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2010 Audubon Assembly Schedule
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.
Wes Skiles, photographed at Ginnie Springs in 2001, shortly before departing to co-lead a National Geographic-sponsored expedition to Antarctica to document and photograph the largest iceberg in history. Photo by John Moran.
By John Moran
World-class explorer and image maker Wes Skiles, 52, died July 21 in a reef-diving incident in Palm Beach County, where he had been working on assignment for National Geographic.
Wes was best known for his work in educational and adventure science films and for his pioneering exploration and documentation of Forida’s springs. His death comes days before publication of his cover story on the Blue Holes of the Bahamas in the August National Geographic.
Over the past 20 years, Wes created and produced more than a dozen films for major networks including PBS and was a pioneer in the field of high definition imaging, employing innovative techniques as both an underwater and topside shooter. In addition to his acclaimed Water’s Journey series of films, he directed the IMAX film “Journey into Amazing Caves” and led a major National Geographic expedition to Antarctica to film the largest iceberg in recorded history. His primary goal was to focus public attention on the earth’s most important resource, water.
Wes successfully filmed where no one had before. His unstoppable spirit of adventure led him to exotic destinations and fantastic voyages. At ease with both motion and still photography he divided his time working on assignment for National Geographic Magazine and with television’s top producers of science, adventure and natural history programming.
Wes’s devotion to the study and protection of Florida’s springs led him to serve as the education chairman of the Florida Springs Task Force. His work in exploration and survey within Florida’s groundwater systems has been widely published in scientific journals and publications. He established both Karst Environmental Services and Karst Productions in order to pursue a career centered on his primary interest.
His bio goes on and on, with tales of escaping shark attacks and collapsing caves and dodging hurricanes over many years, all the while making fantastic pictures and managing to come home in one piece. Skiles’s life story reads like a screenplay from a Jules Verne movie.
So how did he get this job? This is my favorite part of Wes’s story. He’d be the first to tell you that in spite of an early love of science, he barely made it out of high school, and never went to college. He enrolled in the School of Life and pursued a degree in “curiology,” as he called it. Shortly thereafter he had a boat and was running a diving business in Haiti, setting the stage for a life of adventure to follow.
Along the way he developed sound business acumen and figured out how to actually get paid to shoot the pictures he loved to shoot. Wes’s adventures took him all over the world but his first love, apart from his family, was exploring the waters of Florida: the rivers, lakes, coasts, swamps and especially the springs. The writer Loren Eisley said that if there’s magic to be found on the planet, it is to be found in water. Eisley and Skiles would have found much in common.
Wes was about more than just adventuring for the sake of a good time. He was a man on a mission, and his mission was to educate and to inspire the people of Florida; to show us and teach us about our remarkable array of water resources and how each of us has a role to play in safeguarding this precious resource.
Wes largely directed his efforts to reach out to people who generally paid little attention to the environment, and was equally at ease talking to schoolchildren, dairy farmers and governors. He knew his work made a difference when he got letters such as the one that read, “You’ve done for the springs of Florida what Jacques Cousteau did for the oceans.”
Wes was a towering inspiration. His work took us places we could never imagine, and helped us to see and appreciate the world in a new light. His impact lives on. And for that, Wes, on behalf of my grandchildren yet unborn, and for all the people of Florida who never had a chance to personally acknowledge the important work you did, I say thank you.
Audubon of Florida applauded the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement at a press conference in Kissimmee today that it will dedicate funds to help restore a substantial tract of privately-owned wetlands north of Lake Okeechobee.
The largest undertaking in the history of the Wetlands Reserve Program, USDA will provide funding for agricultural landowners to store water and restore wetlands on their properties. One of the greatest challenges to restoring Lake Okeechobee’s health, preventing harmful estuary discharges, storing enough water for droughts, and cleaning water, is finding enough beneficial places to store valuable rain water. This project funds such storage capacity in the area of the Fisheating Creek tributary, truly a monumental effort.
“This is a pioneering approach to achieving ecological benefits in a cost effective way, without displacing agricultural interests,” said Charles Lee, Audubon of Florida Director of Advocacy. “By restoring these wetlands with the assistance of USDA, we create healthy habitat and stimulate abundant wildlife populations even when public conservation land acquisition is not an option.”
Fisheating Creek is the last free-flowing tributary to Lake Okeechobee—and home to some of the most pristine habitats in central Florida. The Wetlands Reserve Program will help enhance and protect the region and serve to connect lands in a wildlife corridor between inland natural areas and coastal natural areas, including conservation lands in Babcock Ranch.
