It is time we stopped viewing our environment through prisms of profit, politics, geography, or local and personal pride. It is time for us to work together-to accept the truth about our problems in south Florida, and to set about solving them. It is time for us to do all of these things-because you know as well as I that the alternative will be disastrous to our economy as well as to our environment. Reubin Askew
Announcements
Audubon releases virtual birds
all over the Internet
'Birding the Net' campaign, timed to the release of Hollywood's The Big Year, will challenge people to find birds throughout the Internet
"Birds are the best possible ambassadors for the environment, and this will help people see them in a whole new way," said David Yarnold, President & CEO of Audubon. "This is about fun – but it's also about getting more people involved in taking action to protect birds and the planet we share with them. And with this unprecedented use of social media and the web, we're also making it clear that this is not your grandmother's Audubon."
In The Big Year, characters compete to see the most North American birds in one year. Birding the Net brings to the Internet the thrill of the chase found in real-world birding, challenging players to spot dozens of species that will be released from Oct. 10 through Nov. 7. Web surfers will observe virtual birds doing the same things that birds do outdoors: animations of birds will fly across homepages, perch on mastheads, and flock to birdhouses that anyone can install on personal websites and blogs. Clicking on the animated birds on the many participating websites takes players to an Audubon Facebook page to collect and trade "bird cards" which feature recordings of birdsongs, bird facts, and video. The first players to collect all the birds will win prizes, including a voyage to the Galapagos Islands.
"This campaign amazingly combines bird preservation, education and alluring animation in an addictive experience that spreads across the Internet," said Jeff Goodby, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and long-time supporter of Audubon. Says Goodby, "the game turns the cold digital world into a resonant reminder of what we love about the warm and fragrant natural world around us."
All that is required to play is to visit Audubon on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NationalAudubonSociety. The game will go viral, since trading bird cards helps a player's chances of winning; the more Facebook friends that compete in Birding the Net, the more opportunities for trading birds. And for exclusive hints on where to find birds on the Internet, Audubon followers on Twitter (@AudubonSociety) can interact and follow campaign "spokesbirds" @FloridaScrubJay and @RufHummingbird.
In addition to the grand prize voyage for two to the Galapagos Islands courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions, prizes include Canon cameras, Nikon binoculars, gift cards to Woolrich and downloads of the Audubon Birds – A Field Guide to North American Birds mobile app from Green Mountain Digital. All 200 winners also receive one-year membership to Audubon.
About Audubon
Now in its second century, Audubon connects people with birds, nature and the environment that supports us all. Our national network of community-based nature centers, chapters, scientific, education, and advocacy programs engages millions of people from all walks of life in conservation action to protect and restore the natural world. Visit Audubon online at www.audubon.org.
About Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a unit of the Omnicom Group, is one of the worlds most respected and most awarded advertising agencies. Founded in 1983, the company is based in San Francisco and has over 700 employees serving a broad array of national and international accounts, including Hewlett-Packard, Frito-Lay, Haagen-Dazs, California Milk Processors Board ("got milk?"), Adobe, Sprint, NBA and many others. For more information on GSP, please visit goodbysilverstein.com.
For high-rez images visit ftp://ftp.mprm.com/Audubon
Audubon honors SW Florida bird savior Keith Laakkonen, the town's environmental services coordinator, will be recognized tonight at Audubon of Florida's annual assembly in St. Mary, near Orlando, with the Guy Bradley award, one of its highest honors.
Laakkonen was instrumental in ensuring least terns and snowy plovers, both threatened species, can safely nest on the beach behind the condominiums on Carlos Pointe.
After he negotiated with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, it issued a permit to property owners to rake the beach to remove vegetation. "It was a response to a complex problem," said Laakkonen, 37, a biologist.
The Carlos Pointe and Castle Beach condos are south of the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area, where scientists close a one-mile section by posting "no trespassing" signs from April 1-Aug. 31 for the nesting season.
"These birds have evolved to where they like open beach because vegetation, a lot of times, can hide predators that will come up and take their eggs," Laakkonen said.
The birds began nesting in force on the open beach behind the condos in 2009 since a major storm, which would naturally wash away vegetation in the wildlife area, hasn't hit in years.
The condo owners allowed Laakkonen to close off areas of the beach for the birds.
During nesting season, vegetation grew in the posted areas, and after the season was over, DEP didn't allow property owners to rake the beach anymore because vegetation is an important part of the ecosystem.
Laakkonen, with the help of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and town officials, convinced DEP to issue a one-time beach raking permit in April 2010 and a five-year permit last April.
Read more
I would like to invite you to the Sawgrass Nature Center's annual "Born To Be Wild" Gala, being held on November 5th at the Coral Springs Country Club (see invitation below). Ticket price includes delicious 60's & 70's inspired Hors D'oeuvres, dinner, drinks and dessert. Our Hippie theme will be a lot of fun and prizes will be given for the best costume so pull out your tie dyed t-shirts, bellbottoms, love beads and join the FUN!
All revenue raised at the gala will be used to fund our environmental education programs and wildlife rehabilitation hospital.
Let me know if you have any questions, hope to see you at the Gala,
Joan Kohl
Reservation Information
$75.00 per person ($65.00 for SNC Members)
Table Sponsor (Admission for 8) $1,000.__________
Ticket cost includes:
Delicious Hors D'oeuvres, Cocktails, Dinner, Dessert & Beverages
Entertainment ~ Silent & Live Auction ~Raffles
Please RSVP by Oct. 24, 2011
*(No tickets will be sold at the door) *
For further information call (954) 752-WILD (9453)
Broward County Commission
NEWS RELEASE
Parks and Recreation Division ▪ 950 N.W. 38th St., Oakland Park, FL 33309
Phone: 954-357-8100 ▪ Fax: 954-561-5359 ▪ mmills@broward.org www.broward.org/parks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 24, 2011 Phone: 954-357-8115
From: Michael Mills E-mail:
Find Volunteer Spirit – At Your Favorite Nature Center
- Help clean and maintain the environment on EcoAction Days -
WHAT: You can help the environment by volunteering to clean natural areas of garbage and invasive plants. Broward County Parks has scheduled EcoAction Days running from October 2011 through May 2012. The workdays are held on the first Saturday of the month at Fern Forest Nature Center in Coconut Creek and Long Key Natural Area & Nature Center in Davie, the second Saturday of the month at Secret Woods Nature Center in Dania Beach, and the third Saturday of the month at the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood and Deerfield Island Park in Deerfield Beach.
The dates for November are November 5 for Fern Forest and Long Key, November 12 for Secret Woods, and November 19 for Anne Kolb and Deerfield Island. These volunteer workdays run from 9 a.m. to noon except at Deerfield Island, where the time-frame is 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, a hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, and drinking water. They should also dress appropriately with long pants, closed-toe shoes, and long sleeves. Preregistration is required, and all participants must fill out a workday form before participating. For volunteers under 18, parental signatures are required. Other dates and times can be arranged by contacting the park or nature center of your choice.
WHERE: Anne Kolb Nature Center751 Sheridan St., Hollywood 33019
954-357-5161
Deerfield Island Park
1720 Deerfield Island Park, Deerfield Beach 33441
954-357-5100
Fern Forest Nature Center
201 Lyons Rd. South, Coconut Creek 33063
954-357-5198
Long Key Natural Area & Nature Center3501 S.W. 130th Ave., Davie 33330
954-357-8797
Secret Woods Nature Center
2701 W. State Rd. 84, Dania Beach 33312
954-357-8884
WHEN: First Saturday of the month (Fern Forest, Long Key)
Second Saturday of the month (Secret Woods)
Third Saturday of the month (Anne Kolb, Deerfield Island)
9 a.m.-noon (except 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Deerfield Island)
WHO: For ages 13 and up.
HOW: Preregistration is required.
For further information, call the park or nature center of your choice. These sites are also accessible from these Broward County Transit Routes #12 (Anne Kolb); #48 and #50 (Deerfield Island); #31 and #42 (Fern Forest); and #6 (Secret Woods).The 27th Annual Everglades Coalition Conference will be Jan 5-8 at Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort & Marina in Stuart, Florida.
Extended public comment period on Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife RefugeEvergladesHeadwatersProposal@fws.gov The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will extend the public comment period on the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area in south-central Florida to November 25, 2011.
The proposal has generated significant interest from a variety of stakeholders with roughly 1,500 comments received to date. The extension was requested by local hunting conservation groups and provides an additional opportunity for interested citizens and organizations to submit comments.
The original deadline to submit comments was set for today. A notice of extension will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, October 26. It will be available in the Register's 'Reading Room' beginning today.
Written comments may be submitted by:
Email to
Fax to 321-861-1276
Mail to
Everglades Headwaters Proposal
US Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 2683
Titusville, FL 32781-2683
Names and addresses should be included with comments, with the understanding that the material is subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act and may be released to the public upon request.
The Service is proposing a 100,000-acre Conservation Area and a 50,000-acre National Wildlife Refuge. This is a voluntary program. The Service would work with willing landowners to purchase full or partial interest in their land. No general tax revenue will be used to purchase lands or conservation easements in this proposal. Funding for this proposal would come from royalties generated by offshore oil and gas exploration and development that are deposited into the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Details about the proposal including its Draft Land Protection Plan, an Environmental Assessment, and maps, are available at: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/evergladesheadwaters .
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit http://www.fws.gov/
South Florida Association of Environmental Professionals
Annual Conference - November 4, 2011
Kovens Conference Ctr., FIU North Campus
8:00 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. Welcome and Recognitions: Jeff Marcus, SFAEP President
8:45 am Keynote Speaker: Terrie Bates, Director, Water Resources Division, South
Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
9:30 am Break
10:00 a.m. Regulatory Updates and Opportunities for Streamlining
Moderator: Matt Davis, Miami-Dade County Dept. of Permitting,
Environment & Regulatory Affairs (PERA)
Jennifer Smith, Environmental Resources Program Administrator, Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP)
Anita Bain, Bureau Chief, Environmental Resources Permitting, SFWMD
Megan Clouser, Senior Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Lee Hefty, Assistant Director of Miami-Dade County, PERA
12:00 pm Lunch: Restaurants within walking distance.
1:15 pm SFAEP Elections and Chapter Business
1:30 pm Permit Application Process from the Applicant's Perspective
Moderator: Jeff Marcus, C3TS
Ken Huntington, VP, RS Environmental Consulting
Eric Summa, USACE, Jacksonville District
Ann Broadwell, Environmental Administrator, FDOT District Four,
John Palenchar, Permits Coordinator, FDOT District Six,
Sandra Lee, Calvin Giordano & Associates
Jose Gonzalez, VP, Flagler Development
Matthew Raffenberg, Florida Power & Light (FP&L)
2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm Wetland Mitigation Discussion and Updates from the Regulatory Agency
Perspective
Moderator David Bogardus, FDOT District Four
Jill King, Environmental Manager, FDEP
Barbara Conmy, Section Leader, Natural Resource Management Unit, SFWMD
Garrett Lips, Regulatory Project Manager, USACE
Brandon Howard, Fisheries Biologist, National Oceanic Atmosphere Administration (NOAA)
4:30 pm Closing Comments
PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Thursday, NOVEMBER 17, 2011, at Fern Forest @ 7:30 p.m.
Grant Campbell
Director Wildlife Policy and Conservation Chair
South Florida Audubon Society
TOPIC: "PLASTIC: Bane or Boon?"
Learn what plastic is doing to the environment worldwide.
There will be a slide show that will open your eyes and change your ideas about the way we use and dispose of our everyday items, from plastic cutlery to parts of the auto you ride in.
Plastic is Omni-present, but should it be?
Along with our Speaker we are thrilled to have:
FREE DOOR PRIZE
This month will be a drawing for special prizes. A Door Prize ticket will be given to each member and each guest upon signing in. Please don't forget to ask for your FREE DOOR PRIZE ticket when you sign in..
FURTHEST TRAVELER PRIZE
The member who has driven the furthest to the Meeting will be introduced and will receive a three piece water conservation HOME FAUCET AERATOR SET - $13 value
RAFFLE
A RAFFLE will be held - $1 per ticket, or 6 tickets for $5 (such a deal!) Drawing will be held at the end of the meeting. Must be present to accept prize. Lucky winner will receive a Quality coated lens binoculars, professional quality
Proceeds to South Florida Audubon Society general fund
COMPLEMENTARY REFRESHMENTS
Please try to arrive early and enjoy meeting other members, share common interests/experiences, and make new friends.
Our meetings are open to the public and we look forward to seeing our members and new friends.
South Florida Eco-Movie Group presents "Blue Gold"
Secret Woods Nature Center
2701 W State Road 84, Dania Beach, FL (map)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
A new documentary, BLUE GOLD, follows the fascinating story of the blue jean, a truly American icon that has evolved into a global phenomenon.
The South Florida Audubon Society, Broward County Environmental Education Council (EEC), and the Green League of Broward have teamed up with the Friends of the Sawgrass Nature Center and are hosting a series of Eco-Movie Events at Secret Woods Nature Center inside Julia Hall.
This event is open to the public and free of charge.
After each movie, a short moderated panel discussion will be held with local topic panelists to discuss ways to make a positive impact in regards to the topic that we have just watched.
* Please note: These movies do not reflect the views or opinions of any one person or organization involved. They are merely chosen by category for everyone to view for the informational content so that they can form their own better educated opinions.
For directions and information about the Secret Woods Nature Center, visit: http://www.broward.org/Parks/SecretWoodsNat
Of interest to allUp to 20 million tons of debris from Japan's tsunami moving toward Hawaii Some 5 to 20 million tons of debris--furniture, fishing boats, refrigerators--sucked into the Pacific Ocean in the wake of Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami are moving rapidly across the Pacific.
Researchers from the University of Hawaii tracking the wreckage estimate it could approach the U.S. West Coast in the next three years, the UK Daily Mail reports.
"We have a rough estimate of 5 to 20 million tons of debris coming from Japan," University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told Hawaii's ABC affiliate KITV.
Crew members from the Russian training ship the STS Pallada "spotted the debris 2,000 miles from Japan," last month after passing the Midway Islands, the Mail wrote. "They saw some pieces of furniture, some appliances, anything that can float, and they picked up a fishing boat," said Hafner. The boat was 20-feet long, and was painted with the word "Fukushima." "That's actually our first confirmed report of tsunami debris," Hafner told KITV.
Florida Friendly plant database Read it Here
Christmas Bird Count December 31: Nelson recognized with wildlife award
Sen. Bill Nelson has found a real identity with environmental issues. He emerged as perhaps the most out-spoken critic of BP and federal oversight of Gulf oil drilling after the epic spill and over the years has ushered many a D.C. politician into the Everglades and fought for funding.
Audubon of Florida has named him recipient of its Theodore Roosevelt Award, which goes to lawmakers who champion green causes. Roosevelt was a founder of the Florida Audubon Society and established the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island.
"The very name Theodore Roosevelt stands for resilience, resolve and courage in the face of fire," said Audubon Executive Director Eric Draper in a release. "No public figure in Florida embodies those values like Senator Bill Nelson."
