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South Florida Audubon Society April Monthly Meeting @ Anne Kolb - April 21, 2011 –
'Annual Award Night' will feature the presentation of SFAS BIOS Award(s).
In addition, some of the students from the recent Broward County Science Fair that received awards by SFAS will make brief presentations of their projects. Refreshments will be served. This will be the final monthly meeting of the season until September 2011.
Audubon Co-Hosts Celebration of Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act On March 10, Audubon and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) recognized the 10th anniversary of the NeoTropical Migratory Bird Act's at the historic Hall of the Americas in Washington, DC.
Audubon President & CEO David Yarnold joined the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Inzula, ambassadors from Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and other conservation leaders from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Department of Interior to acknowledge the importance of the Act to hemispheric conservation, and to garner Congressional support for its funding.
Since its passage in 2000, the Act has helped protect more than 3 million acres of vital bird habitat. To date, a US investment of $35 million dollars has leveraged $150 million more in private matching funds. A few days after the event, Senator Ben Cardin (Maryland, Democrat) referenced Audubon's Common Birds in Decline report when introducing a bill to renew funding. Read more.
Army Corps/EPA Propose to Expand Federal Jurisdiction over Waters and Trackbacks The U.S. Supreme Court issued two landmark decisions, Rapanos and SWANCC, which interpret the extent of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. Since these decisions were issued the Army Corps of Engineers as well as Courts have had difficulty applying the tests for determining federal jurisdiction in a consistent and coherent manner.
The Army Corps of Engineers, in its 2008 Rapanos Guidance, set forth its methods for applying the Supreme Court tests for determining federal jurisdiction. The prior written guidance left open key issues such as:
- Which of the two tests (Kennedy or Scalia) should be utilized- see discussion below
- Since the statutory language at issue, "waters of the United States," appears in other sections of the Clean Water Act how do the Supreme Court tests apply to regulatory requirements not directly addressed by the Supreme Court Decision.
The new 2010 Draft Rapanos Guidance (click link for a copy) attempts to address these issues as well as others. Perhaps most importantly, the draft guidance announces that its application will greatly expand the number of waters falling within federal jurisdiction- "the Agencies expect that the numbers of waters found to be subject to CWA jurisdiction will increase significantly compared to practices under the 2003 SWANCC guidance and the 2008 Rapanos guidance." The Agencies criticize the 2008 Rapanos guidance as interpreting Justice Kennedy's test too narrowly.
Market-dominant Scotts to take phosphorus out of fertilizer One of the world's biggest lawn care companies is announcing today that it will stop making fertilizer with phosphorus, one of two ingredients blamed for pollution problems in Florida's waterways.
Officials from Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., which dominates roughly half the fertilizer market in Florida and throughout the South, said they were changing their formula to help clean up pollution from storm runoff. The reason: new rules across the country that target fertilizer runoff.
"What drives most of the industry is the legislation that's occurring across the country," said Rich Shank, chief environmental officer of Scotts, noting new laws in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.
The change is "a big deal" for everyone battling pollution because phosphorus in runoff can spur harmful algae blooms in fresh water, said Holly Greening of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
But she predicted it will not end the ongoing controversy over who should regulate fertilizer sales: local governments or state officials.
The Florida House Community and Military Affairs Subcommittee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on HB 457, a bill to pre-empt all local regulations, including one passed by Pinellas County.
"I don't see that this will change the argument that local governments need to manage local water bodies," she said.
In fact, the change in Scotts Miracle-Gro formula will make little difference in Pinellas, said Kelli Levy of the county's public works department. For one thing, a smaller company, Sanford-based Sunniland Corp., already sells zero-phosphorus fertilizer in the Tampa Bay area, she said.
For another, phosphorus isn't the big problem here.
"Water quality issues in coastal counties tend to be nitrogen-driven," she said, naming the second pollutant targeted by fertilizer ordinances — one that Scott's products will still contain.
Nitrogen is the element that spurs algae blooms in saltwater, Greening explained.
Scotts Miracle-Gro, which has $3 billion in sales worldwide, took the step of removing phosphorus from its products after research showed that it's not really necessary for any lawns except ones that are just getting established, Shank said.
As a result, he said, "by this time next year we will have the phosphorus out of all our products." The exceptions would be a fertilizer just for starter lawns and one that's made of organic components where the phosphorus is naturally occurring, he said. Anyone who uses the new phosphorus-free products won't have to change normal fertilizing patterns or amounts, company officials say, And the results should be the same.
Scotts began working on the new formula five years ago, when efforts to clean up pollution in Chesapeake Bay led to a push to eliminate the fertilizer element blamed for its phosphorus loads, Shank said.
"These companies are trying to do the right thing," said George Hochmuth, the University of Florida's top fertilizer expert. That means Scotts won't be the only manufacturer pursuing the no-phosphorus formula. "Down the road, most everybody will start doing this."
Eliminating the phosphorous "wasn't easy," Shank said. But the nitrogen "is not something we can take out."
Instead the company is working on a new formula that will slow the release of nitrogen so more of it sticks to the lawn and less runs off with the rain.
About 40 city and county governments around Florida have enacted rules on when and what kind of fertilizer can be sold in their areas as an attempt to combat water pollution. However, fertilizer and agriculture industry officials have objected to those local rules and state legislators are considering mandating one statewide standard which would be less stringent than Pinellas and some other areas require.
Birds
Sandhill cranes make annual spring visit to Nebraska Thousands of charismatic sandhill cranes with loud, rattling kar-r-o-o-o calls, dangling legs and graceful river landings captivated U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during his visit Monday to the Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon, NE.
Salazar stood silent and transfixed by the spectacle.
"It's inspirational,'' he finally said. "It's awesome to watch these birds return to a river where they've been coming for millennia. It's incredible, a crown jewel for Nebraska.''
Salazar spent nearly two hours in a riverbank viewing blind under the spring spell of sandhill cranes as he watched waves of the migrating birds return to the braided Platte River to roost in wetlands and on sandbars for the night.
Wind whooshed off the wings of swirling flights of cranes buzzing the river after sunset. Salazar cupped his hands behind his ears to amplify the deafening calls of tens of thousands of the birds.
From about mid-February to mid-April, an estimated 500,000 sandhill cranes concentrate along the stretch of the Platte extending from Chapman west to Lexington and beyond. The birds stay for four to six weeks to feed on waste corn in farm fields, and insects.
Salazar's Nebraska visit came on the eve of a 10-day period when the largest concentration of cranes is expected to be in the state before they continue their flights north to nesting grounds in Canada and Siberia.
Everglades Plan Advances despite Threat to Sparrow Though efforts to restore the Everglades could destroy the habitat of an endangered sparrow species, the Department of the Interior has the discretion to make the decision, a Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled, noting that the plan is unlikely to cause the bird's extinction.
The Center for Biological Diversity has been fighting since 2000 to revise the critical habitat of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, but Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar excluded two critical areas from the final designation as the nonprofit was on cusp of achieving its goal.
