves a permit for the proposed load station along the Wacissa, noting that he thinks the project can’t be justified.
EPA and South Florida Water Management District go head-to-head over Everglades restoration
In April 2010, Judge Alan Gould issued a court decision regarding the Florida Everglades — essentially directing the EPA to give clear and comprehensive instructions on restoration to Florida agencies by Sept. 3, 2010.
As part of his decision, Gold ordered the agency to “establish specific milestones to ensure that the State of Florida does not continue to ignore, and improperly extend the compliance deadline for meeting the phosphorous … criterion in the Everglades Protection Area.” Gold, who said that the “established wrong” in the case was “the failure of the EPA and the State of Florida to comply with the [Clean Water Act] for more than two decades,” also required the EPA to issue an Amended Determination that would “direct the State of Florida to correct [its] deficiencies.”
From an EPA press release:
“With this action, EPA is complying with the law and acknowledging that we must do more together to restore clean water to the Everglades,” said Stan Meiburg, Acting Regional Administrator for EPA’s southeastern region. “The State of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District have done much good work already and we hope to build on that by meeting both the substance and the spirit of Judge Gold’s decision with this plan, and to achieve clean water standards as soon as possible.”
But the South Florida Water Management District has since found fault with the determination, and the district doesn’t seem to be going down without a fight. On Nov. 2, the District issued a response to the EPA, in the form of a letter penned by district Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle. Calling the schedule for restoration “unrealistic,” Wehle said her district is “unwilling to accept the undue and unreasonable financial burden that EPA’s $2 billion proposal places on South Florida’s taxpayers.”
EPA Inaction on Water: Get the Lead out
Why can't the EPA do its job without being prodded by a lawsuit? It took a lawsuit by several environmental groups to finally force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue reasonable antipollution standards for Florida waters.
Last week, three organizations -- the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the hunters' group Project Gutpile -- sued the EPA for failing to ban the use of lead ammunition and fishing gear.
There is no argument that lead ammo, fishing sinkers and other gear have a toxic impact on wildlife. "The ingestion of even one small fishing sinker containing lead or zinc can result in the death of a water bird," said the agency itself back in 1994. Estimates of birds and animals tainted by lead poisoning range from 10 million to 20 million a year.
Unfinished Everglades reservoir may be downsized
An unfinished Everglades restoration reservoir, which has already cost South Florida taxpayers almost $280 million, could now become a smaller version of the city-sized structure once planned.
The South Florida Water Management District in 2008 shelved the 16,700-acre reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County midway through construction in favor of pursuing a land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp., which offered the opportunity to reshape the course of Everglades restoration.
With the $197 million U.S. Sugar deal completed in October, the district now proposes turning the unfinished reservoir into a scaled-back, "shallow water" structure that would still cost taxpayers another $70 million.
It would hold about one-third of the 62 billion gallons once planned, but require much less money to complete than the additional $400 million once estimated.
Opponents of the U.S. Sugar deal, including the Miccosukee Tribe and U.S. Sugar competitor Florida Crystals, have pointed to the unfinished reservoir as an example of how the land buy threatened to delay or torpedo other long-overdue Everglades restoration projects.
But supporters of the land deal contend that the water storage and treatment facilities that could now be built on the U.S. Sugar land, coupled with a scaled-down reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County, will deliver better long-term help for the Everglades.
"The district had good sense to cancel the thing," said John Marshall, of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, an environmental organization that advocates for Everglades restoration. "The trade-offs will prove themselves eventually."
Before the U.S. Sugar deal, the proposed reservoir west of U.S. 27 was due to be completed this year and become a key advancement in the decades-long effort to restore water flows to the Everglades.
101 Ways to Conserve Water in College (Works at home too)
A lot of businesses, households and campuses have recently adopted water conservation plans to save money and protect the environment, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We in the developed world use inordinate amounts of water for personal use, and most of it isn’t used efficiently. With each extra utensil used or toilet flushed, water is wasted, and you can imagine how much water that adds up to on a college campus. Here are 101 ways to conserve water in college, whether you’re a student, college president or professor.
In the Dorms
From laundry to showering, here are ways you and your roommates can save water every day.
1. Take a home water audit: Print out this audit so that you and your roommate can evaluate your current water usage, and then trim it down.
2. Turn water off when brushing your teeth: And while shaving or even washing your face. Turn it on when it’s time to rinse.
3. Check for leaks: Report them to maintenance ASAP to avoid mildew and mold, and of course, water waste.
4. Take shorter showers: Americans use 1.2 trillions of gallons of water taking showers each year. Spend shower time cleaning yourself, not just standing there zoning out.
5. Only wash clothes when you have a full load: This shouldn’t be too hard for students who wait until the last minute to do laundry. Just make sure you have a full load, or else you’re wasting water and energy on a half load.
6. Put rocks in your toilet: Placing pebbles in your tank restricts the amount of water that fills the bowl back up, using less water per flush.
7. Test your toilet for leaks: Put a drop of food coloring into the tank. If the color bleeds into the toilet bowl without flushing, there’s a leak you need to report.
8. Turn water pressure down when adjusting temperature: Instead of blasting the shower while you wait for it to get hot, turn the water down during the adjustment process.
9. Flush sparingly if you’re in a single: If you’ve got a lot of suitemates or just a bathroom down the hall, you’ll have to flush every time out of courtesy and personal hygiene. But if you’re in a single, wait until you have to do the Number 2 to flush.
