Join Audubon’s Center for Birds of Prey and Lake Nona between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, September 11 at a free event to benefit wildlife and habitat threatened by the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.
Stop by the Lake Nona Info Center, at 9588 Narcoossee Road in Orlando, and meet visiting Raptors, including an American Bald Eagle, from Audubon’s Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland. This free event is for the entire family and will feature exhibits and activities demonstrating what Audubon is doing to help in this critical wildlife rescue effort. Attendees will also enjoy complimentary lemonade and cookies, and some great door prizes and giveaways.
Download your invitation or contact the Info Center for more information at 407-888-6500.
An important decision this week in the decades-long Everglades lawsuit aimed at reaching a 10 parts per billion (ppb) phosphorus water quality limit may allow the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to build more Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) to clean up Everglades water.
Stormwater Treatment Area 1, northwest of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Julie Hill-Gabriel.
In March, federal judge Federico Moreno tentatively ordered the SFWMD to construct a project known as the A-1 Reservoir, a 16,000 acre deep storage reservoir located at the south end of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). The Miccosukee Tribe and others wanted the reservoir completed because of its purported benefits to water quality. Expert witnesses from the Everglades Foundation, testifying on behalf of Florida Audubon, as well as state and federal agencies explained that much better water quality improvements would be achieved through re-evaluating the project on this land as a STA because of its opportune proximity to existing STAs and location within the EAA.
Special Master John Barkett was asked to review this issue by Judge Moreno to determine whether changed circumstances continue to justify reservoir construction. After a lengthy hearing in which Florida Audubon was represented by attorney Tom Rumberger, Special Master Barkett recognized how the purchase of U.S. Sugar lands and new science demonstrate better options for ensuing clean water flows to the Everglades. Florida Audubon’s witnesses, a hydrologist and water quality scientist employed by the Everglades Foundation, provided a compelling scientific basis to reassess restoration plans and assumptions for the Reservoir now that land from U.S. Sugar is available.
Audubon commends the Special Master’s recommendations, which must be approved by the Judge before becoming final. By ensuring the needed expansion of STAs in the most effective locations and the use of other tools, such as strengthening Best Management Practices (BMPs) for EAA farmers, Florida Audubon believes the 10 ppb phosphorus level can be achieved.
Improving water quality to consistently meet the 10 ppb phosphorus limits for water entering the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park is critical to prevent further ecological deterioration. The pollution emerging from sugar cane, other cropland, and urban runoff in and around the EAA is causing healthy Everglades sawgrass marshes and sloughs to convert into cattail-choked wasteland at a rate of between 2 and 9 acres per day.
When the U.S. Department of the Interior comes to Orlando this Thursday as part of the “America’s Great Outdoors” tour, environmental groups will present a request that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service significantly expand the boundaries of the 26,000-acre Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Expansion of the refuge will expedite the protection and recovery of the endangered Florida panther and the many imperiled species that share its Southwest Florida habitat.
Since originally sending a letter to Secretary Salazar in early August, Collier and Florida Audubon Societies, Florida Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife have worked with several large landowners near the Panther Refuge to confirm the acreage of private lands that might be made available for public acquisition. Over ten years of collaboration between the landowners and these conservation groups have resulted in landmark programs to secure permanent protection of wetlands and habitat on a huge landscape scale in Southwest Florida. These programs include the 180,000 acre Rural Land Stewardship Program in Collier County, and the Florida Panther Protection Program, which have thus far protected more than 50,000 acres of habitat through landowner incentives.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for public acquisition of valuable habitat on a landscape level from willing sellers,” said Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife. “It complements the ongoing but more measured pace of the collaborative Florida Panther Protection Program we’re implementing with these same landowners.”
