"In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness…to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now. Wangari Maathai

Announcements

 

Mark your calendar. The 15th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count will be held February 17-20, 2012. Discover and help the birds in your community. The GBBC is fun, family-friendly, and educational. It is free and open to all ages and skill levels. Everything you need to know to participate is on the GBBC website at www.birdcount.org including instructions, checklists, FAQ's, and a how-to-video. For the past 5 years Clewiston has been in the Top Ten for the number of birds reported during the count. Students and adults from Belle Glades, Felda, LaBelle and Okeechobee submitted reports in 2011. It is easy to participate in this four day free event. Spend 15 minutes or more each day during the count then enter your tallies on the Great Backyard Bird Count website. If you don't have internet access you may request forms from Margaret England sta5birding@embarqmail.com or call (863) 674-0695 or (863) 517-0202.

Welcome to GBBC - Great Backyard Bird Count www.birdsource.org

Dear Sawgrass Nature Center Supporters, As most of you know, we are hosting our 7th Annual Go Wild In The Park Event on January 28. It is a fun-filled event for adults and children. You can get more info on our website at www.sawgrassnaturecenter.org.

We need you help in publicizing this event to your schools, staff, parents, members, etc. You get the picture. We would greatly appreciate if you could send out, post on social media, post at your place of business, or on your website, our flyer or info about the event. I have attached a full page flyer, mini-flyers (2/page), and small cards. You are welcome to use whatever works best for you. We just want to get the word out to as many people as possible.

We greatly appreciate your help and your continued support of the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital and we look forward to seeing you at Go Wild In The Park on January 28th.

Sincerely,

Robin Reccasina, Education Director Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital 3000 Sportsplex Drive Coral Springs, FL 33065 954/752-9453 www.sawgrassnaturecenter.org

ENV Magazine is 100% behind Redland Tropical Gardens and their very important mission. I ask that you see the Cover story at www.envmagazine.org then, please assist us with participation (attendance, Lexus raffle and/or a donation)

Port Everglades' Chief Executive Officer Phil Allen will retire this February after nearly 26 years with Broward County including six years at the helm of Port Everglades. [I have had several opportunities to work with Phil Allen with regard to environmental issues within Port Everglades, and found him to be reasonable to work with, respectful of the environment and dedicated to the future of Port Everglades. He will be missed. Hopefully his replacement will be equally environmentally responsible.]

Join Audubon and other wildlife lovers on February 3-5. Wondering what you can do on a cool winter day at one of Florida's gorgeous beaches? The statewide mid-winter shorebird survey window is coming up on the weekend of February 3-5, 2012.

This is an annual survey administered by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission through the network of Shorebird Partnerships on the Florida Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

Audubon staff and chapter members are active in many of the Partnerships, which meet as a group semi-annually. The statewide shorebird surveys are conducted each year in early February to provide a long-term record of winter abundance and coastal distributions of state and federally listed Snowy and Piping plovers.

All beach-dependent birds and waterbirds are counted annually because many of them – like Red Knots – are birds that are declining throughout their North American or western hemisphere ranges. Data collected during these surveys is important not only to land managers and wildlife agencies in Florida but to researchers studying range-wide causes of population declines.

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Of interest to all

Read Audubon's Restore Magazine

Read Audubon's Center for Birds of Prey Newsletter

Those wishing to take Eco tours can visit Natural Habitat Adventures, where tours can be found to accommodate any taste and budget

Birds

Wood Storks - Mission Accomplished? In response to the recent threats to sue the US Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to downlist the endangered Wood Stork to threatened status, the Audubon Wood Stork Research Team are calling attention to stark omissions in the media's coverage and public dialogue on this important issue.

Wood Storks are a system-wide indicator species for the multi-billion dollar Everglades Restoration effort and its nesting remains decimated there due to wetland destruction. Thus, Wood Storks have moved in big numbers to many smaller colonies in Georgia and South Carolina, which Audubon scientists agree may meet the numeric prescription for downlisting.

However, nesting totals in the stork's historic home in the Everglades tells a far more troubling story. There has been no new nesting in four of the past five years at the nation's largest Wood Stork colony at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, located in the Western Everglades.

This raises serious questions about whether the Wood Stork can recover as a species without longterm restoration of its historic Everglades home. This and other questions about long term sustainability of the new small northern colonies must be answered before any claim of "mission accomplished", which has been the tone of many recent news accounts.

Good News for a Bad-luck Bird - First photos of petrel chick renew hope for endangered seabird Ithaca, NY--Friday the 13th is turning out to be a lucky day for a Caribbean seabird whose eerie night-time calls have long haunted visitors to its cliff top breeding grounds. Today a crew of researchers is launching an expedition to search for additional nesting sites in the Dominican Republic. The expedition caps a headline year for the endangered Black-capped Petrel. First, scientists working in Haiti obtained the first-ever photos of a chick—a fist-sized ball of gray fluff that was discovered at a nest inside a mountaintop cave. Then the International Black-capped Petrel Conservation Group brought together participants from 12 countries to produce the first comprehensive conservation action plan for the species.

The Black-capped Petrel is known as the diablotín, or "little devil" in Spanish, probably because of its spooky cries. Best estimates suggest that fewer than 2,000 breeding Black-capped Petrel pairs remain. The crow-sized birds nest only in the Caribbean but feed as far away as Gulf Stream waters off the Mid-Atlantic United States.

"Finding this nest shows both that gems of biodiversity are yet to be found in Haiti, despite its environmental and economic troubles, and that there's still time to save rare species if we act swiftly," said James Goetz, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology graduate student who has helped lead the project.

The nest, containing a single egg and an incubating adult petrel, was discovered on March 3, 2011, by Jairo Arache of Grupo Jaragua. On return visits in April, May, and June researchers photographed but did not handle the growing chick as it waited for its parents to return with food. An automatic camera showed that adults visited the nest for an average of 80 minutes every couple of nights, typically between 9 p.m. and midnight.

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Additional info

10 Places to See Bald Eagles This Winter

January is National Bald Eagle Watch Month--celebrate by visiting one of these top eagle-watching spots (Updated 1/3/12) 01-10-2011 // NWF staff.

Throngs of bald eagles from Alaska and Canada have always shifted south in winter. In recent years, as the species continues to recover from its brush with extinction, those numbers are increasing steadily. From Maryland's Chesapeake Bay to Washington Skagit River, dozens, even hundreds, of the birds congregate each winter along waters in every state except Hawaii. Here are some of the best places in the country to see them:

1. KLAMATH BASIN, on the California-Oregon border, hosts the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the Lower 48. As many as 1,000 eagles occupy the refuge complex during the peak months of January and February. Many of the birds are visible from the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake auto tours. Call the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge at (530) 667-2231, or visit the refuge online at http://klamathbasinrefuges.fws.gov .

