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Park seeks public comment on the Flamingo Commercial Services Plan
In 2005, hurricanes severely damaged the Flamingo area of Everglades National Park. These storms caused overwhelming impacts to already aged facilities, and many of the visitor uses and services in Flamingo had to be shut down or reduced. The National Park Service (NPS) has been asked by many individuals and organizations to expedite the process for determining Flamingo’s future. As a result, we have embarked on a planning process, through the development of a Commercial Services Plan (CSP)/Environmental Assessment, to identify alternatives and make decisions about the future of commercial services in Flamingo as soon as possible.
Everglades National Park is excited about this unique opportunity to rethink and perhaps redesign how Flamingo functions as a gateway to Florida Bay and the Wilderness Waterway. The project will integrate many cutting edge sustainable planning principles in terms of site and facility design and energy conservation; identify ways to minimize impacts to natural and cultural resources; and seek to have Flamingo function in a more pedestrian-friendly way. Some of the commercial service options that could be considered include flexible and adaptable lodging facilities at Flamingo to meet the needs for many types of park visitors. Some structures could be permanent, while others might be taken down and stored during hurricane season. Information on a range of lodging options that might be appropriate at Flamingo will be available at the public workshops.
The NPS will be holding public workshops that provide an opportunity for interested persons to have direct involvement in the planning process. There will be discussions regarding the appropriate range of services that should be provided at Flamingo, including (but not limited to) overnight lodging; marina, boating and paddling services; food, beverage and retail services; and other types of visitor services such as guided tours.
"I have heard firsthand from many of you what a special place Flamingo is and how much you care about this place. Our challenge is to establish Flamingo, once again, as the ‘gateway’ to Florida Bay and the Wilderness Waterway. We look forward to working with you in this planning effort and trust that with your involvement, Flamingo will become a destination more memorable than ever" stated Superintendent Dan Kimball.
There will be 4 public workshops held, each from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. These workshops provide two time slots for separate, repeated sessions, with formal presentations at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. Before and after the presentations, there will be opportunities to learn more about the planning project through informational displays, and staff available to answer questions and document your ideas on the commercial services that should be considered at Flamingo. With this format, anyone attending should be able to fully participate in 1½ to 2 hours.
Dates & Locations
October 17
International Game Fish Association
Hall of Fame
300 Gulfstream Way
Dania Beach, FL 33004
(954) 927-2628
October 18
Key Largo Sheraton
97000 South Overseas Highway
Key Largo, FL 33037
(305) 852-5553
October 26
Palmetto Golf Course
9300 SW 152nd Street
Miami, FL 33157
(305) 238-2922
November 9*
Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center
Everglades National Park
40001 SR 9336
Homestead, FL 33034
(305) 242-7700Current Mood:  optimistic |
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 Abu Dubai one of the richest contries in the Middle East, despite only having a population of 1 million, has purchased the entire island of Key West. Reports have surfaced of plans for the Largest Island Condo/Resort in the World.
Read the complete story here Key West Condo Resort
florida+keys key+west condo/resort april april+foolsCurrent Mood:  crazy |
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WITNESSES STEP FORWARD IN CROCODILE CASE; REWARD OFFERED
March 16, 2006
Contact: Dani Moschella (561) 625-5132 office; (561) 215-9459 cell
 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators called for the public’s help Thursday in tracking down those responsible for the recent shooting deaths of two endangered American crocodiles on Sugarloaf Key.
Witnesses who heard gunshots on several nights in late February already have stepped forward, helping investigators pinpoint the location of the killings - Sugarloaf Boulevard and Wahoo Lane. But they believe someone actually may have seen the shootings. “We have received tremendous help from residents on this case. We are asking for more,” FWC Officer Gordon Sharp said. “These were endangered animals, protected animals. People in this area who have lived alongside these crocodiles for years are angry.”
The carcasses of the two crocodiles, one 7 feet long and one 8.5 feet long, were dumped several miles apart on State Road 4A. They apparently had been shot in their heads with different types of firearms. The crocodiles, which appeared otherwise healthy and well-nourished, have been identified as two that had lived in the area for about seven years. Though residents had complained about their presence, there were no reports of any aggression on their part towards humans or pets. In fact, there have been no documented attacks by American crocodiles on human beings in the United States. Crocodiles are protected under both state and federal laws. Killing one is a third-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Anyone with information about this or any other wildlife law violation can report it anonymously to FWC’s Wildlife Alert Reward Program at (888) 404-FWCC (3922) or online at MyFWC.com/law/Alert. Anyone with information that leads to a conviction may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Cellular phone customers throughout most of the state can make a free Wildlife Alert call by dialing *FWC or #FWC depending on service carrier.