Designated as a federally protected species in 1967, the sparrow has six subpopulations along the southern tip of the Florida Everglades. Each flock rarely moves from its chosen region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said that subpopulation A, or Sub A, is one of the species' two core populations.
While the five other subpopulations lie east of the Shark River Slough - a free-flowing channel of water that serves as the southern Everglades' primary drainage point into the Florida Bay - Sub A is secluded to the other side of the river. This separation and location, stretching through the Everglades National Park and touching the Big Cypress National Preserve, make Sub A "critically important to the species as a whole," the court found.
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow: Florida's Most Endangered Bird? The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is one of the least known and most endangered among the many endemic Florida birds. These shy and quiet sparrows live only in Florida's Dry Prairie Ecosystem, found in the Kissimmee Valley north of Okeechobee, and in the "90-mile prairie" region between Okeechobee and Sarasota on the Gulf Coast. Most Dry Prairie has been converted to other uses (mostly pasture) and the remaining sparrows appear confined to three government-owned land parcels: the Avon Park Air Force Range, the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, and the Three-lakes Wildlife Management Area.
The Grasshopper Sparrow populations on these properties all have uncertain futures. Avon Park's population recently dropped from more than 100 pairs to less than 10 now—for unknown reasons. The Kissimmee Prairie populations are doing better, but complete counts are not conducted and the trend on existing counts indicates a possible forty percent decline in the past decade. Fortunately, the Three Lakes' birds still are holding steady at around 100+ pairs.
The three different agencies in charge of managing these lands have banded together in the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Working Group to discuss management and monitoring needs. The largest problem is the lack of funds for both sustained management and monitoring the response of sparrows to that management, in order to determine which practices help the most, or least. Audubon's Paul Gray is working with the Sparrow group to develop an "Emergency Action Plan" to guide sparrow management and recovery.
It will take the cooperation and funding support from many agencies and interested parties to successfully determine to best courses of action to help the Grasshopper Sparrow survive. Please stay connected to this important Florida wildlife issue at the Audubon of Florida News Blog
Cats are birds' biggest killer; US study finds Cats have been found to be the main predator of birds in a new study that tracked the early lives of gray catbirds in three suburbs of Washington DC.
The study by Dr. Peter Marra and Dr Thomas Ryder of The Smithsonian Institution and Anne L. Balogh of Towson University, found that almost 80 per cent of the catbird mortality in the study was from predation and that cats were the source of almost half of the known predation.
'While this study was not national in scope in any regard, it certainly adds more validation to what we have been saying for years; that outdoor cats are a highly destructive predatory force that is causing havoc in the world of native wildlife,' said Darin Schroeder, of the American Bird Conservancy(ABC).
'This peer-reviewed study was co-sponsored by one of the most respected scientific organizations in the country - The Smithsonian Institution. I hope we can now stop minimizing and trivializing the impacts that outdoor cats have on the environment, and start addressing the serious problem of cat predation.
'Up to 500 million birds or more are killed by outdoor cats in the United States. We need to get serious about halting the damage that cats are causing to birds and other wildlife species,' Schroeder said.
Tiny radio transmitters were attached to 69 newly hatched gray catbirds in three Washington suburbs. The transmitters recorded the birds' locations every other day until they died or left the study area. Of the 42 birds that died during the study, 33 suffered from predation. Nineteen of the predations were known and of that total, nine were killed by cats.
According to the study, the most significant factor affecting a catbird fledgling's survival was predation and not parental age, brood size, sex, or hatching date. The study revealed that the vast majority of young catbird deaths occurred in the first week after a bird fledged from the nest. Because fledglings beg loudly for food and are not yet alert to predators, they are easy prey for domestic cats.
Tsunami kills thousands of albatrosses on Midway Island The tsunami that has caused so much devastation and tragedy in Japan has affected several important wildlife sites around the Pacific.
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was swamped, though fortunately, Midway residents received approximately 4 hours of advanced warning and successfully implemented their tsunami emergency plan and no one was injured and no major damage occurred to the island's infrastructure.
Amazingly, a lone Short-tailed albatross chick survived, but was found some 35 meters away from its nest.
The Short-tailed albatross nest was washed over again, but the chick was found unharmed about 35 m away and returned unharmed to its nest area. This lone chick's survival is of great relief. Currently, 80-85% of the world population breeds on a highly erodible slope on the outwash plain from the caldera of an active volcano. Monsoons send torrents of ash-laden water down this slope across the colony site. A volcanic eruption could also send lava, ash or poisonous gases through the colony. In recent years Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus chicks have been moved by helicopter, from their current stronghold on Torishima Island to the site of a former colony 350 km to the South-east in an effort to protect the species from natural disaster. This chick was born to parents who first arrived on Midway a few years ago.
At least 1,000 adult & sub adult and tens of thousands of Laysan Albatross chicks were lost. Thousands of Bonin petrels were buried alive. Spit Island completely washed over. Eastern and Sand Island were 60% and 20% washed over, respectively. Thousands of dead fish were found in the interior of Eastern. Two live green turtles were rescued from the middle of Eastern. The impacts on Laysan ducks and monk seals are unknown.
Invasive species New exhibits on invasive species unveiled The Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (ECISMA) in Florida has installed new exhibits at Big Cypress, Everglades and two other non-NPS sites that encourage viewers to quickly report observations of nonnative plants and animals.
Introduced species can sometimes threaten the health and function of South Florida's diverse landscapes, requiring decades of expensive management. Early detection, followed by a rapid response, can help avert these costs and provide a greater chance for control. The "Florida Invaders" exhibit – now permanently installed at four venues around South Florida – showcases recent, unwanted arrivals to south Florida and encourages viewers to be on the lookout and report all observations by phone to 888-Ive-Got1 or online.
The Florida Invaders exhibit is currently on display at visitor centers at the Deering Estate at Cutler, Crandon Park, Everglades National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve. The exhibits were fabricated and installed with funding from the National Park Service, and hosted in partnership with Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation.
The exhibits are just one of a variety of communications tools developed by the ECISMA to foster greater understanding of invasive species issues and empower the south Florida community to take action. Online training, identification cards, iPhone apps and more are all available from the partnership website.
The Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area is a formal partnership among federal, state, and local government agencies, tribes, individuals, and various interested groups that manage invasive species and is defined by a geographic boundary.
Florida Panthers
Three new Florida Panther deaths reported The Florida Panther Project at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is reporting 3 new panther deaths over the past 2 weeks, making a total of 11 so far in 2011. The latest carcass was found on March 25 - an 11 year-old female panther killed by a motor vehicle. Details were not released about the other 2 deaths which are listed as "under investigation." According to a state scientist, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is withholding further information at this time.