2. UPPER SKAGIT RIVER WATERSHED in Northwest Washington draws hundreds of eagles to tens of thousands of dead and dying salmon at the end of the spawning season. Eagle numbers peak in late December and early January. Contact the Bald Eagle Interpretive Center in mid-December through mid-February at (360) 853-7077, or (360) 853-7283 during the rest of the year. Information is also available at www.skagiteagle.org .

3. UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER is jam-packed with bald eagles in winter, and some of the best views are available below the locks and dams. Visit Nelson Dewey State Park in Cassville, Wisconsin, in December through February. Contact the park at (608) 725-5374, and find out more about Cassville's eagles at www.cassville.org/nelsondewey.html .

4. MISSOURI'S SQUAW CREEK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE is festooned with bald eagles in November and December, when the waterfowl population peaks. Many eagles perch along the main auto loop. Contact the refuge at (800) 877-8339, or visit http://midwest.fws.gov/SquawCreek .

5. WOLF LODGE BAY within Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho is frequented by dozens of migratory bald eagles when the kokanee salmon start to spawn. The eagles begin arriving in November, and the largest concentrations generally occur in late December and early January. Contact the Bureau of Land Management at (208) 769-5000. For an online brochure including a map of eagle viewing sites, see http://www.sandpoint.com/lifestyle/fall06/baldeagles.asp .

6. QUABBIN RESERVOIR in Massachusetts is one of the Northeast's best-known winter eagle lookouts. Bald eagles were introduced there in the 1980s. Today, year-round resident eagles are joined by dozens more in winter, with numbers peaking in February. Contact the visitor center at (413) 323-7221.

7. KARL E. MUNDT NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE in South Dakota hosts anywhere from 50 to 200 bald eagles in winter. The birds begin to arrive in late October. Numbers peak in December and January. Contact the refuge at (605) 487-7603, or visit http://www.fws.gov/lakeandes/mundt/ .

8. NEW YORK'S HUDSON RIVER AND SULLIVAN COUNTY provide abundant opportunities to see congregations of wintering bald eagles less than a two-hour drive from midtown Manhattan. Contact the Hudson River Foundation, (212) HUDSON or visit www.hudsonriver.org. For information about Sullivan County's eagles, call The Eagle Institute at (845) 557-6162, or visit www.eagleinstitute.org .

9. BLACKWATER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE in Maryland is a place to see abundant eagles not only in winter, but also throughout the rest of the year. The refuge hosts a healthy breeding population of bald eagles and high concentrations of wintering eagles drawn by migratory waterfowl each winter. Contact the refuge at (410) 228-2677 or see http://blackwater.fws.gov .

10. OKLAHOMA'S RIVER AND RESERVOIRS host large numbers of bald eagles each winter. Some of the best public viewing is available at three sites: Kaw Lake near Ponca City, Salt Plains Lake near Enid and the Keystone Reservoir on the confluence of the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers on the west side of Tulsa. Contact the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation at (405) 521-4616, or visit http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/okbald/winter.htm .

Before You Go: Eagle Etiquette

When you head out to see eagles, keep in mind that human presence can stress the birds and cause them to waste precious energy that they need to survive. To avoid being disruptive, follow these basic tips:

• Stay in or near your vehicle at roadside viewing areas
  
• Move quickly and quietly to observation blinds, where you will be safely hidden from the birds' view
  
• Avoid making loud noises, such as yelling, slamming car doors and honking horns
  
• Use binoculars or a spotting scope to view the birds from a comfortable distance
  
• Never attempt to make an eagle fly Source: The Eagle Institute
  

Invasive species

Several dangerous snakes are being banned from sale and import to the United States in an attempt to stem an invasion that is affecting native life in the Florida Everglades.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a rule Tuesday morning against the importation and interstate trade of four large exotic snakes - Burmese pythons, northern and southern African rock pythons and the yellow anaconda. Salazar was joined by Nelson and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

Burmese and rock pythons began turning up in the Everglades in large numbers a few years ago, released by irresponsible pet owners or from escaped from pet stores and importers during hurricanes.

Help halt the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys A private company called Oxitec wants to release potentially harmful genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys as early as late spring of this year, in what would be the first-ever U.S. release of these engineered bugs.

There are too many unanswered questions about the ecological and health impacts of these mosquitoes. State and federal agencies have yet to fully study them and there are no laws on the books to properly regulate the release of these bugs into the wild. Furthermore, we found that Oxitec was concealing evidence from the public about how many of its engineered mosquitoes could survive.

An outpouring of public opposition from Floridians is our best shot at stopping Oxitec's plans.

Please take action now

Florida Panthers

Dear Friends,

After a year which saw a record 24 Florida panthers killed by auto collision, intraspecific aggression (panther on panther fights to the death), illegal shootings, wildfire, and "unknown causes", 2012 has gotten off to a rough start for Florida's state animal - and the only large cat which remains east of the Mississippi River. In just the first 2 weeks of the year, a total of 4 Florida panthers have died - two on highways, one in a territorial fight with another panther just outside a new housing development, and one by apparent infection. For a species which resides on just 5 percent of its former range (estimated to be shrinking by 1 percent per year) and has a maximum population of 160 individuals - this is not a good sign of things to come.

You can help. The new director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Dan Ashe, is currently touring south Florida along with Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Positive announcements are being made on banning the import of invasive snake species, supporting Everglades restoration, and investing hundreds of millions of dollars to protect ranch lands in central Florida. With Director Ashe's attention firmly on the Sunshine State, now is a perfect time to ask him to take the steps necessary to the recovery of Florida's great cat. As always - individual emails will carry much more weight than a form letter.

Director Ashe's email is: dan_ashe@fws.gov

There is an underscore _ between dan and ashe.

Here are two suggestions from South Florida Wildlands Association for you to consider sending to Director Ashe.

1. Designate "critical habitat" for the panther immediately.

In February of 2010, in response to a petition by a coalition of environmental organizations, FWS chose to deny the Florida panther "critical habitat" protection under the Endangered Species Act - in spite of numerous documented benefits to species recovery. Thus, while the panther itself is currently protected, its habitat is not. In their denial, the service cited both the need to have "cooperative" relationships with area landowners as well as a "technicality" - the panther was protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1973 before the requirement to provide critical habitat designation for any endangered animal was mandated by a 1978 amendment to the Act.

Just since the 2010 decision, ten new development projects have been approved by FWS in panther habitat (since 1984, FWS has approved 143 individual projects - a near perfect record). The ten recent projects include the typical mosaic of usages now common throughout south Florida: expanded agricultural operations; a waste to energy plant; a golf course community; a parking lot for off-road vehicles; a road widening project; and a limestone mine.

In each case, after acknowledging "adverse impacts to the Florida panther and Florida panther habitat", the service has concluded, "Critical habitat has not been designated for the Florida panther, and therefore, will not be affected".