Defenders of Wildlife, a non-profit conservation organization, has offered additional reward money in this case. For more information, visit www.defenders.org.
Read more here Crocodiles Killed in Florida Keys and here Crocodile was Lassoed and Killed By Group Of Men.Current Mood:  angry |
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TAMPA, Florida (AP)—State biologists hope to protect the gopher tortoise by reclassifying it from a species of special concern to a threatened species.
 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Matt Singer says the slow-moving, land turtle don't have enough space to roam. They need up to 4.5 acres each.
In Hillsborough County, less than one percent of undeveloped land is suitable for gopher tortoises. Most of the county's tortoises were exterminated before protective rules were written. Singer says the situation is worsening in Pasco and Hernando counties, where more tortoises and more habitat face intense development pressure.
The commission is expected to vote on the change in June. A management plan is expected to be finished within a year of that vote.
Read more Gopher Tortoise posts here
Why does Florida allow Burying Gopher Tortoises Alive???
and here
Tortoises Buried Alive No More in Florida!.Current Mood: optimistic |
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 The debate over what pie should be the official Florida State pie is on again. You didn't know there is no designation for a State pie?
Well your amazing Florida government representatives have not been able to decide what should be the official state pie. It has been debated a number of times beginning in 1988.
Read More Here - Key Lime Pie RecipesCurrent Mood:  hungry |
| » Big Cypress Panther Relocated |
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No. 79 (aka Don Juan) Panther captured in Big Cypress National Preserve after heavy meal
Friday, February 10, 2006
In the dim hours before daybreak, Don Juan stalked his prey. Then the time was right, he vaulted over the 6-foot chain-link fence but not high enough to avoid snagging his underbelly’s soft fur on the barbed wire. Undaunted, he snatched a pair of chickens and a turkey the size of a bowling ball and twice as heavy.
He ate the fowl, shredding them to pieces. He left the way he arrived, lugging with him the leftovers. He buried what was left beneath separate piles of branches and peat about 50 yards away in a forest of cypress trees and cabbage palms.
 In the twilight before sunset on the same day, Don Juan reemerged from the forest inside Big Cypress National Preserve. This time, he was lying on a stretcher, barely conscious and hooked up to intravenous fluids.
Don Juan is a Florida panther, one of the most endangered animals on the planet. Fearing illness or injury had prompted the panther to go after an easy meal, officials with the National Park Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission decided Thursday to capture the marauding cat.
The attack represents a growing problem in eastern Collier County, where most of the remaining 80 or so big cats roam. Over the past decade, the panther population has nearly tripled at a time when roads and subdivisions are beginning to crop up in their shrinking territory.
Earlier this month, federal scientists said in the latest recovery plan that the species’ rebound depends on transplanting panthers to new areas outside of South Florida and even outside Florida altogether. Their range once covered the southeastern United States.
In the early 1990s, scientists believed only about 30 panthers still existed, and those they came across showed signs of inbreeding. To diversify the gene pool and inflate the big cats’ numbers, biologists dropped eight female Texas cougars into the wild in 1995.
Don Juan, also known as panther No. 79, is a symbol of that program’s success. He was born in September of that year, making him among the first offspring from one of the female cougars. He went on to father about 30 kittens of his own, earning him the studly nickname.
“He’s our dominant male,” said Deb Jansen, a biologist at the preserve. He also is a symbol of the program’s problems.
About two weeks ago, a panther attacked and injured two dogs outside a home on Turner River Road, which is a few miles east of State Road 29 inside the preserve. Don Juan, whose movements are tracked with a radio collar, was the only panther in the area and likely was responsible for the attack, Jansen said.
Male panthers are extremely territorial. Telemetry points collected from Don Juan’s collar showed his territory stretched about 617 square miles. Since 1999, he has roamed as far north as Interstate 75, as far west as State Road 29, south to the Ten Thousand Islands and east to the Miami-Dade County line.
There was no doubt Don Juan was responsible for Thursday morning’s raid. It happened about five miles east of State Road 29 at a campground and museum run by David Shealy. Shealy operates a petting zoo at the campground, where he regales visitors with stories of the skunk ape — a Big Foot-like creature that, he and others believe, roams the Everglades.
For a panther, the site was about half a day’s journey from the Turner River Road attack site. The evidence against Don Juan included the tuft of fur on the barbed wire and the deep depressions left by the panther’s paws inside the bird pen. If that wasn’t enough, his radio collar betrayed his presence a few hundred yards away.