10. Shower with a buddy: Waste less water from showering by doing it with a buddy. Just make sure you’re not in there too long.
11. Don’t use the toilet for arbitrary flushes: Throw cigarette butts and bugs in the trash, instead of sacrificing the 5-7 gallons of water it takes to flush.
Click here to read 90 more ways to conserve water
Wildlife and Habitat
Home builder must pay $460,000 for wetlands violations
When one of South Florida's largest home builders received a federal permit seven years ago for a development called Islands of Doral, the approval came with some conditions.
To compensate for destroying 415 acres of melaleuca-infested wetlands in West Miami-Dade County, Century Homebuilders agreed to set aside another 47 acres and create a wetlands preserve by removing the exotic species and replanting with spikerush, pond apple and other native foliage.
Century never completed the job.
Under the terms of a settlement approved this month by U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in Miami, the builder now must perform the wetlands work it originally pledged to complete and pay a $400,000 fine plus $60,000 in other regulatory fees -- an unusually stiff penalty in a wetlands-violation case.
Ignacio Moreno, an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement that the case showed the federal government's commitment to enforcing wetlands-protection laws.
``The substantial penalty and other relief obtained in this case underscore a message to all builders that they must meet all conditions of the permit,'' Moreno said in a news release.
Conservation groups seek responsible ORV management at Cape Hatteras
After a record-breaking year for wildlife at Cape Hatteras National Seashore and visitor occupancy in Dare County, NC, conservation groups are studying the Final Environmental Impact Statement released yesterday by the National Park Service as its latest step in the process of establishing rules for managing beach driving within the seashore. The groups will evaluate the plan to ensure it balances the interests of all seashore users and fulfills the park service’s responsibility to preserve the seashore’s natural resources, including rare sea turtles, birds, and their young, for present and future generations.
The preferred alternative announced yesterday falls short of the U.S. Department of Interior’s own scientists’ recommendations regarding the measures needed to protect wildlife within the national park.
As a unit of the National Park System, Cape Hatteras has been required for decades under federal law to establish guidelines for the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) in the seashore to minimize harm to the natural resources of the seashore in accordance with the best available science.
“The park service’s final rules must provide adequate vehicle-free space and protections for both pedestrians and wildlife, while still allowing responsible beach driving in some areas,” said Julie Youngman, senior attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center. “We look forward to working with the park service to build on the success of this record-breaking year.”
The park service’s preferred plan in today’s statement allows ORV use on the majority of the seashore. Twenty-eight of the seashore’s 67 miles are set aside as year-round ORV routes, with only 26 miles designated as year-round vehicle-free areas for pedestrians, families, and wildlife. The remaining 13 miles of seashore are seasonally open to ORVs. The plan also proposes new parking facilities, ORV ramps, and water shuttles to increase visitor access.
“As demonstrated by record numbers of visitors and wildlife this year, it is entirely possible for Cape Hatteras to be responsibly shared and enjoyed,” said Jason Rylander, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “We hope the park service’s final plan will strike an appropriate balance that meets the needs of the Seashore’s many users.”
2010 was a record-breaking year at Cape Hatteras for wildlife and visitor occupancy under similar, temporary rules for off-road vehicle use within Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Those rules were implemented in April 2008, and include wildlife protections similar to the ones proposed today by the National Park Service.
According to numbers from the National Park Service, sea turtles laid a record 153 nests on the park’s beaches, the most nests ever documented at the seashore and a substantial increase over previous years. Additionally, a record 15 piping plover chicks survived to fledge or learn to fly, the highest number ever documented since record-keeping began in 1992 and a substantial increase since an all-time low when no chicks survived to fledge in either 2002 or 2004.
At the same time, Dare County’s visitor occupancy through August 2010 exceeded prior years for the same period. In addition, according to press reports, the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau reported that Hatteras Island visitors spent a record-setting $27.8 million on lodging during the month of July, which was an 18.5 percent increase over July 2009 and exceeded all preceding years.
“Numbers since 2008 demonstrate that under science-based wildlife management, nesting birds and turtles can rebound, tourism can thrive, and wildlife and people can share the beach at Cape Hatteras,” said Walker Golder, acting executive director of Audubon North Carolina. “The park service’s plan currently falls short of providing adequate science-based, year-round protections for the seashore’s natural resources.”
Global Warming and Climate Change
E.P.A. Says It Will Press on With Greenhouse Gas Regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a timetable on Thursday for issuing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries, signaling a resolve to press ahead on such regulation even as it faces stiffening opposition in Congress.
The agency said it would propose performance standards for new and refurbished power plants next July, with final rules to be issued in May 2012. Proposed emissions standards for new oil refineries will be published next December, it said, with the final rules due in November 2012; rules for existing plants would come later.
But the E.P.A. was vague on how stringent the rules would be and how deep a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would result.
Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator for air and radiation, said the rules would be “cost-effective” but the agency declined to be more specific, saying only that the agency would consider the costs and benefits of available control technologies.
That left open the question of how much money the agency would demand that an industry spend to avoid emitting carbon dioxide.
The E.P.A. seemed at pains to appear reasonable on the challenges of an industry transition: in a conference call with reporters, Ms. McCarthy emphasized that the agency would take a “sensitive and collaborative” approach in issuing rules for plants and refineries.