For a look at what one of these projects actually looks like on the ground, this video was shot 2 weeks ago at mile marker 51 of Interstate 75. It shows the massive new parking lot being constructed in the heart of primary panther habitat in the Big Cypress National Preserve Addition Lands. A popular hiking trail now lies buried somewhere beneath it. When completed, the project will provide parking for some of the 650 recreational motor vehicles which FWS has also approved in this highly sensitive area.
http://m1e.net/c?121296117-1HoQ70S3M42Tg%407155690-OEQhasp.P0d.Y

2. Move immediately to expand the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

As mentioned above, Director Ashe will be making an announcement today to protect 150,000 acres of ranch lands in central Florida through a combination of land purchases and conservation easements. He will be requesting a 700 million dollar authorization from congress to accomplish that.

While we appreciate the intent of the "Headwaters of the Everglades" project, South Florida Wildlands Association (SFWA) believes that, given the current plight of the panther, a re-prioritization is absolutely essential. At least a half dozen properties essential to the panther - and totaling approximately the same acreage as would be included in the Headwaters project - have been on the books for a decade as unfinished "Florida Forever" projects (the State of Florida's conservation land acquisition program). These include a property to the north of the Big Cypress Addition Lands (bought up by Florida Power and Light just this past June and now slated to become the biggest fossil fuel power plant in the country - the Hendry County Clean Energy Center - if we and our allies are unsuccessful in stopping the project). Another piece of privately owned land borders the Caloosahatchee River and has been identified as the last piece of undeveloped property which panthers (so far only males) use to leave the confines of south Florida. While SFWA and other environmental organizations are working hard to bring this key corridor under conservation protection, the "for sale" sign remains.

Time is of the essence. These lands and others adjacent to them are on the Florida Growth Machine's chopping block now. Allowing them to be developed will likely deal a fatal blow to the panther's chances of recovery. If protected they would form a completely contiguous corridor of conservation lands and habitat which would stretch from the Caloosahatchee River to the southern tip of Everglades National Park. They have been extensively studied for their conservation importance and, with the sole exception of the land recently purchased by Florida Power and Light, have owners willing to provide protection without added development (we are still hoping Florida Power and Light will come around on this as well). This is not an opportunity we want to miss.

Please send an email to Director Ashe now. Ask him to reconsider the decision of his agency and designate critical habitat for the panther immediately. And ask him to use the power of the federal government to acquire lands necessary to the survival of Florida's great cat by expanding the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge with already identified, essential acquisitions. Once again, Director Ashe's email address is: dan_ashe@fws.gov

The National Park Service's own comments on the construction of the parking lot and motorized recreational access point described above are well worth a read. Written in 1994, they are a fitting summary of what we (and the panther) stand to lose:

"The odds for the long-term survival of the Florida panther in the wild are not good. The-human population in the region continues to increase, resulting in urban growth and expansion of the regional highway network into former panther habitat. The demand and use of panther habitat for outdoor recreation has also increased and will continue to do so.Any action that decreases the wilderness qualities of the Everglades region impacts this species. The existing threats to the panther are interrelated and cannot be separated. The primary threat to the Florida panther has been human encroachment into panther habitat."

Eloquent words. Now is the time to follow them and make true protection of Florida panther habitat - along with the hundreds of species of plants and animals which share it - a reality.

Best regards,

Matt Schwartz Executive Director South Florida Wildlands Association P.O. Box 30211Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33303 954-634-7173

Endangered Species

Bat death toll reaches 6 million in USA White-nose syndrome has killed some 6 million bats and is still spreading.

January 2012. On the verge of another season of winter hibernating bat surveys, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and partners estimate that at least 5.7 million to 6.7 million bats have now died from white-nose syndrome. Biologists expect the disease to continue to spread.

100% mortality rates

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is decimating bat populations across eastern North America, with mortality rates reaching up to 100 percent at many sites. First documented in New York in 2006, the disease has spread quickly into 16 states and four Canadian provinces. Bats with WNS exhibit unusual behavior during cold winter months, including flying outside during the day and clustering near the entrances of caves and mines where they hibernate. Bats have been found sick and dying in unprecedented numbers near these hibernacula.

Natural pest control

"This startling new information illustrates the severity of the threat that white-nose syndrome poses for bats, as well as the scope of the problem facing our nation. Bats provide tremendous value to the U.S. economy as natural pest control for American farms and forests every year, while playing an essential role in helping to control insects that can spread disease to people," said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. "We are working closely with our partners to understand the spread of this deadly disease and minimize its impacts to affected bat species."

Estimating the total number of bat deaths has been a difficult challenge for biologists. Although consistent population counts for federally listed endangered bats, like the Indiana bat, have been a priority for state and federal biologists, establishing population counts of once "common" bat species, like little brown bats, was historically not the primary focus of seasonal bat population counts.

White-nose syndrome

"White-nose syndrome has spread quickly through bat populations in eastern North America, and has caused significant mortality in many colonies," said National WNS Coordinator, Dr. Jeremy Coleman, "Many bats were lost before we were able to establish pre-white-nose syndrome population estimates."

More than 140 partners, including tribal, state and federal biologists and bat researchers convened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the 2012 Northeast Bat Working Group (NEBWG) meeting last week to discuss challenges facing bat research, management and conservation. Coordinating with wildlife officials in Canada, the group discussed population-level impacts to hibernating bats and developed the estimate of bats lost to WNS.

In addition to the lack of population data for many bat species, there has also been a lack of consistency in how bat population data was reported among agencies. As part of the May 2011 national WNS response plan, which was developed by the Service in partnership with a team of federal, state, tribal, and NGO scientists, agencies are addressing this by establishing methods for consistent data collection.

The National Plan for Assisting States, Federal Agencies and Tribes in Managing White-Nose Syndrome in Bats provides a framework for the coordination and management of the national WNS investigation response, and the Service leads an extensive network of partners in implementing the plan.

The Service serves as the primary resource for up-to-date information and recommendations for all partners, such as important decontamination protocols for cave researchers and visitors and a cave access advisory that requests a voluntary moratorium on activities in caves in affected states to minimize the potential spread of WNS.

In addition to developing science-based protocols and guidance for land management agencies and other partners to minimize the spread of WNS, the Service has funded numerous research projects to support and assess management recommendations and improve our basic understanding of the dynamics of the disease.

Record number of manatees this week in Broward County A record number of manatees were counted Tuesday in Broward County, as near-perfect conditions made it easier for biologists to see the endangered mammals from the air.

A helicopter survey found 1,192 manatees, the vast majority in the cooling lakes of a Florida Power & Light plant west of Fort Lauderdale Hollywood-International Airport.

