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Wednesday, January. 4th, 2012 #1172 |
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| Florida snow tire (Babock Ranch)
Mark Renz photo
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.. Wildlife federation sees 5 challenges for 2012
By Nancy Payton Naples Southwest Florida field officer, Florida Wildlife Federation
Monday, January 2, 2012
Editor's note: The Daily News has invited public figures in various walks of life to write essays sizing up 2011, 2012 or both. Their reports will appear through the holidays.The Florida Wildlife Federation's conservation forecast is vigilantly optimistic.
There are five significant actions to monitor in Collier County.
1. What will be the fate of Conservation Collier? 2012 is the last year that Conservation Collier is mandated to receive ad valorem tax dollars. Will commissioners actually sunset the program and its quarter-mil tax during the upcoming budget discussions? Will commissioners keep the quarter-mil tax and redirect it to the general fund or other needs? Or will commissioners extend the popular program with the dedicated quarter-mil tax in recognition of the role it and its knowledgeable staff can have in implementing the Watershed Management Plan, the Master Mobility Plan and a countywide mitigation strategy? The federation will be rooting for continuing and expanding Conservation Collier.
2. The Watershed Management Plan shifts from planning to doing. A notable component is diverting water from the Golden Gate canal to rehydrate parched North Belle Meade wetlands and sloughs that flow south eventually to Rookery Bay, which requires more fresh water. Surges of unwanted fresh water into Naples Bay will be dramatically reduced hopefully resulting in a healthier bay. It is a daunting task to secure the funding, consolidate the necessary land and build the infrastructure. Think Picayune Strand restoration and the North Belle Meade project pales in comparison.
3. The Rural Lands Stewardship Area Program's enhancing amendments are slated for adoption in 2012. The program currently regulates growth on almost 200,000 acres in eastern Collier County surrounding Immokalee. The strengthening amendments, supported by conservation organizations and affected landowners, are the product of more than 30 public meetings and will have six more hearings before final approval. These amendments improve the existing program by reducing the development footprint to 45,000 acres of sustainable communities; placing a limit on development credits that can be generated from conservation and agriculture preservation lands; addressing landowner inequities; and providing incentives to preserve and restore regional habitat links. Hopefully the amendments will not fall victim to naysayers who refuse to accept the fact that the state determined the Rural Lands Stewardship Area Program, as adopted in 2003 by the Collier commissioners, to be in compliance with all growth laws.
4. The Master Mobility Plan will be before the Collier Commission this month for authorization to move into the implementation phase. The plan includes several conservation recommendations that complement other planning exercises, most notably proposals to protect wetland systems in remote eastern North Golden Gate Estates, where basic services and infrastructure are a fiscal challenge. Restored wetlands will provide aquifer recharge, firebreaks, wildlife habitat, compatible recreational opportunities and tax-dollar savings.
5. The push for an interchange on Interstate 75 at or near Everglades Boulevard has two important benchmarks in the coming year. First, the Interchange Justification Report must successfully demonstrate to the Federal Highway Administration that an interchange is needed. Second, the Cumulative Effects Evaluation Study must resolve the environmental disputes regarding the proposed interchange's significant impacts to wetlands and wildlife habitat. The proposed interchange must make it through both these gauntlets if it is to advance. Then the question becomes, can taxpayers afford the right-of-way, mitigation and construction costs?
In Lee County, the big nature issue to watch is the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource (DR/GR) Area. Its fate hangs on upcoming decisions by Administrative Law Judge Bram Canter and the state of Florida as to whether Lee County's growth plan can restrict rock mining to a designated area along Alico Road east of I-75. The rock mining district is supported by all but the mining interests.
With a bit of good fortune and a lot hard work by many, this time next year the federation can report that 2012 was a great year for nature.
© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group - Online |
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Lovers Crane
Mark Renz photo
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On January 17th and 18th, 2012 the Everglades Foundation will be hosting a first of its kind event in Tallahassee, Florida. The Everglades Water Supply Summit will be filled with informative, thought-provoking events designed to build momentum towards the restoration of a national treasure
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Carl Hiaasen to speak at
Carl Hiaasen
www.collieraudubon.info Carl Hiaasen grew up on the edge of Florida's Everglades where he spent his childhood romping through the mangrove swamps and fresh water lagoons surrounding his home, soaking up the natural beauty around him and developing an early fascination and appreciation of nature. |
In Blue Revolution, award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett reports on the many ways one of the most water-rich nations on the planet has squandered its way to scarcity, and argues the best solution is also the simplest and least expensive: a water ethic for America. ... The first book to call for a national water ethic, Blue Revolution is also a powerful meditation on water and community in America. |
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'11 Was Mixed Year for Environment Thanks to Economy
As usual, it was a mixed year for the environment in 2011.