The remains of an 11 year 10 month old female panther, FP83, were collected on 25 March 2011 on US41, approximately 3.2km (2 mi) west of Port of the Islands in Collier County. The cause of death was trauma associated with a vehicle collision. The carcass is currently at the FWC Naples Field Office and will eventually be transported to the Wildlife Research Lab in Gainesville for a complete necropsy. The remains will be archived at the FL Museum of Natural History. This is the 11th panther mortality for 2011 and the 5th road mortality (UCFP157 is not included in the 2011 tally because of the estimated age of the recovered skeletal remains).
FP83 was initially marked in the den as a kitten in June 1999 in the Picayune Strand State Forest. She was eventually radio collared and monitored through July of 2006, when her GPS collar released as programmed.
Panther remains found at the Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier The remains of young female panther were found Saturday, March 12, at the Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County.
Volunteers discovered the remains, only bones, in the Loop Unit of the preserve, about 3.6 kilometers from U.S. 41 and the Oasis Visitor Center.
The cause of death is unknown at this time. Initial examination of the remaining bones showed a few small punctures but their cause unknown.
It's unknown when the panther died but it's likely the remains have been at the site for at least several months.
The bones are currently at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Naples Field Office and will be transported to the Wildlife Research Lab in Gainesville for a complete necropsy.
Endangered Species
Bid crawls along to get loggerhead turtles on endangered species list A year after proposing to list loggerhead sea turtles as endangered, federal reviewers say they need another six months to take a closer look at the data.
Loggerheads, the crawling darlings of Southwest Florida beaches, were named a threatened species more than 30 years ago. But that hasn't stopped a barrage of threats from fishing gear that entangles them, coastal development and now global warming and sea level rise — encroaching on their nesting habitat.
In 2007, three environmental groups petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the designation for northwest Atlantic loggerheads, including those that nest in Southwest Florida, and North Pacific loggerheads.
After a study brought about by a 2009 settlement, the agencies proposed the endangered species listing and asked for public comment. They had until this month to make a final decision or ask for more time.
Oceana, one of the groups that petitioned the agencies in 2007, said the delay amounts to a missed deadline and blames political pressure from opponents who fear tighter regulations to protect the ancient ocean dwellers.
Leopard photographed in Yemen for the first time On January 12th, researchers from The Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen (FPALY), Murad Mohamed and Waleed Al-Ra'il, succeeded in photographing a female leopard with one of the 12 trail cameras that they were operating in and around the Hawf Protected Area. By doing so, they have become the first people ever to photograph a wild Arabian leopard in Yemen. This is the most recent proof that Arabian leopards persist outside of Oman, and now that the existence of at least one leopard in eastern Al Mahrah Governorate has been proved, FPALY face the difficult task of bolstering protection of the area. Excitingly, on February 24th, another leopard was photographed in the same area, and proved to be a male. (see below). This obviously raises the possibility that they are breeding, and also that they mix with leopards from across the border in Oman.
Other species photographed - Caracal, wolf, hyena, genet and more
Among the species photographed in Hawf so far: Arabian leopard, Caracal, (possible) Gordon's Wildcat, Arabian Wolf, Arabian Red Fox, Striped Hyena, Honey Badger, White-tailed Mongoose, Small-spotted Genet, Rock Hyrax, Indian Crested Porcupine, and two species of as yet unidentified rodent. Among the numerous birds that our researchers have photographed have been Houbara Bustard and three species of Owl: Desert Eagle Owl, Hume's Tawny Owl, and Little Owl.
Leaving expensive trail cameras unattended in the wilderness puts them at risk so it was not totally unexpected when Murad Mohamed called to say that three of the Foundation's trail cameras had been stolen in the Hawf Protected Area. However, this story has a happy ending in that villagers tracked the thief and recovered the cameras in perfect working order where he had buried them. The fact that trail cameras automatically take pictures of any warm-blooded creature that passes in front of them helped the police in their investigation since the memory cards on all three cameras contained clear images of the thief in action.
FPALY are extremely grateful of the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund which supports this crucial research and to Malini Pittet for training these two Yemeni biologists in trail camera research so effectively. A PDF of Malini's report from two months of camera trapping in Hawf is available by writing to contact@yemenileopard.org
Rare Andean cat not exclusive to the Andes Once thought to exclusively inhabit its namesake mountain range, the threatened Andean cat-a house cat-sized feline that resembles a small snow leopard in both appearance and habitat-also frequents the Patagonian steppe at much lower elevations, according to a new study published by the Wildlife Conservation Society and partners.
The finding represents a range extension for the Andean cat, which normally occurs at altitudes above 3,000 meters (approximately 9,800 feet). The new survey presents evidence of 2,500 of the cats occurring at elevations as low as 650 meters (approximately 2,100 feet) on the Patagonian steppe. The species is listed as "Endangered" on the World Conservation Union's Red List.
Everglades and Water Quality Issues
Contractors, engineers call on Scott to keep 'Everglades jobs' A coalition of engineers, contractors and other construction business executives appealed to Gov. Rick Scott today to help keep and create jobs by investing in Everglades restoration.
In a letter to Scott, Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon, the contractors warned Republican leaders that more budget cuts would mean less work for Floridians.
Under former Gov. Jeb Bush, Everglades restoration reached $200 million annually. Since then, spending has dropped 75 percent. Scott's budget would cut it down to $17 million.
The Everglades Foundation, which organized a conference call with reporters and business executives today, released a poll earlier this month that showed most voters opposed further cuts.
South Florida water district chief's boyfriend hired for 6-figure job The South Florida Water Management District has hired its executive director's boyfriend for a $120,000-a-year job with her administration's watchdog.
Executive Director Carol Wehle told The Palm Beach Post she did not publicly disclose the relationship because she had no role in last June's hiring of Bob Howard, whose job falls under the agency's inspector general, a watchdog who reports to the governing board.
But initially, one of Wehle's top deputies suggested to the Army Corps of Engineers that it — not the inspector general — hire Howard. The deputy, Ken Ammon, suggested three candidates, including Howard, to act as a liaison between the district and its federal partner in the billion-dollar business of building and managing South Florida's water system.
After the corps refused, the district's inspector general established the position of engineering auditor and hired Howard from a pool of five.
While interviewing for the job, Howard, an engineer with no auditing experience, did not disclose his personal relationship with Wehle, Inspector General John Williams said. But before Howard began work on June 21, word of the relationship leaked. An anonymous letter tipped off then-district board Chairman Eric Buermann. "I can't tell you that I was happy about it," Buermann said, "but again, I learned very late in the game after it was a fait accompli."
Judge's ruling scraps plans for finishing massive Everglades restoration reservoir A federal judge reversed himself and ruled this week that construction does not have to resume on an unfinished Everglades restoration reservoir that already cost South Florida taxpayers nearly $280 million.
Almost one year ago, U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno ordered the South Florida Water Management District back to work on the 16,700-acre reservoir planned in southwestern Palm Beach County.
The district had stopped work in 2008 as it pursued a deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. to buy farmland that could be used for Everglades restoration.