Birds
STA 5 Birding Tour Schedule
November 12
November 26
December 3
December 17
Hendry-Glades Audubon will lead escorted tours to Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA-5) south of Clewiston his season. Tours are open to anyone, but participants must register to reserve a space on the trips. To sign up contact: Margaret England, at sta5birding@embarqmail.com or 863-674-0695 include your name and contact information including an emergency cell number for the tour day.
15th annual count takes place Feb. 17-20, 2012 As movie-goers watch the stars of The Big Year in their quest to count birds, some may be motivated to try the hobby for the first time. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is the perfect opportunity. The event is hosted by Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada. The results provide a snapshot of the whereabouts of more than 600 bird species. Anyone can participate in this free event and no registration is needed. Watch and count birds for at least 15 minutes on any day of the count, February 17-20, 2012. Enter your results at www.birdcount.org, where you can watch as the tallies grow across the continent. The four-day count typically records more than 10 million observations.
"When thousands of people all tell us what they're seeing, we can detect patterns in how birds are faring from year to year," said Janis Dickinson, director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a perfect example of Citizen Science," says Audubon Chief Scientist, Gary Langham. "Like Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, volunteers help us with data year after year, providing scientific support that is the envy of many institutions. It's also a lot of fun."
"We're finding that more people are taking part in our bird count programs every year--and the more that take part, the better it is for the birds," says Richard Cannings, Senior Projects Officer for Bird Studies Canada.
The 2011 GBBC brought in more than 92,000 bird checklists submitted by participants from across the United States and Canada. Altogether, bird watchers identified 596 species with 11.4 million bird observations.
Results from the 2011 GBBC included:
The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.
Visit the GBBC News Room for high-resolution images and your state's top-10 lists from the 2010 count. Please also inquire about possible interviews with local participants.
Contacts:
• Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu
• Delta Willis, Audubon, (212) 979-3197, dwillis@audubon.org
• Dick Cannings, Bird Studies Canada, (250) 493-3393 (Pacific time zone), dcannings@birdscanada.org
Invasive species
Fighting against Florida's alien invaders One day this summer, Susan Arehart noticed her cat, Luna-tick, acting strangely. Arehart, a transplanted New Yorker who now lives in Riverview, thought maybe the cat was stalking a snake in the yard.
But when she got closer, she saw what was it was: a big, black and white lizard with sharp claws, known as a giant Argentine Tegu. She figured it was 4 feet long from the tip of its tail to the end of its forked tongue.
She thought it might run when it saw her. It didn't. "That thing stared me right down," she said. "It's not afraid of anything."
Everyone has heard about the pythons in the Everglades. State officials have told hunters to shoot them on sight. Congress is debating whether to ban their importation. Writer Carl Hiaasen jokes about how he'd like to see politicians out seeking a River of Grass photo op attacked by one.
But Frank Mazzotti, one of Florida's top reptile experts, thinks that what everyone ought to be talking about is the Tegu — and also the Nile monitor, the Oustalet's chameleon and several other slithery species that have invaded Florida in recent years.
Unlike the pythons, which are pretty well dug in, Mazzotti said, "we've got 140 species that aren't established yet."
That includes species beyond South Florida — for instance, the tegu, a recent fad in the exotic pet trade. Some Tegu owners have reported being surprised at how fast their little lizards grew, and how much they ate.
Five years ago tegus — either escaped captives or those turned loose by irresponsible owners — began popping up in rural and suburban Hillsborough County. On top of frightening homeowners and their pets, tegus eat the eggs and the young of ground-nesting birds and gopher tortoises.
State and federal officials should target those reptiles for removal now, before they get as entrenched as the pythons, said Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife ecology professor who has spent more than 25 years studying South Florida reptiles.
Read more
Florida Panthers
Corkscrew Panther takes a stroll along the boardwalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGq0kuHROiU
Endangered Species
A good year for turtles The 2011 turtle nesting season started with a huge surge of nests, tapered off somewhere in the middle and ended with numbers above the five-year average.
There were 54 nests on Bonita Beach during nesting season, which runs from May 1 until Sunday. Of those, 48 nests hatched. Those numbers are not as high as the 70 last year, but they topple the 36 nests in 2009.
Turtles tend to nest every other year, so 2011 is more accurately compared to 2009 than last year. Of the 28 nests on Fort Myers Beach, 27 hatched. Turtle watchers also found three nests on Big Hickory Island, two in Bokeelia and two on Bunche Beach.
The year was also a surprise for experts who saw some green turtles nest on beaches that are mostly nurseries for loggerheads.
"For the most part we did well," said Eve Haverfield, president and founder of Turtle Time, a volunteer organization that monitors sea turtles in south Lee County. "And it was a surprising year because we had nests in areas where we don't have a plethora of nests like Bunche Beach and Bokeelia, so it's always a nice surprise to find nests there."
Season started early on Bonita Beach with the first nest found April 28. Warm water this spring was the reason for the strong start to the season, experts said.
Sanibel Island had 277 nests with an additional 77 nests on Captiva this year.
But even more remarkable were the seven green turtles that nested on Sanibel and the one that laid a nest on Captiva, said Amanda Bryant, turtle coordinator for the Sanibel/Captiva Conservation Foundation.
"We have green nests every other year," Bryant said. "The fact that we had green nesting last year and this year points to another green turtle or another two green turtles that utilize our beach."
Bryant also recorded one Kemp's ridley nest on Sanibel.
"Sanibel didn't have a good year last year, so for us to have a good year this year is wonderful," she said. "Hopefully, this means loggerheads will be doing a little bit better. Overall, I count this as a pretty good year."
Maura Kraus, turtle coordinator for Collier County, said her final numbers won't be ready until next month. But preliminary data shows 760 nests were laid this year, the same as last year.
Kraus said even more important than the number of nests is the number of successful hatchings. As of this week 556 nests had hatched. Kraus said the lack of storms this season kept most of the nests safe for the 55 to 65 days the eggs need to incubate.
"We had a good season. We are real pleased with it," Kraus said. "We had some storms in June, but even the nests that got washed over, we had good hatchings out of those nests."
Key West hospital serves special clientele After months of rehabilitation, a loggerhead sea turtle was released back into the wild in the Florida Keys Tuesday as a group of environmentalists and journalists witnessed business as usual at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.
It's all about helping sea turtles survive, like this sub-adult loggerhead named Karsten being released off Sombrero Beach.
Five months ago, Karsten was found floating in a local Marathon canal by homeowners. He was scooped up and taken in the Turtle ambulance to received medical attention and diagnostics. Richie Moretti is founder of the Turtle Hospital.
"We root for all of them. Ones that come in that has so many problems at one time, like this one, she had two hooks in her, one real deep that Doug got out and one he got out of her jaw. You have to really see how the animal is doing; you can't just take the hook out and assume the animal is fine. That's how we found out they had lockjaw."
As a result, the turtle couldn't open his mouth to eat until volunteer veterinary staff stretched his jaw daily and fed him squid using a tube down his throat. Moretti says a sign that Karsten was ready to go home came when he caught and ate a live lobster.
"When you watch that loggerhead, stalk and then strike that you can throw his head and you know all my staff is just looking at her, they'd been feeding her, forcing her mouth and when they watched her go like that and can just crush that shell, made them all a little more respectful that these guys can be a lot stronger than you think."
On the eve of Karsten's release, Dr. Doug Mader of Marathon Veterinary Hospital quickly turned his attention to another sub-adult loggerhead that was hit by a boat.
"This piece of shell was just hanging loose by some tissue over the top of the tail."
You can see the slices from the propeller, like a cheese grater, as it lays steady in critical condition, in an empty pool at the hospital.
"...and every time that propeller is spins it cuts a slice in their shell. It actually got the back part of the shell badly sliced last night, I came in and had to amputate part of the shell and then those wounds over there as bad as they look, there is a good chance this animal is going to make it, because there is no damage to the flipper or the head. So we've got it on antibiotics, we've got it on fluids and we have it on lots and lots of pain medication right now."
So as this turtle begins what now seems like a long journey through the rehabilitation process, back on Sombrero Beach, Karsten is getting reacquainted with his natural habitat.
"It's sort of like sending a kid off to college, you hope they at least say hi occasionally, but you know with us with Turtles if we don't hear anything that's good. Cause if they ever get hit by a boat, they're wearing a tag internally and they're wearing tags on their flipper, so as long as we don't hear, no news is good news!"
Turtle Hospital Founder Richie Moretti says there are simple steps people can take, to prevent harming turtles.
"Things that we can all do, is just watching our fishing lines, watching our plastic bags, if we stay on a beach during nesting season, closing your drapes just so they don't go the wrong direction. The little things make such a difference."
There are 24 patients at the Turtle Hospital.
Everglades and Water Quality Issues
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breaks ground on Indian River Lagoon-South Project Oct. 28 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District will host a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of another project to restore America's Everglades. The Indian River Lagoon-South C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area groundbreaking ceremony will be held Friday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. near 20654 SW Citrus Boulevard, Indiantown.
"The greater Everglades is an American treasure, an extraordinary ecosystem unlike any other in the world," said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state of Florida and Martin County are proud to stand together to break ground on this first component of the Indian River Lagoon-South project."
"The Department of the Interior celebrates the start of this monumental project to restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon, one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in America," said Rachel Jacobson, acting Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior. "This restoration project represents our strong and continuing joint commitment with Florida and its local governments to restore and protect the many natural resources, national parks and wildlife refuges of the south Florida region while also securing and enhancing flood protection, water supply, and the economy for the millions of South Florida residents."
"This day has been a long time coming and is an important milestone in Everglades restoration," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. "After many delays and hurdles, we're finally moving dirt to help bring the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon back to health."
"The Indian River Lagoon project is a key component of overall Everglades restoration," U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney (FL-16) said. "Constructing the C-44 reservoir means a cleaner lagoon, healthier fish and wildlife, and reduced toxic algal blooms. The project is critical to maintaining Martin County's marine and tourism industries, preserving property values, and boosting our local economy."
"This groundbreaking is an important step toward getting the water right in the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary," said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard, Jr. "We're here today due to the hard work and collaboration of our partners at the federal, local and state level, and I thank these partners for their continued support and commitment to protecting this ecosystem."
The Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary are two of the country's most productive and most threatened estuaries. H ome to more than 4,300 species of plants and animals, the lagoon and estuary have suffered from altered water flow patterns and degraded water quality. The Indian River Lagoon-South project will restore the delicate balance of fresh and salt water in the lagoon and estuary, treat polluted water and revitalize degraded habitats.
The C-44 project includes the construction of a 3,400-acre above ground reservoir and a pump station with a capacity to pump 1,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water and a 6,300-acres stormwater treatment area. The completed project will capture local runoff from the C-44 basin and reduce the average annual total nutrient load and improve salinity for the St. Lucie Estuary and southern Indian River Lagoon.
"A tremendous amount of time, effort and steadfast commitment by the South Florida Water Management District and our restoration partners, especially Martin County, have preceded today's celebration. When completed, this project will help improve and protect the health of the St. Lucie River and Estuary, which, in turn, will mean a healthier economy for us all," said Kevin Powers, Vice-Chair of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board. The SFWMD is the non-federal project sponsor.
"The C-44 project will serve to greatly reduce polluted runoff into the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lago on while bringing significant economic benefits to our community," said Edward V. Ciampi, Chairman of the Martin County Board of County Commissioners. "The project will also provide 12,000 acres of habitat creation and recreational opportunities. The Martin County Board of Commissioners has steadfastly supported this project and is proud to have partnered with the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a substantial funding partner. This unique partnership reflects the importance of the Everglades and our waterways to the people of Martin County."
"We are certainly celebrating the hard work of many, and the successes along the way, to make this day a reality," said Orlando Ramos-Gines, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers senior project manager for the Indian River Lagoon-South project.
The Indian River Lagoon-South project was the first major component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) to come up for authorization since the approval of Water and Resources Development Act of 2000.
Feds announce plan to speed Everglades restoration A new fast-track planning effort could shave years off the next phase of Everglades restoration, putting more fresh and clean water into the central and southern portions of Florida's "River of Grass" more quickly.
A restoration task force that met Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., announced a rapid planning effort that, if approved by Congress, could transform how large public-works projects across the country are built. It's also expected to cut the planning process for the next major restoration project in the central Everglades from six years to 18 months.
"The reality is the ecosystem has continued to degrade," said Dawn Shirreffs, the Everglades restoration program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. "We're running out of time. We don't have the time to spend six years on a project anymore."
Thursday's announcement came out of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' effort to streamline large projects nationwide. The Army corps decided to use the planning process for the next major restoration project, which will provide more a natural flow and deeper clean new water through the central Everglades and Everglades National Park, as a pilot.
Previous plans were overly detailed, expensive and time-consuming, the Army Corps of Engineers found. The time - as well as data - being invested in studies wasn't leading to a better product, officials said in materials that were prepared for Thursday's task force meeting.
Also, projects in the Everglades had a tendency to be addressed one by one rather than simultaneously, Shirreffs said. But there are three components of Everglades cleanup, all intertwined, and all best addressed together, she said. Water can't be moved unless it's clean, it can't be cleaned unless it's stored and it can't be stored unless it gets to the places designated for storage.
Cleaning up the pollution that's flowing into the Everglades requires reducing the phosphorus in the water to 10 parts per billion. Amounts any higher won't stop changes in plant and animal life in the Everglades, a delicate ecosystem of marshlands and forests that's home to a variety of threatened species.
Because of high levels of phosphorus, cattails have been taking over the saw grass in the Everglades for decades. The pollutant has flowed from fertilizers on sugar and vegetable farms and the sprawling suburbs of South Florida.
The state was supposed to get to its phosphorus-reduction goal by 2012, but the Florida Legislature pushed back the deadline to 2016. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott met in Washington with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and offered some alternative plans for resolving some of the legal disputes over water quality in the Everglades, but he also said that Florida would need another six years.
The state's plans call for downsizing some construction projects and relying more on water storage on public and private lands. The plan, Scott said, puts to use land that's already in public ownership so that projects can be authorized and built promptly "at a reasonable cost to the taxpayers.
Specifically, the state will be looking for opportunities to use publicly owned land to store and treat water in the Everglades Agricultural Area - where farmlands exist amid the Everglades' water system - and move the water south to water conservation areas and Everglades National Park.
That's expected to achieve more natural water circulation and tie together the state's work north of the conservation areas and the Interior Department's Tamiami Trail bridging project, along the highway that runs from Tampa to Miami, passing through the Everglades.
Last week, Salazar visited the Tamiami Trial project in Miami-Dade County. It's one of the first bridges in a series of planned spans that would raise parts of the highway above the wetlands and eventually could restore the historic freshwater flow of the River of Grass to levels not seen in 80 years.
The federal government eventually would like to see 5.5 miles of bridges on Tamiami Trail, at an estimated cost of $324 million and to be built over four years. So far, it's unclear whether money for the bridges will be budgeted, however.
Friday, officials will break ground on a separate project: a 12,000-acre reservoir in western Martin County, Fla., designed to improve the quality of the water in the St. Lucie Estuary and the southern portion of the Indian River Lagoon.
A congressional subcommittee will look next week at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plans to acquire more land in the Everglades for conservation, how it would be paid for and what effect it would have on public access and recreation within the refuge and conservation area.