Power plants suck in water to cool their turbines, discharging warm water that attracts manatees. The animals can't tolerate cold and flock to the plants when the temperature drops. But there's no food around the power plants, so when the temperature warms, the hungry manatees head up the Intracoastal Waterway to the seagrass beds of Palm Beach County and points farther north.

By the power plant near the airport, biologists counted 947 manatees. Another 129 were around the FPL plant at Port Everglades and most of the rest in travel corridors such as the Intracoastal Waterway and the New River.

Pat Quinn, Broward County's manatee coordinator, said the next few days will be hazardous for manatees, as they swim through the busy boating traffic of the New River and Intracoastal Waterway. He urged boaters to be extra careful.

You can see live webcams of manatees around the state here

Manatee Cams at Blue Spring State Park! One of the most educational and uplifting things undertaken in 2011 by the Save the Manatee Club was the installation of webcams at Blue Spring State Park. It is amazing to watch endangered manatees, including mother and calf pairs, playing in the spring run. And this is just the beginning of the excitement surrounding the webcams there. They give us the opportunity to reach literally millions of people around the globe with our conservation message.

Support for the webcams was made possible by a donation to Save the Manatee Club as a memorial gift in honor of the late Mrs. Norma Norton, a Florida resident who cared deeply for manatees. Mrs. Norton's love for manatees will inspire so many people from all walks of life through Internet and webcam technology. People everywhere will get to know manatees and come to love them, as Mrs. Norton did.

I know you'll be as thrilled as I am to watch manatees on our webcams. Click here to see the manatees live at Blue Spring. In addition, you can read the latest manatee reports from Wayne Hartley, our Manatee Specialist and former Park Ranger and Principal Investigator for manatee research conducted at Blue Spring State Park, and see other manatee videos from the Blue Spring webcams.

A motion sensor camera the Conservancy helped place in China got pictures of a giant panda eating meat! Pandas are vegetarians, right? Well, new findings by Conservancy scientists suggest the issue isn't as black and white (or, er, as green and blood red) as once thought.

Motion sensor cameras were set up this summer in the soon-to-be established Motianling County Land Trust Reserve in northern Sichuan by The Nature Conservancy, Peking University and local government partners. In November they captured images of a giant panda consuming the carcass of a takin, a Himalayan goat-antelope. These photos provide visual confirmation that pandas at least occasionally eat meat in addition to their customary staple of bamboo leaves.

While this isn't news to scientists — evidence in feces has shown that pandas do sometimes eat meat — very few photos exist of a panda actually consuming it.

But the panda's no killer; scientists confirmed that the takin had died of natural causes several days before it was discovered by the panda. "These images show that there is still so much we don't know about their behavior," says Zhao Peng, the Motianling project lead for the Conservancy. "They really are an incredible species."

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Everglades and Water Quality Issues

Weed-Eating Fish Keep Flood Control Canals Clear Grass carp are effective biocontrols of invasive aquatic plants.

More than 11,000 fish slid down a chute and into the North New River Canal in late December in a continuing South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) effort to use environmentally friendly biocontrols that keep flood control canals clear of invasive weeds.

"Managing 1,600 miles of flood control canals requires a specialized and ongoing maintenance program to ensure they operate as designed to protect South Florida's residents," said Tommy Strowd, Director of the SFWMD's Operations, Maintenance and Construction Division. "The fish are a natural means to maintain some of the canals and achieve our flood control mission."

The carp, which are farm-raised in Arkansas, serve as highly effective biological controls by eating aquatic vegetation including hydrilla, a rapidly growing invasive plant. Overgrowth of these plants slows water flow and can clog SFWMD structures in canals that must be kept clear for flood control purposes.

Dense hydrilla growth also lowers dissolved oxygen concentrations that are critical to aquatic life. In addition, the invasive plant acts as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and can hamper recreational activities such as boating and fishing, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), a District partner in the grass carp management effort.

Utilizing the hungry fish to keep canals clear significantly reduces or eliminates the need for specially approved herbicides or labor-intensive mechanical means such as a tow boat.

Over a two-year timeframe, about 59,000 fish are being introduced to canals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The grass carp are stocked in strategic canal locations so they cannot enter natural areas, even though the fish are sterile and do not reproduce. Since 2007, the District has invested close to $300,000 in the grass carp program.

Residents also play a role in protecting South Florida's environment from invasive species. One of the primary ways that invasive species — both plant and animal — end up in the natural environment is when they are thrown out or released by people who no longer want them. For example, emptying a tropical aquarium full of live but non-native aquatic plants can have serious consequences for the environment.

Additional information on the District's efforts to control exotic invasive species is available at www.sfwmd.gov .

Drought's return to South Florida may be imminent If you thought last year was dry, this dry season is leaving that record-busting parchfest in the dust.

And that could push Palm Beach County back into official drought territory next month, forecasters warned Monday.

"We could be there as early as mid- to late February," said Barry Baxter, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Miami. "We are drier than last year."

Only 2.23 inches of rain have fallen at Palm Beach International Airport since Nov. 1, compared with 9.8 inches normally and 3.07 inches at this point last year.

That means 27 percent less rain than last year's dry season, which was the stingiest on record going back at least eight decades.

The dry conditions bring a heightened risk of brush fires and the prospect of tighter watering restrictions.

For now, the South Florida Water Management District has declared a water shortage warning to "encourage continued vigilance and voluntary water conservation."

Under the district's year-round watering policy, residents and businesses with an odd-numbered street address may water lawns and landscapes before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Others may water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Some local ordinances may vary.

Eight inches of rain in a wet October marked a promising start to the dry season. Lake Okeechobee and underground reservoirs are in better shape than they were last year at this time, Baxter said, but the advantage is drying up.

As early as Thursday, the area could earn a "D0," or "abnormally dry" designation, the last stop before "D1," or the start of formal drought conditions, Baxter said.

Conditions in the Pacific Ocean known as La Niña mean a high-pressure system has tended to hover over Florida and deflect moisture-bearing fronts, Baxter said. Things are likely to stay drier than usual through May, he said.

"The risk of wildfires will be increasing as we go through the dry season," Baxter said.

On Jan. 3, Lake Okeechobee stood at 13.65 feet above sea level, more than a foot below its historical average for that day but a foot above the previous year's 12.43. The lake serves as a water reserve important for agriculture as well as residents.

On Monday, the lake level was 13.44 feet, according to the water management district's website.

In December, the Army Corps of Engineers released water from Lake Okeechobee to shore up the Caloosahatchee Estuary. At the time, the lake was at 13.78 feet above sea level and had been stable for many weeks, the corps said.

The year before, the lake stood at 12.52 feet, compared with a historical average of 14.73 feet for that time.

There's not much relief in the forecast. A 20 percent chance of rain Wednesday night in the greater West Palm Beach area represents the most significant chance in the seven-day forecast.