Power plants and refineries are the nation’s top emitters of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has been linked to global warming. Having declared greenhouse gases to be a threat to public health last year, the agency begins regulating those emissions on Jan. 2 under the Clean Air Act.
The rules for new power plants and refineries are certain to be challenged by industry, some states, and many Republicans in the House of Representatives who have vowed to limit the agency’s regulatory powers.
Friends of the Earth report on the outcome of the climate talks in Cancun
Our team in Cancun was made up of staff from Friends of the Earth groups on five continents. We urged rich, industrialized countries like the United States, Japan and Canada to commit to aggressive responses to climate change, including rapid pollution reductions. (These rich countries' pollution is overwhelmingly responsible for having caused the climate crisis, so they have a responsibility to lead in solving it.) Unfortunately -- but not unexpectedly -- that’s not what happened in Cancun.
Instead, on the final night, the president of the conference, Mexican foreign minister Patricia Espinosa, introduced negotiating texts that supposedly resolved disagreements between the various countries. In reality, the texts papered over many disagreements, including questions as basic as whether emission reduction commitments should be legally binding.
On the crucial question -- cutting pollution -- the texts fell dramatically short, merely noting individual countries' voluntary emissions pledges. These already-existing pledges are so weak that they could lead to as much as nine degrees Fahrenheit of warming -- far more than what scientists say is acceptable.
The texts also open the door to new “carbon offsets” and other loopholes that allow industrialized countries to avoid making needed pollution reductions at home.
One positive note: the texts establish a Green Climate Fund that will support developing countries in coping with climate change impacts and transitioning to clean economies. This has been a Friends of the Earth priority. (Read a longer analysis of the texts here.)
After Espinosa introduced the texts, Bolivian delegate Pablo Solon asked for time to review and debate them, but Espinosa demanded a take-it-or-leave-it decision. Despite Solon’s objection that there was no consensus, Espinosa said the texts had been approved and would henceforth be known as the “Cancun Agreements.”
Where does this leave us?
Many observers cheered loudly at the adoption (which is still being contested by Bolivia) of the Cancun Agreements. But expectations had been set so low that only a complete abandonment of the UN process would have been seen as a failure.
While many developing countries acquiesced to adoption of the Agreements, this should not be read as a sign of unambiguous support. Several delegates privately expressed disappointment to us. But these delegates were under significant pressure not to object to a weak deal, as they’d seen how foreign aid had been cut from countries that refused to sign up to last year's Copenhagen Accord.
The international negotiations will continue. Many of the disagreements papered over in Cancun will resurface a year from now at the UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa.
So what’s next?
The most important thing that those of us in the United States can do to increase the prospects for success in Durban is to move both politics and policy at the domestic level to a better place.
In terms of policy, we need to show the world that we’re serious about reducing our own emissions. Our key task over the next year will be to defend the EPA’s implementation of Clean Air Act protections against climate pollution -- protections that can cut emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources of heat-trapping gases. We will need to defeat Republican attempts to roll back this law.
Climate Groups Retool Argument for Global Warming
The number of Americans who believe that global warming is a scientific fact has been dropping, and environmental groups and climate scientists who say the evidence for warming is clear are scratching their heads over this reversal and scrambling to find a new strategy.
Three years ago, former Vice President Al Gore won a Nobel Prize for publicizing the threat of climate change with his book and documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth. After that, scientists rejoiced, says Dan Lashof, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"We in the scientific community by and large said OK, the science debate is over, we are moving our efforts into what we are going to do about it. And that left the science debate in the public largely untended," he says. "That has been recognized as a strategic error."
They hadn't won. Climate skeptics worked to convince the public that the scientific argument for climate change was dodgy and exaggerated. The debate sometimes got hostile and personal, as it did in an exchange between climate skeptic Mark Morano and climate activist Joe Romm.
Even Gore's Nobel Prize hasn't earned him deference from skeptics, as he found when testifying at this hearing before Republican Congressman Joe Barton in March 2007:
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces New Steps to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change
Calling it "one of the greatest threats facing our planet," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is taking action to meet the challenge of climate change. Speaking at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Secretary said USDA continues to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "by helping farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to be even better conservationists."
"We remain focused on steps to advance clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while growing our economy," said Vilsack. "Farmers, ranchers and forest owners have a great deal to contribute to mitigating climate change, while also ensuring that farms adapt to climate change, and they can benefit by embracing a range of conservation practices."
Vilsack said USDA will demonstrate ways landowners can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration while improving their financial bottom line. The effort includes providing opportunities to leverage private sector demand for greenhouse gas mitigation services, evaluating how emerging greenhouse gas markets can work in concert with USDA programs to protect the environment, and building capacity within USDA to understand voluntary greenhouse gas markets and to explore improved approaches for greenhouse gas accounting systems.
Among the steps announced today, Vilsack said USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide $15 million in Conservation Innovation Grant funds and other assistance to support large-scale demonstration projects to accelerate the adoption of new approaches to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote carbon sequestration on private lands. As part of this, NRCS will provide financial assistance to support eligible producers as they implement conservation practices associated with these selected GHG projects.
Additionally, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will implement a project to provide information to landowners who enroll in certain tree planting conservation practices under the Conservation Reserve Program and who voluntarily request an estimate of the amount of carbon stored as a result of these practices. FSA will develop a communications tool to link companies, organizations and participants in carbon storage activities and information sharing. The project will begin next year.