Within hours of his phone call to authorities, a crew from the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife assembled. Armed with a trio of hounds, an air rifle, tranquilizer darts and a global positioning system device, they slogged into the woods about 500 yards east of Shealy’s property.
There, a few hundred yards south of U.S. 41 East but close enough to hear the roar of traffic, the hounds trapped the panther in a cypress tree about 30 feet in the air. “It was slow getting there because it was thick,” Rocky McBride, who is contracted to lead such hunts, said, referring to the thick brush and swampy earth.
In all, the capture took about 15 minutes.
After being nudged out of the tree and into a net, the crew placed the unconscious panther on the ground. Veterinarians set up an intravenous supply of saline and anesthetic and performed a series of tests for diseases such as feline leukemia. His belly was full, probably with turkey, veterinarian Emmett Blankenship said. Other than a few scabs on his body, Don Juan was a healthy 10-year-old, 130-pound panther.
Later that night, Park Service officials found the panther a new home about 30 miles to the east at the end of a dirt road called Raccoon Point Road, 11 miles north of U.S. 41. Jansen said: “Hopefully, he’ll go back to eating deer. It’s just in the last two weeks he’s been doing this (attacking domesticated animals), and we hope this experience will teach him not to do it again.”
Feb. 19th, 2006 @ 03:57 pm
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| » Crocodiles Moved to New Quarters in Broward County |
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The crocs were living the good life in a small lake by Watermark condominiums in Dania Beach, but after they got a little too close for comfort, wildlife officials decided to relocate them to nearby West Lake Park in Hollywood, a favorite spot for kayaking. Officials say the crocs will have plenty of room to roam in the park's 1,500 acres without threatening visitors.
''People safety is really a matter of common sense. Don't feed. Don't tease. Don't poke,'' University of Florida ecologist Frank Mazzotti said. Barriers will be installed to keep the crocs from making future guest appearances back at Watermark, which is within crocodile crawling distance.
''There are a lot of places they can hide, which they like to do other than this time of year when it's cold and want to get warmed up,'' said Bob Harbin, director of Broward Parks and Recreation. The crocs are a familiar sight to park staffers; they've made their way into the park before, Harbin said.
Habitat for endangered animals in subdivision-bloated Broward is endangered, too . Moving the crocs to West Lake fits nicely with why the park was created -- it's a wildlife preserve.
Chances of a croc attack are slim. There have been no documented attacks by American crocodiles on people in the United States. Don't be afraid of them, but don't harass them either, Mazzotti said.
More on Florida Crocodiles
Feb. 19th, 2006 @ 03:28 pm
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| » Malnourished Manatee Rescued From SW Fla. Canal |
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February 2, 2006, A baby manatee has a new home and is getting some desperately needed help in South Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rescued the 3-month-old sea cow from a canal near Everglades City, Fla.
The mammal was stuck in dangerously cold water without her mother. Rescuers managed to move her to the Miami Seaquarium, where she is now receiving the nutrients she needs to survive.
Veterinarians say she was so malnourished that she could have died within the next few days. The calf has been named Sea Grape after a canal near where she was found.
Feb. 11th, 2006 @ 04:32 pm
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| » Everglades Florida Panther Dies On Card Sound Road |
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A panther struck and killed by a car west of the Card Sound Bridge is fueling activists' opposition to a proposed development.
BY CURTIS MORGAN
cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com
The odds of seeing a Florida panther, one of the rarest creatures in the world, are long. Odds of a panther being struck by a car in Southeast Florida are longer still -- it last happened nearly 20 years ago. Odds of the circumstances surrounding a female cat that was killed Thursday night along Card Sound Road make winning the 23 million-to-one lottery jackpot sound downright likely. That's because the people who witnessed the panther hit-and-run are environmentalists who two days earlier filed a federal lawsuit aimed at derailing a 6,000-home development proposed just up the road. One of their arguments is the remaining open lands south of Florida City and Homestead provide critical habitat for panthers, an animal protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The activists acknowledged the coincidence sounds improbable, but called it fate that they crossed paths with an unfortunate panther in a place they are battling to preserve.
Everglades National Park Photo
''I am sure there are folks out there who are going to draw conclusions and they'd be wrong. We did not go looking for a panther to run over,'' said Cynthia Guerra, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society, a group in the lawsuit. ``It was serendipity that our feelings that cats are in this area were confirmed.'' The panther was the fourth killed by a vehicle in the state this year. Roadkill has become a growing concern for state and federal wildlife managers trying to ensure the survival of the scarce and secretive cats. Most of the deaths have occurred in the prime panther territory of Southwest Florida, where five to 10 animals have been struck annually over the last few years -- usually at night when the animals are on the move and hunting.