Responding to frustrations from the Miccosukee Tribe over restoration delays, Moreno last March determined that the reservoir work "needs to be done" and ordered the district to find a way to get back to work.
But on Tuesday, at the urging of a court-assigned representative charged with re-evaluating the project, Moreno decided that circumstances changed enough to drop plans for finishing the massive reservoir that the district once considered crucial to Everglades restoration.
Completion in October of a $197 million, 26,800-acre deal with U.S. Sugar reshaped the outlook for Everglades restoration, leaving the old reservoir proposal out of place with the district's new visions for stormwater storage and treatment plans.
Declining property-tax revenues amid a still-struggling economy also factored into Moreno's ruling not to require the completion of the reservoir west of U.S. 27 that could eventually have cost more than $800 million.
Acknowledging that he was "taking a step back," the judge backed building a smaller-scale, shallow-water reservoir or a stormwater-treatment area that the district offered as more cost-effective ways to hold and clean water for the Everglades.
"Now is the time to move forward with exploring better viable alternatives rather than cling to what was promised in the past," Moreno said in his ruling.
Everglades National Park's Shark Slough getting dry. Currently it's dropped down to under a foot deep. Slough stage is slightly lower than the same point in 2009. That makes it 8 inches shallower than March of last year and, if you can believe it, an inch or so shallower than the March of 2009. That was the spring that Shark Slough went peat-parching dry as a bone which is rare for the Everglades. Usually sloughs hold at least a few inches of water all year long. On average waters don't bottom out until early May. That gives us all of April and into May for a deep dry season drop.
Istokpoga canal dredging to start next month In 2005, it was decided that some of the canals along the perimeter of Lake Istokpoga needed maintenance and dredging.
Sediment had accumulated at the bottom of the canals. Not only did this build-up affect navigation on the lake, it could be detrimental to water quality in the waterways and the lake, according to a press release.
After years of planning, the project is ready to get underway.
Nineteen canals along the lake will be dredged at the same time. Organic muck from the canal bottom will be taken out and spread out on pastureland, approved dumping sites, close to the lake.
Clell Ford, the county's lakes manager, said he does not have a set date but hopes to start the first or second week of April.
Here are some areas where the canal dredging will take place:
- Mallards Mobile Home Park
- Palms Estates
- Sunset Shores
- Istokpoga Shores
- Trails End Area
- Mossy Cove Fish Camp
- Istokpoga Marina
- Highlands Park Estates area
- Henderson's Point
- Elliott Road area
On March 15, the Highlands County Commission approved the bid award.
As part of an agreement with the county, South Florida Water Management District gave $110,000 to evaluate affected canals. The county's Lakes Management staff provided in-kind services, including overseeing the project.
The state awarded $800,000, and the project was assigned to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Right now, the county has $668,000 left for the project after paying for the evaluation of the canals, the permitting and the engineering.
"This project is certainly something on a scale of which we have never done before. The project includes 19 canals, which are being done all at once," Ford said in a press release.
The project has gained momentum in the past year, the press release added.
Erin McCarta, lakes management assistant, said getting the permit process in motion, several months of GIS mapping, re-evaluations of the canals, contacting canal front and potential disposal site landowners and getting the disposal sites approved are tasks that have recently been completed.
"I am really excited to see this project finally take shape. It's going to be a huge benefit to the citizens on the lake," McCarta added.
$340 million water project in Martin County has environmentalists and contractors champing at bit Environmentalists and the construction industry, strange bedfellows indeed, are all anxiously awaiting a May 26 announcement from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps is expected to name the winner of a contract to start work on a reservoir and stormwater treatment area along the C-44 Canal, also known as the St. Lucie Canal.
For folks in the construction industry, the project is millions of dollars' worth of work in an extended sluggish economy. For environmentalists, it's the long-promised start of the Indian River Lagoon component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
The total cost of the three-phase project has been estimated at $340 million. President Obama's budget for the 2011-2012 budget year includes $21 million to pay for the first phase of the project, with work expected to begin in July.
About 200 contractors and subcontractors jammed the Wolf High Technology Center at Indian River State College's Chastain Campus in Stuart on Thursday for the Corps' "pre-proposal meeting" on the project. Among them was George "Chappy" Young, president of Palm City-based GCY surveyor and Mappers Inc.
"Surveying work, like construction work in general, in South Florida is sparse," Young said. "This project is huge. It will support a lot of contractors and subcontractors, everyone down to office supply businesses."
At a South Florida Water Management District board meeting March 10 in Fort Pierce, Martin County Commission Chairman Ed Ciampi said the project "will result in 7,250 direct, indirect and induced jobs that our area desperately needs."
Young said his firm did surveying for the design and preparation work being done at the site, "and we're hoping to parlay that into getting to be a subcontractor on the project."
Local environmentalists also have been "surveying" the C-44 project for a while, too.
"This project started back in 2000, right after the authorization of (the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan)," said Mark Perry, director of the Stuart-based Florida Oceanographic Society. "Back in November 2005, officials said it was ready to go. Construction would start in 2007 and be done in 2009."
Perry said Martin County residents "have certainly done their part to get this project under way," raising $28 million for land acquisition through a 3-year, 1-cent sales tax approved by voters.
The rest of the $168 million to buy the needed 12,000 acres came from the water district, which also paid about $5 million to clear and prepare the site.
"We're very excited about this development," Paul Millar, Martin County water resource manager, said of the upcoming contract award. "We've been pushing for this project a long, long time. ... Once it starts, I'm confident the federal money will keep coming so that it won't shut down."
South Florida Water Management District Board gets new chairman, more vacancies South Florida agricultural company executive on Thursday was chosen to become chairman of the South Florida Water Management District's shrinking governing board.
Joe Collins of Sebring is vice president for Lykes Brothers Inc., which has sugar, cattle and landscaping operations and is a large landowner around Lake Okeechobee.
The district's nine-member board, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate, oversees an agency charged with protecting water supplies, guarding against flooding and leading Everglades restoration.
As chairman, Collins now plays a more prominent role in the water management decisions that often pit agriculture against coastal communities and environmental advocates.
Also, Collins becoming chairman is the latest change to a board dealing with lingering vacancies and facing a potential shakeup under a new governor.
Tired of green water full of dead fish in summer? We have a chance to stop a nutty bill that caters to the desires of big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes that don't want to be restricted from selling fertilizer in the rainy season. This bill would stop current rules put in place in many of the coastal counties that wisely don't allow fertilizer sales from June to Sept. For the record, grass grows too fast in the summer; it does not need fertilizer. No matter, the big boys want that turf builder sold and those yards sprayed. Excessive fertilization coupled with rapid drainage is killing Florida's waterways and the current law works to the advantage of our fish and wildlife. Under proposed SB606 and HB457, repealing fertilizer restrictions, additional tons of nitrogen and phosphate will be washed by summer rain into the water, spurring algae growth, and disrupting the natural food chain. Let's stop this bill. Read this article and make a call please and pass on this request to others.