Dry Season Continues with Below-Average December Rainfall Water conservation remains essential to protect public water supplies.

December rainfall from Orlando to the Florida Keys was about half of the average for the month, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) meteorologists reported. As in November, the dry conditions did not significantly impact regional water supplies, which are at adequate levels.

"December is a naturally dry time in South Florida," said SFWMD Meteorologist Geoff Shaughnessy. "Also, evapotranspiration — the amount of water lost from lakes, streams and vegetation — is at its lowest average in December and January, when temperatures are cooler and sunlight is shorter."

A forecast of below-average rainfall remains in place for the rest of the dry season. A water shortage warning remains in place for the entire 16-county District to encourage water conservation practices.

In December, a total of 0.90 inches of rain fell across the District, representing about half of the average for that time of year, or a deficit of 0.99 inches. A majority of the region received below-average rainfall for the month, with the largest deficits over the Upper Kissimmee and southwestern regions.

Unlike the water supply impacts from record dry conditions in 2010, water levels so far this dry season have been receding slowly. Lake Okeechobee stood at 13.66 feet NGVD on January 1, about a foot below its historical average for that time of year. The 730-square-mile lake, which serves as a backup water supply for South Florida, received a major boost from October rains and remains above its water shortage management zone.

SFWMD Installs Deep Exploratory Wells in Central Florida Test wells will help evaluate the aquifer 2,700 feet below ground

To support and sustain the water supply in Central Florida, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is drilling test wells up to 2,700 feet deep in previously unexplored portions of the Lower Floridan Aquifer.

"The Lower Floridan Aquifer in this area is largely uncharted territory, and its potential for boosting regional supplies is not yet known," said Terrie Bates, Director of the SFWMD Water Resources Division. "This could be a significant and viable alternative source to meet water needs in future years."

The SFWMD Governing Board has approved a contract for additional well drilling and testing, a continuation of an overall exploratory program initiated in 2011. Drilling sites include locations in Osceola and Polk counties.

Traditional water supplies, especially from shallow aquifers, are limited in many parts of the region. Alternative water sources, such as the deep Lower Floridan Aquifer, are being explored for potential use to meet future public water supply demands.

Data from the wells will be provided to the Central Florida Water Initiative — a partnership of utilities; stakeholders; and the South Florida, Southwest Florida and St. Johns River water management districts. The goal of the initiative is to gather additional information on alternative water supply that will potentially increase regional water supplies and improve the ability to protect natural systems.

The drilling operation is a meticulous, time-consuming effort. When drilling half a mile below ground, it takes 50 minutes for the excavated rock to reach the surface.

Lower Floridan Aquifer

In Florida, much of the public water supply comes from groundwater. Florida's aquifers, which supply more than 8 billion gallons of water each day, are among the most productive in the world.

The Floridan Aquifer System is the main source of groundwater in the Kissimmee Basin. It is comprised of multiple layers of rocks overlain by unconsolidated sediments. Some of these rock layers are porous and hold water, while others impede its movement.
The permeable zones of the Upper Floridan aquifers are the main portions used for water supply. Much less is known about the deeper portions of the aquifer.

Research currently under way on the Lower Floridan will help determine the aquifer's depth, water quality and other factors that will help identify its potential, long-term sustainability as a water resource.

By compiling and evaluating data from the test wells, the SFWMD and partner agencies will have a clearer picture of how the Lower Floridan Aquifer operates and how to better manage and protect the region's water.

Judge offers qualified praise for state Glades efforts A Miami federal judge on Thursday commended Gov. Rick Scott for stepping in with a proposal to bust open a legal logjam that for two decades has hampered efforts to stem the flow of pollution into the Everglades.

But the praise from U.S. District Judge Alan Gold was delivered in a cautious tone and included a message that might be summed up by that familiar line from Jerry Maguire: Show me the money.

Gold, who has issued a series of rulings blasting the "glacial delay'' in the federally mandated clean-up, urged state and federal environmental managers negotiating a new Everglades clean-up strategy to come back with a firm plan for both protecting the marsh and - just as important - paying for projects that could easily approach $1 billion or more.

While he said he was encouraged by ongoing talks to resolve two long-running federal lawsuits over farm, ranch and yard pollution poisoning the River of Grass, he cautioned that without a firm financial commitment from water managers and the state, "what we're doing is going around in circles, again.''

The public, he said, deserves "clear answers to these hard questions.... We ought to be about to state clearly what we can and cannot do.''

Christopher Kise, a Tallahassee attorney representing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, tried to reassure the judge, saying that over the past six months there had been "exceptional'' progress in negotiating a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.

"There is good reason for all of us to be encouraged,'' Kise said. "Are we there today? No. Can we get there in short order? Yes.''

Thursday's hearing was a status conference on progress toward implementing an EPA-designed clean-up plan that Gold approved last April in a lawsuit originally brought in 2005 by the Miccosukee Tribe and the environmental groups Friends of the Everglades.
The EPA plan calls for a massive, $1.5 billion expansion of the network of artificial marshes the state uses to scrub phosphorus, a nutrient that is a prime ingredient in fertilizer, from water flowing into the Everglades. In October, Scott went to Washington to unveil a counter-proposal the state argues can be done quicker and cheaper but will still meet the super-clean water quality standards needed to protect native plants in the Everglades.

Four federal agencies, in a November letter, raised concerns that the state's plan fell short and that it called for "significantly smaller" pollution treatment marshes and pushed back the cleanup deadline to 2022 - two years later than the EPA plan.

But negotiations have heated up over the past few months. Though details have been sketchy, Kise and water managers said the initial plan has significantly changed, with land swaps on the table to expand treatment marshes and discussions to impose additional fertilizer restrictions on farmers.

Gold also pressed the state and EPA to nail down a realistic payment plan, citing a financial report issued Wednesday by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency downgraded the credit standing of the South Florida Water Management District, which bankrolls most Everglades restoration projects, largely because Scott and the Florida Legislature last ordered the state's water districts to reduce their property tax rates by nearly a third.

Kise and Melissa Meeker, the district's executive director, said the governor was committed to finding a way to pay for work that would end the decades of litigation and "get on with the business of restoring the Everglades.''

Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the Friends of the Everglades, said he was skeptical about the state plan, saying it might amount to just another delay tactic - offered only at "the point of a sword'' when the judge threatened to strip authority over Everglades cleanup and hand it to the EPA.

Gold echoed those concerns, saying he was also "uneasy'' about EPA's progress in implementing its plan. The federal agency, he noted, has not scheduled a required public hearing on its plans until after he had scheduled a status hearing - timing that he said seemed "more than coincidence.''

The judge also warned that his "patience was pretty worn'' for legal maneuvers intended to delay cleanup and that he, and the public, would be watching the negotiations closely.