Darrell Land, panther team leader for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the numbers simply did not add up: more people, more roads and more panthers, whose statewide population has tripled in the two decades, but only to an estimated 80 to 90 adults. ''I think it's just a symptom of development finally reaching and closing the gap of where the wild places are and where the urban places are,'' Land said. But a car strike on the southeast side of the state is extremely rare, he said, in large part because the population of cats prowling Everglades National Park and marshes and open fields to the east and south has remained very small, perhaps 10 or so animals. The only other documented vehicle strike in the area was in July 1988, when a cat equipped with a radio collar was hit about a mile east of U.S. 1 on Palm Drive in Homestead.
Thursday's incident happened around 9 p.m. as a caravan of environmentalists was returning from a presentation on Everglades restoration at Ocean Reef on North Key Largo. John Adornato, Everglades policy representative for the National Parks Conservation Association, also a party in the lawsuit, said he was driving three or four lengths behind a sport utility vehicle. About two miles west of the Card Sound Bridge, he saw an animal suddenly bolt from the brush in front of the SUV. The vehicle, dark-colored but of uncertain make, hit the animal, swerved and continued on, he said. Adornato was forced to swerve himself before he turned back around to see what happened. There in the road lay a golden cat about four feet long. Because it showed no obvious wounds, he waited to approach it.
Alan Farago, a Sierra Club member driving not far behind, said he pulled up less than a minute later. By then it was clear the cat was dead. ''Just terrible,'' said Adornato. Guerra, who had spent years working in the area as a county wetlands regulator -- though she had never seen more than a paw print -- drove up 10 minutes later. ''I just had this complete girly-girl reaction to it. I started bawling on the spot,'' she said. ``To have that be the first cat I've seen, a dead one on the side of the road, just killed me.'' They pulled the panther to the shoulder, called police and wildlife agencies, and left after about half an hour.
''We thought we had done all we could for her,'' said Adornato. The carcass was picked up late Thursday night by a Miami-based wildlife officer for storage until a necropsy can be done, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the wildlife commission's South Florida office. While the cat did not have a radio collar, it is possible it could have been embedded with a small micro-chip, like those used in pets, that would tell biologists more about its origins.
Pino said officers would talk with the activists about what they saw in hopes of tracking down the SUV driver, but said there weren't likely to be any charges for accidentally hitting an animal.
The activists said they did not want to exploit the animal's death, but said it bolstered arguments about the value of the vast open lands along U.S. 1 and Card Sound in extreme South Dade.
Scientists say the cats require large ranges and past satellite tracking shows them using much of the area, including a nearby 1,000 acres where the Lennar Corp. is proposing a development called Florida City Commons.
Feb. 4th, 2006 @ 08:59 am
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| » Everglades Hurricane Repairs Continue |
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Workers at Everglades National Park, with the assistance of crews from Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, have started re-building the dock at North Nest Key in Everglades National Park. The dock project is one of many underway to restore visitor services damaged by Hurricane Wilma.
North Nest Key will re-open for camping when the dock and the restroom facilities are finished. North Nest Key is one of only three keys in Florida Bay open to landing and camping. Because it is the only one of the three located close to the mainline Keys, it is by far the most visited. During busy holiday weekends, as many as 100 boats use the site. North Nest is also easily reached by canoe and kayak and is a popular destination for paddlers and guided trips.
Hurricane Wilma destroyed the dock and toilet facilities at North Nest Key. Since the storm, the island has been open to day users, but closed to overnight camping. Once the dock is completed and toilets have been installed, the Key will be reopened to camping. 
As is customary during the winter season, visitors leaving from the Keys will need to call Flamingo to obtain a camping permit for an overnight stay. The dock is one of many projects now underway. Crews are also hard at work at other tasks. They are re-building chickees in the Whitewater Bay/Gulf Coast backcountry.
They are also clearing land and water trails of hazards. The status of the boat ramps at Flamingo remains the same. The Whitewater Bay ramp is open, but visitors must return to the dock by 5 p.m. and leave the park by 6 p.m. The Florida Bay boat basin received two and half feet of mud from Wilma and remains closed. The basin is so shallow that the tour boat moored in the basin is sits on the bottom at low tide.