Respectfully,
Rick Roberts, Snook and Gamefish Foundation
Everglades Restoration Provides Immediate Benefits to Florida Workers Earlier today, almost 250 representatives from private-sector contracting firms attended a "pre-proposal meeting" in Martin County for an Everglades construction contract expected to be in the range of $20 million.
There is a reason for this impressive turnout, and it is an example of the benefits that Everglades restoration has to Florida's economy even before projects are completed. As demand for new residential and commercial construction has dwindled, restoration-related construction provides jobs and allows private companies to retain employees.
Convened by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal partner in Everglades restoration, this job-hungry crowd gathered to discuss the requirements to bid for the first of three pending construction contracts for the C-44 portion of the Indian River Lagoon project. Part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the Indian River Lagoon project will restore conditions in this diverse estuary, which is home to more than 4,300 plant and wildlife species that have suffered from water pollution and changes in the delicate balance of fresh and salt water that is necessary for their survival.
The large scope and multi-year nature of these contracts provides economic stability for the company working on the project, while at the same time moving us closer to recovering the abundance of life that makes the Everglades such a unique natural treasure. The impressive turnout of competitors also demonstrates why now is the time to proceed with building projects to ensure the best return on our Everglades restoration investments. Taking advantage of decreases in land prices and construction materials will produce long-term savings while providing good jobs in a time of economic uncertainty. Everglades restoration just makes sense to these important Florida workers.
Low Lake Okeechobee levels could mean tighter water restrictions With no end to this drought in sight, water managers are on the verge of declaring a water shortage emergency.
Tighter water restrictions are not going into place, yet, for residents. Agriculture, however, will start feeling the water pinch soon.
Lake Okeechobee, for its gigantic size, is disappearing. The lake has fallen victim to, what water managers are saying, is the worst October-February dry spell since records began in 1932.
"This time of year, this area we are walking would be wet. All the way up here the lake would be 2-3 feet higher," says Dean Powell of the South Florida Water Management District.
The lake was at 11.82 feet Thursday, which is nearly a foot below the lowest range water managers are comfortable with.
Within days, a water shortage emergency is likely to be declared.
Lake water outflows that feed the canals, which in turn feed the sprawling farmlands, are likely to be cut 15% or more.
If the drought persists, cuts could become far more drastic.
Lake Okeechobee Sliding Toward Water Shortage Zone; SFWMD preparing measures to protect water supply South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) water managers reported today that they expect the Lake Okeechobee water level to fall below its water shortage stage on Friday or Saturday. This means the agency will likely expand water restrictions in the coming days to protect water resources following one of the driest periods in 80 years.
"This record-setting dry season highlights the immense challenges in balancing the multiple needs of the environment, 7.5 million residents, businesses and agriculture across 16 counties," said SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle. "Our actions now are crucial to carry us through this water shortage."
Water in Lake Okeechobee, the "liquid heart of Florida," serves as South Florida's backup water supply. At 11.82 feet NGVD on Thursday — and falling — the lake's level is following a decline rate similar to 2007, when the lake reached its record low level of 8.82 feet NGVD. SFWMD meteorologists are forecasting a low chance for significant rain in the next seven days to recharge the system, and due to ongoing dry conditions, regional water levels continue to fall.
The District continues to monitor levels and will closely evaluate conditions into the weekend to determine what actions will be taken to protect regional water resources. These may include additional measures to reduce residential, golf course and agricultural irrigation. A water shortage warning is already in place across the 16-county region.
District-wide rainfall for March has so far registered 0.94 inches for a deficit of 0.68 inches, or only 58 percent of the historic average for the month. This total included a rainfall event last week that, while helpful, was not enough to overcome an overall dry season deficit that stood at nearly 4 inches as of Thursday. The most severe deficits were in Martin, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties along with the Water Conservation Areas.
March continues a dry trend that began with a record rainfall deficit in October 2010, which signaled an early start to the 2010-2011 dry season along with moderate-strength La Niña conditions. La Niña is a weather phenomenon that often generates below-average rainfall during the dry season.
From October through February, the District's 16-county region received a total of 5.69 inches, less than half the average rainfall for that five-month period, or 6.54 inches below average. Eastern Palm Beach County faced the biggest deficit during that period with a shortfall of 12.53 inches, or only 32 percent of its average rainfall.
Lake Okeechobee is more than two feet below the historical average for this time of year. Lake levels are expected to dramatically decline as temperatures rise and evapotranspiration rates increase.
Lake Okeechobee Fast Facts
• 730 square miles
• Lake watershed spans 10 counties, 5,400 square miles
• Largest lake in the southeastern U.S.
• Average depth is only 9 feet
• Important habitat for fish, wading birds, wildlife
• Provides flood protection
• Provides backup water supply
• Provides recreation
Water shortage declared in South Florida The South Florida Water Management District has officially declared a water shortage as the depth of Lake Okeechobee plummeted amid a record-breaking dry season.
The impact of the order, which starts Saturday, March 26, will range from curtailed watering at homes to a 15 percent cutback in water use by farms, nurseries and golf courses.
"During this record-breaking dry season, these actions are critical to protect our region's water resources," said SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle, who signed the order.
Lake Okeechobee, which is the backup water supply for South Florida, hit a level of 11.76 feet on March 18 – more than two feet below the historical average for this time of year. Lake levels are expected to dramatically decline as temperatures rise.
This month, as of Tuesday, the region has received only 45 percent of its historic average rainfall, or 0.95 inches, for a deficit of 1.18 inches, the district said.
This follows the driest October-to-February period in 80 years and a dry season deficit that reached 7.72 inches as of Tuesday, the district said.
The district said it has seen moderate-strength La Ni̱a conditions Рa weather phenomenon that often generates below-average rainfall during the dry season.
The order calls for watering only two days a week for residential landscape irrigation throughout the district, which has 7.7 million residents. The water district covers a 16-county area that starts with the Kissimmee River north of Lake Okeechobee and heads south.
Cisterns and low-volume irrigation systems – such as drip, bubble and micro-jet systems that apply water directly to plant root zones – may be used at any time, although voluntary reductions are encouraged. Irrigation with reclaimed water is exempt.
The district has limited or suspended operation of five navigation locks on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee due to declining water levels.
That could impact operations for businesses that cater to sports fishermen. Lake Okeechobee is known as one of the nation's top lakes for bass fishing.
For more information, visit www.sfwmd.gov/waterwatch
Global Warming and Climate Change
Read noted climate change authority, Dr. James Hansen's article on climate change progress
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110327_Perceptions.pdf
Energy
Shell awarded gulf drilling contract as oil washes onto Louisiana shores The Obama Administration has approved the first Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling plan since BP's Deepwater Horizon spill, Reuters reports. Shell Offshore intends to drill for oil and natural gas at a site 130 miles from the Louisiana coast.