Vilsack also announced the release of USDA's Climate Change Science Plan. The plan's objective is to incorporate management of the challenges created by climate change into the scientific missions of USDA. It provides a guide for the Department on scientific priorities to better serve USDA stakeholders by providing them with information about the impact of climate change and it outlines options to mitigate emissions and help producers adapt to expected change.
In addition, the Secretary announced that institutions in seven States were awarded Federal funding for research on the economics of reducing agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. USDA will fund studies to examine the economics of agricultural participation in proposed greenhouse gas markets, including the potential impacts on GHG reduction. The projects will help identify cost-effective ways farmers can reduce emissions and also help design the incentives for their participation in greenhouse gas markets or other agricultural programs.
He also noted that the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of forest and grasslands, has taken a number of steps over the last year to integrate climate change considerations into day-to-day operations. A scorecard has been developed to measure the progress of each of the National Forests and Grasslands in integrating climate change considerations into forest management. Also, the Forest Service has developed a National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change to make forests more resilient to climate change impacts, manage greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage. As part of the scorecard and the roadmap development, the Forest Service is integrating climate change into a new National Planning Rule that will govern the way management plans are written for all National Forests.
Vilsack underscored USDA's commitment to working with international partners through the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, which was launched a year ago at the Copenhagen Climate Change meeting. The alliance is focused on identifying ways to sustain and improve food production systems, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate Group OKs Green Fund For Developing World
A U.N. conference on Saturday adopted a modest climate deal creating a fund to help the developing world go green, though it deferred for another year the tough work of carving out deeper reductions in carbon emissions causing Earth to steadily warm.
Though the accords were limited, it was the first time in three years the 193-nation conference adopted any climate action, restoring faith in the unwieldy U.N. process after the letdown a year ago at a much-anticipated summit in Copenhagen.
After debating into the early hours, the conference overrode a lone objection by Bolivia, which argued the plan did not do enough to do enough combat climate change.
Offshore & Ocean
Plastic in our oceans This past year Algalita Marine Research Foundation has participated in numerous conferences across the globe. Our research efforts have reached deeper into world consciousness and consequently more is being asked of us. Thanks to our friends, we have been able to continue our research work, providing policy-makers with crucial information. Further, we have expanded our educational programs into more schools and to the general public as well, teaching about the effect plastic debris has on our fragile marine ecosystem.
Algalita is one of the few organizations in the world dedicated to understanding the impact of plastic debris in the world's oceans ... and we are the only research organization to have sampled four of the major subtropical ocean gyres for this type of pollution. Our studies show that plastic, unfortunately, has found its way into essentially every part of our oceans. This information has changed the world's understanding of the scope and severity of the issue and, although much has been accomplished, there is much yet to be done.
Plastic pollution not going away and, as the earth's population continues to grow, so will the problem. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the general public becomes more educated about the consequences of plastic marine debris and the potential effects on human health. This coming year, our goals are to finish several research projects and publish the data, initiate additional collaborative scientific studies, and expand our educational outreach program to more schools throughout the U.S. and the world.
Visit the site to learn more about the Algalita Research Program
Panel backing off bottom-fishing ban
Plans to close nearly 4,300 miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida and Georgia coast to bottom fishing may be dropped completely if a federal fisheries panel gets its way.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted Thursday in North Carolina to drop the plan to prevent bottom fishing after new information from scientists and fishermen showed red snapper populations are better off than originally estimated, and that fewer are being caught while fishermen are catching other species.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Capt. David Nelson, who co-owns and operates the Finest Kind fishing charter service out of Ponce Inlet. "This is going to help everyone," said Nelson, who has been active in the ongoing debate over red snapper.
The prohibition against bottom fishing was approved earlier this year to prevent fishermen from accidentally catching red snapper while trying to catch other species of snapper and grouper.
The latest information reported to the council concluded a ban on red snapper fishing, which went into effect in January and became permanent last week, may be adequate to end overfishing of red snapper. The reports indicate fishermen changed fishing patterns as a result of the moratorium and the declining economy, and were catching less red snapper accidentally.
The broader closure was supposed to begin last week, but officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service announced they were delaying the bottom-fishing ban for 180 days to let the council take a look at the latest scientific studies on red snapper populations.
The council's recommendation from the Thursday night vote will be forwarded to the fisheries service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which would have final approval.
While the latest reports indicate red snapper stocks are healthier, the Pew Environment Group, which promotes ocean conservation, said Thursday the fish are still in "urgent need of protection."
"Overall, we are cautiously optimistic that this recovery plan will get the job done," stated Holly Binns, a project manager for Pew. "We will have to wait and see whether this compromise plan is strong enough to help the species rebound. We hope the council's well-intentioned effort to ease short-term economic costs does not hurt red snapper in the long run," Binns stated.
Many commercial and recreational fishermen have argued for two years that the measures being taken to protect red snapper are overly restrictive.
They say red snapper are more bountiful and healthier than federal officials thought. The broad ocean closure was even more controversial, with Florida fishermen wondering why this area was being singled out while ocean areas off North and South Carolina were excluded from the planned closed area.
Energy
Fla. governor-elect rips Obama ban on oil drilling
Florida Governor-elect Rick Scott is blasting President Barack Obama's decision to ban oil drilling off the state's coast because of the BP spill.
Scott issued a statement saying Wednesday's decision is another example of the government regulation impeding economic growth.
