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Tuesday, Jan. 3rd, 2012 #1171 |
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| Florida Wildlife Federation | |
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***SAVE OUR SEAS, BEACHES AND SHORES, INC. ***
Go to: www.sosbs.org for the petition to protect our beaches
Mission
The Florida Wildlife Federation is a statewide nonprofit organization, made up of Floridians from all walks of life. Our common goal is to conserve Florida's fish, wildlife, water and plant life. We encourage all citizens to appreciate Florida's environment through sustainable outdoor recreation. We invite you to join us in supporting Florida's fish, wildlife and natural areas.
Nancy Anne Payton
Southwest Florida Field Representative
2590 Golden Gate Parkway, Suite 105
Naples, FL 34105
Office: (239) 643-4111 Cell: (239) 784-5119
nancypayton@fwfonline.org
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Sandhill slumberlandMark Renz photo (Click image for more cranes) |
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http://www.purre.org/
PURRE WATER COALITION TO CEASE OPERATIONS AFTER SEVEN SUCCESSFUL YEARS
January 2, 2012 - The PURRE Water Coalition Foundation Inc. (People United to Restore Our Rivers and Estuaries) ceased operations effective December 31, Chairman Michael J. Valiquette announced after a board meeting December 16 during which board members voted to take this action.
Valiquette explained, "Our board members agree that PURRE has accomplished what it set out to do. Our goals were to educate, create awareness, and help people understand the need to improve water quality in this area, and we have done that. There are many other good organizations that will continue this work, including the City of Sanibel, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, the Sanibel Sea School, and START (Solutions to Avoid Red Tide), to name a few. PURRE has been honored to work with these and other groups and individuals over the years."
Over the course of the last seven years, Chairman Valiquette was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet with both elected and appointed officials to talk to them about the concerns of people in the community and throughout Southwest Florida. The board believes this was a successful effort.
"One of the issues we carried with us all the time is that a healthy marine environment has a lot to do with a healthy economy," Chairman Valiquette said.
"PURRE has been a citizen grassroots organization that grew out of a couple of people who saw a need and created an incredible organization to meet that need," said Emilie Alfino, executive director. "I don't think many people or groups would be doing what they're doing for water quality today without the efforts that were started by the Valiquettes."
PURRE has been active in the fight to improve South Florida's water quality since it was founded by Valiquette and his wife Maureen in 2004. Observing the severely deteriorating water conditions in 2003, they tried to get the appropriate agencies to do something about it and met with resistance and apathy. They decided to take matters into their own hands, beginning with what became a standing-room-only community meeting in 2004. "Our goal was to raise awareness so somebody would do something, and I think we succeeded," Maureen Valiquette said. "Everybody is paying attention now. People know the issues and know what needs to be done. We are confident now that water quality will stay in the forefront of citizens' minds and in the action plans of environmental organizations."
"I think one of the significant contributions of PURRE was a grassroots effort to engage people, organizations and businesses in this issue," said Daniel Wexler, formerly PURRE's public policy director. "PURRE was successful in bringing these complex issues to the forefront, which helped to create a sense of urgency for the people in this community to get involved in working to improve our water quality."
For seven years, the work of the PURRE Water Coalition Inc. has taken its officers, lobbyists, employees and volunteers all over the state of Florida and Washington, DC working on South Florida's water pollution problems.
Chairman Valiquette has had private meetings with three successive commanders of the Army Corps of Engineers, two Florida governors, innumerable state and federal senators and congressmen, as well as many county and local government officials. Thanks to these efforts, and to PURRE's members and supporters who made them possible, PURRE has made a difference. Solutions developed by PURRE to the causes of South Florida's water quality problems were widely heard and gained acceptance among state and federal decision-makers. With a lot of hard work, talking, and grassroots support, PURRE played a significant role in convincing the right people to implement these solutions.
The PURRE Water Coalition Foundation Inc. has already stopped accepting donations. "This was at the suggestion of our former board member, the late Sam Bailey," said Chairman Valiquette. "Sam believed a community should support water quality efforts without the need for parties and golf outings, leaving organizations like PURRE to focus on their missions. Sam did a lot for PURRE."
PURRE's office at 2340 Periwinkle Way, J-2 on Sanibel will close as of December 31, when its website will be shut down as will its email address, info@purre.org. PURRE will proceed as quickly as possible to dissolve the 501(c)3 corporation. Any remaining funds in PURRE's account after the expenses of closing the office and dissolving the corporation will be donated half to the Sanibel chapter of Solutions to Avoid Red Tide (START) for its efforts to ease red tide outbreaks and other endeavors to improve the health of the gulf, and half to the Sanibel Sea School to be used for scholarships for children of families unable to afford for their children to attend; the selection process for such scholarships shall be at the discretion of the Sanibel Sea School. "The education of children, our future leaders, is extremely important," Chairman Valiquette said.