In a joint statement with Michael Bromwich, director of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, U.S. Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar said, "This exploration plan meets the new standards for environmental review and marks another important step toward safer deepwater exploration."
Bromwich added, "Shell's submission has satisfied the heightened environmental standards that we are now applying and I am confident that other operators can satisfy the same standards."
Shell intends to dig three exploratory wells. The company's plan was the first to be approved of 14 proposals to reinitiate deepwater drilling in the gulf. WGNO, New Orleans' ABC affiliate, reports that the approval will likely lead to many more proposals coming in.
The news comes on the heels of reports of a 30-mile-long oil slick on the surface of the water off the coast of Louisiana.
Does Cuban oil drilling put Florida at risk? AMCuba has contracted with Repsol, a Spanish company, to dig exploratory offshore oil wells along its north coast beginning this year, a prospect that alarms Florida environmentalists and some members of Congress.
Florida leaders for years have struggled to maintain a federal ban on drilling in U.S. waters near the state's shores, though some Republicans more recently have proposed expanded offshore production to generate jobs, raise revenue and boost U.S. supplies of oil and natural gas.
The Cuban wells would explore the narrow Florida Straits only 50 miles from the fragile ecosystem of the Florida Keys. The rigs would be directly in the path of the Gulf Stream, a powerful current that carries water alongside the South Florida beaches and up the East Coast.
"We aim to drill in Cuba in the second half of this year," company spokesman Kristian Rix said on Thursday.
"Regarding safety, we are confident that we have the right personnel and materials to drill safely and successfully in the area," he said.
Repsol, an energy giant, has long experience with offshore operations.
Nevertheless, environmentalists worry about the prospect of rigs so close to marine sanctuaries in the Keys. The Deepwater Horizon spill south of Louisiana last summer, which fouled the Gulf Coast and ruined its tourist season, demonstrated the risks of a big spill.
Regulators are close to finalizing approval of a design that FPL hopes to install at Turkey Point, The next-generation reactors Florida Power & Light hopes to install at Turkey Point have been touted as simpler and safer, boasting an emergency cooling system that automatically kicks on during a power loss like the one that sparked the crisis at a Japanese plant.
A tank high atop the Westinghouse AP 1000 holds 780,000 gallons of water. That's enough, Westinghouse calculates, to control reactor heat for 72 hours — without electricity or anyone even pushing a button. Instead, the system relies on gravity to deliver water and on evaporation and condensation to re-circulate it until generators or outside power can be brought on line.
The "passive" cooling design was a key reason FPL selected the unit for its proposal to add two reactors to Turkey Point, said spokesman Michael Waldron. "Every decision made by this company from the line worker to the CEO is done with, first and foremost, safety in mind.''
But critics contend the AP 1000 — also picked by Progress Energy for a new plant in Levy County and the leading model in the nuclear power industry's expansion plans — may have flaws that could make it less safe under assault from an earthquake, tornado or hurricane and leave it more exposed to damaging corrosion along the salty coastline of South Biscayne Bay.
Land Conservation
Florida Mine Battle Looms The future of the Florida phosphate industry could hang in the balance early next month when a federal appeals court in Atlanta convenes to hear a set of arguments that pits two ancient adversaries -- environmentalists vs. big business.
At the center of the dispute sits Mosaic(:MOS). Based in Plymouth, Minn. -- 1,400 miles from its operations in the Sunshine State -- the global fertilizer giant takes more phosphate out of Florida's rich peninsular loam than any other company by far, accounting for about half of the nutrient produced in the U.S. in recent years. (Potash (:POT), a distant No. 2, accounts for about 25%, though most of that comes from North Carolina, not Florida. CF Industries (: CF) is third, with 11% of U.S. production).
The phosphate industry in Florida has long been controversial. Since modern dragline excavation techniques, capable of eating acres each day, came into use in the 1940s, it has strip-mined hundreds of square miles of watershed in the center of the state, mostly from a region dubbed the Bone Valley by locals -- excavations that have, on occasion, dried up rivers, critics and scientists claim. Its tailings have been poured into enormous, semi-toxic settling pools that have been known to spring leaks. The processing of phosphate rock into fertilizer produces radioactive gypsum, a byproduct that now covers about 3,400 acres, rendering it unusable.
But phosphate rock also happens to be the source of one of the world's most important and effective plant nutrients -- a substance that has taken on new relevance, rising to the level of national security, at a time of burgeoning fears over global food shortages. (Indeed, the element phosphorus is one of the fundamental building blocks of life).
For decades, the controversy in Florida remained little more than loud talk by local environmentalists who clashed in vain with Fortune 500 corporations. (The industry has mined without any regulation at all until 1975.) But just within the last six months, all that seems to have changed. A series of lawsuits over mining permits has threatened to imperil Mosaic's financial health.
In July last year, several local environmental and community groups, including a Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, sued to block Mosaic's plan to expand its South Fort Meade mine. The company already has exhausted the rest of the plot. To lose the expansion then, would mean to lose between 4 million and 6 million metric tons per year of phosphate-rock production, or 32% of the company's total output in its fiscal 2010.
Mosaic applied for permits to dig the nearly 11,000 acres of the South Fort Meade extension as far back as 2003. It took eight years to line most of them up, and by June 2010 it had received the last, from the Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for granting mining permits for areas delimited as wetlands.
For many years local environmentalists had urged the Corps to conduct an areawide impact study -- one that would examine the effects of phosphate mining on the whole region, from the central Bone Valley all the way to the coast, where the waters of the valley empty via the Peace River and its tributaries into an enormous estuary called Charlotte Harbor, just north of Fort Meyers. A large-scale study of this kind hadn't been done since 1978.
Environmentalists fear that the strip-mining has shredded the wetlands system that feeds those rivers -- and, thus, the harbor.
"That's our economic magnet down here," says Jim Cooper, a retired Air Force pilot and the head of a local environmental group called Protect Our Watersheds. "They've never truly looked at the impacts on the downstream counties."
Budget crunch delays 'Glades plan The federal budget crunch will add at least a few more months to the eight-year process to create a new management plan for Everglades National Park.
Everglades managers planned to release the preferred alternative for the plan -- expected to propose new protections for Florida Bay -- this month.
The release of the draft plan now has been delayed for an indefinite period, park Superintendent Dan Kimball said in a statement newly posted on the park Web site.
"We have decided to re-evaluate certain elements of the plan, given the need to reduce federal spending during this challenging economic climate," Kimball said.
Park spokeswoman Linda Friar said Friday there is no estimate on when the draft plan will be released. An "educated guess would be months," she said.
In the Florida Keys, the issue that attracted the most attention at 2009 workshops was the possibility that Florida Bay could see new restrictions on motorboat operations to protect areas of shallow bay bottom. Most of Florida Bay lies within Everglades National Park.
Keys boaters and fishing guides generally supported measures to protect Florida Bay but worried about possible closures of prime fishing grounds or navigational routes.