“Redirecting government agency efforts to restore the hydrology and water quality of the Northern Everglades has long been one of our goals,” Lee said. “Cooperative projects with landowners and the acquisition of easements is more cost effective, and more likely to receive broad public support, than conventional efforts to manage water through large engineered public works projects in this area.”
USDA’s easement purchase coupled with nearby efforts of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to establish a cooperative dispersed storage project with Lykes Brothers on 16,000 acres of Nicodemus Slough will help re-establish a more natural water table and restore wetlands on nearly 45,000 acres on the northwest shoreline of Lake Okeechobee. Audubon and other Everglades advocates celebrate this important partnership between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy and the SFWMD to restore and manage the property.
Let the People Decide. Tell your Legislators to put the Oil Drilling Ban on the State Ballot
Governor Charlie Crist – responding to the horrors of the BP Gulf Oil Spill – has convened a special session of the Florida Legislature on July 20.
Your legislators need to hear from you today: Make the ban on oil drilling in Florida’s coastal waters permanent.
The oil on Florida’s beaches is a stark example of why oil drilling should never be allowed in Florida’s coastal waters. While state law limits drilling in Florida waters, the Legislature can undo the ban in a matter of days. At the request of the oil companies they almost did that last year.
To protect Florida’s beaches now and for our children and grandchildren we need to give the people a chance to vote on an amendment banning nearshore drilling on November’s ballot. Once the people of Florida place this ban in the Constitution, only the people of Florida—not legislators—can remove it.
Please call or write your legislators. Let the people decide to Protect Florida’s Beaches. Put the oil drilling ban on the November ballot.
Click here to write to your legislator today. And thank you for caring about Florida’s special places. We can win this fight so our children don’t have to.
Ghost Orchid Blooming in July 2010. Photo Courtesy of Rod Wiley
A rare ghost orchid has exploded with 14 buds this month, marking its second bloom this year and its fourth consecutive year on an ancient bald cypress tree at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples.
Extremely rare, the ghost orchid’s delicate white flowers are beginning to blossom and should be in flower through July. Earlier in March, 2010, one blossom was discovered, mysteriously early in the season. Since 2007, the elusive flower has bloomed in June or July. Area biologists nicknamed this specimen the Super Ghost, since typically ghost orchids might have between one and three blossoms per year, if they bloom at all.
“This number of blooms is unprecedented, and promises to be the best ever blooming of the ghost orchid,” said Ed Carlson, director of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
The ghost orchid (Polyrrhiza lindenii) is an epiphytic orchid that grows without leaves on the trunks of trees in a small concentrated area of Southwest Florida. The plants are usually only visible to intrepid adventurers who must hike through hip deep water in the area’s cypress, pop ash and pond apple sloughs to reach them. Preyed upon by poachers, the flower was the subject of bestselling author Susan Orlean’s book The Orchid Thief and the subsequent movie adaptation.
The ghost orchid is one of a number of extraordinary species of plant and wildlife that make Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary their home. The 13,000 acres also protect the largest stand of old growth bald cypress in North America. Because of its unique and rich biodiversity, Corkscrew was officially designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2009, underscoring the need to protect this vital resource from a host of threats, including invasive species and development in sensitive watersheds for which Corkscrew serves as an essential link. Nearly 200 species of birds thrive in the sanctuary, renowned as home to America’s largest nesting colonies of Wood Stork, a federally endangered species. The storks nest in majestic 600-year-old bald cypress, reaching heights of 40 meters.
Orchid lovers have a window to spot the ghost orchid blooming through July. Visitors to the sanctuary will find spotting scopes for easy close-up views set up along the sanctuary’s boardwalk. Serious photographers should bring long lenses, as the plant is growing at a height of about 50 feet on the trunk of a bald cypress tree located 150 feet from the boardwalk.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, located at 375 Sanctuary Road West, in Naples, is open to visitors from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. everyday between April 11 and September 30. Between October 1 and April 10, Corkscrew is open to the public from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission to the boardwalk within one hour of closing is not allowed. The Sanctuary may close when severe weather threatens. For more information on admission fees, call (239) 348-9151.
Speak up at a public hearing in Miami with the National Park Service this week to support an additional 5.5 miles of bridging for Tamiami Trail and restore vital wading bird habitat.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, 2010 at the South Dade Regional Library, 10750 Southwest 211th Street, in Cutler Bay, Florida. Your support for raising the Trail is needed.
For the better part of a century, Tamiami Trail has cut off the natural Everglades water flows that made it one of the richest ecosystems on Earth. Altering Tamiami Trail has long been recognized as one of the central needs in Everglades restoration. With this understanding, the National Park Service studied six different plans for bridging the Trail to let the water flow, and their preferred plan has the most ecological benefits of the six and is cost effective.