Ethan Shenkman, a deputy assistant attorney general representing the EPA, said he believed the state was negotiating in good faith to resolve the clean-up litigation.

"EPA is not interested in just an empty exercise that will have no other result than delay,'' Shenkman said.

By CURTIS MORGAN Cmorgan@Miamiherald.com

Judge's patience wearing thin on Everglades cleanup Empty exercise or signs of progress? Those were the two conflicting assessments of what happened last week in U.S. District Judge Alan Gold's Miami courtroom.

Gold has taken over the long and litigious case involving Everglades cleanup, which has been stalled in court and out of court for more than two decades. The Miccosukee Indian Tribe filed the suit in 2004, saying the state and feds weren't enforcing the Clean Water Act.

Christopher Kise, a Tallahassee attorney representing the state's interests in the case, tried to reassure Gold, according to reports by Miami Herald

"There is good reason for all of us to be encouraged," Kise told the court, adding: "Are we there today? No. Can we get there in short order? Yes."

Last week's hearing was yet another baby step forward and who knows how many steps backward that have hampered efforts to stop pollution and restore the wetlands and water quality in the River of Grass.

Last year, the EPA in Washington proposed a $1.5 billion restoration plan focused on expanding huge, manmade, buffering marshes used to filter phosphorous from the water before it flows into the Everglades.

Then Gov. Rick Scott entered the fray, urging a less-costly alternative, which he's asked the state Department of Environmental Protection to press in negotiations between Tallahassee and Washington. At last week's hearing, Gold signaled to all parties engaged in those talks to come up with a plan -- and, more importantly -- a way to pay for it.

As the judge duly noted, a financial report issued last week by Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit standing of the South Florida Water Management District, which pays for most Everglades restoration projects.

Why the downgrade? Well, because last year the governor and the Florida Legislature ordered the state's water districts to reduce property taxes by nearly a third.

With the history of promises made and broken, Gold appeared to be skeptical.

As Morgan reported, Gold told the parties appearing in his courtroom that the public deserves "clear answers to these hard questions. We ought to be able to state clearly what we can and cannot do."

That seems like a pretty open and transparent test for the state to meet. And until they do, Everglades cleanup remains stalled and all the rhetoric heard last week merely an empty exercise.

Researcher fears the unknown in Georgia-Pacific effluent Environmentalists and researchers have long felt fear when confronted with a proposed pipeline that will carry waste away from a Palatka paper mill and into the St. Johns River. For at least one scientist, it's a fear of the unknown.

The St. Johns Riverkeeper, the independent watchdog agency for the lower river basin, worries that the effluent might contain cancer-causing dioxins — a claim backed up by scientific research. But others, like Lucinda Sonnenberg, a researcher at Jacksonville University, are more concerned with what else might be in the water.

Because Georgia-Pacific could not meet color and conductivity standards in Rice Creek, where it has discharged its waste for the last 65 years, the company was ordered to construct a pipeline from its Palatka mill into the St. Johns River, the idea being that the pollution would be somewhat diluted.

Sonnenberg has spent a lot of time examining the effluent coming out of Georgia-Pacific's Palatka mill, and was contracted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to review the company's efforts to improve its effluent so that it could continue to be discharged into Rice Creek.

"What concerns me outside of my work with the DEP is the other contaminants whose source we don't know," Sonnenberg says.

"According to the DEP, at some point … dioxin in fish in Rice Creek was an issue," says Sonnenberg. "I would venture to speak for my colleagues at the DEP, that there have certainly been concerns with dioxins in the past. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the impetus was of the department to instigate additional studies."

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection admits that, historically, "dioxin was a part of [Georgia-Pacific]'s waste stream" but says that it was "fixed with new technologies."

"[The company] upgraded their bleaching sequence in 2001 to replace elemental chlorine with chlorine dioxide," says Dee Ann Miller, a spokesperson for the department. "This conversion to a much more protective method of pulp treatment is considered to be one of the best methods to address dioxin in pulp and paper mill discharges. Improvements have been seen in fish tissue sampling for dioxin and the Florida Department of Health reviewed fish tissue samples collected and analyzed from Rice Creek and the St. Johns River and determined the levels found do not constitute a potential health hazard."

Studying dioxins can prove difficult, though — especially with the state's regulatory climate. Sonnenberg tells of one instance in which a study found that there were levels of dioxins in the wastewater that exceeded the permit limit established by the state, but the study, though conducted by the EPA, was not an EPA-approved method for testing dioxins.

"Here's where the crux is: We have this really weird anomaly in our dioxin regulations," she says. "The water quality standard concentration is 1,000 times less than the lowest level that we can measure. Or put another way, the lowest level that we can measure is 1,000 times higher than the water quality standard. … So you can have two things that are absolutely true but can be found, nonsensically, to be contrary to each other."

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Wildlife and Habitat

Putting Farmland on a Fertilizer Diet The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a document recently that got no attention on the nightly news, or almost anywhere, really. Its title, I'm sure you'll agree, is a snooze: National Nutrient Management Standard.

Yet this document represents the agency's best attempt to solve one of the country's - and the world's - really huge environmental problems: The nitrogen and phosphorus that pollute waterways.

There's a simple reason why this problem is so big, and so hard to solve. Farmers have to feed their fields, before those fields can feed us. Without fertilizer, harvests would dwindle. But lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters lie downstream from highly fertilized farmland, and now they are choking to death on too much nutrition.....

So around the world, environmentalists and scientists are mobilizing to fight the plague of over-nutrition. That's where the new USDA document comes in. It lays out a host of steps that farmers can take - and will have to take, if they get funding from certain USDA programs - to minimize the spread of nutrients outside farm fields.

Essentially, it involves putting farmland on a sensible diet. Only feed the land as much as it really needs. And don't apply fertilizer, including manure, when the crops don't need it. Also, try to capture and store any excess nutrients. For instance, grow wintertime "cover crops" that can trap free nitrogen before it leaches into groundwater....

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Restoring the Everglades Together the federal government and state of Florida are transforming this area into an ecological gem, where the endangered Florida panther and other native plants and animals may once again thrive. Overland water flows will benefit the coastal estuaries and surrounding parks and wildlife preserves, and will recharge the aquifer. The short video story explains the transformation in more detail.

This project involves the restoration of natural water flow across 85 square miles in western Collier County that were drained in the early 1960s in anticipation of extensive residential development. This subsequent development dramatically altered the natural landscape, changing a healthy wetland ecosystem into a distressed environment. Wetlands will be restored in Picayune Strand (Southern Golden Gate Estates) and in adjacent public lands by reducing over-drainage, while restoring a natural and beneficial sheetflow of water to the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The refined project includes 83 miles of canal plugs, 227 miles of road removal, and the addition of pump stations (3) and spreader swales to aid in rehydration of the wetlands.