"There are too many people to thank by name for all they have done to support PURRE, both financially and as volunteers," said Chairman Valiquette. "We could not have accomplished a thing without the support of the community, and I think Sanibel should be proud that its citizens cared enough to learn about a complicated environmental problem and then took steps to turn it around. That's the Sanibel spirit. Vice-mayor Mick Denham in particular is working hard and effectively on water quality issues now, as is the city staff. We're in good hands."
Special Thanks To:
RLR Investments LLC
Royal Shell Companies
Roby Roberts and Don DeLuca
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation
JN "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge
Daniel Wexler, former PURRE Public Policy Director
Chuck Dworkin, Esquire
B.C. White, CPA
Thomas Louwers, MST
PURRE's Board of Directors:
Michael J. Valiquette, Chairman
Maureen Valiquette, Vice-Chair
Dan Schuyler, Treasurer
Karen Aulino, Secretary
Sam Bailey, deceased, and greatly missed
Jeff Burns
John Schubert
Executive Director:
Emilie Alfino
Sincerely and with gratitude,
Michael J. Valiquette
PURRE Chairman
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Florida Forever Coalition
Saving Essential Florida: Creating Permanent Funding for Land Conservation A proposal by the Florida Wildlife Federation, working with its partners in the Florida Forever Coalition, to create a permanent, dedicated source of state revenue from the existing documentary stamp tax to fund land preservation. This will continue and expand one of the world's largest and most successful land conservation programs.
Goal:
Utilize every approach available to renew and expand Florida's land conservation efforts by succeeding the present Florida Forever program with a larger, more flexible and inclusive program of land preservation. The need to get it done now is urgent, while there are still opportunities to conserve large, connected landscapes. Many private landowners who wish to protect their lands are willing to sell or donate conservation easements. Public lands, such as our state parks (which hosted more than 19 million visitors last year) and our state forests, both need additional lands and linkages to protect them from rampant development. What is lacking is a reliable source of funding to accomplish these goals when Florida Forever ends.
Present legislative conditions for renewed efforts to accelerate and promote a successor to Florida Forever do not appear to be promising. State tax revenues are lower than expected and short term projections are not sunny. Thus, few elected officials want to initiate a robust new program. These conditions have caused the Federation to recognize that any expectation of automatic renewal, much less an expansion of Florida Forever, is far from likely. We have therefore turned to other means, including amending the state constitution, as an approach we can embrace in order to complete Florida's conservation effort.
Steering Committee:
The present members of the Florida Forever Coalition Steering Committee are: Florida Wildlife Federation, Trust for Public Land, Audubon of Florida, Florida Recreation and Parks Association, The Nature Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, 1000 Friends of Florida.
For more information, please contact Jay Liles at jliles@fwfonline.org or (850) 656-7113.
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Drought returns to South Florida's far west areas
Because of a lack of rain in recent weeks, drought conditions have returned to the interior of the state and South Florida's far western areas, authorities say. Mainly, that means residents should be careful not to start wildfires with cigarettes or vehicle exhaust, officials said. For now, the drought conditions are not affecting regional water supplies, the South Florida Water Management District said on Friday. Most of the region had been in an extreme drought for much of the year, with some areas experiencing "exceptional" drought conditions, the worst category. Fort Lauderdale, for instance, saw a rain deficit of more than 30 inches below normal. Although heavy rains in October ended the drought, little rain has fallen for the past two months. A total of .9 inches fell across the southern third of the state in December, according to the water district. On Friday, Lake Okeechobee, the region's backup water supply, had a level of 13.68 feet, or about a foot below normal. "December is a naturally dry time in South Florida," district meteorologist Geoff Shaughnessy said. - Ken Kaye Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
The Dirtiest Power Plants in the U.S.
The dirtiest power plants in the nation continue to generate a disproportionate amount of toxic pollutants-including arsenic, chromium, hydrochloric acid, lead, mercury, nickel and selenium-tracked in a new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released Dec. 7 by EIP, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club...