Congressman Rivera on support for Everglades Restoration Congressman Rivera joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe on Thursday for a visit to the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project in Miami-Dade County to learn about the progress being made on the bridge, which is scheduled for completion in December of 2013. The bridge will help restore fresh water flow to Everglades National Park and the South Florida Ecosystem.
"I want to commend Secretary Salazar for his leadership on this project. I don't think that there are many projects that you can imagine for our community, for our state and for our nation, that are as important as restoring the water flow in the Everglades," Congressman Rivera said. "We all know what an ecological jewel the Everglades is for our nation, so it is very very important from this point going forward to continue having that leadership, continue having the interagency cooperation that we've seen throughout the years of this project and the cooperation between the Executive Branch and Congress and maintaining the support in Congress for this project. Certainly that commitment has been there from our Congressional delegation in the past and no doubt it will be there in the future as well. The important thing now is to maintain that vigilance, maintain the cooperation and maintain the great efforts and the leadership that we've seen from Secretary Salazar."
Feds., Florida announce major effort to restore River of Grass The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, including representatives from the Army, announced a fast-track planning effort to improve the Central and Southern Everglades by putting more fresh and clean water into the River of Grass.
Senior policy officials from the Department of the Army, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Florida, including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection convened at the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (Task Force) meeting on October 27.
They announced a fast-track planning effort for the next generation that will, when authorized by Congress, improve the Central and Southern Everglades by putting more fresh and clean water into the River of Grass.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District announced the start of the Central Everglades planning process, which will incorporate updated science and maximize use of publicly owned lands to focus the next phase of Everglades Restoration on the Central and Southern Everglades. This planning process will build on three years of unprecedented restoration progress between the federal government and the State of Florida including groundbreakings for six Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects. This includes substantial construction progress on the first mile of bridging of Tamiami Trail.
The Central Everglades planning process will analyze alternatives that will reduce the discharge of water currently damaging the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries and provide more natural flow and depths of clean new water through the Central Everglades and the Everglades National Park. This initiative will use a fast-tracked planning process, a pilot program that the Army Corps of Engineers is initiating elsewhere in the country, designed to yield restoration benefits at an efficient rate.
The planning effort responds directly to the 2008 and 2010 recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences and restoration scientists who recognize the need to address unnatural water levels in the water conservation areas and Everglades National Park as one of the biggest challenges facing restoration managers.
Tamiami Trail Bridge will restore partial flow to Everglades, but it won't be enough For nearly a century, the flow of the Everglades has been blocked by a bumpy, two-lane road. The Tamiami Trail, built in the 1920s to allow Model A Fords to travel across the Everglades, effectively dammed the River of Grass, starving what would become a national park and altering its flora and fauna.
Now, after two decades of struggling to get approval and funding, the road is rising to let the river run free. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is raising a mile of the Tamiami Trail so water can once again flow into Everglades National Park.
Last week Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, flanked by a squad of other federal officials, showed off the progress on the project to a group of journalists. The officials all donned hard hats and posed for pictures at the construction site, boasting about how the $95 million project first approved by Congress in 1989 would be completed by December 2013.
There's only one problem. Raising just a single mile of the highway "is not sufficient," said Stu Appelbaum, who's in charge of planning for the corps' Everglades restoration work. Saving the River of Grass requires more flow than what that one segment would allow.
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Forecast Calling for Another Below-Average Dry Season Two significant rainfall events in October have helped replenish ground and surface water supplies in the South Florida Water Management District's 16-county region. However, long-term forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center are calling for La Niña conditions to bring below-average rainfall to South Florida during the 2011-2012 dry season, indicating the region may remain in a water shortage.
In preparation for the dry season, water shortage orders remain in effect to limit landscape irrigation to two days per week throughout most of the South Florida Water Management District's 16-county region. The West Palm Beach City Commission has implemented additional one-day-a-week emergency restrictions that apply to its utility service area, which includes the Towns of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach. The City of Lake Worth has one-day-a-week irrigation restrictions in effect, as well.
Landscape irrigation using reclaimed water is not restricted, unless prohibited by local ordinance.
Mandatory reductions for agricultural and other large water uses are also in effect.
Stormwater runoff from the rainfall event over the weekend of Oct. 8-9 provided a much-needed boost to Lake Okeechobee's water level. However, the lake, which is the backup water supply for South Florida, remains below its historic average for this time of year.
The District is storing as much water as possible from the recent rainfall events, but not all of it can be retained because of limited storage options and the need for immediate flood protection.
Many agriculture and diversion and impoundment systems as well as nurseries and golf courses throughout the region are required to reduce withdrawals or overall water use by 15 percent. From August 7 through October 31, golf courses under water use restrictions may apply for a variance if they need to undertake re-sodding, sprigging or other course rehabilitation activities.
Permitted users of surface water in the Lake Okeechobee Service Area (LOSA) are required to reduce withdrawals or overall water use by 45 percent.
West Palm Beach's water supply could dry up by spring The source of West Palm Beach's drinking water "will probably be exhausted" by March and the city will not be allowed to pull water from its well field in violation of its permit, as it did to weather this year's drought, regional water managers warned the City Commission last week.
"I think you need to approach this with the concept that you're facing a significant event and do everything you can and we're going to do everything we can do to help," said Scott Burns, the water shortage incident commander at the South Florida Water Management District. "I think you need to plan on alternatives and that those sources won't be there."
City Utilities Director David Hanks offered alternatives: partnering with Florida Atlantic University on a study to drill horizontal wells; fixing the troubled Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant that's supposed to replenish the city's well field; resurrecting plans to inject water into a well for storage; and extending intake pipes to the deepest sections of Clear Lake, the reservoir that feeds water to the neighboring treatment plant.
But even if the board approves a plan and installs pumps, by March the C-17 Canal would likely be too low to use, Burns said.
Hanks said the best the city can do is keep water levels as high as possible at its water sources: the Grassy Waters Preserve, Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake. The way to do that: use less water.
"Our best solution is if we can decrease demand on the system," Hanks said.
Palm Beach County's Water Utilities Department director, Bevin Beaudet, recently sent district officials an 18-page letter threatening to sue the city if it continued to draw more water from the city's emergency well field than the city's permit allows.
Drawing down the city well field threatens the county's nearby water supply, he wrote.
In August the district cited but did not fine the city for violating its water-use permit by siphoning millions of gallons from the city well field without replenishing more than a fraction of what it was required to.
The permit requires that for every gallon the city draws from the well field, it must give back a gallon of cleansed water from the plant to keep the county's well field from running low.
But the $37 million sewage treatment plant is operating far below capacity and has been shut down for repairs so often that it could not produce enough water to replace the amount the city withdrew from its well.
The district wants to resolve the violation by having the city sign a formal agreement, called a consent order, promising to abide by the permit and find alternative water sources or face fines. The county has offered to sell the city its water at a discounted rate, as it did during the most recent drought.
However, little mention was made of that alternative during last week's meeting. City officials last year estimated the cost of buying enough water from the county to tide the city over during drought could come to $10,000 a day.
Instead, the district's deputy executive director, Bob Brown, told commissioners that the district wants to work with the city to resolve the violation and ensure there is enough water during the upcoming dry season rather than impose fines for the violations.
"We don't come here with a hammer, we come here to work with the city with the understanding that the city is going to work with the district," Brown said. "It's a two-way street."
Wildlife and Habitat
Going, Going, Gone: Two FL Species May Be Extinct The South Florida rainbow snake and Florida fairy shrimp may have names that sound magical, but the magic may have run out for both of them. A National Wildlife Federation (NWF) report confirms the two unique Florida species are gone forever and, according to Florida NWF General Counsel Preston Robertson, the Florida panther and the manatee could be next.
"The manatee, whose numbers fluctuate up and down our coast and — the other one, of course, is our state symbol — the Florida panther, which used to exist all over the southern United States but is now confined to the counties of southwest Florida."
Only about 100 Florida panthers are known to live in the wild, and the species has been on the endangered list since the 1970s. The manatee, also known as the sea cow, has been listed as endangered since the late 1960s.
Panther and manatee habitat has increasingly been threatened by development, says Robertson, adding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released research indicating the most crucial and vulnerable panther habitats are currently in Collier and Hendry counties.
"Not to talk politics, but up until the present administration, there was a lot of effort made to protect land, to preserve habitat for the panther, also for water quality protection."
Wildlife preservation advocates point out that if fading panther and manatee populations are protected, the result is that habitat is also protected for bears and a host of other creatures, as well as preserving places where people can enjoy nature, bird-watch, hunt, and fish.
The NWF findings are online at http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise.
Walruses suffer from similar disease afflicting Alaska ringed seals Arctic ringed seals aren't the only marine mammal suffering an unusual skin-lesion outbreak along Alaska's northern coasts.
Walruses that have hauled out by the thousands at Point Lay in Northwest Alaska during recent summers -- an event driven by climate change -- are also turning up with bizarre, festering sores. Scientists estimate perhaps 600 are infected. Instead of wounds on their faces and rear flippers, red abscesses pepper the animals' entire bodies. But apparently only a few have perished.
Still, scientists from a number of agencies are working to answer several questions, including whether the outbreaks in the two species are related. They also worry the lesions could eventually lead to deaths among Pacific walrus, an animal more than 100,000 strong that's being considered for protections under the Endangered Species Act.
"Is it the bubonic plague or just a really bad case of acne?" asked Tony Fischbach, a federal walrus biologist who first noticed the sores on some walruses late this summer.
As in the case of the ringed seals, biologists are working with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, pathology experts and others. They've sent skin and tissue samples to labs in the U.S. and Canada, but haven't pinpointed a cause. Everything from viruses to toxins are being considered.
It doesn't appear that a huge numbers of walruses have the lesions. At various times, an estimated 20,000 walruses have gathered on the beach.
Leo Ferreira III, the former mayor in Point Lay, a village of 200 residents west of Barrow, said the sores seem to have contributed to the deaths of some walruses.
"Most of them that are dying got the lesions on them," said Ferreira, an Inupiat walrus hunter. He provided a little help last month as scientists collected flesh samples from the animals for testing. He's seen two dead ones with lesions.
"This is the first time this is happening," he said. "But this is also happening with the ringed seals. We're very concerned. It's because we think there is a disease spreading through them."
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Update on Lynx Critical Habitat Designation When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a critical habitat designation for the threatened Canada lynx, conservationists feared the rule lacked adequate protections in Colorado and several other Western states. In July 2010, a District of Montana judge ruled that the original critical habitat designation was indeed inadequate, ordering a revised proposal from the agency. A group of organizations—including the Sierra Club—has now settled on a timeline with the Fish and Wildlife Service, which will facilitate the reconsideration and expansion of critical habitat for the Canada lynx.
Global Warming and Climate Change
Rising sea levels will hit hard in South Florida A sea-level rise of just a few inches will bring flooding to South Florida cities, contaminate sources of drinking water and lead to sharp increases in utility bills over the next 20 or 30 years, according a study released Wednesday by Florida Atlantic University.
The study found that projected sea level increases of 3 to 6 inches by 2030, due to global warming, could overwhelm flood-control systems that in many areas are more than 50 years old. The authors provided a list of steps to be taken in the coming decades, from moving drinking-water wells inland to installing more pump stations, that could help the region cope with the higher water.
Global warming causes sea levels to rise because water expands as it increases in temperature and because glaciers melt. In the past century, sea levels have risen 4.8 to 8.8 inches, largely due to global warming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Higher sea levels will increase the intrusion of saltwater into underground sources of drinking water, forcing cities to abandon wells near the ocean and drill new ones, according to the report.
As a case study, the report used Pompano Beach, where the city is fighting — so far successfully — to keep saltwater intrusion from its eastern wellfield. Although most of the city stands on relatively high ground, low-level coastal areas would be inundated.
By 2030 the city will have to spend millions to upgrade water plant equipment, install pump stations in low-lying areas and upgrade its sewer system, passing the cost onto its customers, according to the report.
"Sea level is creeping up on us," said Barry Heimlich, a researcher at FAU, who led the study. "And in a few decades it could overwhelm our storm drainage system."
Randy Brown, Pompano's utilities director, said the study was basically accurate and the city was incorporating the need to accommodate sea-level rise into its various water plans. He said it would be impossible to estimate the impact on bills over the next 20 years. Although he's optimistic about protecting drinking water supplies, he's unsure whether the city will be able to prevent flooding of low-lying areas.
Frederick Bloetscher, associate professor in the FAU Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, says flooding during storms in eastern sections of South Florida cities provides the average citizen with the most powerful evidence for the reality of global warming.
"Ask people if anything's different," he said. "Ask them if their streets flood more. You do see more flooding when it rains, and people can relate to that. People's perceptions that things are different on the ground are right. It is reality."
Offshore and Ocean
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary gets mixed review in condition The first comprehensive condition report of the vast Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary shows that while some management steps have helped the fragile ecosystem, there is still plenty to do to aid decimated coral reefs, improve water quality, protect and restore habitat and help some marine species recover from overfishing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 108-page report, released Thursday, has "some sobering news, but also some good news," according to Billy Causey, southeast regional director of the National Marine Sanctuaries — which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida) The good news includes some improvement in water quality. The sanctuary's 2,900 nautical square miles have become less of a dumping ground for human waste. New regulations prohibit discharge of sewage from marine sanitation devices within the protected federal and state waters of the sanctuary.
Controversial no-take zones also have shown promise, with an increase in the size and population of some fish species and spiny lobster in or near those zones.
"We are seeing a number of larger fish, particularly in the ecological reserves of Western Sambo [a few miles off Key West] and the Tortugas [70 miles west of Key West]," Causey said.
But there is plenty of "sobering news" for the waters that support a commercial fishing industry and annually lure millions of tourists, including recreational fishermen, boaters, divers and those who just like to lie on the beach and gawk at the ocean's beauty.
"We all understand that a healthy marine ecosystem is a healthy economy," said Sean Morton, superintendent of the Keys' protected waters, one of the largest of the country's 13 marine sanctuaries.
More than 33,000 Keys jobs, 58 percent of the local economy and $2.3 billion in annual sales are connected to the island chain's unique geography, bordering both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
But those waters have been heavily exploited by man for more than 100 years. The sanctuary, home to about 6,000 species of marine life, has been in place only since 1990.
"Recovery of the ecosystem's health takes time," Morton said.
The report lists 17 questions used to rate the condition and trends of water, habitat, living resources and marine archaeological resources, such as shipwrecks. None of the conditions rated at the highest level, "good," and many "appeared to be declining."
One is the health of key species. Corals have been hit hard by disease and bleaching. Sea grass, sea turtles, sponges and queen conch also are struggling.
But there's hope. Ken Nedimyer and others in the Keys are working on pioneering efforts to grow coral in underwater nurseries to replace the important reef building blocks, which have drastically declined since the 1970s.
Still, recovery of most aspects of the ecosystem is hampered by continuing local pressures that include commercial and recreational fishing, harmful algal blooms, marine debris, vessel groundings, new exotic species such as the lionfish and boat traffic.
Global climate change, rising sea levels and ocean acidification also are growing problems, Causey said.