In response, the park instituted a prototype "pole or troll" zone in Snake Bight, a mainland bay east of the Flamingo visitor center in the park.
The general management plan is intended to guide park operations for the next 20 years. Managers said the existing plan has become outdated due to population growth and environmental changes.
When the process to rewrite the management plan was launched in January 2003, a timeline called for the plan to be implemented by 2007.
Air Quality
EPA announces significant rule to reduce emissions of mercury It only takes a little mercury to cause a lot of death, cancer and brain damage.
But every year, coal-fired power plants alone pump 50 tons of this potent neurotoxin into our air. Mercury exposure is so widespread in this country that as many as 1 in 6 women of childbearing age has mercury levels in her blood high enough to put a baby at risk of mercury poisoning,1
But mercury has been totally unregulated by the Clean Air Act, until now. The, arsenic, led, dioxins, acid gas, and six dozen other toxic chemicals that power plants are now able to freely dump into our air.
It's the most important clean air rule since the Clean Air Act was updated in 1990 — and the EPA is predictably under tremendous pressure by the coal industry and other polluters to weaken it.
For decades, the electric industry has successfully fought requirements to reduce these toxics.
They've kept releasing mercury into the air, where it finds its way into the vast majority of our lakes and waterways, into our fish, and then into our bodies, where the poison accumulates, causing deadly disease and impairing fundamental brain functions like the ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn.
Now we have a chance to change that. According to the EPA, reduced emissions from this new air toxics rule will save as many as 17,000 American lives every year by 2015, and will prevent up to 120,000 cases of childhood asthma.
These health benefits will also provide tremendous monetary benefits of between $60 billion to $140 billion annually, at a substantially lower cost of less than $11 billion for the polluters.2
With no sense of irony, polluters claim this is too expensive a cost for them to bear — as they reap billions of dollars in profit and heap substantially higher health costs onto the public. But the cost of the new regulations is a bargain, and the requirements are very reasonable: power plants have four years to install or upgrade to technology that already exists and is in use at many power plants nationwide.
As we have seen with the repeated attacks on the Clean Air Act's ability to regulate climate pollution, industry efforts to weaken this air toxics rule will be fierce, and these powerful utilities have many friends in the congress who are more than happy to do this dirty work.
Miscellaneous
Monsanto Rules…and We Could Lose…or Fight Back! By now, we have all heard the tragic news (yes, tragic) that President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack ploughed through approvals to de-regulate more foods to be genetically modified by Monsanto, including alfalfa and sugar beets.
Vilsack's blanket approval to grow GMO alfalfa is worse than it looks on the surface. The Obama administration and he also removed buffer zone requirements, which were put into place to prevent the contamination of non-GMO crops by GMO pollen. It used to be that GMO alfalfa had restrictions on where it could be planted because it's a prodigious pollinator meaning that different varieties can cross-pollinate and transfer genetic material. A buffer zone would protect organic crops from contamination by GMO crops. The biotech industry has wanted these buffer zones gone for a long time.
And the Obama administration was only too happy to oblige. Bill Tomson of 'The Wall Street Journal' wrote in an article about this controversial de-regulation:
'The Obama administration abandoned a proposal to restrict planting of genetically engineered alfalfa, the latest rule-making proposal shelved as part of the administration's review of 'burdensome' regulation (Emphasis added.)'
Further, while Secretary Vilsack claimed ambivalence and said he preferred a policy where restrictions remained in place to ensure that organic alfalfa would not be contaminated, he skulked away from his position and rolled over for the biotech industry once again.
But that's not where the story ends. Alfalfa is consumed in large quantities by humans because it serves as primary feed for dairy cattle and secondary feed for beef cattle; alfalfa is also used to feed sheep and goats. So organic or GMO, alfalfa's presence is felt in a lot of the animal food we eat day to day.
This move, designed by Monsanto to contaminate natural crops would virtually destroy the organic meat and dairy industries that rely heavily on GMO-free alfalfa for their feed. Genetic contamination would give the biotech industry almost complete control over this country's fourth largest crop. It could become impossible to produce organic meat or dairy products.
South Florida groundwater gauges detect earthquake in Japan The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) uses a network of over 907 groundwater gauges to monitor and protect regional water resources. These gauges registered a strange oscillations throughout the District's 16-county region for nearly two hours just after Japan was devastated by an earthquake, and then a tsunami.
Technicians, who monitor the gauges regularly, noticed the unusual activity just after the earthquake hit. The same technicians documented both the Haiti earthquake on January 12, 2010, and the Chile earthquake on February27, 2010.
"We were not expecting to see any indication of the geological events in Japan given the island's great distance from Florida. The fact that many of our groundwater gauges picked up this anomaly is an indication of just how sensitive the SFWMD monitoring network can be," said Susan Sylvester, SFWMD Director of the Operations Control and Hydro Data Management Department.
"This high-level resolution allows our engineers to gather information vital to protecting South Florida's water resources and environment."
"It's the science and engineering of this caliber that allow us to manage water resources for 7.7 million residents and the South Florida ecosystem," said SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle. "This data allows the agency to make informed, science-based decisions when managing the water resources of South Florida for flood control, water supply and water quality."
A Japanese delegation visited the District facilities just days prior to tragedy striking in Japan, but was in Tokyo when the earthquake happened, and all members are okay.
Crocodiles Enlisted for Everglades Preservation Crocodiles and alligators in the Florida Everglades now have a new job: helping US scientists in their fight to preserve the fragile wetlands.
Researchers are implanting the reptiles with satellite chips in a science first that will allow scientists to follow the animals' movements through different parts of the immense national park. The chips will bounce back information on changes in the ecosystem and its impact on the size and movement patterns of the crocs and gators.
"They are giving us important data... They are working for us," said Frank Mazzotti, an ecologist and expert in the large reptiles at the University of Florida, as quoted by the AFP news agency.
The data is transmitted by satellite to a computer application using Google maps to track the movements of the reptiles.
"Scientists use different parameters to track responses of alligators and crocodiles to changes in the ecosystem, including their number, their weight, their size and their places of habitat," Mazzotti told AFP's Juan Castro Olivera.
"All this information provides important data that is instrumental in analyzing the health of the Everglades' ecosystem" and in seeing whether past conservation efforts have succeeded, he noted.
Wildlife experts estimate that there are between 500 and 1,200 crocodiles living in southern Florida. The animals, which can grow to 15 feet long and weigh up to 450 pounds, have been declining in numbers in recent years due to loss of habitat, poaching and water pollution.
Like many bird species that make their home in the Everglades, the fate of alligators and crocodiles is closely linked to water levels, which largely determine their food supply, Mazzotti expressed.
As water levels drop, it results in fewer plants that are needed for shelter and nesting. That also means fewer fish to feed on, which is a mainstay for the larger animals of the Everglades.