Protection levees are planned for adjacent private properties impacted by the project along with maintenance of flood protection for the Northern Golden Gate Estates residential area. The project significantly increases the size and improves major wetland ecosystems in adjacent lands including the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, and Collier Seminole State Park; benefiting threatened and endangered species such as the Florida panther and the red cockaded woodpecker. Water quality and large salinity fluctuation, caused by freshwater flowing from the Faka-Union Canal into the estuaries, will also be improved. In addition, the project provides public access and recreational opportunities.

US Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, and its partners are working hard to restore the treasured Everglades ecosystem. Check out these videos to learn more.

http://www.evergladesplan.org/facts_info/videos.aspx#top

Bristol Bay is an economic engine for Alaska. The bay –referred to as America's Fish Basket – is home to a fishing industry that produces almost 40 percent of the wild-caught seafood eaten in the United States, including salmon and halibut. With good tasting fish comes a plethora of jobs.

The Bristol Bay fishing industry creates more than 12,000 jobs for fishermen and processors – those who harvest the fish from Alaska's frigid bay – who live in the state year-round or just during fishing season. And it creates jobs for people nationwide who have a connection to the industry, such as those who:

• Produce bait and gear for the fishermen to use when harvesting fish
  
• Build the boats used by fishermen
  
• Buy the fish, then sell it to retailers
  
• Sell the fish at restaurants or grocery stores
  

Add up all of these jobs – as well as other revenue, like dollars generated through the sale of boats and the fish itself – and the annual value of Bristol Bay's fisheries is almost $5.4 billion dollars. This was found in a recent WWF study assessing the five commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay and its adjacent waterways.

The figure would be even higher if we could put a dollar value on the other benefits of the bay, including biodiversity, recreation, scenic amenities and social and cultural significance.

Even without these benefits factored in, the value of the bay's fisheries over 40 years ($216 billion) far exceeds the U.S. government's estimated value of oil and gas development in the region over the same time period ($7.7 billion), as noted in the study.

Global Warming and Climate Change

Protecting 10 Vulnerable Ecosystems from Climate Change Climate change is the largest threat that our natural heritage has ever faced. The effects of climate disruption are already being felt on even our most pristine landscapes. Setting aside areas where development is restricted is no longer enough — we must now actively work to create resilient habitats where plants, animals, and people are able to survive and thrive on a warmer planet.

Visit here and click on the images to learn more

Birds and Butterflies are adapting slowly to climate change For the past 20 years, the climate in Europe has been getting warmer. Species of bird and butterfly which thrive in cool temperatures therefore need to move further north. However, they have difficulty adapting to the warmer climate quickly enough, as shown by new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Åke Lindström is Professor of Animal Ecology at Lund University, Sweden. Together with other European researchers he has looked at 20 years' worth of data on birds, butterflies and summer temperatures. During this period, Europe has become warmer and set temperatures have shifted northwards by 250 km. Bird and butterfly communities have not moved at the same rate.

"Both butterflies and birds respond to climate change, but not fast enough to keep up with an increasingly warm climate. We don't know what the long-term ecological effects of this will be", says Åke Lindström.

Butterflies have adapted more quickly to the changing temperatures and have moved on average 114 km north, whereas birds have only moved 37 km. A likely reason is that butterflies have much shorter lifespans and therefore adapt more quickly to climate change. Because birds like to return to the same breeding ground as in previous years, there is also greater inertia in the bird system.

"A worrying aspect of this is if birds fall out of step with butterflies, because caterpillars and insects in general represent an important source of food for many birds", says Åke Lindström.

Sweden shows the strongest trends with regard to birds; however, there is no corresponding Swedish data for butterflies. For the study, the birds have been divided into 'cold' and 'warm' species, i.e. birds that thrive in slightly cooler or warmer temperatures. For example, chaffinches and reed buntings are 'colder' species and blackcaps and goldfinches 'warmer' species. In general, the researchers have observed that 'warm' birds are on the increase and 'cold' birds are in decline. When new species are seen in an area and others disappear, it is more often 'warm' species that arrive and 'cold' species that disappear.

Åke Lindström said "Over the past 50 years the main factors affecting bird and butterfly numbers and distribution have been agriculture, forestry and urbanization. Climate change is now emerging as an increasingly important factor in the development of biodiversity. For Sweden, this will probably mean more species of bird in the long run; many new species are already arriving from the continent."

Åke Lindström works among other things on the projects BECC (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate) and CanMove (Centre for Animal Movement Research) at Lund University in Sweden. The study is a joint European project with data from 20 years and seven countries (Spain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Finland and the Czech Republic). The Swedish data covers birds and temperatures and has been gathered on behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

The Broward County Climate Change Task Force was created in 2008 to develop recommendations for the Board of County Commissioners on mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce climate change impacts to the county. The Broward Climate Change Action Plan (Action Plan) was developed in 2010 through analysis of climate science, community participation, and the recommendations of the Task Force. A series of recommendations were created with the analysis of three main types of information: sea level rise projections, greenhouse gas emissions and sources, and a coastal vulnerability assessment.

The Action Plan recommends the county to:

• Create an Office of Sustainability/Climate Program
  
• Support a regional collaborative climate action plan
  
• Collaborate on joint legislative policies with neighboring counties
  
• Amend the county's comprehensive plan
  
• Support Everglades restoration and enhance the urban ecosystem
  
• Incorporate climate change adaptation into public infrastructure planning
  
• Protect water resources
  
• Improve modeling, monitoring, and mappings
  
• Amend zoning and building regulations
  
• Create a functional mass transportation system
  
• Develop renewable and alternative energy program
  
• Increase recycling and promote zero waste
  
• Support marketing and incentives in energy conservation for low income households
  
• Provide climate change community outreach and education on mitigation and adaptation strategies
  

Other Broward County climate change initiatives include:

• Green effort to reduce greenhouse gases in Broward county government operations.
  
• School Conservation and Climate Change Challenge program (the C3 Challenge).
  
• A climate change leadership summit to develop regional collaboration with the neighboring counties in south Florida including Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The result of the summit was a climate compact ratified by all four Counties in January 2010.
  
• Carbon footprint training for municipalities in the county and the launch of a website to provide climate and energy program-related resources for municipalities.
  

Project Outcomes and Conclusions

Broward County has been successful in catalyzing and initiating a climate program for the region. Through the recommendations of the Broward County Climate Change Task Force and the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Leadership Summit recommendations, Broward County is in the position to partner in the development of a regional climate change action plan in south Florida with adjacent counties Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Monroe.

Energy

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam wants lawmakers to develop a comprehensive energy policy for Florida — a topic they've shelved for several years.

Putnam is pushing 11 proposals that he says will start the state on a path to energy diversity by reducing its dependency on natural gas.

But he's moving with caution.