"One of the greatest things in this report ... is that we are starting to see a higher level of consciousness in the real problems confronting the coral reef and not skipping around climate change," Causey said. "We have to address that at a local and regional scale."
Energy
BP Increasing Exploration in the Gulf BP is a smaller company than it was before the Deepwater Horizon disaster off Florida's Gulf coast last year.
But with third-quarter net profits of $4.9 billion -- up $1.8 billion from the same period a year earlier -- and plans to shed up to $45 billion in assets in the next two years, BP's chief executive officer is telling investors the company is back at work.
Now heading a leaner company, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley, appearing on Bloomberg TV, said the company intends to more than double spending on exploration as it has acquired all its requested permits to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We are getting back to work in the Gulf of Mexico," Dudley said.
The company, which once pumped 4 million barrels of oil a day worldwide, now sees its focus in exploration, with the peak oil production at 3.4 million barrels a day by the end of the year, Dudley said.
"People have worked very, very hard in the Gulf of Mexico, putting in place voluntary standards for drilling," he said. "We have received all the permits that we've requested. We've got three deep-water rigs running now, a fourth one very shortly. By the end of the year, we'll have five big rigs running."
David Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council said it's a good sign that federal deep-water drilling permits are starting to be approved. But he'd like to see the process speeded up. "There is a slowness of processing of permits that is still a problem," Mica said.
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Environmental groups challenge permit for Citrus County power plants Arguing that fish and other sea life in the Gulf of Mexico are being damaged, two environmental groups have challenged the state's decision to renew a permit for Progress Energy Florida power plants in Citrus County.
The Sierra Club and the Florida Wildlife Federation, in a case filed last week in the state Division of Administrative Hearings, target two coal-fired plants at Progress Energy's Crystal River complex.
In part, the groups say Progress Energy's discharges of hot water into the gulf are damaging a large ecosystem. Also, they take issue with water intake systems that can trap and kill sea life such as shellfish and small organisms.
"FWF and the Sierra Club dispute that this permit meets Florida water quality standards or satisfies obligations under the (federal) Clean Water Act,'' the groups said in a petition seeking an administrative hearing.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection gave notice last month that it planned to renew the water-discharge permit, which the plants have had since the late 1970s. Progress spokesman Scott Sutton said the permit addresses the issues raised by the environmental groups.
"It went through the process, and DEP made the determination this is the permit that adequately protects the environment, and we're ready to go forth and comply with it,'' Sutton said.
Progress has five plants at Crystal River, though the permit only deals with two coal plants and a nuclear plant. David Guest, an attorney for the environmental groups, said the legal challenge does not address the nuclear plant because it does not pose the same water-related concerns as the coal plants.
Part of the dispute centers on water that is used to cool the plants and then discharged into the gulf.
The Sierra Club and Wildlife Federation argue that the discharged water is so hot that it damages sea life, including environmentally important sea grasses, and that Progress should install a type of cooling system known as a "cooling tower.'' Guest and the petition indicate the damage could spread as far as 3,000 acres.
Arch Coal agrees not to mine under W.Va. school complex Arch Coal Inc. has agreed not to mine under Buckhannon-Upshur High School and the proposed site of a middle school, an attorney for the Upshur County Board of Education said Friday.
Under a deal reached Thursday, Arch agreed to establish no-mining and limited-extraction zones that will protect the investments the county has made in its facilities, said board lawyer Hunter Mullens.
In exchange, the school board will drop objections it had filed to the permit application before the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The board has fought for months to stop the mining plan created by International Coal Group Inc. before it was bought out by St. Louis-based Arch. Members worried the 1,800-acre Hampton Mine would cause the ground beneath the school to subside and create the possibility of explosive methane gas leaking into its buildings.
"Our goal was always to identify a solution that the school board could support," said Arch spokeswoman Kim Link. "We agree that the no-mining zone makes sense for everyone involved."
Mullens, meanwhile, said board members were happy with the company's willingness to cooperate.
"It's really good for the Upshur County children because we know that school is going to be safe," he said.
ICG and subsidiary Wolf Run Mining Co. are seeking permits for the Hampton Deep Mine in Buckhannon, targeting the 52-inch thick Middle Kittanning coal seam. Application documents show the company expects the 500- to 600-feet deep seam to produce about 1 million tons of coal a year for eight years.
In its 22-page objection, the school board said that ICG had long promised its operation would not undermine or otherwise affect the district's facilities.
The board said it learned otherwise through a legal advertisement outlining the mining plan — after it had spent $600,000 acquiring 114 acres next to the high school for a new $32 million middle school.
It called subsidence and seepage "a very real possibility" with the potential to create "a disaster of unprecedented proportions."
The Hampton Mine would come close to the reserves at ICG's ill-fated Sago Mine, which was closed after 12 men died after an explosion and prolonged entrapment in January 2006. But the Buckhannon River stands between the two operations, and the DEP says it would remain an impediment to reaching the Sago reserves even at that depth.
Renewable energy group blasts PSC for failing consumers with nuke decision The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit that promotes renewable energy, blasted the decision by state utility regulators to grant the rate increase request sought by FPL and Progress Energy to pay for speculative nuclear projects:
For the third consecutive year, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved Progress Energy of Florida (PEF) and Florida Power and Light's (FPL) requests for hundreds of millions of dollars in advanced cost recovery for questionable new nuclear projects, despite the fact that neither utility has clearly demonstrated an intent to actually build the reactors. The commission's unanimous vote today to approve a combined $282 million in cost recovery brings the total amount charged to customers in advance to more than $1 billion.
"It is a sad day for Florida ratepayers' wallets when the Public Service Commission keeps approving millions of dollars for Progress Energy and FPL on nuclear projects that will likely never be built. It's like free money for the utilities – talk up a project, sell the idea to the Legislature and PSC, delay it multiple times, and keep vacuuming up ratepayers' hard earned dollars," said Dr. Stephen A. Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
"Yet, year after the year the commission votes to protect the utilities at the expense of Florida's businesses and families. It's hard to believe that the Florida Legislature ever intended for the PSC to rule with blinders on. Where is the oversight?"
PEF has proposed two new reactors in Levy County, Florida and FPL has proposed two additional reactors at the Turkey Point nuclear plant near Miami. Both proposals are more than a decade from completion, if they are built, and have experienced repeated cost increases and scheduling delays. Ratepayers would not receive a refund if either utility abandons the projects.
"The commission's interpretation today of its own intent to build standard, which was adopted to protect Florida ratepayers, sends a clear signal that FPL and PEF can continue to spend hundreds of millions of their ratepayers' money on proposed new nuclear reactors without any commitment whatsoever to actually construct them," said attorney Jamie Whitlock with Gary A. Davis & Associates, Inc., who represented the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy during the PSC proceedings. "Once again, we believe the commission has violated its statutory duty to fix fair, just and reasonable rates for Florida ratepayers."
The Florida PSC is scheduled to issue the final order on nuclear cost recovery for PEF and FPL on November 8, 2011.
Cuba prepares for oil drilling A giant Chinese-built oil rig is slowly heading across the ocean toward Cuban waters, fueling fears that offshore oil exploration north of Havana could jeopardize South Florida's fragile ecosystem and lead to environmental disaster.
The self-propelled Scarabeo 9 semi-submersible rig — powered by eight 4.3-megawatt thrusters — left Singapore in August and is sailing along the African coast.
By early next year, the mammoth rig operated by Repsol, a Spanish company under contract with Cuba, will begin drilling the first of three exploratory wells about 90 miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas.
The prospect of oil drilling in the narrow Florida Straits has raised alarms about the chances of containing a spill if one were to spew into the Gulf Stream that rushes along the Eastern Seaboard. The Scarabeo 9 is an unanchored rig somewhat similar to the Deepwater Horizon, which exploded and fouled much of the Gulf Coast with millions of barrels of crude oil in 2010.
Because of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, those operating the Repsol rig would not have access to American blowout preventers, aircraft and other rescue equipment needed to contain a spill, Pinon said.
"That whole bureaucratic conflict between Cuba and the United States would just not make that available," said Pinon, a former executive of Amoco Oil, Shell Oil and BP and now a research fellow at Florida International University. "The oil would flow out, with nothing to do about it."
Pinon, who advises officials in both countries, is among the American energy experts and environmentalists who are exploring ways to develop safety standards and contingency plans in case of disaster. He will testify next week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is looking at whether the United States is prepared to respond to oil spills outside its waters.
He will urge U.S. officials to reach out to Cuba to establish an oil-spill emergency response plan, backed by U.S. resources, much like one formed with Mexico. Former Florida U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has made a similar pitch, as co-chairman of the commission that investigated the Deepwater Horizon spill.
"If there were to be an accident, almost inevitably the spill would get caught in the Gulf Stream and be carried up the East Coast and endanger a large share of the coastline from the Keys up to Jacksonville," Graham said on Thursday.
With the Scarabeo 9 on its way, talks between the two countries "are going to have to move faster than most diplomatic transactions," Graham said. Repsol has a good reputation for safety, he noted, "but there's got to be some standards even for the best operation."
Some staunch defenders of the embargo policy would rather pressure Cuba and energy companies to abandon offshore drilling plans.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, backed by 11 other Floridians, has introduced a bill that would deny drilling leases to companies that do business with any nation facing trade sanctions, such as Cuba.
Embargo proponents are alarmed by Cuban drilling partly because it could open a stream of revenue to bolster Cuba's fragile economy and perpetuate the Castro regime.
A U.S. geological survey estimated that deposits below Cuban waters contain five to six billion barrels of oil. Cuban officials have estimated as much as 20 billion barrels.
Repsol paid $752 million for the Scarabeo 9, Pinon noted.
"No company is going to go to this kind of expense if it doesn't think it could find oil," he said. "If this is a dry oil field, somebody should get fired."
Keystone Pipeline By the end of this year, the State Department will decide whether to give a Canadian company permission to construct a 1,700-mile, $7 billion pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.
The project has sparked major environmental concerns, particularly in Nebraska, where the pipeline would pass over an aquifer that provides drinking water and irrigation to much of the Midwest. It has also drawn scrutiny because of the company's political connections and conflicts of interest. A key lobbyist for TransCanada, which would build the pipeline, also worked for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her presidential campaign. And the company that conducted the project's environmental impact report had financial ties to TransCanada.
The debate over the pipeline is both complicated and fierce, and it crosses party lines, with much sparring over the potential environmental and economic impacts of the project. More than 1,000 arrests were made during protests of the pipeline last summer in Washington, D.C.
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Obama administration approves BP's plan to drill in the Gulf of Mexico The Obama administration has approved BP's first plan to drill for oil in the gulf since last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster, which left 11 dead and damaged the gulf ecosystem and the economies of the states that border it. Representatives for the Gulf Restoration Network say the decision is "problematic," considering the fact that comprehensive safety legislation has yet to be passed through Congress.
The approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) came despite the fact that BP is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and was recently cited by the Department of the Interior for numerous safety and environmental violations in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
But BP does not currently warrant special scrutiny or attention, BOEM deputy director Walter Cruickshank told Lusgarten on a panel at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference on Friday. Until there is a conviction that affects its eligibility, the criteria to evaluate BP's qualifications will be the same as any other operator, Cruickshank explained.
BOEM approved BP's plan to drill up to four exploratory wells nearly 200 miles from the coast of Louisiana after the bureau completed a "site-specific environmental assessment" of the activities in the plan.
Some members of Congress, like Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., are critical of the administration's decision to approve BP's plan to drill up to four exploratory wells nearly 200 miles off the Louisiana coast. "Comprehensive safety legislation hasn't passed Congress, and BP hasn't paid the fines they owe for their spill, yet BP is being given back the keys to drill in the gulf," Markey told Frontline.
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Land Conservation
Hometown Democracy leader unveils site detailing 'The Price of Sprawl' Nearly a year after the so-called "Hometown Democracy" amendment was soundly defeated in the state of Florida, the group that backed it has unveiled a website detailing the negative effects of urban sprawl in various counties throughout the state.
The Hometown Democracy/Amendment 4 initiative would have required a voter referendum whenever a local government amended its comprehensive land-use plan, giving citizens a role in approving urban development.
Lesley Blackner, president of Hometown Democracy, argued that "irresponsible overdevelopment leads to higher taxes and lower quality of life" and Amendment 4 would "give voters the right to decide if a proposed change to the community plan is worthwhile for the community."
Yet voters overwhelmingly rejected the amendment at the ballot box, perhaps due to efforts by the well-funded group that opposed it, Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy. In fact, Citizens outspent Amendment 4 supporters five-to-one, launching a massive advertising campaign that included a slew of television ads and thousands of recognizable "Vote No on 4″ signs. The opposition, which argued that the amendment could will severely limit the ability to recruit businesses and create jobs in Florida, was largely funded by real estate developers and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Despite the defeat of Amendment 4, its supporters are still fighting against urban sprawl.
Blackner has unveiled a new website, http://www.priceofsprawl.com/ that takes a county-by-county look at how development is affecting Florida, and how it will in the future. In Duval County, for example, the "build-out" populations (the population needed to fill all of the housing approved for development but not yet built) is 1,270,509 — 47 percent more than the current population of 864,263. According to a chart on the site, property values in Duval are down 9.2 percent in 12 months, vacancy is at 11 percent and the water supply is in trouble. The site also details how overdevelopment leads to higher taxes and low home values, and is often caused by politicians' failure to consider certain costs associated with development: roads, schools, police, fire, water, sewer, garbage, etc.
The overall aim of the project is to publicize the hidden costs of infrastructure, the ongoing decline of home values and the ongoing damage to Florida's drinking water — all of which, say Blackner, are the result of overdevelopment.
Roadless rule upheld Nearly 50 million acres of America's richest natural resource—our National Forests—are now protected by a decree of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has firmly, and unanimously, taken the side of the vast majority of citizens who love our forests just the way they are: thick with trees and wildlife, their waters running free and pure.
This ruling, which reinstates the Roadless Rule, is so powerfully constructed it is believed it can withstand further challenge.
The ruling was reached despite an array of industry foes and an army of lobbyists who sought to unleash road pavers, clear-cutters and mining engineers in some of our most pristine natural sanctuaries.
Lawsuit filed to get more wilderness designated for Big Cypress National Park Sportsmen have staged rest-stop rallies against it. Conservation groups have launched nationwide letter-writing campaigns in favor of it. Now, the two sides are headed to court.
The National Parks Conservation Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Fort Myers seeking to overturn a 2010 decision by the Obama administration that scaled back the size of a proposed wilderness designation in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
A larger wilderness designation, which only Congress can enact, is needed to keep off-road vehicles from ruining wetlands, chasing off Florida panthers and disrupting the quiet solitude of 147,000 acres of the preserve north of Interstate 75 in eastern Collier County, the lawsuit says.
Under the 2010 plan, the National Park Service dropped 40,000 acres from the wilderness designation, where off-road vehicles would be prohibited. The plan calls for 46,000 acres of wilderness and 130 miles of ORV trails.
"We don't think it's good for the preserve, we don't think it's good for the for visitors and we don't think it's good for wildlife," NPCA government affairs director Kristen Brengel said.