Many of these landowners, including Sunniland Family Limited Partnership, Collier Enterprises, Alico, and McDaniel Ranch in Hendry County, have now indicated they are willing to sell certain crucial lands in and around the Big Cypress Area of Critical State Concern and in the Panther Glades Florida Forever project in southeastern Hendry County. The extent approaches 40-50,000 acres and represents a tremendous opportunity for Refuge expansion, which has not been available previously from willing sellers. The Panther Glades project forms a connection between Devils’ Garden, Half Circle L Ranch, and Save Our Everglades Florida Forever projects within the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, and the Big Cypress National Preserve.
“The federal government is hard-pressed to name a more vital area to expedite acquisition of endangered species habitat. The private lands north of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve are essential components of this rare animal’s core range. With barely a hundred known to live in the wild, protection of the Florida panther’s occupied habitat is top priority for the Federation and our conservation allies,” noted Nancy Payton, Southwest Florida Field Representative for Florida Wildlife Federation.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists have developed very recent panther habitat modeling which identifies the most crucial portions of the species’ current occupied range in Southwest Florida which require preservation or restoration. This effort has prioritized eastern Collier County and southern Hendry County for the most urgent habitat protection work. With this scientific foundation, Defenders, the Federation, Collier Audubon and Florida Audubon have proposed expanding the Panther Refuge through public land acquisition from willing sellers, all within the high-priority protection area identified by this current research.
“After the devastation of the Gulf Oil Spill, the people of Florida and the nation would celebrate such a bold public action to protect one of the most iconic and ecologically pivotal species in the Southeast,” remarked Eric Draper, President of Florida Audubon Society.
Possible funding sources the groups have identified are the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, as well as monies available under the Endangered Species Act for landowners implementing a Habitat Conservation Plan, which is underway now for the 180,000 acres of eastern Collier County. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has approximately $900 million authorized annually (although appropriated variably) from oil drilling royalties, a source which adds some significance to its potential use in expanding the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Florida.
Florida Audubon’s work is all about saving wild places and wildlife, such as this key deer buck, found only in the Florida Keys. We’re also about saving you 5 bucks. Take advantage of our reduced Florida Audubon Assembly registration Facebook Fan Fee– only $115 –that’s $5 bucks off the Early Bird $120 rate.
Audubon and Everglades restoration supporters applauded the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board for its unanimous decision on August 12 to proceed on a purchase of United States Sugar Corporation lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
In a unanimous vote, the Board agreed to readjust its land purchase in light of the current economic climate and move to acquire almost 27,000 acres of land and the option to purchase an additional 153,200 acres over the next ten years.
The land will be used to increase the effectiveness of existing Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) and to create new ones to remove even more nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, from freshwater destined for the Everglades. The Everglades is naturally a low-nutrient ecosystem, and the natural balance of native plant communities and wildlife are seriously impacted by phosphorus-laden water.
I need to clear up a few things about this deer depredation permit issue that has made the news recently. Corkscrew is a National Audubon Society sanctuary. We are a non-profit operation and not tax-payer funded. Our mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, including birds and other wildlife for the benefit of humanity. We do not feed deer. We do not hunt deer, and we do not oppose responsible hunting. Nor do we begrudge a private citizen from legally protecting his or her livelihood.
We offer a two-and- a-quarter-mile boardwalk that visitors walk along to see first-hand native Florida habitat and wildlife. Corkscrew is no petting zoo. The animals do not approach visitors here. If Corkscrew visitors get a close up of an owl, alligator, bear or a deer, it is because their natural movements brought them close to our boardwalk. Any animal that approaches a person at Corkscrew looking for food would be relocated. This begging behavior is unacceptable, and creates a dangerous situation for the visitors and the animals themselves. It is also unacceptable to have bowshot deer suffering for days in sight of the visiting public.