The park is working with local, state, and other Federal agencies to complete the environmental compliance and permits needed to dredge the basin. Funding for the dredging has not yet been secured.
There are still no services in Flamingo - no gas, no lodging, no marina store, and no backcountry permit station. There are picnic tables and toilets located near the Whitewater Bay ramp. The park is continuing its work to restore facilities at Flamingo and in the backcountry. “We know these trails, campsites, and docks mean a lot to visitors and local communities,” said park superintendent Dan Kimball. “We’re doing everything within our power to make them functional.”
everglades hurricane flamingo nest+key
Feb. 2nd, 2006 @ 06:20 pm
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| » Wild Turkeys Released in the Everglades |
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Florida Osceola wild turkey, recently got a boost in South Florida's Everglades National Park when 19 of the birds were released. A team of wildlife biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission used bait and rocket nets to catch the 19 birds on private ranches in Central and South Florida.
The turkeys were released in the Long Pine Key section of the park, where wild turkeys once existed naturally. The turkey population in the park dropped after the 1950s due in part to illegal hunting and  habitat loss, according to the FWC. It is the second relocation project through a joint effort by the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Everglades National Park and the FWC. In January 2000, three groups released 29 Osceolas, a sub species of wild turkey found only in Florida, into the park.
No public hunting is allowed in the park.
Each bird was marked with wing tags and 10 were fitted with small radio transmitters, which will enable biologists to monitor their movement, behavior, habitat use and survival. In the past two years, remote-operated digital infrared cameras, including equipment donated by the Homestead chapter of the turkey federation, were used to survey the population at Long Pine Key. The results showed the population to be extremely low.
Full Story
south+florida everglades turkey
Jan. 22nd, 2006 @ 11:36 am
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| » Floods that Washed away Homes and Lives Leave Behind Golden Gift |
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In THAM THA MAUK, Thailand — Severe floods that washed away homes, bridges and lives apparently have compensated hapless villagers in southern Thailand with a treasure -- gold. Hundreds of fortune-seekers armed with shovels and pans are flocking to the stream of Tham Tha Mauk village in search of the precious metal, which surfaced from stream banks after the deluge. Read the Full Story Here
Did you find any Treasures after the Storms of 2005?
Jan. 16th, 2006 @ 05:03 pm
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| » Banana Bay Resort Sold - Marathon Florida Keys |
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Boykin Lodging Company (NYSE:BOY) , a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT), today announced that it has acquired the Banana Bay Resort & Marina - Marathon for $12.0 million, through a joint venture.
The beachfront resort is located directly on the Gulf of Mexico in Marathon, Florida, and comprises 65 guestrooms on ten acres. Other amenities of the property include a heated freshwater pool, an outdoor whirlpool, garden tennis courts, conference rooms with full catering facilities, the Garden Wedding Gazebo, a marina and boat launching ramp, and other resort amenities. At closing, Boykin Management Company assumed management of the resort.
The Company, through a taxable REIT subsidiary, owns 50% of the joint venture which acquired the property and intends to redevelop the property as a condo-hotel project.
Florida Keys Resorts
florida+keys resorts marathon+florida
Jan. 13th, 2006 @ 07:00 pm
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| » A Little Crocodile Humor |
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Wet Foot/Wet Foot American crocodiles: We just want freedom to go back home
By Kirk Nielsen
News Bulletin: "A rarely seen nine-foot-long American crocodile cornered itself [sic] in the same North Miami Beach carport visited by an even larger alligator fifteen years before."
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A male American crocodile continues to recover in a South Dade swamp, two weeks after he was lassoed, bound, blindfolded, dumped into the back of a dark green Dodge Ram four-by-four pickup, driven to the Atlantic FEC Fertilizer store in Homestead, weighed, probed, loaded back into the truck, then dropped into brackish water alongside a canal easement just east of the Eighteen Mile Stretch. What initially appeared to be an abduction is now considered yet another effort by a small commando unit of highly trained humans who claim they want to protect crocodiles and other members of the reptile community from harm by human extremists.
The incident occurred two mornings after the last new moon by that huge wooded park — called Greynolds — that is next to those three little lakes in that area crocodiles just know how to find, no matter how long it takes. Before last week's ordeal, the victim, whom authorities identified as the Ives Dairy Crocodile, had spent the past three years in that vicinity because he just felt like it. He is believed to have survived mostly by eating Muscovy ducks. He had been heading for a lake just south of a house with a Cadillac and had stopped to rest in the shade of the driveway when he was discovered by a female human extremist, who quickly tipped off authorities. That is when the SWAT (Slamming Wild Alligator-type-animals onto a Truck) team sprang into action.