The lawsuit accuses the National Park Service of sidestepping its legal mandates and manipulating science in order to satisfy a lobbying push by sportsmen's groups.
In a second claim in the lawsuit, the NPCA alleges that the preserve's ORV advisory committee is skewed in favor of sportsmen's groups and should be suspended and its recommendations thrown out.
NPCA regional director John Adornato, the group's representative on the ORV committee, had his reappointment held up this year while reviewers determined whether he ran afoul of a White House policy that federal lobbyists not serve on federal advisory boards. Adornato was eventually reappointed after he sent documentation to prove that he was listed as an inactive federal lobbyist in 2008.
The debate over off-road vehicles in the 729,000-acre Big Cypress preserve has been endlessly litigious with both sides filing dueling lawsuits since the 1990s.
A landmark legal settlement ended the practice of swamp buggies roaming the original preserve willy-nilly and replaced it with a network of ORV trails that the two sides now fight over how to put in place.
The latest lawsuit applies to part of the preserve known as the Addition Lands, which has been off-limits to off-roaders since the Park Service began managing the area in 1996.
Besides the wilderness designation, the 2010 plan designated another 50,000 acres as primitive backcountry, where off-roaders also would be banned.
Conservation groups are asking for too much and are running afoul of the 1974 Act that created the preserve and carved out allowances for continued traditional uses, Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance President Lyle McCandless said.
"As one sided and extreme as (the 2010 plan) is, they're still not satisfied," he said.
McCandless vowed that his group would file its own lawsuit over swamp buggy access in the Addition Lands and in the rest of the preserve.
The National Park Service took 11 years to write the 2010 plan and received 25,000 comments about it, Big Cypress National Preserve Superintendent Pedro Ramos said.
"We feel very good about the decision we made," Ramos said.
U.S. and Indonesian Governments Work Together to protect one of World's Most Important Forests The United States and Indonesian governments signed an agreement September 29, 2011 that will result in $28.5 million in funding to protect a large block of forest land in the Indonesian region known as the Heart of Borneo.
World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy worked with the two governments to develop this innovative conservation financing approach.
The forest land is rich in wildlife and an important source for securing carbon. It is also a place that many local communities rely on for their livelihoods because it provides them with jobs and firewood to heat their homes.
Through the agreement, carried out under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, Indonesia's debt to the U.S. of $28.5 million is "swapped" for investment over the next five to seven years in three Heart of Borneo forest districts.
The U.S. government is responsible for reducing Indonesia's debt obligations by $20 million. WWF and The Nature Conservancy each provided $2 million. Because of the timing of the debt payments, the actual amount available for forest protection in Indonesia is $28.5 million.
Funding from this swap will help protect two WWF priority areas:
Air Quality
Florida's AQI Shows Consistent Green
Florida's Air Quality Index (AQI) Summary stands out impressively in the green when you visit AirNow, a website developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Park Service along with tribal, state and local agencies to provide the public with air quality reports in their regions.
Daily current reports, tomorrow's forecasts and the current AQI are provided for all states. On any given day, conditions show a variance ranging from Good (green, 0-50), Moderate (yellow, 51-100), Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (orange, 101-150), Unhealthy (red, 151-200), Very Unhealthy (purple, 201-300) and Hazardous (maroon, 301-500).
When the AQIs reach above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy for active children and adults, people with respiratory difficulties and those with heart or lung disease. For the most part, as you scroll through the states, there are predominantly greens, with a few yellows and oranges.
Of the states that have more than a dozen monitoring sites, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and New Jersey are consistently ranked green.
The summary also reports the current AQI numbers, as well as an archived section to refer back to. And now, as with just about everything, there's even "an App for that." EPA's AirNow offers a free downloadable iPhone app with real-time air quality information, so finding out if the air is clean is as easy as pushing a button.
Political weakness keeps older power plants polluting 30+ years too long Across the nation, old coal-fired power plants are gasping for their last breath, having survived long past their prime because of political favors and weak government regulations. They would have died decades ago if not for a fateful policy compromise in the late 1970s that exempted existing power plants from new air quality standards in the Clean Air Act.
The compromise was based on a prediction that the plants would be retired soon, but instead it gave them a whole new lease on life, with a free pass to pollute for another 30 plus years. And until recently, there was no end in sight.
These plants continue to cough up toxic pollutants like mercury, lead and arsenic into the air. They are by far the biggest producers of the power sector's pollution, forcing millions of Americans to seek their own life support – in the form of respirators and inhalers – just to get through each day without an asthma attack.
Earthjustice litigation is taking steps to close the loopholes and retire dozens of the old plants, while cleaning up those that continue to operate. We are employing a multi-prong strategy to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen pollution standards based on the best available science and technology.
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Miscellaneous
Five states take Asian carp case to Supreme Court Five states are going to the U.S. Supreme Court with a plea for faster action on a federal study of how to prevent invasive species such as Asian carp from migrating between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday he's asked the nation's highest court to hear the case after being turned down by a federal appeals court in August.
Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago's water district. They want to physically separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage basins in the Chicago area, where a man-made navigational canal offers a direct link between Lake Michigan and Mississippi tributaries.
Chicago-area shipping interests say doing so would damage the area economy and cause flooding.
An Unusual Find A tiny box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora), only a few centimeters in length, was spotted in Henderson Creek at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center.
After carefully bringing the little creature inside to take photos, it was released back into the creek.
This species of box jellyfish has better developed eyes than other jellyfish, having both simple and complex eyes. The complex eyes have a lens, cornea and retina. The tiny jellies thrive in the mangrove-fringed waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
This species' range has been expanding and little is known about its current distribution. It is harmless to humans, unlike its potentially lethal Australian cousins, including the deadly sea wasp with the ability to kill 60 humans with its deadly venom that attacks the heart, nervous system and skin cells.
In Memoriam
Ellen Peterson December 5, 1923 - October 14, 2011 Ellen Peterson, 87, of Estero, Florida passed away on October 14th, 2011.
Ellen was a warrior when it came to the environment; she cared deeply and devoted her life to saving the planet and protecting Mother Earth. She served on many boards and advisory committees such as: the Agency for Bay Management, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Save Our Creeks, the Responsible Growth Management Coalition, The Everglades Committee, the Environmental Peace and Education Center and the Sierra Club's Calusa Group. Ellen founded the Calusa group over 30 years ago and remained the chairperson until her death.
Researchers from the University of Hawaii tracking the wreckage estimate it could approach the U.S. West Coast in the next three years, the UK Daily Mail reports.
"We have a rough estimate of 5 to 20 million tons of debris coming from Japan," University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told Hawaii's ABC affiliate KITV.
Crew members from the Russian training ship the STS Pallada "spotted the debris 2,000 miles from Japan," last month after passing the Midway Islands, the Mail wrote. "They saw some pieces of furniture, some appliances, anything that can float, and they picked up a fishing boat," said Hafner. The boat was 20-feet long, and was painted with the word "Fukushima." "That's actually our first confirmed report of tsunami debris," Hafner told KITV.
Florida Friendly plant database Read it Here
Christmas Bird Count December 31: Nelson recognized with wildlife award
Sen. Bill Nelson has found a real identity with environmental issues. He emerged as perhaps the most out-spoken critic of BP and federal oversight of Gulf oil drilling after the epic spill and over the years has ushered many a D.C. politician into the Everglades and fought for funding.
Audubon of Florida has named him recipient of its Theodore Roosevelt Award, which goes to lawmakers who champion green causes. Roosevelt was a founder of the Florida Audubon Society and established the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island.
"The very name Theodore Roosevelt stands for resilience, resolve and courage in the face of fire," said Audubon Executive Director Eric Draper in a release. "No public figure in Florida embodies those values like Senator Bill Nelson."
Birds
STA 5 Birding Tour Schedule
November 12
November 26
December 3
December 17
Hendry-Glades Audubon will lead escorted tours to Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA-5) south of Clewiston his season. Tours are open to anyone, but participants must register to reserve a space on the trips. To sign up contact: Margaret England, at sta5birding@embarqmail.com or 863-674-0695 include your name and contact information including an emergency cell number for the tour day.
15th annual count takes place Feb. 17-20, 2012 As movie-goers watch the stars of The Big Year in their quest to count birds, some may be motivated to try the hobby for the first time. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is the perfect opportunity. The event is hosted by Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada. The results provide a snapshot of the whereabouts of more than 600 bird species. Anyone can participate in this free event and no registration is needed. Watch and count birds for at least 15 minutes on any day of the count, February 17-20, 2012. Enter your results at www.birdcount.org, where you can watch as the tallies grow across the continent. The four-day count typically records more than 10 million observations.
"When thousands of people all tell us what they're seeing, we can detect patterns in how birds are faring from year to year," said Janis Dickinson, director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a perfect example of Citizen Science," says Audubon Chief Scientist, Gary Langham. "Like Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, volunteers help us with data year after year, providing scientific support that is the envy of many institutions. It's also a lot of fun."
"We're finding that more people are taking part in our bird count programs every year--and the more that take part, the better it is for the birds," says Richard Cannings, Senior Projects Officer for Bird Studies Canada.
The 2011 GBBC brought in more than 92,000 bird checklists submitted by participants from across the United States and Canada. Altogether, bird watchers identified 596 species with 11.4 million bird observations.
Results from the 2011 GBBC included:
• Increased reports of Evening Grosbeaks, a species that has been declining;
• A modest seasonal movement of winter finches farther south in their search for food;
• The Eurasian Collared-Dove was reported from Alaska for the first time, more evidence of an introduced species rapidly expanding its range.
Although it's called the Great "Backyard" Bird Count, the count extends well beyond backyards. Lots of participants choose to head for national parks, nature centers, urban parks, nature trails, or nearby sanctuaries. For more information, including bird-ID tips, instructions, and past results, visit www.birdcount.org. The count also includes a photo contest and a prize drawing for participants who enter their bird checklists online.The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.
Visit the GBBC News Room for high-resolution images and your state's top-10 lists from the 2010 count. Please also inquire about possible interviews with local participants.
Contacts:
• Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu
• Delta Willis, Audubon, (212) 979-3197, dwillis@audubon.org
• Dick Cannings, Bird Studies Canada, (250) 493-3393 (Pacific time zone), dcannings@birdscanada.org
Invasive species
Fighting against Florida's alien invaders One day this summer, Susan Arehart noticed her cat, Luna-tick, acting strangely. Arehart, a transplanted New Yorker who now lives in Riverview, thought maybe the cat was stalking a snake in the yard.
But when she got closer, she saw what was it was: a big, black and white lizard with sharp claws, known as a giant Argentine Tegu. She figured it was 4 feet long from the tip of its tail to the end of its forked tongue.
She thought it might run when it saw her. It didn't. "That thing stared me right down," she said. "It's not afraid of anything."
Everyone has heard about the pythons in the Everglades. State officials have told hunters to shoot them on sight. Congress is debating whether to ban their importation. Writer Carl Hiaasen jokes about how he'd like to see politicians out seeking a River of Grass photo op attacked by one.
But Frank Mazzotti, one of Florida's top reptile experts, thinks that what everyone ought to be talking about is the Tegu — and also the Nile monitor, the Oustalet's chameleon and several other slithery species that have invaded Florida in recent years.
Unlike the pythons, which are pretty well dug in, Mazzotti said, "we've got 140 species that aren't established yet."
That includes species beyond South Florida — for instance, the tegu, a recent fad in the exotic pet trade. Some Tegu owners have reported being surprised at how fast their little lizards grew, and how much they ate.
Five years ago tegus — either escaped captives or those turned loose by irresponsible owners — began popping up in rural and suburban Hillsborough County. On top of frightening homeowners and their pets, tegus eat the eggs and the young of ground-nesting birds and gopher tortoises.
State and federal officials should target those reptiles for removal now, before they get as entrenched as the pythons, said Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife ecology professor who has spent more than 25 years studying South Florida reptiles.
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Florida Panthers
Corkscrew Panther takes a stroll along the boardwalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGq0kuHROiU
Endangered Species
A good year for turtles The 2011 turtle nesting season started with a huge surge of nests, tapered off somewhere in the middle and ended with numbers above the five-year average.
There were 54 nests on Bonita Beach during nesting season, which runs from May 1 until Sunday. Of those, 48 nests hatched. Those numbers are not as high as the 70 last year, but they topple the 36 nests in 2009.
Turtles tend to nest every other year, so 2011 is more accurately compared to 2009 than last year. Of the 28 nests on Fort Myers Beach, 27 hatched. Turtle watchers also found three nests on Big Hickory Island, two in Bokeelia and two on Bunche Beach.
The year was also a surprise for experts who saw some green turtles nest on beaches that are mostly nurseries for loggerheads.
"For the most part we did well," said Eve Haverfield, president and founder of Turtle Time, a volunteer organization that monitors sea turtles in south Lee County. "And it was a surprising year because we had nests in areas where we don't have a plethora of nests like Bunche Beach and Bokeelia, so it's always a nice surprise to find nests there."
Season started early on Bonita Beach with the first nest found April 28. Warm water this spring was the reason for the strong start to the season, experts said.
Sanibel Island had 277 nests with an additional 77 nests on Captiva this year.
But even more remarkable were the seven green turtles that nested on Sanibel and the one that laid a nest on Captiva, said Amanda Bryant, turtle coordinator for the Sanibel/Captiva Conservation Foundation.
"We have green nests every other year," Bryant said. "The fact that we had green nesting last year and this year points to another green turtle or another two green turtles that utilize our beach."
Bryant also recorded one Kemp's ridley nest on Sanibel.
"Sanibel didn't have a good year last year, so for us to have a good year this year is wonderful," she said. "Hopefully, this means loggerheads will be doing a little bit better. Overall, I count this as a pretty good year."
Maura Kraus, turtle coordinator for Collier County, said her final numbers won't be ready until next month. But preliminary data shows 760 nests were laid this year, the same as last year.
Kraus said even more important than the number of nests is the number of successful hatchings. As of this week 556 nests had hatched. Kraus said the lack of storms this season kept most of the nests safe for the 55 to 65 days the eggs need to incubate.
"We had a good season. We are real pleased with it," Kraus said. "We had some storms in June, but even the nests that got washed over, we had good hatchings out of those nests."
Key West hospital serves special clientele After months of rehabilitation, a loggerhead sea turtle was released back into the wild in the Florida Keys Tuesday as a group of environmentalists and journalists witnessed business as usual at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon.
It's all about helping sea turtles survive, like this sub-adult loggerhead named Karsten being released off Sombrero Beach.
Five months ago, Karsten was found floating in a local Marathon canal by homeowners. He was scooped up and taken in the Turtle ambulance to received medical attention and diagnostics. Richie Moretti is founder of the Turtle Hospital.
"We root for all of them. Ones that come in that has so many problems at one time, like this one, she had two hooks in her, one real deep that Doug got out and one he got out of her jaw. You have to really see how the animal is doing; you can't just take the hook out and assume the animal is fine. That's how we found out they had lockjaw."
As a result, the turtle couldn't open his mouth to eat until volunteer veterinary staff stretched his jaw daily and fed him squid using a tube down his throat. Moretti says a sign that Karsten was ready to go home came when he caught and ate a live lobster.