Jerry Lorenz, of the conservation group Audubon of Florida, estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 birds nest in the Everglades every year, a significant reduction from the 1940s, when as many as 500,000 lived there. "In more than half a century, it's been about a 90 percent decline on average," he said.
Fires, floods, hurricanes and drought have produced a distinctive ecosystem in the Everglades with a wealth of rare plants and animals, including the crocodiles, manatees, flying squirrels and gray foxes that climb trees.
Conservationists are concerned that budget cuts might complicate efforts to protect the wetlands, with a million visitors every year attracted to the subtropical wilderness.
French clothing brand Lacoste, which funds a global program to protect crocodiles called "Saving Your Logo" after its own trademark, is contributing to the efforts to protect crocodiles and alligators in the Everglades.
The company, founded by French tennis champion Rene Lacoste, is donating $150,000 over three years to help save crocodiles around the globe.
"We are very pleased to participate in this new project that clearly emphasizes the importance and the key role of crocodiles and alligators in the ecosystem," said Lacoste CEO Christophe Chenut.
Former financial analyst now a champion of the environment When Josette Kaufman moved back to Florida from Maryland six years ago to become executive director of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, she went from being a financial analyst for Fannie Mae to a champion of the Everglades and environmental education.
Her background helps with fund-raising for the foundation, which allows her to promote the outdoor lifestyle she enjoyed while growing up in Minnesota and on Florida's west coast, in Ruskin and Seminole.
She also promotes planting trees. The Marshall Foundation organizes periodic tree plantings - often at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in south-central Palm Beach County and on Torry Island, near Belle Glade on the south shore of Lake Okeechobee.
Native pond apple and cypresses are the trees most often planted during volunteer events. Seedlings of both grow from pots behind Kaufman's small office on S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach.
Kaufman also chairs the Lake Worth Tree Board - a group of volunteers that works to boost the city's tree canopy. The tree board organizes an annual tree festival and a shade tree giveaway, set for April 30 this year. The board also developed Lake Worth's new landscape code, which encourages the use of native, drought-tolerant plants.
As executive director of the Marshall Foundation, Kaufman emphasizes education.
The foundation employs two environmental educators who teach about the beauty and importance of the Everglades through classroom instruction, field trips, student photography projects and summer seminars.
"We do our best to educate, but we don't lobby," she said. "We believe it really starts with the children. They're the next generation of environmental stewards."
The foundation will take applications through March 31 for its 11-week summer internship program for college and graduate students.
Apply online at www.ArtMarshall.org.
Florida's beauty at risk Margaret Ross Tolbert had an idea to do something with a snorkel. On Wednesday, she was in Tallahassee to receive the Florida Book Awards gold medal for nonfiction for Aquiferious. Gov. Rick Scott presented the medal. In return, she gave him a dive mask and snorkel with an invitation to join her for an afternoon at one of Florida's premier freshwater springs.
Tolbert is a Gainesville artist who has been painting the springs for nearly 30 years. Thanks to her work, Florida's beauty hangs in galleries around the world. But that beauty is at risk.
Over the past few years, Tolbert has observed the crystal-clear luster of the springs fade to strange, cloudy colors. She has seen the sheer, green eelgrass grow fuzzy brown. Disheartened by the overuse and pollution of the Floridan Aquifer, the life water that charges the springs — and our water taps — she wrote Aquiferious. The book is her tribute to natural Florida, which, despite the condition of the springs, has in many other places been rebounding.
It is also a warning for governmental leaders like Scott. Having lived in Florida only since 2003, he has not seen the changes Tolbert has. He has no memory of what Florida was like when manufacturing, automobile, residential and wastewater runoff was killing its bays and estuaries; when industrial and power-plant discharge fouled its air; when Florida was a less healthy place for wildlife and humans alike. The wood storks he can see today trolling the shallows at shore side and the white ibis he might spot wading across neighborhood lawns were not around a few decades ago.
Many people — activists, policymakers, farmers, businesspeople, voters — worked hard over those years to repair Florida's ecological health. They brought the birds back. They restored clarity to bays and estuaries, and they wiped the smudge from the sky.
The Name Game
Q. What's a daddy-long-legs?
A. It depends on a person's location. In England the term is used to describe a type of spider, usually in the family Pholcidae, common in homes and other buildings. These are the spindly legged spiders often seen hanging in messy webs near ceilings. Americans call them Cellar Spiders.
A daddy-long-legs stateside is another type of arachnid, in the order Opiliones, also known as Harvestmen. These creatures are found outdoors, usually in moist, dark places where they hide during the day. While they look like spiders and have eight legs, they're not spiders.
There's also a type of fly that's referred to as a daddy-long-legs. These insects are more appropriately called crane flies—a reference to their long legs, similar to those of the birds called cranes. These flies are also known as mosquito hawks or mosquito eaters. And though crane flies resemble mosquitoes, they could never eat one because they lack functional mouth parts as adults.
Q. What's the difference between the Eastern Towhee, the Spotted Towhee, and the Rufous-sided Towhee? A. Time is the main factor with these bird names. Originally the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee were considered distinct species. Biologists later decided that these were simply two forms, or subspecies, of a single species, the Rufous-sided Towhee. More recently, though, opinion has swung back, and current field guides again recognize the Eastern Towhee in the East and the Spotted Towhee in the West.
Q: What do the Long-tailed Duck, the Northern Pikeminnow, and the Gray Pine have in common? A. The common names of these three species have been modified to eliminate terms that were disrespectful to Native Americans. The Long-tailed Duck was formerly known as the Oldsquaw, the Northern Pikeminnow used to be known as the Northern Squawfish, and the Gray Pine was called the Digger Pine, a term applied to several tribes of California natives who dug for edible roots and bulbs.
Q: What's the difference between the Prairie Rattlesnake, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, and the Great Basin Rattlesnake? A. These are all forms of a single species, the Western Rattlesnake. Each is a distinct subspecies that occupies a different geographic region. The Western Rattlesnake is also known as the Timber Rattlesnake in the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies—a misnomer because the true Timber Rattlesnake exists only east of the Rockies. Such is the problem with a lot of folk names or regionalisms.
Q: What's the difference between Steelhead and Rainbow Trout? A. These two names refer to the same species. Inland versions of the fish that remain in freshwater all their lives are called Rainbow Trout, while coastal forms that migrate to the ocean and return to streams to spawn are called Steelhead.
Even more confusing is the history of the scientific name of the species. Prior to 1989, the fish was officially known as Salmo gairdneri, and now it's Oncorhynchus mykiss. Why? Paleontologists looking at fossil evidence concluded that certain "trout" were actually more like Pacific Salmon, which are in the genus Oncorhynchus. The species name was changed when someone realized that a specimen collected in Asia and named mykiss at the time was actually the same species. Because the name mykiss appeared first, it was then applied to all members of the species. Confused? You're not alone. But take comfort in the knowledge that no matter where you live or what you call it, the beautiful black, white, and red towhee scuffling in the leaf litter is as fascinating to watch as ever
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