Human media reports in recent days have said the lead commando was an endangered white American human male, 42 years old, five feet seven inches long, and 150 pounds. Name tag: Todd Hardwick. Hardwick and his chief rival — FARC (Florida Alligator-type-animal Relocation Crew) leader Joe Wasilewski — remain at large. Hardwick has publicly announced he is tracking at least 35 other members of the crocodile community in the HOT (Human Occupied Territory).
Read the whole article here. Read more about Florida Crocodiles here.
Dec. 26th, 2005 @ 12:55 pm
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| » Counter |
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I am adding this Counter here because I can't find another way to add it to this Blog.
If you know how please leave a comment.
Dec. 25th, 2005 @ 11:46 pm
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| » Why does Florida allow Burying Gopher Tortoises Alive??? |
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Fla. allows live tortoise burial by permit
LAKE PARK, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The entombment of five live gopher tortoises underneath a Florida Wal-Mart has caused outrage.
The Palm Beach Post reports that as many as 74,000 tortoises have died the same way in the past 14 years under permits granted by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But this time, the
Humane Society got a tip from a local resident and launched a nationwide e-mail alert.
Tortoises trapped when buildings go up over their holes starve to death or asphyxiate underground. Scientists believe that the current gopher tortoise population in Florida is about one-fifth of what it was a century ago, with the major reason for the decline habitat lost to developers. The problem is that the gophers prefer dry sandy areas for their holes, the same kind of habitat developers like.
(They Claim) Moving the tortoises is often not a good option. Even moving them to a different spot in the same tract can leave the tortoises isolated, unable to get together to breed.
"It's kind of a feel-good permit," Ricardo Zambrano, a biologist for the commission, said. "It has very little biological value for the tortoises."
So the commission charges heavily for tortoise burial and uses the money to preserve gopher tortoise habitat, 22,000 acres so far.
Dec. 19th, 2005 @ 11:16 pm
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| » Everglades Flamingo Visitor Center Battered by 2005 Hurricanes |
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Hurricanes Katrina (8-27-05) caused extensive damage to the area around Flamingo.
You can see pictures of some of the damage in the Everglades Park caused by Katrina here. Katrina Pictures.
Hurricane Wilma (10-24-05) hit the same area less than two months later, from the opposite direction.
You can see pictures of some of the damage in the Everglades Park caused by Wilma here. Wilma Pictures.
Hurricane Wilma sent between six and eight feet of water over Flamingo and left as much as six inches of
mud over roads, parking lots, and the Flamingo grounds. You cannot launch at Flamingo. As of November 8,
2005, the road to Flamingo is closed until further notice. The boat basin is roped off and landing anywhere at Flamingo is forbidden.
Efforts to repair and recover facilities and fuel pumps – work that started in earnest after Hurricane Katrina flooded Flamingo in late August – have been set back. Even after Flamingo opens, services might be limited.
The Everglades backcountry – which includes Florida Bay, Cape Sable, Whitewater Bay, and the Gulf Coast
– is open during the day. Hurricane Wilma destroyed many day boards, buoys, stakes, and other navigational
aids. The storm also uprooted mangrove trees and deposited them in channels. Watch out for the trees and
other submerged hazards like derelict boats and dock debris. Boaters travel at their own risk, so please exercise extreme caution.
Hurricane Wilma demolished docks, chickees, and portable toilets throughout the backcountry. Many of
these chickees are a hazard to visitors. Because of this, the park’s backcountry is closed to overnight stays and camping until further notice. As soon as the park can survey the damage and restore the reservation system, the backcountry will be opened. Check with the park for the status of individual campsites.
The status of the park and services changes each week. Please call 305-242-7700 for the latest information. You can also check the latest updates at www.nps.gov/ever.
Nov. 17th, 2005 @ 08:29 pm
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| » Everglades Restoration |
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Everglades Restoration: U.S. Judge to Determine Next Steps
IN THE EVERGLADES, Florida - From the air, the endless Everglades appear to teem life. Graceful, pure white egrets glide above green native sawgrass. Dark alligator trails meander through the swamps, which sparkle in the bright sunlight.
Despite the proximity to urban South Florida, few structures are visible in the lonely, flat marshland, with ruler-straight canals the only sign of man's presence.
Yet beneath the placid surface is an ongoing life-or-death struggle over the chemical makeup of Everglades water, virtually ruined by decades of fertilizer runoff from 650,000 acres (263,000 hectares) of mainly sugar farms southeast of Lake Okeechobee.