The last person to push for energy reform in Florida was former Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist called for sweeping reform in 2007 when attacking climate change was more politically popular. A year after he left office, Crist's policies lie dormant in statutes or have been repealed.

Putnam said in an interview that his approach is "more market-oriented, more modest."

"I think it reflects better capability of new technologies rather than what we think they might one day be," Putnam said.

Highlights include: allowing utilities to charge ratepayers for the cost of developing 75 megawatts or 1 percent of their generating capacity from renewable energy; allowing utilities to enter into approved financing projects with renewable energy companies, something they can already do with publicly owned solid waste facilities; and reviving $16 million in tax breaks for investments in renewable energy technology and production.

Putnam acknowledges his platform isn't earth-shattering. Still, several renewable energy supporters said they're grateful someone is starting to shoulder the cause for energy diversity and conservation.

"We would always like to see more aggressive efforts to move the needle faster," said Susan Glickman of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "But it was a pleasant change to have a statewide leader starting that conversation."

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Cuba: Oil Exploration Could Boost Economy But Threaten Florida The arrival of a deep water rig to explore for oil off Cuba's northern coast raises the prospect of huge revenues that could revive Cuba's command economy and undermine U.S. sanctions. It may also lead to huge oil spills that could affect the Florida coast.

Cuba's offshore oil development plans are a consequence of U.S. sanctions that bar American oil companies from exploring for oil in Cuban waters. To get around the sanctions, Havana has engaged non-American firms to build an oil rig using less than 10 percent U.S. technology, which prevents Cuba from using a blow-out protector that might avoid an oil spill similar to the $40 billion BP Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.

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Land Conservation

Secretary of Interior Announces Establishment of Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area As part of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today accepted a 10-acre donation of land in south-central Florida to officially establish the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area, conserving one of the last remaining grassland and longleaf pine savanna landscapes in eastern North America.

The land, donated by The Nature Conservancy, is part of the Hatchineha Ranch south of Kissimmee and provides valuable habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including bald eagles, swallow-tailed kites and gopher tortoises.

"The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area is an example of the 21st century approach to conservation envisioned by President Obama when he unveiled his America's Great Outdoors initiative last year," Salazar said. "Working in close partnership with landowners, we are bolstering ongoing efforts to conserve the Everglades in the Kissimmee Valley, while ensuring the area's ranching and farming heritage remains strong."

The new refuge and conservation area is the 556th unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

If fully realized, the refuge and conservation area will span 150,000 acres north of Lake Okeechobee. Two-thirds of the acreage, or 100,000 acres, will be protected through conservation easements purchased from willing sellers. With easements, private landowners would retain ownership of their land, as well as the right to work the land to raise cattle or crops. The easements would ensure the land could not be developed.

Wildlife Conservation Commission and other state agencies, conservation organizations, user groups, Native American Tribes and federal agencies [cooperated] in the creation of the new refuge and conservation area.

"The refuge and conservation area supports the Fish and Wildlife Service's emphasis on strategic habitat conservation at a landscape level by building on the large number of ongoing conservation efforts in the Kissimmee River Valley," Service Director Dan Ashe said. "One of the criteria to consider for all acquisitions, whether through easements or purchase of fee title, is whether the acquisition will connect existing conservation lands and create habitat corridors for plants and animals."

For more information: EvergladesHeadwaters@fws.gov

http://www.fws.gov/southeast/evergladesheadwaters/

Charlie Pelizza, Refuge Manager, 772.581.5557

A Thousand Miles of Florida Splendor Captured in 100 Days Many folks have explored Florida's vast wilderness and shared their experiences along the way. But on Tuesday, a photographer, a bear biologist, a conservationist and a filmmaker began a journey of 1,000 miles to bring awareness to the need for a statewide network of connected natural areas throughout Florida.

Photographer Carlton Ward Jr., biologist Joe Guthrie, conservationist Mallory Lykes Dimmitt and documentary filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus began their Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition in Everglades National Park and will travel for 100 days to reach their final destination – the Okefenokee National Forest in southern Georgia.

All along the journey, the group will document the diverse habitats – watersheds, forests, farms and ranches – over which they travel. The message they hope to get out is the need to preserve Florida's forests, waterbodies and wildlife habitats as a way of ensuring clean air, water and protection for many of Florida's wildlife species, including the threatened Florida black bear and endangered Florida panther.

The 1,000-mile expedition route will take the team through and around many ecosystems and well-known landmarks, such as Babcock Ranch, Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and the St. Johns River. Reporters, politicians, landowners and other guests will join the team at various points throughout the journey.

Interested followers can tag along on the 1,000-mile trek with the team as they explore migration corridors, learn about the farming and ranching communities and discover potential eco-tourism opportunities along the way.

To track their 100-day adventure and experience the journey virtually, follow the team on the Florida Expedition website or Facebook and read about their adventures on Twitter.

Grand Canyon Victory: New mining ban at last! We're happy to report the Interior Department has announced a prohibition on mining at the Grand Canyon and the surrounding watersheds for the next 20 years.

New mining claims will be prohibited across more than 1 million acres of public lands making up Grand Canyon National Park's watershed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Jan. 9.

Development of valid mining claims staked before the ban will continue to be permitted, but the recent decision will prevent additional mining development from further threatening the magnificent lands in the Grand Canyon watershed.

Further mining would industrialize the iconic wild lands flanking the park with:

• new roads
  
• mines
  
• exploration drilling
  
• power lines
  
• truck traffic
  

All of this industrial activity threatens to damage wildlife habitat and world-class hunting grounds.

The Grand Canyon's watershed is a complex groundwater flow system that extends miles north and south of the National Park's boundary. If contaminated by uranium mining, those aquifers would be impossible to clean up—a point acknowledged by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The aquifers feed the Grand Canyon's springs and creeks, which provide haven for up to 500 times more species than adjacent uplands — including threatened, endangered and even endemic species found only in Grand Canyon National Park.

By industrializing the Grand Canyon region and risking permanent pollution of its soil and water resources, uranium mining would also threaten the Southwest's robust tourism economy — for which Grand Canyon National Park is the primary economic engine.

The outdoor recreation business in Arizona annually supports 82,000 jobs, generates almost $350 million in state tax revenue, and stimulates about $5 billion in retail sales and services. Rafting companies, outfitters, gear manufacturers, hotels and restaurants all benefit tremendously from the Grand Canyon's unpolluted water, air and vistas.

The Interior Department's decision on this ban reinforces the role the agency should play in managing our public lands by evaluating the various uses in the region and safeguarding fragile lands from permanent damage.

In Memoriam

Dave Gaillard with Defenders of Wildlife

Mike Tyner of Ventana Wildlife Society

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Dave and Mike, two conservationists who truly made a difference for our wildlife and wild places. They left this world too early, but made it a better place for all.

Warren Baxter Ballard Jr, Wildlife Society member