The Republican businessman said drilling could be conducted safely if sound policies are implemented. There currently is no drilling off Florida.
Scott also said he was disappointed that Obama implemented the policy without consulting him.
Current Gov. Charlie Crist had earlier called the decision "wonderful news" that would be favorably received by the tourism industry and residents alike. Crist left the Republican Party last April to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent but lost.
[I have seen the video recorded by “Alvin”, the remote undersea vehicle, that has shown a blanket of oil covering a large portion of the Gulf bottom and there is currently a moratorium on shrimp harvesting in the Gulf because tar balls have been found in shrimp trawl nets. This is a large a factor in impeding economic development in itself.]
U.S. ethanol production to rise as EPA sets share
Ethanol sales in the United States are expected to rise to 13.95 billion gallons (54.27 billion liters) in 2011 from 12.95 billion gallons this year, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday.
The agency, in its annual setting of the renewable fuel standard, said ethanol and other renewable fuels must account for at least 8.01 percent of the motor fuels sold in 2011 at U.S. service stations to comply with a federal mandate.
In July, the EPA proposed a target of 7.95 percent for 2011. However, because gasoline and diesel sales are not expected to be as strong next year as the EPA had estimated, renewable fuels will have to account for a bigger share.
The EPA sets the renewable fuel standard every year as required by Congress, based on gasoline and diesel demand projections from the U.S. Energy Department.
Congress requires U.S. annual ethanol production to gradually increase to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Lawmakers pushed for more ethanol to stretch available U.S. gasoline supplies and reduce petroleum imports.
More ethanol use, which in the U.S. is made mostly from corn, will benefit farmers. Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop is used to make ethanol. It will also benefit ethanol producers by soaking up surplus supplies.
Landmark biomass electric plant seeking approval from lame-duck Cabinet A proposed woody biomass electric plant that would be one of the largest of its kind in the nation could move a step closer to reality with a Cabinet vote on Tuesday.
American Renewables and the city of Gainesville are proposing the 100-megawatt biomass plant on 131 acres at the city's Deerhaven power plant. The plant would burn 1 million tons per year of mostly waste wood to create enough electricity to power 70,000 homes, according to the company.
Gov. Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson have encouraged the development of biomass energy. But proposed projects around the state have faced stubborn local opposition and legal challenges, causing plans for some to be delayed or scrapped. The proposed vote Tuesday comes just weeks before Crist and the three Cabinet members will leave office.
Supporters say the proposed Gainesville Renewable Energy Center will produce jobs and renewable energy without contributing to climate change. The proposed plant has received support from Bronson, the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Columbia University climate scientist James Hansen, Republican Sen. Steve Oelrich and former Democratic Sen. Rod Smith, both of Gainesville.
The plant would be the largest in the nation, tied with a facility under construction near Sacul, Texas, said Josh Levine, director of project development at American Renewables in Boston. He said the Gainesville plant actually will reduce pollution by using limbs and leftover waste wood now burned in the open without emissions controls as part of timber operations. And he said the plant will help create more than 700 jobs in the region, including 44 at the plant.
"In addition to being renewable energy projects, they [biomass plants] are economic development projects," Levine said.
But some environmentalists have raised concerns about pollution and the impact on forests around Gainesville, and the local NAACP chapter has raised concerns about the size and cost of the plant. Twenty-one people have signed up to speak at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Several leading opponents in Gainesville could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The Cabinet will consider Administrative Law Judge Robert E. Meale's recommendation that a power plant construction and operating certificate be issued. The company still must receive a state air pollution permit, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is awaiting a recommendation from Meale on a separate legal challenge to a proposed permit.
Land Conservation
Hunting, off-road vehicles will be allowed in sections of Big Cypress National Park Service proposes making other areas protected wilderness
A vast sweep of forest, swamp and prairie west of the Broward County border will be opened to hunting and off-road vehicles, with part of the land protected as wilderness, under a plan announced Tuesday by the National Park Service.
The Addition Lands of Big Cypress National Preserve are among the most argued-over pieces of real estate in South Florida. Purchased from private owners and added to the preserve in 1988, the 230 square miles of territory straddle Alligator Alley and form a narrow strip next to State Road 29 in Collier County.
Hunters have argued for years that they have been unfairly and illegally shut out of the land, which is rich in deer and wild turkey. Hikers and environmentalists say the hunters and their off-road vehicles would shatter the peace and quiet they value and degrade land that is critically important to the Florida panther. Major national hunting and environmental groups had lined up on each side of the debate.
Action Alert
http://www.eco-voice.org/node/8016
http://greenbroward.net/network/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=901&Itemid=45
There is a very short window on this action - the National Park Service is expected to sign a Record of Decision on their plan to open up 130 miles of off-road vehicle trails inside the still pristine Big Cypress National Preserve Addition Lands (at 146,000 acres this is an area almost 4 times larger than all of Washington D.C) to motorized hunting and recreation on or after January 4th, 2011. Many of you have submitted comments on this issue before - this is one last opportunity to protect valuable wildlife habitat in the heart of south Florida. According to a conversation with Dr. Jim Burch, botanist of the Big Cypress National Preserve, these may well be the most biodiverse lands remaining in the continental United States. A quick note to the current National Park Service Director, Jon Jarvis, could definitely help. His email address is:
One issue I did not emphasize enough in the action alert is the fact that the majority of the Big Cypress National Preserve is already open to off-road vehicles. See attached map - dark areas only are currently closed (although open 24/7 to anyone wishing to go in on foot). The Addition Lands are mainly the triangular shaped area in the northeast corner.