"When you watch that loggerhead, stalk and then strike that you can throw his head and you know all my staff is just looking at her, they'd been feeding her, forcing her mouth and when they watched her go like that and can just crush that shell, made them all a little more respectful that these guys can be a lot stronger than you think."
On the eve of Karsten's release, Dr. Doug Mader of Marathon Veterinary Hospital quickly turned his attention to another sub-adult loggerhead that was hit by a boat.
"This piece of shell was just hanging loose by some tissue over the top of the tail."
You can see the slices from the propeller, like a cheese grater, as it lays steady in critical condition, in an empty pool at the hospital.
"...and every time that propeller is spins it cuts a slice in their shell. It actually got the back part of the shell badly sliced last night, I came in and had to amputate part of the shell and then those wounds over there as bad as they look, there is a good chance this animal is going to make it, because there is no damage to the flipper or the head. So we've got it on antibiotics, we've got it on fluids and we have it on lots and lots of pain medication right now."
So as this turtle begins what now seems like a long journey through the rehabilitation process, back on Sombrero Beach, Karsten is getting reacquainted with his natural habitat.
"It's sort of like sending a kid off to college, you hope they at least say hi occasionally, but you know with us with Turtles if we don't hear anything that's good. Cause if they ever get hit by a boat, they're wearing a tag internally and they're wearing tags on their flipper, so as long as we don't hear, no news is good news!"
Turtle Hospital Founder Richie Moretti says there are simple steps people can take, to prevent harming turtles.
"Things that we can all do, is just watching our fishing lines, watching our plastic bags, if we stay on a beach during nesting season, closing your drapes just so they don't go the wrong direction. The little things make such a difference."
There are 24 patients at the Turtle Hospital.
Everglades and Water Quality Issues
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breaks ground on Indian River Lagoon-South Project Oct. 28 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District will host a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of another project to restore America's Everglades. The Indian River Lagoon-South C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area groundbreaking ceremony will be held Friday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. near 20654 SW Citrus Boulevard, Indiantown.
"The greater Everglades is an American treasure, an extraordinary ecosystem unlike any other in the world," said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state of Florida and Martin County are proud to stand together to break ground on this first component of the Indian River Lagoon-South project."
"The Department of the Interior celebrates the start of this monumental project to restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon, one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in America," said Rachel Jacobson, acting Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior. "This restoration project represents our strong and continuing joint commitment with Florida and its local governments to restore and protect the many natural resources, national parks and wildlife refuges of the south Florida region while also securing and enhancing flood protection, water supply, and the economy for the millions of South Florida residents."
"This day has been a long time coming and is an important milestone in Everglades restoration," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. "After many delays and hurdles, we're finally moving dirt to help bring the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon back to health."
"The Indian River Lagoon project is a key component of overall Everglades restoration," U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney (FL-16) said. "Constructing the C-44 reservoir means a cleaner lagoon, healthier fish and wildlife, and reduced toxic algal blooms. The project is critical to maintaining Martin County's marine and tourism industries, preserving property values, and boosting our local economy."
"This groundbreaking is an important step toward getting the water right in the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary," said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard, Jr. "We're here today due to the hard work and collaboration of our partners at the federal, local and state level, and I thank these partners for their continued support and commitment to protecting this ecosystem."
The Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary are two of the country's most productive and most threatened estuaries. H ome to more than 4,300 species of plants and animals, the lagoon and estuary have suffered from altered water flow patterns and degraded water quality. The Indian River Lagoon-South project will restore the delicate balance of fresh and salt water in the lagoon and estuary, treat polluted water and revitalize degraded habitats.
The C-44 project includes the construction of a 3,400-acre above ground reservoir and a pump station with a capacity to pump 1,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water and a 6,300-acres stormwater treatment area. The completed project will capture local runoff from the C-44 basin and reduce the average annual total nutrient load and improve salinity for the St. Lucie Estuary and southern Indian River Lagoon.
"A tremendous amount of time, effort and steadfast commitment by the South Florida Water Management District and our restoration partners, especially Martin County, have preceded today's celebration. When completed, this project will help improve and protect the health of the St. Lucie River and Estuary, which, in turn, will mean a healthier economy for us all," said Kevin Powers, Vice-Chair of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board. The SFWMD is the non-federal project sponsor.
"The C-44 project will serve to greatly reduce polluted runoff into the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lago on while bringing significant economic benefits to our community," said Edward V. Ciampi, Chairman of the Martin County Board of County Commissioners. "The project will also provide 12,000 acres of habitat creation and recreational opportunities. The Martin County Board of Commissioners has steadfastly supported this project and is proud to have partnered with the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a substantial funding partner. This unique partnership reflects the importance of the Everglades and our waterways to the people of Martin County."
"We are certainly celebrating the hard work of many, and the successes along the way, to make this day a reality," said Orlando Ramos-Gines, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers senior project manager for the Indian River Lagoon-South project.
The Indian River Lagoon-South project was the first major component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) to come up for authorization since the approval of Water and Resources Development Act of 2000.
Feds announce plan to speed Everglades restoration A new fast-track planning effort could shave years off the next phase of Everglades restoration, putting more fresh and clean water into the central and southern portions of Florida's "River of Grass" more quickly.
A restoration task force that met Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., announced a rapid planning effort that, if approved by Congress, could transform how large public-works projects across the country are built. It's also expected to cut the planning process for the next major restoration project in the central Everglades from six years to 18 months.
"The reality is the ecosystem has continued to degrade," said Dawn Shirreffs, the Everglades restoration program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. "We're running out of time. We don't have the time to spend six years on a project anymore."
Thursday's announcement came out of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' effort to streamline large projects nationwide. The Army corps decided to use the planning process for the next major restoration project, which will provide more a natural flow and deeper clean new water through the central Everglades and Everglades National Park, as a pilot.
Previous plans were overly detailed, expensive and time-consuming, the Army Corps of Engineers found. The time - as well as data - being invested in studies wasn't leading to a better product, officials said in materials that were prepared for Thursday's task force meeting.
Also, projects in the Everglades had a tendency to be addressed one by one rather than simultaneously, Shirreffs said. But there are three components of Everglades cleanup, all intertwined, and all best addressed together, she said. Water can't be moved unless it's clean, it can't be cleaned unless it's stored and it can't be stored unless it gets to the places designated for storage.
Cleaning up the pollution that's flowing into the Everglades requires reducing the phosphorus in the water to 10 parts per billion. Amounts any higher won't stop changes in plant and animal life in the Everglades, a delicate ecosystem of marshlands and forests that's home to a variety of threatened species.
Because of high levels of phosphorus, cattails have been taking over the saw grass in the Everglades for decades. The pollutant has flowed from fertilizers on sugar and vegetable farms and the sprawling suburbs of South Florida.
The state was supposed to get to its phosphorus-reduction goal by 2012, but the Florida Legislature pushed back the deadline to 2016. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott met in Washington with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and offered some alternative plans for resolving some of the legal disputes over water quality in the Everglades, but he also said that Florida would need another six years.
The state's plans call for downsizing some construction projects and relying more on water storage on public and private lands. The plan, Scott said, puts to use land that's already in public ownership so that projects can be authorized and built promptly "at a reasonable cost to the taxpayers.
Specifically, the state will be looking for opportunities to use publicly owned land to store and treat water in the Everglades Agricultural Area - where farmlands exist amid the Everglades' water system - and move the water south to water conservation areas and Everglades National Park.
That's expected to achieve more natural water circulation and tie together the state's work north of the conservation areas and the Interior Department's Tamiami Trail bridging project, along the highway that runs from Tampa to Miami, passing through the Everglades.
Last week, Salazar visited the Tamiami Trial project in Miami-Dade County. It's one of the first bridges in a series of planned spans that would raise parts of the highway above the wetlands and eventually could restore the historic freshwater flow of the River of Grass to levels not seen in 80 years.
The federal government eventually would like to see 5.5 miles of bridges on Tamiami Trail, at an estimated cost of $324 million and to be built over four years. So far, it's unclear whether money for the bridges will be budgeted, however.
Friday, officials will break ground on a separate project: a 12,000-acre reservoir in western Martin County, Fla., designed to improve the quality of the water in the St. Lucie Estuary and the southern portion of the Indian River Lagoon.
A congressional subcommittee will look next week at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plans to acquire more land in the Everglades for conservation, how it would be paid for and what effect it would have on public access and recreation within the refuge and conservation area.
Congressman Rivera on support for Everglades Restoration Congressman Rivera joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe on Thursday for a visit to the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project in Miami-Dade County to learn about the progress being made on the bridge, which is scheduled for completion in December of 2013. The bridge will help restore fresh water flow to Everglades National Park and the South Florida Ecosystem.
"I want to commend Secretary Salazar for his leadership on this project. I don't think that there are many projects that you can imagine for our community, for our state and for our nation, that are as important as restoring the water flow in the Everglades," Congressman Rivera said. "We all know what an ecological jewel the Everglades is for our nation, so it is very very important from this point going forward to continue having that leadership, continue having the interagency cooperation that we've seen throughout the years of this project and the cooperation between the Executive Branch and Congress and maintaining the support in Congress for this project. Certainly that commitment has been there from our Congressional delegation in the past and no doubt it will be there in the future as well. The important thing now is to maintain that vigilance, maintain the cooperation and maintain the great efforts and the leadership that we've seen from Secretary Salazar."
Feds., Florida announce major effort to restore River of Grass The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, including representatives from the Army, announced a fast-track planning effort to improve the Central and Southern Everglades by putting more fresh and clean water into the River of Grass.
Senior policy officials from the Department of the Army, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Florida, including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection convened at the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (Task Force) meeting on October 27.
They announced a fast-track planning effort for the next generation that will, when authorized by Congress, improve the Central and Southern Everglades by putting more fresh and clean water into the River of Grass.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District announced the start of the Central Everglades planning process, which will incorporate updated science and maximize use of publicly owned lands to focus the next phase of Everglades Restoration on the Central and Southern Everglades. This planning process will build on three years of unprecedented restoration progress between the federal government and the State of Florida including groundbreakings for six Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects. This includes substantial construction progress on the first mile of bridging of Tamiami Trail.
The Central Everglades planning process will analyze alternatives that will reduce the discharge of water currently damaging the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries and provide more natural flow and depths of clean new water through the Central Everglades and the Everglades National Park. This initiative will use a fast-tracked planning process, a pilot program that the Army Corps of Engineers is initiating elsewhere in the country, designed to yield restoration benefits at an efficient rate.
The planning effort responds directly to the 2008 and 2010 recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences and restoration scientists who recognize the need to address unnatural water levels in the water conservation areas and Everglades National Park as one of the biggest challenges facing restoration managers.
Tamiami Trail Bridge will restore partial flow to Everglades, but it won't be enough For nearly a century, the flow of the Everglades has been blocked by a bumpy, two-lane road. The Tamiami Trail, built in the 1920s to allow Model A Fords to travel across the Everglades, effectively dammed the River of Grass, starving what would become a national park and altering its flora and fauna.
Now, after two decades of struggling to get approval and funding, the road is rising to let the river run free. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is raising a mile of the Tamiami Trail so water can once again flow into Everglades National Park.
Last week Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, flanked by a squad of other federal officials, showed off the progress on the project to a group of journalists. The officials all donned hard hats and posed for pictures at the construction site, boasting about how the $95 million project first approved by Congress in 1989 would be completed by December 2013.
There's only one problem. Raising just a single mile of the highway "is not sufficient," said Stu Appelbaum, who's in charge of planning for the corps' Everglades restoration work. Saving the River of Grass requires more flow than what that one segment would allow.
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Forecast Calling for Another Below-Average Dry Season Two significant rainfall events in October have helped replenish ground and surface water supplies in the South Florida Water Management District's 16-county region. However, long-term forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center are calling for La Niña conditions to bring below-average rainfall to South Florida during the 2011-2012 dry season, indicating the region may remain in a water shortage.
In preparation for the dry season, water shortage orders remain in effect to limit landscape irrigation to two days per week throughout most of the South Florida Water Management District's 16-county region. The West Palm Beach City Commission has implemented additional one-day-a-week emergency restrictions that apply to its utility service area, which includes the Towns of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach. The City of Lake Worth has one-day-a-week irrigation restrictions in effect, as well.
Landscape irrigation using reclaimed water is not restricted, unless prohibited by local ordinance.
Mandatory reductions for agricultural and other large water uses are also in effect.
Stormwater runoff from the rainfall event over the weekend of Oct. 8-9 provided a much-needed boost to Lake Okeechobee's water level. However, the lake, which is the backup water supply for South Florida, remains below its historic average for this time of year.
The District is storing as much water as possible from the recent rainfall events, but not all of it can be retained because of limited storage options and the need for immediate flood protection.
Many agriculture and diversion and impoundment systems as well as nurseries and golf courses throughout the region are required to reduce withdrawals or overall water use by 15 percent. From August 7 through October 31, golf courses under water use restrictions may apply for a variance if they need to undertake re-sodding, sprigging or other course rehabilitation activities.
Permitted users of surface water in the Lake Okeechobee Service Area (LOSA) are required to reduce withdrawals or overall water use by 45 percent.
West Palm Beach's water supply could dry up by spring The source of West Palm Beach's drinking water "will probably be exhausted" by March and the city will not be allowed to pull water from its well field in violation of its permit, as it did to weather this year's drought, regional water managers warned the City Commission last week.
"I think you need to approach this with the concept that you're facing a significant event and do everything you can and we're going to do everything we can do to help," said Scott Burns, the water shortage incident commander at the South Florida Water Management District. "I think you need to plan on alternatives and that those sources won't be there."
City Utilities Director David Hanks offered alternatives: partnering with Florida Atlantic University on a study to drill horizontal wells; fixing the troubled Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant that's supposed to replenish the city's well field; resurrecting plans to inject water into a well for storage; and extending intake pipes to the deepest sections of Clear Lake, the reservoir that feeds water to the neighboring treatment plant.
But even if the board approves a plan and installs pumps, by March the C-17 Canal would likely be too low to use, Burns said.
Hanks said the best the city can do is keep water levels as high as possible at its water sources: the Grassy Waters Preserve, Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake. The way to do that: use less water.
"Our best solution is if we can decrease demand on the system," Hanks said.
Palm Beach County's Water Utilities Department director, Bevin Beaudet, recently sent district officials an 18-page letter threatening to sue the city if it continued to draw more water from the city's emergency well field than the city's permit allows.
Drawing down the city well field threatens the county's nearby water supply, he wrote.
In August the district cited but did not fine the city for violating its water-use permit by siphoning millions of gallons from the city well field without replenishing more than a fraction of what it was required to.
The permit requires that for every gallon the city draws from the well field, it must give back a gallon of cleansed water from the plant to keep the county's well field from running low.
But the $37 million sewage treatment plant is operating far below capacity and has been shut down for repairs so often that it could not produce enough water to replace the amount the city withdrew from its well.
The district wants to resolve the violation by having the city sign a formal agreement, called a consent order, promising to abide by the permit and find alternative water sources or face fines. The county has offered to sell the city its water at a discounted rate, as it did during the most recent drought.