The phosphorus-laden runoff promotes unhealthy growth of cattails and other unwanted vegetation, upsetting nature's delicate balance. The long-term health of South Florida's unique ecosystem, the "river of grass" from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Keys, depends on the outcome of a court-ordered cleanup.
Over a decade after the court-ordered cleanup began, the unprecedented $8.4 billion (euro7 billion) state and federal government restoration effort is nearing a critical juncture.
Miami U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno has concluded that excessive phosphorus discharges violate that original court agreement and ordered hearings beginning Monday to determine what should happen next.
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, which have a reservation in the middle of the Everglades, and a coalition of environmental groups are seeking ironclad guarantees from Florida and U.S. officials, enforced by the judge, that would set out deadlines and updated, tougher phosphorus reduction requirements.
The tribe and environmentalists say the government cannot meet the current deadline of Dec. 31, 2006, for Everglades phosphorus discharges of no more than 10 parts per billion, about one-sixth the level in some bottle drinking water. That level is critical to slow the march of encroaching cattails and promote growth of sawgrass that is vital to the entire ecosystem. Phosphorus runoff into the Everglades had at one time been measured as high as 173 parts per billion.
"The first step to recovery is to admit there is a problem," said Dexter Lehtinen, a Miami attorney representing the Miccosukees. "We want an acknowledgment of the phosphorus exceedences and the need for a remedy."
Government officials insist the overall restoration project, affecting a total of about 2.4 million acres (1 million hectares), is working and will only improve as more projects are completed.
The cornerstone is a series of six stormwater treatment areas - STAs in government lingo - through which water bound for the Everglades flows and which contain plants that essentially suck up most of the excessive phosphorus.
"I think this has been a resounding success," said Ernie Barnett, the state Department of Environmental Protection's director of ecosystem projects. "We're proud of what we've done."
During a recent helicopter and SUV tour for The Associated Press, state officials said more than 41,400 acres (16,750 hectares) has been acquired for these STAs at a cost of more than $1.2 billion (euro1 billion). By 2009, they said, the restoration effort will have about 60,000 acres (24,280 hectares) in water treatment capacity.
On the ground at one treatment area, the profusion of wildlife spurred by cleaner water was apparent. Alligators and turtles were plentiful, along with wood storks, ibis, and moorhens with their tiny black chicks - and of course the swarms of mosquitos and gnats that lie at the bottom of the food chain.
Environmental groups acknowledge that the STAs have reduced phosphorus in the Everglades. But they say the government's own results show that in many cases, too much phosphorus-laden water is coming into the treatment areas from farms and that some STAs are too small to handle larger-than-expected amounts of water.
"It's not that the wrong things are being done. It's that we need to do more of the right things," said Charles Lee, advocacy director at Aubudon of Florida. "I think we've had good results so far. But we are getting indications that more needs to be done."
Jul. 20th, 2005 @ 11:55 am
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| » Part of South Florida's Everglades Park Closed |
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EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK
While Everglades National Park remains open, more than 700,000 acres of the swamp in South Florida are closed to public access to protect wild deer fleeing high waters.
BY ELAINE DE VALLE
edevalle@herald.com
Hurricane Dennis may have passed somewhat west of South Florida, but its torrential rains -- on the heels of some already wet weeks -- have led state officials to close 730,000 acres of the Everglades to the public to protect the wild deer fleeing high waters.
But Everglades National Park and Shark Valley, a popular tourist attraction within the park, are not affected by the closure, said national park spokesman Rick Cook.
As of this morning, much of the rest of the Everglades in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties was off-limits to most hunters, boats, airboats, all-terrain vehicles and other recreational activities, said Jodi Keen, a duty officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas were also off-limits as of 12:01 a.m. today.
''Special regulations are necessary due to inordinately high water levels associated with storm events that have jeopardized wildlife, especially the deer,'' Keen said.
Conservation commission spokesman Willie Puz explained that high water displaces the deer as they seek high ground.
''Water levels are at a point now where the deer are starting to congregate on the tree islands and the levees, and to keep them safe at this point, we are closing the area,'' Puz said. ``They also start competing for shelter and food resources and are very stressed.
''We want to make sure people don't airboat close to tree islands and scare the deer off, forcing them into the water that could cause hyperthermia or sickness,'' Puz said. ``And this also removes some of the poaching opportunities. When people see 20 or 30 deer gathered in one place, they think it's easy pickings.
``Knowing that this is just the beginning of hurricane season, we are doing a precautionary closure, because we don't know how long the water is going to be there.''