This plan moves the preserve from 'mostly motorized' to 'almost completely motorized' with serious consequences for the preserve's ecology. Impacts to natural resources - rutting, compaction, oxidation of soils; destruction of roots and vegetation; spread of invasive plant species; changes to the preserve's hydrology (during the wet season, the deep ruts function almost as canals in channeling water); disturbances to wildlife (including the critically endangered Florida panther) - and to large numbers of non-motorized users who come to experience natural beauty as well as tranquility - are well known to the decision makers at the National Park Service. See also attached aerial photo of the main part of the preserve where off-road vehicles are currently in use.
I should also mention that this is a National preserve and a unit of the National Park Service. Whether you are a Florida resident (or visitor) or not, the Addition Lands of the Big Cypress are a unique and irreplaceable part of our nation's natural heritage. They are federal properties and deserve to be managed in a way that benefits all of us - not just the small number of motorized recreationalists who stand to benefit from the current National Park Service decision.
Hope everyone had a great holiday - and all the best for the New Year.
Matt Schwartz Everglades Chair Broward Sierra Group
Obama To Restore Wilderness Rules For Public Lands
December 23, 2010 The Obama administration plans to reverse a Bush-era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres of land once again eligible for federal wilderness protection, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.
The agency will replace the 2003 policy adopted under former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Salazar said. That policy — derided by some as the "No More Wilderness'' policy — stated that new areas could not be recommended for wilderness protection by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and opened millions of acres in the Rocky Mountain region to potential commercial development.
That policy "frankly never should have happened and was wrong in the first place,'' Salazar said Thursday.
Environmental activists have been pushing for the Obama administration to restore protections for potential wilderness areas.
Salazar said the agency will review some 220 million acres of BLM land that's not currently under wilderness protection to see which should be given a new "Wild Lands'' designation — a new step for land awaiting a wilderness decision. Congress would decide whether those lands should be designated permanent wilderness areas, Salazar said.
Governor and Cabinet Vote to Convey Big Cypress Addition Lands to National Park Service
In a unanimous decision Tuesday, December 7, the Florida Cabinet voted to convey state-owned Addition Lands in Big Cypress National Preserve to the National Park Service.
This fulfills an agreement with the federal government that dates back to the 1970s, and became contentious in recent months when off-highway vehicle (OHV) interests attempted to hold the conveyance hostage in exchange for greater OHV access to the property. It was uncertain whether Audubon and our conservation allies would prevail in today’s touch-and-go meeting.
Special kudos go out to Audubon’s Julie Wraithmell, Charles Lee and Brad Cornell for their hard work resulting in this outcome. In all, 29,413 acres of land will be added to the national treasure that is Big Cypress, where a proper management plan can ensure the best protections for wildlife, ecosystems and recreation.
After her testimony in front of the Cabinet on behalf of the land transfer, Audubon of Florida Director of Wildlife Conservation Julie Wraithmell said, “The historic conveyance of these Addition Lands—fulfilling the commitment of a Governor and Cabinet many years past—is a fitting legacy for the last meeting of this Governor and Cabinet. They have been a Governor and Cabinet committed to the protection and integrity of the landscapes that make Florida special. “
FWC Commissioners Receive Big Cypress Update
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) learned Wednesday that the general management plan for the Big Cypress National Preserve Addition lands is complete and has been made public. The FWC, along with several other state agencies, provided comment to the National Park Service to make sure the plan includes a full range of recreational opportunities, public access and resource protection, as per the original intent of the U.S. Congress. The FWC manages hunting opportunities within the preserve.
In 2008, the FWC adopted a resolution urging the federal government to open the lands quickly. The preserve addition comprises approximately 146,000 acres to the northeast of the original preserve.
Chuck Collins, FWC South Region director, advised commissioners that staff provided recommendations consistent with Congress’ intent that the lands be distinguished from a typical national park. The intent of the congressional acts establishing the preserve and the addition was to ensure the protection of the area’s flora and fauna and allow traditional recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, trapping and associated vehicle use.
“We are disappointed with the designations of ‘backcountry primitive’ and ‘wilderness.’ Those designations will place restrictions on significant portions of Big Cypress,” said Commissioner Ron Bergeron. “However, we are committed to moving forward and working with our partners and elected officials to open these lands as quickly as possible to a wide range of recreational activity, while protecting its environmental integrity.”
The FWC and the National Park Service will be working together to develop a hunt plan for the area.
Agency withdraws proposed growth rules because of veto override
The Florida Department of Community Affairs has withdrawn two controversial proposed rule changes because of the Legislature's override of the governor's veto of HB 1565.
HB 1565 requires legislative approval for proposed regulations that could cost more than $200,000 a year for all businesses across the state. Supporters said the bill would prevent agencies from imposing burdensome costs on businesses while environmental groups argued that it would tie the hands of agencies that enforce environmental laws.
In vetoing the bill, Gov. Charlie Crist said the requirement could create more red tape for businesses and require legislative approval for nearly every agency rule. The House voted 99-21 and the Senate voted 32-7 to override the veto during the Nov. 16 special session.
The Department of Community Affairs last week published a notice saying it was withdrawing proposed growth management rule changes.