However, little mention was made of that alternative during last week's meeting. City officials last year estimated the cost of buying enough water from the county to tide the city over during drought could come to $10,000 a day.
Instead, the district's deputy executive director, Bob Brown, told commissioners that the district wants to work with the city to resolve the violation and ensure there is enough water during the upcoming dry season rather than impose fines for the violations.
"We don't come here with a hammer, we come here to work with the city with the understanding that the city is going to work with the district," Brown said. "It's a two-way street."
Wildlife and Habitat
Going, Going, Gone: Two FL Species May Be Extinct The South Florida rainbow snake and Florida fairy shrimp may have names that sound magical, but the magic may have run out for both of them. A National Wildlife Federation (NWF) report confirms the two unique Florida species are gone forever and, according to Florida NWF General Counsel Preston Robertson, the Florida panther and the manatee could be next.
"The manatee, whose numbers fluctuate up and down our coast and — the other one, of course, is our state symbol — the Florida panther, which used to exist all over the southern United States but is now confined to the counties of southwest Florida."
Only about 100 Florida panthers are known to live in the wild, and the species has been on the endangered list since the 1970s. The manatee, also known as the sea cow, has been listed as endangered since the late 1960s.
Panther and manatee habitat has increasingly been threatened by development, says Robertson, adding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released research indicating the most crucial and vulnerable panther habitats are currently in Collier and Hendry counties.
"Not to talk politics, but up until the present administration, there was a lot of effort made to protect land, to preserve habitat for the panther, also for water quality protection."
Wildlife preservation advocates point out that if fading panther and manatee populations are protected, the result is that habitat is also protected for bears and a host of other creatures, as well as preserving places where people can enjoy nature, bird-watch, hunt, and fish.
The NWF findings are online at http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise.
Walruses suffer from similar disease afflicting Alaska ringed seals Arctic ringed seals aren't the only marine mammal suffering an unusual skin-lesion outbreak along Alaska's northern coasts.
Walruses that have hauled out by the thousands at Point Lay in Northwest Alaska during recent summers -- an event driven by climate change -- are also turning up with bizarre, festering sores. Scientists estimate perhaps 600 are infected. Instead of wounds on their faces and rear flippers, red abscesses pepper the animals' entire bodies. But apparently only a few have perished.
Still, scientists from a number of agencies are working to answer several questions, including whether the outbreaks in the two species are related. They also worry the lesions could eventually lead to deaths among Pacific walrus, an animal more than 100,000 strong that's being considered for protections under the Endangered Species Act.
"Is it the bubonic plague or just a really bad case of acne?" asked Tony Fischbach, a federal walrus biologist who first noticed the sores on some walruses late this summer.
As in the case of the ringed seals, biologists are working with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, pathology experts and others. They've sent skin and tissue samples to labs in the U.S. and Canada, but haven't pinpointed a cause. Everything from viruses to toxins are being considered.
It doesn't appear that a huge numbers of walruses have the lesions. At various times, an estimated 20,000 walruses have gathered on the beach.
Leo Ferreira III, the former mayor in Point Lay, a village of 200 residents west of Barrow, said the sores seem to have contributed to the deaths of some walruses.
"Most of them that are dying got the lesions on them," said Ferreira, an Inupiat walrus hunter. He provided a little help last month as scientists collected flesh samples from the animals for testing. He's seen two dead ones with lesions.
"This is the first time this is happening," he said. "But this is also happening with the ringed seals. We're very concerned. It's because we think there is a disease spreading through them."
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Update on Lynx Critical Habitat Designation When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a critical habitat designation for the threatened Canada lynx, conservationists feared the rule lacked adequate protections in Colorado and several other Western states. In July 2010, a District of Montana judge ruled that the original critical habitat designation was indeed inadequate, ordering a revised proposal from the agency. A group of organizations—including the Sierra Club—has now settled on a timeline with the Fish and Wildlife Service, which will facilitate the reconsideration and expansion of critical habitat for the Canada lynx.
Global Warming and Climate Change
Rising sea levels will hit hard in South Florida A sea-level rise of just a few inches will bring flooding to South Florida cities, contaminate sources of drinking water and lead to sharp increases in utility bills over the next 20 or 30 years, according a study released Wednesday by Florida Atlantic University.
The study found that projected sea level increases of 3 to 6 inches by 2030, due to global warming, could overwhelm flood-control systems that in many areas are more than 50 years old. The authors provided a list of steps to be taken in the coming decades, from moving drinking-water wells inland to installing more pump stations, that could help the region cope with the higher water.
Global warming causes sea levels to rise because water expands as it increases in temperature and because glaciers melt. In the past century, sea levels have risen 4.8 to 8.8 inches, largely due to global warming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Higher sea levels will increase the intrusion of saltwater into underground sources of drinking water, forcing cities to abandon wells near the ocean and drill new ones, according to the report.
As a case study, the report used Pompano Beach, where the city is fighting — so far successfully — to keep saltwater intrusion from its eastern wellfield. Although most of the city stands on relatively high ground, low-level coastal areas would be inundated.
By 2030 the city will have to spend millions to upgrade water plant equipment, install pump stations in low-lying areas and upgrade its sewer system, passing the cost onto its customers, according to the report.
"Sea level is creeping up on us," said Barry Heimlich, a researcher at FAU, who led the study. "And in a few decades it could overwhelm our storm drainage system."
Randy Brown, Pompano's utilities director, said the study was basically accurate and the city was incorporating the need to accommodate sea-level rise into its various water plans. He said it would be impossible to estimate the impact on bills over the next 20 years. Although he's optimistic about protecting drinking water supplies, he's unsure whether the city will be able to prevent flooding of low-lying areas.
Frederick Bloetscher, associate professor in the FAU Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, says flooding during storms in eastern sections of South Florida cities provides the average citizen with the most powerful evidence for the reality of global warming.
"Ask people if anything's different," he said. "Ask them if their streets flood more. You do see more flooding when it rains, and people can relate to that. People's perceptions that things are different on the ground are right. It is reality."
Offshore and Ocean
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary gets mixed review in condition The first comprehensive condition report of the vast Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary shows that while some management steps have helped the fragile ecosystem, there is still plenty to do to aid decimated coral reefs, improve water quality, protect and restore habitat and help some marine species recover from overfishing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 108-page report, released Thursday, has "some sobering news, but also some good news," according to Billy Causey, southeast regional director of the National Marine Sanctuaries — which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida) The good news includes some improvement in water quality. The sanctuary's 2,900 nautical square miles have become less of a dumping ground for human waste. New regulations prohibit discharge of sewage from marine sanitation devices within the protected federal and state waters of the sanctuary.
Controversial no-take zones also have shown promise, with an increase in the size and population of some fish species and spiny lobster in or near those zones.
"We are seeing a number of larger fish, particularly in the ecological reserves of Western Sambo [a few miles off Key West] and the Tortugas [70 miles west of Key West]," Causey said.
But there is plenty of "sobering news" for the waters that support a commercial fishing industry and annually lure millions of tourists, including recreational fishermen, boaters, divers and those who just like to lie on the beach and gawk at the ocean's beauty.
"We all understand that a healthy marine ecosystem is a healthy economy," said Sean Morton, superintendent of the Keys' protected waters, one of the largest of the country's 13 marine sanctuaries.
More than 33,000 Keys jobs, 58 percent of the local economy and $2.3 billion in annual sales are connected to the island chain's unique geography, bordering both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
But those waters have been heavily exploited by man for more than 100 years. The sanctuary, home to about 6,000 species of marine life, has been in place only since 1990.
"Recovery of the ecosystem's health takes time," Morton said.
The report lists 17 questions used to rate the condition and trends of water, habitat, living resources and marine archaeological resources, such as shipwrecks. None of the conditions rated at the highest level, "good," and many "appeared to be declining."
One is the health of key species. Corals have been hit hard by disease and bleaching. Sea grass, sea turtles, sponges and queen conch also are struggling.
But there's hope. Ken Nedimyer and others in the Keys are working on pioneering efforts to grow coral in underwater nurseries to replace the important reef building blocks, which have drastically declined since the 1970s.
Still, recovery of most aspects of the ecosystem is hampered by continuing local pressures that include commercial and recreational fishing, harmful algal blooms, marine debris, vessel groundings, new exotic species such as the lionfish and boat traffic.
Global climate change, rising sea levels and ocean acidification also are growing problems, Causey said.
"One of the greatest things in this report ... is that we are starting to see a higher level of consciousness in the real problems confronting the coral reef and not skipping around climate change," Causey said. "We have to address that at a local and regional scale."
Energy
BP Increasing Exploration in the Gulf BP is a smaller company than it was before the Deepwater Horizon disaster off Florida's Gulf coast last year.
But with third-quarter net profits of $4.9 billion -- up $1.8 billion from the same period a year earlier -- and plans to shed up to $45 billion in assets in the next two years, BP's chief executive officer is telling investors the company is back at work.
Now heading a leaner company, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley, appearing on Bloomberg TV, said the company intends to more than double spending on exploration as it has acquired all its requested permits to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We are getting back to work in the Gulf of Mexico," Dudley said.
The company, which once pumped 4 million barrels of oil a day worldwide, now sees its focus in exploration, with the peak oil production at 3.4 million barrels a day by the end of the year, Dudley said.
"People have worked very, very hard in the Gulf of Mexico, putting in place voluntary standards for drilling," he said. "We have received all the permits that we've requested. We've got three deep-water rigs running now, a fourth one very shortly. By the end of the year, we'll have five big rigs running."
David Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council said it's a good sign that federal deep-water drilling permits are starting to be approved. But he'd like to see the process speeded up. "There is a slowness of processing of permits that is still a problem," Mica said.
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Environmental groups challenge permit for Citrus County power plants Arguing that fish and other sea life in the Gulf of Mexico are being damaged, two environmental groups have challenged the state's decision to renew a permit for Progress Energy Florida power plants in Citrus County.
The Sierra Club and the Florida Wildlife Federation, in a case filed last week in the state Division of Administrative Hearings, target two coal-fired plants at Progress Energy's Crystal River complex.
In part, the groups say Progress Energy's discharges of hot water into the gulf are damaging a large ecosystem. Also, they take issue with water intake systems that can trap and kill sea life such as shellfish and small organisms.
"FWF and the Sierra Club dispute that this permit meets Florida water quality standards or satisfies obligations under the (federal) Clean Water Act,'' the groups said in a petition seeking an administrative hearing.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection gave notice last month that it planned to renew the water-discharge permit, which the plants have had since the late 1970s. Progress spokesman Scott Sutton said the permit addresses the issues raised by the environmental groups.
"It went through the process, and DEP made the determination this is the permit that adequately protects the environment, and we're ready to go forth and comply with it,'' Sutton said.
Progress has five plants at Crystal River, though the permit only deals with two coal plants and a nuclear plant. David Guest, an attorney for the environmental groups, said the legal challenge does not address the nuclear plant because it does not pose the same water-related concerns as the coal plants.
Part of the dispute centers on water that is used to cool the plants and then discharged into the gulf.
The Sierra Club and Wildlife Federation argue that the discharged water is so hot that it damages sea life, including environmentally important sea grasses, and that Progress should install a type of cooling system known as a "cooling tower.'' Guest and the petition indicate the damage could spread as far as 3,000 acres.
Arch Coal agrees not to mine under W.Va. school complex Arch Coal Inc. has agreed not to mine under Buckhannon-Upshur High School and the proposed site of a middle school, an attorney for the Upshur County Board of Education said Friday.
Under a deal reached Thursday, Arch agreed to establish no-mining and limited-extraction zones that will protect the investments the county has made in its facilities, said board lawyer Hunter Mullens.
In exchange, the school board will drop objections it had filed to the permit application before the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The board has fought for months to stop the mining plan created by International Coal Group Inc. before it was bought out by St. Louis-based Arch. Members worried the 1,800-acre Hampton Mine would cause the ground beneath the school to subside and create the possibility of explosive methane gas leaking into its buildings.
"Our goal was always to identify a solution that the school board could support," said Arch spokeswoman Kim Link. "We agree that the no-mining zone makes sense for everyone involved."
Mullens, meanwhile, said board members were happy with the company's willingness to cooperate.
"It's really good for the Upshur County children because we know that school is going to be safe," he said.
ICG and subsidiary Wolf Run Mining Co. are seeking permits for the Hampton Deep Mine in Buckhannon, targeting the 52-inch thick Middle Kittanning coal seam. Application documents show the company expects the 500- to 600-feet deep seam to produce about 1 million tons of coal a year for eight years.
In its 22-page objection, the school board said that ICG had long promised its operation would not undermine or otherwise affect the district's facilities.
The board said it learned otherwise through a legal advertisement outlining the mining plan — after it had spent $600,000 acquiring 114 acres next to the high school for a new $32 million middle school.
It called subsidence and seepage "a very real possibility" with the potential to create "a disaster of unprecedented proportions."
The Hampton Mine would come close to the reserves at ICG's ill-fated Sago Mine, which was closed after 12 men died after an explosion and prolonged entrapment in January 2006. But the Buckhannon River stands between the two operations, and the DEP says it would remain an impediment to reaching the Sago reserves even at that depth.
Renewable energy group blasts PSC for failing consumers with nuke decision The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit that promotes renewable energy, blasted the decision by state utility regulators to grant the rate increase request sought by FPL and Progress Energy to pay for speculative nuclear projects:
For the third consecutive year, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved Progress Energy of Florida (PEF) and Florida Power and Light's (FPL) requests for hundreds of millions of dollars in advanced cost recovery for questionable new nuclear projects, despite the fact that neither utility has clearly demonstrated an intent to actually build the reactors. The commission's unanimous vote today to approve a combined $282 million in cost recovery brings the total amount charged to customers in advance to more than $1 billion.
"It is a sad day for Florida ratepayers' wallets when the Public Service Commission keeps approving millions of dollars for Progress Energy and FPL on nuclear projects that will likely never be built. It's like free money for the utilities – talk up a project, sell the idea to the Legislature and PSC, delay it multiple times, and keep vacuuming up ratepayers' hard earned dollars," said Dr. Stephen A. Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
"Yet, year after the year the commission votes to protect the utilities at the expense of Florida's businesses and families. It's hard to believe that the Florida Legislature ever intended for the PSC to rule with blinders on. Where is the oversight?"
PEF has proposed two new reactors in Levy County, Florida and FPL has proposed two additional reactors at the Turkey Point nuclear plant near Miami. Both proposals are more than a decade from completion, if they are built, and have experienced repeated cost increases and scheduling delays. Ratepayers would not receive a refund if either utility abandons the projects.
"The commission's interpretation today of its own intent to build standard, which was adopted to protect Florida ratepayers, sends a clear signal that FPL and PEF can continue to spend hundreds of millions of their ratepayers' money on proposed new nuclear reactors without any commitment whatsoever to actually construct them," said attorney Jamie Whitlock with Gary A. Davis & Associates, Inc., who represented the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy during the PSC proceedings. "Once again, we believe the commission has violated its statutory duty to fix fair, just and reasonable rates for Florida ratepayers."
The Florida PSC is scheduled to issue the final order on nuclear cost recovery for PEF and FPL on November 8, 2011.