The continuing economic problems gave environmental opponents additional openings to undermine growth management, water management, pollution control and land conservation.
And that was just the Florida Legislature, which will be making additional runs at these issues when the next session opens this month.
Thankfully, local environmental news was sometimes better.......
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What nearby galaxy am I?
Click Mark Renz image to find out
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Student Wildlife Conservation GrantsApplications due February 1, 2012 Do you want to encourage high school students to conserve and protect wildlife? Planet Connect is offering grants of $1,000 for youth to implement a project in your local school or community. Grantees will receive funding to participate in a local summer internship focused on wildlife conservation or natural resources. ... Please share this opportunity with your email and social networks. To learn more, visit http://bit.ly/rUOtWA.
Contact Caitlin Enright to request promotional language and graphics that can help you share this information: (202) 261-6468; CEnright@neefusa.org.
Find this and other grant opportunities at http://bit.ly/umlCkg.
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Trouble reading this email? Click here.
2011 National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston VA 20190 |
Manasota88
Meeting
Wednesday - January 18, 2012 @ 3:15 P.M.
Sierra Club Office -1365 Fruitville Road
Sarasota, FL 34236
ManaSota-88 has spent over 30 years fighting to protect our environment. We are a 501.c3 non-profit organization, incorporated in the State of Florida. We are dedicated to protecting the public's health and preservation of the environment.
Created in 1968, ManaSota-88 evolved from a major environmental health study sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, Florida State University, the University of Florida and the Sarasota and Manatee County Commissions. Our commitment to safeguard the air, land and water quality is aggressive and uncompromising.
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It's the phosphorous
Although 30,000 tons of the phosphorus that plagues Lake Okeechobee is located in sediments at the Lake's bottom, it may not be economically, practically, or ecologically feasible to remove these sediments by dredging. Not only would the cost of that effort be astronomical ($3 billion according to a 2003 study commissioned for the SFWMD), but the effort could take an impractically long time given the volume of sediments to be removed.
The SFWMD has estimated that 200 million cubic meters of sediment would need to be dredged to remove all internally loaded sediments from Lake Okeechobee. That is enough to fill 250,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and "ten times the amount of material removed from any lake in the world." If dredging techniques from another shallow Florida lake (Banana Lake) were used, such dredging this could take as long as 270 years!
In addition, the process could pose unacceptable risks for the Lake's fish and wildlife: dredging would stir up more sediments and expose Lake life to increased turbidity and nutrient levels. The feasibility of dredging was recently studied by SFWMD and its partners as a part of the Lake Okeechobee Sediment Management Feasibility Study. This study concluded that "the no-action" alternative, i.e. no in-lake dredging or chemical treatment, is the preferred alternative.
Instead, the study recommends concentrating control activities in the watershed versus the lake.
(For more information on this study, see Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc., Evaluation of Alternatives for the Lake Okeechobee Sediment Management Feasibility Study C-11650: A report prepared for the South Florida Water Management District, April, 2003, here.
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 | Atom Smasher
On a desolate back country road, with one hand on the wheel, I reach over and turn on my genius of a phone. No clicks. No beeps. Just a light touch or two on a tiny glass pane and our home number flashes across the screen. "Hello?" says a barely audible voice. "Good morning my tender sweet, did I wake you?" "Yes, but that's okay. I need to get up. Is everything all right?" "Everything's fine. It's just that I was wondering..." "About atoms again?" "You're so perceptive...I was thinking about why our Universe may be expanding..." "Go on..." she yawns... Click Mark Renz photo to continue story |
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Periodic Scientists Conference Call -
Lake Okeechobee/Estuaries
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The call-in number is (888) 622-5357 and the code is 920898.
Members of the public can "listen in" but are not participants in the discussion.
Public comment is accepted at the conclusion of the representatives' discussion. |
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Sincerely,
Eco-Voice Moderator
Eco-Voice, Inc.
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