DCA spokesman James Miller said while there were no cost studies done, both rules obviously would have triggered the requirements for legislative review. He said they also were withdrawn because they could not get approved before Gov.-elect Rick Scott took over.
"We decided we would cease rule-making and the new administration could pick up where we left off or wipe the slate clean and start over," Miller said.
Both proposals faced opposition from industry groups.
USDA Requests Proposals for Water and Land Conservation Projects
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced USDA is seeking proposals for projects that will bring partners together to help farmers, ranchers and private nonindustrial forest landowners implement beneficial water and land conservation practices.
"Farmers, ranchers and owners of forest land play pivotal roles in protecting and enhancing natural resources," Vilsack said. "Our goal is to support projects that will improve the health of the natural resources on their land and bring the environmental and economic benefits of conservation to their local communities."
The requirements for submitting project proposals for the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) and the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) can be viewed at www.regulations.gov. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide financial and technical assistance to eligible producers in approved project areas.
Air Quality
Emissions Reduction Act of 2010 (DERA) passes
U.S. House passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010 (DERA), a bipartisan five-year reauthorization bill that will help cut pollution from the existing fleet of diesel-powered vehicles and equipment across the country.
Since 2005, over 350 DERA grants have been made, cleaning up thousands of engines. The Senate has already passed the bill, which is now ready for President Obama's signature.Diesel pollution is linked to 21,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks every year. The risk is particularly acute for hundreds of thousands of Americans who live or work near interstate highways, or other areas that have high concentrations of diesel engines, such a ports and railyards.Complementing EPA rules that require cleaner engines for a variety of new vehicles and equipment, DERA will provide financial incentives to clean up America's existing diesel-powered vehicle fleet and the air we breathe.Most importantly, this bill will save lives.Good news for the environment from the Environmental Defense Fund The Environmental Protection Agency has ended years of delay and announced it would commit to a schedule for establishing legal limits on global warming pollution from new and existing coal-fired and other fossil fuel power plants.
The EPA will issue draft emission standards by July 2011 and then a final rule by May of 2012.
The announcement comes as a response to a 2006 lawsuit filed by EDF along with numerous states, Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club.
This sets the stage for what promises to be a busy year next year in the fight for our clean air and climate future.
Big polluters and their allies in Congress have declared war on climate science and our right to breathe clean, healthy air.
They are promising legal battles and they are already scheduling Congressional hearings designed to cast doubt on the well-established scientific basis for climate action.
Make no mistake. This is not a fight over science. These will be political show trials designed to manufacture public doubt, delay action, and protect the profits of America's biggest polluters.
With your continued support, we will fight back at every turn and support the strongest possible limits on climate pollution to protect the health of our kids and our climate future.
Miscellaneous
Scott transition team recommends combining development, environmental agencies
Incoming Gov. Rick Scott should fold the three agencies now overseeing environmental protection, growth management and transportation into a single agency called the Department of Growth Leadership, according to a report Monday from a transition team he appointed.
Scott should also abolish some longstanding growth-management rules and block local governments such as Hillsborough County from enforcing their own, more restrictive regulations protecting wetlands from development, according to the report from the committee, which is chaired by a former developer.
Scott’s regulatory reform transition team contended that getting the Legislature to approve merging the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Community Affairs next year would reshape how the state deals with development.
Instead of regulations aimed at stopping bad development, the committee said, the “regulatory policy objecting (would be) to help make good development happen.”
Second Extremely Dry Month Opens the Annual Dry Season
On the heels of a drier-than-normal wet season and the driest October on record, meteorologists from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) reported another month of below-average rainfall for South Florida in November.
“The below-average rainfall during the wet season, and the reality of less rainfall from the current below-average dry season is causing groundwater and surface water levels to show areas of significant decline,” said Tommy Strowd, SFWMD Deputy Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance. “The existing situation and the long-term forecast for continued extreme dry conditions make water conservation efforts imperative.”
For the month of November, rainfall for the District’s 16-county region measured 1.55 inches, or 58 percent of the historical average rainfall recorded for the month.
The least amount of rain occurred in the Everglades Agricultural Area, where less than an inch fell on average. In some areas, the rainfall amounts for November were lacking by more than 2 inches.
Areas of the Upper East Coast saw rainfall amounts about 30 percent of average, with Martin and St. Lucie counties posting monthly rainfall deficits of two and a half inches.
Rainfall totals in Miami-Dade County were close to average, with two and a half inches or 80 percent of average.
Rainfall amounts for the District’s Southwest Coast were closest to normal at about 96 percent of average. In the Kissimmee Valley north of Lake Okeechobee, 1.8 inches of rain fell, giving the region 78 percent of average rainfall for the month.
Lake Okeechobee rainfall totaled 1.4 inches, or 61 percent of average rainfall. The lake water level is currently 12.97 feet above sea level, nearly two feet lower than its average for this time of the year. Without recharge from considerable rainfall, the lake is expected to continue on its accelerated decline, emphasizing the ongoing challenge of balancing environmental and water supply needs.
In October, the National Weather Service declared an earlier than usual start to the dry season along with the forecast for the strongest La Niña for this time of year since 1955. La Niña is a weather phenomenon that generally creates exceptionally dry conditions.
While about 12 inches of rain falls on average across the District’s 16-county region from November through March, La Niña-influenced dry seasons often produce only about two-thirds of the average during this five-month period.