Cuba prepares for oil drilling A giant Chinese-built oil rig is slowly heading across the ocean toward Cuban waters, fueling fears that offshore oil exploration north of Havana could jeopardize South Florida's fragile ecosystem and lead to environmental disaster.
The self-propelled Scarabeo 9 semi-submersible rig — powered by eight 4.3-megawatt thrusters — left Singapore in August and is sailing along the African coast.
By early next year, the mammoth rig operated by Repsol, a Spanish company under contract with Cuba, will begin drilling the first of three exploratory wells about 90 miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas.
The prospect of oil drilling in the narrow Florida Straits has raised alarms about the chances of containing a spill if one were to spew into the Gulf Stream that rushes along the Eastern Seaboard. The Scarabeo 9 is an unanchored rig somewhat similar to the Deepwater Horizon, which exploded and fouled much of the Gulf Coast with millions of barrels of crude oil in 2010.
Because of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, those operating the Repsol rig would not have access to American blowout preventers, aircraft and other rescue equipment needed to contain a spill, Pinon said.
"That whole bureaucratic conflict between Cuba and the United States would just not make that available," said Pinon, a former executive of Amoco Oil, Shell Oil and BP and now a research fellow at Florida International University. "The oil would flow out, with nothing to do about it."
Pinon, who advises officials in both countries, is among the American energy experts and environmentalists who are exploring ways to develop safety standards and contingency plans in case of disaster. He will testify next week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is looking at whether the United States is prepared to respond to oil spills outside its waters.
He will urge U.S. officials to reach out to Cuba to establish an oil-spill emergency response plan, backed by U.S. resources, much like one formed with Mexico. Former Florida U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has made a similar pitch, as co-chairman of the commission that investigated the Deepwater Horizon spill.
"If there were to be an accident, almost inevitably the spill would get caught in the Gulf Stream and be carried up the East Coast and endanger a large share of the coastline from the Keys up to Jacksonville," Graham said on Thursday.
With the Scarabeo 9 on its way, talks between the two countries "are going to have to move faster than most diplomatic transactions," Graham said. Repsol has a good reputation for safety, he noted, "but there's got to be some standards even for the best operation."
Some staunch defenders of the embargo policy would rather pressure Cuba and energy companies to abandon offshore drilling plans.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, backed by 11 other Floridians, has introduced a bill that would deny drilling leases to companies that do business with any nation facing trade sanctions, such as Cuba.
Embargo proponents are alarmed by Cuban drilling partly because it could open a stream of revenue to bolster Cuba's fragile economy and perpetuate the Castro regime.
A U.S. geological survey estimated that deposits below Cuban waters contain five to six billion barrels of oil. Cuban officials have estimated as much as 20 billion barrels.
Repsol paid $752 million for the Scarabeo 9, Pinon noted.
"No company is going to go to this kind of expense if it doesn't think it could find oil," he said. "If this is a dry oil field, somebody should get fired."
Keystone Pipeline By the end of this year, the State Department will decide whether to give a Canadian company permission to construct a 1,700-mile, $7 billion pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.
The project has sparked major environmental concerns, particularly in Nebraska, where the pipeline would pass over an aquifer that provides drinking water and irrigation to much of the Midwest. It has also drawn scrutiny because of the company's political connections and conflicts of interest. A key lobbyist for TransCanada, which would build the pipeline, also worked for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her presidential campaign. And the company that conducted the project's environmental impact report had financial ties to TransCanada.
The debate over the pipeline is both complicated and fierce, and it crosses party lines, with much sparring over the potential environmental and economic impacts of the project. More than 1,000 arrests were made during protests of the pipeline last summer in Washington, D.C.
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Obama administration approves BP's plan to drill in the Gulf of Mexico The Obama administration has approved BP's first plan to drill for oil in the gulf since last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster, which left 11 dead and damaged the gulf ecosystem and the economies of the states that border it. Representatives for the Gulf Restoration Network say the decision is "problematic," considering the fact that comprehensive safety legislation has yet to be passed through Congress.
The approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) came despite the fact that BP is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and was recently cited by the Department of the Interior for numerous safety and environmental violations in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
But BP does not currently warrant special scrutiny or attention, BOEM deputy director Walter Cruickshank told Lusgarten on a panel at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference on Friday. Until there is a conviction that affects its eligibility, the criteria to evaluate BP's qualifications will be the same as any other operator, Cruickshank explained.
BOEM approved BP's plan to drill up to four exploratory wells nearly 200 miles from the coast of Louisiana after the bureau completed a "site-specific environmental assessment" of the activities in the plan.
Some members of Congress, like Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., are critical of the administration's decision to approve BP's plan to drill up to four exploratory wells nearly 200 miles off the Louisiana coast. "Comprehensive safety legislation hasn't passed Congress, and BP hasn't paid the fines they owe for their spill, yet BP is being given back the keys to drill in the gulf," Markey told Frontline.
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Land Conservation
Hometown Democracy leader unveils site detailing 'The Price of Sprawl' Nearly a year after the so-called "Hometown Democracy" amendment was soundly defeated in the state of Florida, the group that backed it has unveiled a website detailing the negative effects of urban sprawl in various counties throughout the state.
The Hometown Democracy/Amendment 4 initiative would have required a voter referendum whenever a local government amended its comprehensive land-use plan, giving citizens a role in approving urban development.
Lesley Blackner, president of Hometown Democracy, argued that "irresponsible overdevelopment leads to higher taxes and lower quality of life" and Amendment 4 would "give voters the right to decide if a proposed change to the community plan is worthwhile for the community."
Yet voters overwhelmingly rejected the amendment at the ballot box, perhaps due to efforts by the well-funded group that opposed it, Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy. In fact, Citizens outspent Amendment 4 supporters five-to-one, launching a massive advertising campaign that included a slew of television ads and thousands of recognizable "Vote No on 4″ signs. The opposition, which argued that the amendment could will severely limit the ability to recruit businesses and create jobs in Florida, was largely funded by real estate developers and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Despite the defeat of Amendment 4, its supporters are still fighting against urban sprawl.
Blackner has unveiled a new website, http://www.priceofsprawl.com/ that takes a county-by-county look at how development is affecting Florida, and how it will in the future. In Duval County, for example, the "build-out" populations (the population needed to fill all of the housing approved for development but not yet built) is 1,270,509 — 47 percent more than the current population of 864,263. According to a chart on the site, property values in Duval are down 9.2 percent in 12 months, vacancy is at 11 percent and the water supply is in trouble. The site also details how overdevelopment leads to higher taxes and low home values, and is often caused by politicians' failure to consider certain costs associated with development: roads, schools, police, fire, water, sewer, garbage, etc.
The overall aim of the project is to publicize the hidden costs of infrastructure, the ongoing decline of home values and the ongoing damage to Florida's drinking water — all of which, say Blackner, are the result of overdevelopment.
Roadless rule upheld Nearly 50 million acres of America's richest natural resource—our National Forests—are now protected by a decree of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has firmly, and unanimously, taken the side of the vast majority of citizens who love our forests just the way they are: thick with trees and wildlife, their waters running free and pure.
This ruling, which reinstates the Roadless Rule, is so powerfully constructed it is believed it can withstand further challenge.
The ruling was reached despite an array of industry foes and an army of lobbyists who sought to unleash road pavers, clear-cutters and mining engineers in some of our most pristine natural sanctuaries.
Lawsuit filed to get more wilderness designated for Big Cypress National Park Sportsmen have staged rest-stop rallies against it. Conservation groups have launched nationwide letter-writing campaigns in favor of it. Now, the two sides are headed to court.
The National Parks Conservation Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Fort Myers seeking to overturn a 2010 decision by the Obama administration that scaled back the size of a proposed wilderness designation in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
A larger wilderness designation, which only Congress can enact, is needed to keep off-road vehicles from ruining wetlands, chasing off Florida panthers and disrupting the quiet solitude of 147,000 acres of the preserve north of Interstate 75 in eastern Collier County, the lawsuit says.
Under the 2010 plan, the National Park Service dropped 40,000 acres from the wilderness designation, where off-road vehicles would be prohibited. The plan calls for 46,000 acres of wilderness and 130 miles of ORV trails.
"We don't think it's good for the preserve, we don't think it's good for the for visitors and we don't think it's good for wildlife," NPCA government affairs director Kristen Brengel said.
The lawsuit accuses the National Park Service of sidestepping its legal mandates and manipulating science in order to satisfy a lobbying push by sportsmen's groups.
In a second claim in the lawsuit, the NPCA alleges that the preserve's ORV advisory committee is skewed in favor of sportsmen's groups and should be suspended and its recommendations thrown out.
NPCA regional director John Adornato, the group's representative on the ORV committee, had his reappointment held up this year while reviewers determined whether he ran afoul of a White House policy that federal lobbyists not serve on federal advisory boards. Adornato was eventually reappointed after he sent documentation to prove that he was listed as an inactive federal lobbyist in 2008.
The debate over off-road vehicles in the 729,000-acre Big Cypress preserve has been endlessly litigious with both sides filing dueling lawsuits since the 1990s.
A landmark legal settlement ended the practice of swamp buggies roaming the original preserve willy-nilly and replaced it with a network of ORV trails that the two sides now fight over how to put in place.
The latest lawsuit applies to part of the preserve known as the Addition Lands, which has been off-limits to off-roaders since the Park Service began managing the area in 1996.
Besides the wilderness designation, the 2010 plan designated another 50,000 acres as primitive backcountry, where off-roaders also would be banned.
Conservation groups are asking for too much and are running afoul of the 1974 Act that created the preserve and carved out allowances for continued traditional uses, Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance President Lyle McCandless said.
"As one sided and extreme as (the 2010 plan) is, they're still not satisfied," he said.
McCandless vowed that his group would file its own lawsuit over swamp buggy access in the Addition Lands and in the rest of the preserve.
The National Park Service took 11 years to write the 2010 plan and received 25,000 comments about it, Big Cypress National Preserve Superintendent Pedro Ramos said.
"We feel very good about the decision we made," Ramos said.
U.S. and Indonesian Governments Work Together to protect one of World's Most Important Forests The United States and Indonesian governments signed an agreement September 29, 2011 that will result in $28.5 million in funding to protect a large block of forest land in the Indonesian region known as the Heart of Borneo.
World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy worked with the two governments to develop this innovative conservation financing approach.
The forest land is rich in wildlife and an important source for securing carbon. It is also a place that many local communities rely on for their livelihoods because it provides them with jobs and firewood to heat their homes.
Through the agreement, carried out under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, Indonesia's debt to the U.S. of $28.5 million is "swapped" for investment over the next five to seven years in three Heart of Borneo forest districts.
The U.S. government is responsible for reducing Indonesia's debt obligations by $20 million. WWF and The Nature Conservancy each provided $2 million. Because of the timing of the debt payments, the actual amount available for forest protection in Indonesia is $28.5 million.
Funding from this swap will help protect two WWF priority areas:
•Kutai Barat District, where work will focus on protecting remaining natural forest, by converting degraded land into palm oil plantations
•Kapuas Hulu, an area between Danau Sentarum and Betung Kerihun national parks that, if connected, would provide a place for orangutans and other wildlife to roam freely and for forest carbon to be stored
The debt-swap will provide many benefits to the region including:•funds invested in critical biodiversity conservation projects, such as protected areas and habitat corridors
•strengthened role of communities in natural resource management through new projects and community managed areas
•improved governance of natural resources through sustainable forestry practices and certification
•enhancement of the land use planning process to minimize the impacts from unsustainable agriculture
Florida's AQI Shows Consistent Green
Florida's Air Quality Index (AQI) Summary stands out impressively in the green when you visit AirNow, a website developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Park Service along with tribal, state and local agencies to provide the public with air quality reports in their regions.
Daily current reports, tomorrow's forecasts and the current AQI are provided for all states. On any given day, conditions show a variance ranging from Good (green, 0-50), Moderate (yellow, 51-100), Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (orange, 101-150), Unhealthy (red, 151-200), Very Unhealthy (purple, 201-300) and Hazardous (maroon, 301-500).
When the AQIs reach above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy for active children and adults, people with respiratory difficulties and those with heart or lung disease. For the most part, as you scroll through the states, there are predominantly greens, with a few yellows and oranges.
Of the states that have more than a dozen monitoring sites, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and New Jersey are consistently ranked green.
The summary also reports the current AQI numbers, as well as an archived section to refer back to. And now, as with just about everything, there's even "an App for that." EPA's AirNow offers a free downloadable iPhone app with real-time air quality information, so finding out if the air is clean is as easy as pushing a button.
Political weakness keeps older power plants polluting 30+ years too long Across the nation, old coal-fired power plants are gasping for their last breath, having survived long past their prime because of political favors and weak government regulations. They would have died decades ago if not for a fateful policy compromise in the late 1970s that exempted existing power plants from new air quality standards in the Clean Air Act.
The compromise was based on a prediction that the plants would be retired soon, but instead it gave them a whole new lease on life, with a free pass to pollute for another 30 plus years. And until recently, there was no end in sight.
These plants continue to cough up toxic pollutants like mercury, lead and arsenic into the air. They are by far the biggest producers of the power sector's pollution, forcing millions of Americans to seek their own life support – in the form of respirators and inhalers – just to get through each day without an asthma attack.
Earthjustice litigation is taking steps to close the loopholes and retire dozens of the old plants, while cleaning up those that continue to operate. We are employing a multi-prong strategy to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen pollution standards based on the best available science and technology.
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Miscellaneous
Five states take Asian carp case to Supreme Court Five states are going to the U.S. Supreme Court with a plea for faster action on a federal study of how to prevent invasive species such as Asian carp from migrating between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday he's asked the nation's highest court to hear the case after being turned down by a federal appeals court in August.
Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago's water district. They want to physically separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage basins in the Chicago area, where a man-made navigational canal offers a direct link between Lake Michigan and Mississippi tributaries.
Chicago-area shipping interests say doing so would damage the area economy and cause flooding.
An Unusual Find A tiny box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora), only a few centimeters in length, was spotted in Henderson Creek at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center.
After carefully bringing the little creature inside to take photos, it was released back into the creek.
This species of box jellyfish has better developed eyes than other jellyfish, having both simple and complex eyes. The complex eyes have a lens, cornea and retina. The tiny jellies thrive in the mangrove-fringed waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
This species' range has been expanding and little is known about its current distribution. It is harmless to humans, unlike its potentially lethal Australian cousins, including the deadly sea wasp with the ability to kill 60 humans with its deadly venom that attacks the heart, nervous system and skin cells.
In Memoriam
Ellen Peterson December 5, 1923 - October 14, 2011 Ellen Peterson, 87, of Estero, Florida passed away on October 14th, 2011.
Ellen was a warrior when it came to the environment; she cared deeply and devoted her life to saving the planet and protecting Mother Earth. She served on many boards and advisory committees such as: the Agency for Bay Management, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Save Our Creeks, the Responsible Growth Management Coalition, The Everglades Committee, the Environmental Peace and Education Center and the Sierra Club's Calusa Group. Ellen founded the Calusa group over 30 years ago and remained the chairperson until her death.
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