This is a huge step forward for a project that has been mired in decades of delay and disputes, but your help is needed to ensure that the recommendation becomes a reality. Please join us on Thursday and express your support for bridging Tamiami Trail.
Important Facts
• An additional 5.5 miles of bridging will not only allow more water to flow into Everglades National Park, but will reconnect habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife.
• Flows into Northeast Shark River Slough, which historically made up 65 percent of flows into the southern Everglades, will be greatly increased.
• Bridging Tamiami Trail to this extent lays the groundwork for and will enhance the benefits of future Everglades restoration projects.
Worried about what’s happening on the Panhandle’s beaches? You can view the reconnaissance results in map and photo form from State of Florida staff patrolling the Panhandle’s beaches online here: http://map.floridadisaster.org/GATOR/index.html
Similarly, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s daily consolidated wildlife report, detailing oiled and non-oiled wildlife taken into rehab by state, can be found online here: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/55963
Governor Crist vetoed HB 1565 late Friday afternoon May 28th. In his veto message, Governor Crist validated Audubon’s concerns, by stating that “…If HB 1565 did become law, nearly ever rule may have to await an act of the Legislature to become effective…”
Audubon commends Governor Crist for his foresight and leadership in standing up to legislators who are willing to harm Florida’s environment and the quality of life of its citizens on behalf of polluters and other special interests.
Threatened by the Gulf Spill: Dry Tortugas National Park. Photo by National Parks Service
Audubon of Florida joined the Natural Resources Defense Council and Rocky Mountain Climate Organization to launch a new report this week that highlighted the public coastal areas threatened by the BP/Gulf oil spill. Read about the report and our views here.
So Far So Good
The Good News is that Florida’s special places and wildlife have not yet been heavily impacted by the oil or chemical dispersants. Everyone should be encouraged to enjoy all that Florida has to offer and support our tourism economy. The health of Florida’s economy depends on healthy bird and wildlife populations, pristine beaches and rich coastal and marine habitats.
To encourage visitors, Governor Charlie Crist and state agencies are promoting two free fishing weekends, allowing residents and visitors to fish without a license for saltwater species in state waters. No fishing license will be required on Memorial Day weekend, May 29 to May 31, and the weekend of June 5 and 6, just after red snapper season opens in the Gulf on June 1. Fishing rules will apply. Click here to learn about them.
Red Knots Courtesy of Rod Wiley
Please remember to STEP LIGHTLY ON OUR BEACHES. Shorebirds are nesting and long-distant migratory species, such as Red Knots, are resting to build their strength for the next leg of their journey.
Tips to Protect Birds
• Avoid the temptation to flush groups of birds. They may be resting, feeding or sheltering eggs. By giving them a wide berth, you’ll make sure your actions don’t have deadly consequences for eggs or chicks.
• Similarly, obey leash laws and don’t allow dogs to flush birds. Even in areas where there do not appear to be groups of birds, solitary nesters may be camouflaged with the beach. It’s best to keep dogs off the beaches entirely or only take them to “dog beaches” until later in the summer when the birds have finished nesting. Birds perceive dogs as predators and will be scared off their nest even by a leashed dog walking away from them.
• In places where beach driving is allowed, take extra care to be aware of birds on the beach. Drivers who move faster than a pedestrian and are isolated by their vehicles from the sights and sounds of the beach are more likely to overlook birds. Furthermore, chicks sometimes take shelter in the depression of tire tracks in the sand, leaving them vulnerable to other vehicles that follow them.
Download our factsheet for more beach guidelines. Have fun and protect our birds and beaches.
A New Resource on the BP Gulf Oil Spill
Progress Florida has launched a new site on the oil spill. Check it out here.
Audubon Center for Birds of Prey experts and special guest Rob Yordi, Curator of Zoological Operations for Busch Gardens Tampa and representative for the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, released the 395th rehabilitated Bald Eagle back into the Florida skies at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 14, at Palm Cemetery in Winter Park.
Rod Yordi releases the Bald Eagle
“The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund is proud to have provided $60,000 in grants to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey since 2004,” said Yordi. “The Center’s work to rescue, rehabilitate and release birds of prey and protect their habitat is vital to Florida’s ecosystem and the wide range of species population in the region.”
This adult Bald Eagle was rescued in January 2010 at Mary Schultz’s home on Miller Ave. in Winter Park near the Palm Cemetery. The bird’s injuries included puncture wounds and a fractured right coracoid, a bone in its right shoulder. Center specialists believe the bird was in a territory fight with another eagle. Audubon staff and veterinarians treated the eagle, which healed nicely but then contracted a fungal infection and other complications delaying her release until this month.