We have a vested interest in safeguarding visitors’ experiences. That’s why we objected to the issuance of a depredation permit by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Given our concerns, we approached Mr. Lesser to see if we could find a way to fence his property, and he said he would work with us. Mr. Lesser has never done anything to offend us. He has been a good neighbor. He has a problem with the deer on his nursery, but he didn’t ask us to build him a fence. He is a private man who takes care of his own business. He doesn’t even hunt. His solution has been to allow hunting on his property. According to the FWC, this is a temporary solution to depredation, and we agree. Bow hunting also has a high probability of injuring but not immediately killing the deer, which creates a major problem for Corkscrew and the Corkscrew community.
We aren’t seeking to limit our neighbor’s rights. He isn’t asking for a handout. We have an opportunity to help Mr. Lesser, the neighborhood, and our own interests by getting this fence built. A permanent solution to this problem is our sole aim. There are no villains here.
Stormwater Treatment Area 1, northwest of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Julie Hill-Gabriel.
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has revised its proposal to purchase U.S. Sugar Corporation (U.S. Sugar) lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) to two parcels that will provide early opportunities to improve water quality.
Join Everglades advocates to support the refocused U.S. Sugar land acquisition as a smart restoration milestone that will benefit the public and the health of the Everglades ecosystem.
Attend the Public Meeting and Voice Your Support: The proposed purchase must be approved at the next SFWMD Governing Board meeting at 11 a.m., Thursday, August 12 at the District Headquarters, B-1 Auditorium, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33406.
The plan proposes the purchase of approximately 26,800 acres, 17,900 of which are citrus groves in Hendry County and 8,900 of which produce sugarcane in Palm Beach County. If the deal is approved, the land will be utilized to create new Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) or to improve the function of existing STAs. For the next ten years, the SFWMD will have the option to purchase an additional 153,200 acres. While U.S. Sugar will lease back this land until it is needed for water quality projects, thereby substantially defraying the costs of maintenance, there are no long-term lease requirements and the SFWMD can use the land to store and treat water as soon as projects are ready. The purchase will utilize funding already available, thereby preventing delays while financing is secured.
Read the Audubon fact sheet for more details on the benefits of this revised proposal and download the map of the parcels proposed for purchase.
Join us Thursday, August 12, to help advance water quality improvements in the Everglades.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Senator Bill Nelson, of Florida, asked the committee to put Everglades National Park back on the list. We commend these leaders for their efforts to restore international attention to the “serious and continuing degradation of its aquatic ecosystem.”
The 21-nation World Heritage Committee oversees the list of World Heritage Sites that are of significant cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Sites that are deemed to be in jeopardy are placed on the danger list. The list focuses the attention and resources of the international community on these sites, and encourages action to address those threats.
Due to urban and agricultural development in the Everglades, water flow has decreased by 60 percent. Nutrient pollution has increased to the point where the ecosystem is showing significant signs of eutrophication, loss of marine life, and a decline in marine species.
This is the second time the Everglades has been included on this list. The Everglades was first listed in 1993, due to damages from Hurricane Andrew and the deterioration of water quality and flows from agricultural and urban development. In 2007, UNESCO removed the Everglades from the Danger list. Everglades champions and policy makers, led by Senator Nelson, called the de-listing flawed because it ignored recommendations of the scientific community, and did not reflect funding challenges for restoration.
Being restored to the list will make it easier to get preservation money both from the United Nations and local governments.
Audubon Advocacy Director Charles Lee discusses the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s major announcement to purchase development rights to preserve 26,000 acres of ranch land south of Kissimmee. This ecologically rich region along Fisheating Creek is home to Florida Panther and important bird species. An important outcome of the deal will be to restore water tables to more natural levels for native prairie habitat.
The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners voted to take an important step closer to passing a one-year moratorium on new rock mining.
Audubon supported the ban and thanks all advocates who helped call on the County to freeze new mining permits. The third and final vote needed to make this decision final will be at the end of August and as that time nears, Audubon will provide more details and information on how to help.
Join Audubon’s Center for Birds of Prey and Lake Nona between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, September 11 at a free event to benefit wildlife and habitat threatened by the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.