It was unknown Sunday when the order for the area would be lifted, but Puz said it would not happen before conditions improved. ''I would say a few weeks,'' Puz said.
The closure does not apply to anyone participating in statewide alligator egg collections or alligator hunts or operating boats other than airboats within the established canal systems and within one mile of adjacent marshes, Keen said. People in those categories, however, are ordered to maintain a minimum distance of 100 yards from any tree island and the L-5 and L-4 levees when operating a vessel to ``minimize disturbance to upland wildlife jeopardized by high-water conditions.''
There is one area open to recreational activities: Conservation Area 2A, which is bounded by the L-35B levee on the south, the east-west airboat trail on the north, the L-38W levee on the west and the L-36 on the east.
''That's mostly a wet area to begin with,'' Puz said. ''There is not a lot of tree islands or wildlife there,'' he said.
Authorities urge anyone who knows of a violation of this order, or any wildlife violation, to report it by calling the toll-free Wildlife Alert number at 888-404-3922.
Jul. 19th, 2005 @ 07:54 pm
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| » UF scientist all aflutter over butterfly |
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By David Fleshler | Tallahassee Bureau
Posted July 1, 2005
A well-known scientist at the University of Florida on Thursday accused the Bush administration of misrepresenting his work in order to justify its decision not to put the Miami Blue butterfly on the endangered-species list.
Once common throughout South Florida, the butterfly was reduced to a single stronghold in the Florida Keys before scientists last year began re-establishing it in parts of its old range.
In May the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it could not declare the Miami Blue an endangered species, even though the butterfly met the criteria, because it lacked the staff and money to protect it. The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-profit group based in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the service over the decision.
In announcing its decision, the wildlife service claimed that scientists had failed in their attempts to reintroduce the butterfly to its former range.
Since releasing Miami Blues at Biscayne and Everglades national parks, researchers detected only "an inconsistent or sporadic presence of only a small number of individuals," stated the agency's written evaluation, published May 11 in the Federal Register. "Monitoring results do not indicate that the Miami Blue has become established at any of the release sites."
Thomas Emmel, professor of zoology and entomology at the University of Florida and director of the Miami Blue reintroduction project, said this assessment was completely false.
"That's just plain Bush administration manipulation of the data," he exclaimed, after hearing the service's evaluation of his team's work. "That's just another example of how politics drives biological observations."
Emmel said his team has established 12 breeding colonies at Biscayne and Everglades national parks.
These colonies have all successfully reproduced through several generations in the wild. The total number of butterflies in the colonies ranges from about 50 to 500, with numbers hitting the low end of the range when most of the butterflies are in their larval stage.
"The reintroduction efforts are going quite well," Emmel said.
He accused the Fish and Wildlife Service of deliberately minimizing the success of the team's work in order to make it appear that it would be too difficult to save the butterfly.
"What they're trying to do is justify why they're not supporting this," he said. "It's an attempt to suppress knowledge of any recovery of a new species."
Emmel, author of 35 books, is among the world's leading experts on butterflies. He is director of the University of Florida's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, which holds the world's second largest collection of butterflies and moths.
Barely the size of a quarter, the Miami Blue began disappearing in the 1980s, probably because of urban development, mosquito spraying and the decline of native ants that protected to the butterflies from predators.
Tom MacKenzie, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he lacked the information to address Emmel's complaint about the scientific data. He said the wildlife service wanted to protect the Miami Blue but lacked the money to do it, given the number of other species that needed protection. He noted that the Miami Blue was placed on the "candidate species" list, which means listing is warranted but precluded by other priorities.
"We feel it needs to be on the list," he said. "There's a lot of different priorities, and priorities need to be set." The wildlife service is currently dealing with 35 lawsuits over the listings of 57 species, preventing it from devoting as much time as it would like to proposals to add additional species to the list.
"We're not listing it due to other conflicting priorities," MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie said he had no information on the service's budget for listing or protecting endangered species.
Had the service designated the Miami Blue as an endangered species, the federal government would have to implement a recovery plan and protect critical habitat. Federal agencies would be required to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service before taking any actions that could affect the butterfly.
Jeff Miller, wildlands coordinator for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Bush administration has deliberately kept funding low for the wildlife service to keep it from protecting additional species. "There's been a deliberate attempt, especially during the Bush administration, to starve the listing budget," he said. "Species that should be protected are falling by the wayside, and some species are actually going extinct while they're waiting on the candidate list."
David Fleshler is a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
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Jul. 4th, 2005 @ 01:26 pm
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