Based on overall rankings for the toxic pollutants reviewed in the EIP report, the five worst states identified are (starting with the bottom-ranked states): - Pennsylvania (#1 rankings for arsenic and lead)
- Ohio (#2 rankings for mercury and selenium)
- Indiana (#4 rankings for chromium and nickel)
- Kentucky (#2 for arsenic)
- Texas (#1 rankings for mercury and selenium)
The balance of the 15 worst states for the key toxics reviewed in the report are: (6) West Virginia; (7) Georgia; (8) Alabama; (9) Michigan (including #2 ranking for chromium and #4 for hydrochloric acid); (10) Florida; (11) North Carolina; (12) North Dakota (#3 for arsenic); (13) Missouri (#4 for mercury); (14) Wyoming; and (15) South Carolina. The EIP report also notes that other states-including Arkansas, Iowa, Puerto Rico and Tennessee-are also among the worst in terms of emissions of certain toxic pollutants.
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Federal Court Orders EPA to Delay Cross-state Pollution Rule
01-01-2012
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Appeals Court in Washington ruled on Dec. 30 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must delay implementation of pending regulations aimed at limiting harmful power plant pollution that crosses state lines...
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 | Do alligators ever romance logs?
Mark Renz photo
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Everglades National Park is one of America's greatest treasures. In addition to being a one-of-a-kind subtropical destination for tourists, this World Heritage Site is a tremendous economic generator for Florida. In 2009 alone, Everglades National Park created nearly 3,000 jobs. More than 2,300 of these jobs were in the local private sector and generated
more than $165 million in visitor spending.
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Bruce Ritchie
A Senate committee is recommending that a statewide rule be developed for Florida's combined wetlands and stormwater permitting program to eliminate inconsistencies among water management districts.
The Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) was adopted in 1995. It combined separate wetlands and stormwater permitting programs with the state's sovereign submerged lands program.
The program was adopted at that time by four of the state's five water management districts. The Northwest Florida Water Management District was directed by the Legislature to adopt the program in 2006 in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Protection.
The Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation interim report says the permitting program at DEP and the Northwest Florida Water Management District is more streamlined and efficient. While wetlands permitting is essentially identical among the other districts, stormwater management permitting differs substantially, the report said.
Business representatives say those differences lead to vast differences in cost for stormwater management among districts. A company that opens three stores near each other in different districts will likely have to submit three separate permit applications and may face different construction and compliance costs.
A department spokeswoman said late Thursday she was unable to provide immediate comment on the Senate report because it had just been issued. Last week, DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard said providing regulatory consistency is a top priority of the department.
"Unless there is a regional geological difference that requires it [permitting differences], folks shouldn't have to feel like they need an interpreter if they go across one water management district to the next," Vinyard said.
Audubon of Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said Thursday he would like to see more consistency in the permitting if the state adopts the most protective standards and most open processes now used at the districts.
"We hope we won't end up with the least protective rule and we hope we don't end up with a process that provides the least amount of public participation," he said.
A separate issue brief published by the Senate Transportation Committee outlines an eight-year process for developing and permitting stormwater treatment ponds for road projects. That issue brief does not include recommendations.
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Southeast American Shoreline Studies is a shoreline BLOG for Gulf States: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and on the Atlantic side, Florida and Georgia. (The blog posts are mostly from amateur enthusiasts.)
Leisurely paddling and observation at a variety of sites difficult to visit by any other means. Kayak, paddle, life vest, etc supplied. If you haven't used a kayak before, a short training session before the trip will get you going.
Call John at (941)966-7308 for reservations. *Jan 5 Waterways of Nokomis 10am - 1pm Jan 7 Myakka State Park 10:30am - 1:30pm * Jan 11 Caspersen Beach Park/Lemon Bay 1pm - 4pm * Jan 19 Don Pedro State Park/Englewood 10am - 1:30pm $25 mem, $30 non- mem * Jan 21 Little Sarasota Bay/Palmer Pt Park 1pm - 4pm * Jan 22 Bird Key/South Lido Park 1pm - 4pm * Jan 28 Blackburn Pt/Oscar Scherer State Park 11am - 2:30pm * Jan 29 Little Sarasota Bay/Palmer Pt Park 10am - 1pm * Jan 31 Palma Sola Bay/Robinson Preserve 10am - 2pm $30 mem, $35 non-mem |
 | Professional bunjie jumper
Mark Renz photo art
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The next SCG meeting is scheduled for Friday Jan 13, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM . The purpose of the meeting is to present and discuss the scoping and targets for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP); and to discuss how to move forward on the monitoring recommendations for the System-wide Indicators Report and the CEPP discussed at the September 2011 Task Force meeting. The meeting will be held at the SFWMD Headquarters located at3301 Gun Club Road in theBuilding B-1, Governing Board Auditorium. Please visitwww.sfrestore.org for more details. The agenda and additional infomation will be provided later.
Hapy Holidays,
Carrie Beeler
Program Manager
U.S. Department of the Interior
Secretary's Office of Everglades Restoration
305-348-6745
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Eco-Voice, Inc.
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