The extreme dry conditions follow the driest wet season since 1984 in South Florida. An average of 27.31 inches of rain fell between June 1 and October 31, representing 82 percent of the normal amount and a deficit of 6 inches. This was also the hottest summer on record in Southeast Florida and the second hottest in Naples, according to the National Weather Service.
For FWC chair Rodney Barreto, leadership is familiar role
The fact that his fellow commissioners elected Rodney Barreto as chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for an unprecedented seventh time should not be considered a great surprise. Leadership seems to come naturally for the Miami businessman.
Barreto joined the Commission in 2001, when then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him to a five-year term. In 2006, Gov. Charlie Crist reappointed him to a second five-year term.
Barreto’s fellow commissioners have high praise for his leadership style.
"I was pleased to nominate Rodney Barreto to continue his service as Commission chairman," noted Commissioner Ken Wright. "He provides exceptional leadership that ensures all Commission members are engaged and have an effective and collegial voice in matters of importance for fish and wildlife conservation. He encourages public involvement in our deliberations as a Commission and shows respect for diverse points of view. He brings continuity in leadership for our Commission that will be of great benefit during this time of transition."
Barreto is president and CEO of Barreto Group, Inc., a diversified company specializing in corporate and public affairs consulting and real estate investment. He is the founding partner of Floridian Partners, LLC, a strategy-management firm that develops and manages effective corporate and public affairs strategies. And he also serves as a board member for U.S. Century Bank.
FWC honors its first elected chairperson and a citizen hero
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) opened the second day of its meeting in Weston Thursday by recognizing the honorable service of Julie K. Morris, who was the first formally elected FWC chairperson. They also commended a Florida resident for his heroic actions.
Morris served on the Commission from 1993-2002. Mark Robson, director of the FWC’s Division of Marine Fisheries, recognized Morris’ contributions as a former member of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. Robson said Morris’ expertise helped Florida maintain a leadership role on the Council and in doing so, her service helped protect and enhance marine resources vital to the fishing, boating, diving and outdoor tourism industries in the Gulf.
Additionally, the Commission paid tribute to a citizen hero. Col. Jim Brown, director of the FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement, presented a Division of Law Enforcement Service Commendation to Richard O’Neill of Fort Lauderdale. O’Neill earned this honor when he rescued three victims from a violent boating accident near the Hillsboro Inlet off Pompano Beach on June 7.
'Gateway to Everglades' launches regional revitalization around unique freshwater lake
For generations, the communities along the southern shores of Glades, Hendry and western Palm Beach counties have struggled despite a shared culture rich in natural landmarks and attractions.
Tuesday night, about 100 residents and community leaders gathered at the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center to celebrate the unveiling of the Lake Okeechobee Regional Initiative, a united marketing and branding effort established to attract tourists to the southern shores of Lake Okeechobee to help revive its communities.
The message: It is here, "The Gateway to the Everglades,” where visitors can engage in a number of activities along the second largest freshwater lake in the nation.
The initiative, called LORI, is led by the Collins Center for Public Policy and the South Florida Water Management District, two organizations that have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the effort since it was launched more than a year and a half ago.
It has gained widespread support from local politicians, including mayors from four cities (Belle Glade, Clewiston, Pahokee, and South Bay).
"All of our hands are joined so that in the future …they can look back and say, ‘what a legacy they've left us by joining in a partnership to better the world,' ” said Charles Dauray, a board member for the South Florida Water Management District.
There are several different projects under way to serve the area, which, despite their unique tourist offerings, still suffers from poverty and outdated infrastructure.
True or False: Is Mistletoe the "Kiss of Death?"
There is a myth about American Mistletoe, the green-berried parasitic plant often hung in doorways during the holiday season to elicit kisses from those standing beneath it.
Reputed to be the "kiss of death," it is said to be so poisonous that humans can be killed if they ingest the leaves or berries. This myth has been endlessly repeated throughout the years, reappearing every December in countless holiday safety reports on television and in print.
Is it true? Is American Mistletoe (Phoradendron species), a holiday killer?
Part of Florida levee not up to standards
Engineers say a key flood levee along Florida's Everglades doesn't meet federal safety standards and needs major repairs.
The assessment concluded the 60-year-old East Coast Protective Levee in Broward County was not up to Federal Emergency Management Agency standards, although it remains safe for now.
"There is no credible reason to believe there is any risk of failure," said Alex Damian, assistant deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District. "There are some areas where they have noticed higher levels of seepage (through the levee) than normal."
The South Florida Sun Sentinel said Sunday the district planned to ask FEMA to declare the levee a "provisionally accredited levee," which would give the district time to make repairs without flood insurance rates for nearby communities going up.
Recycle Your Christmas Tree and Help the Environment
The Parks and Recreation Division’s annual Chip-A-Tree initiative begins Sunday, December 26, and will continue through Sunday, January 23. Last year the Division recycled 9,225 trees, representing 115 tons of material that would otherwise have gone to landfills, and this year your tree can join those recyclable thousands.
The free program encourages Broward County residents to remove all decorations from their Christmas trees (no decorated trees will be accepted), then bring the trees to a participating park, where they are chipped and used for landscaping throughout the County park system.
There is a limit of two trees per vehicle, artificial trees are not accepted, and no commercial vehicles or garbage trucks are allowed. Thirteen Broward County parks are participating in the Chip-A-Tree program.
For further information, call the Parks and Recreation Division at 954-357-8177 or visit www.broward.org.
