"Mysteries of the Everglades" is the theme for our annual all-day family festival with tours, nature walks, bird walks, wildlife demonstrations, canoeing, presentations, exhibits, games, food, music, dance and much more!
Jim Currie, producer and star of the TV Series "Birding Adventures" will present in the Visitor Center theater at 1pm. If you've watched his show or heard him speak, you know this is a treat not to be missed! http://blog.aba.org/james_currie
At noon Murder On the Beach Bookstore in Delray Beach is sponsoring a panel discussion "Mysteries in the Everglades" at the Marsh Trail pavilion. Confirmed authors to date are Jonathon King and Eliot Kleinberg.
Come join us and wear your walking shoes for this free family fun and educational outdoor festival!
Park just south of the Refuge in Monty's parking lot and ride the bus to the Visitor Center. On the Refuge, buses will be running continuously between the various activities.
The Florida House of Representatives on Friday unanimously approved a bill to ease approval of a set of proposed state water quality standards drafted in response to a set of federal pollution limits, which many argue are too expensive to implement.
Also known as the "numeric nutrient criteria," the rules were drafted in response to a federal mandate requiring the state to implement a more stringent set of criteria. Though the federal Environmental Protection Agency was set to implement standards in the state, the Florida Department of Environment Protection drafted its own set of rules as an alternative.
Technically, House Bill 7051, which was passed on Friday, would waive legal requirements that the Legislature ratify proposed rules that would cost more than $1 million to implement. But the main purpose of the bill is to establish the state's version of the nutrient rules, directing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to submit its own rules to the EPA for review under the Clean Water Act.
The state rules are largely supported by agricultural, business and utility interests, but opposed by environmentalists who support the federally drafted rules.
A coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, the Florida Wildlife Federation and the St. Johns Riverkeeper challenged the state's version of the nutrient criteria in December, arguing that the standards are so poor they "would actually be less protective" than no standards at all. A hearing on that challenge is slated for next week.
The bill will now move to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass, and then on to Gov. Rick Scott, who has said he supports the state rules.
, which would allow Florida Power & Light to charge residential customers an additional 5 cents per month for a 75-megawatt solar power plant being built at Babcock Ranch located in Charlotte and Lee counties. Developers of the project first proposed the solar array in 2009. However, for the past three years the Legislature has not approved bills that would allow utilities to charge more for renewable energy projects.
The 9th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference is coming to Orlando Florida, June 3-8, 2012.
We are pleased to announce the Society of Wetland Scientists and the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference will meet in conjunction with INTECOL 9, and their presentations on planning, policy and science will be integrated into the program. We welcome our colleagues to this premier event - the largest wetlands conference in the world.
Mark your calendar now and make plans to attendthis dynamic conference which will attract more than 1500 of the world's leading wetland scientists and policy makers.
The beauty of reality is that it's real Fisheating Creek - Mark Renz photo
Please suggest that members of your organization sign up for the Eco-Voice Daily Digest to keep up on news about environmental issues affecting South Florida. Delivered to their inbox each morning by 6 AM, the Eco-Voice Daily Digest gives them details of meetings and conferences, links to articles, forums and advocacy opportunities for a broad range of environmental topics as well as some great photos from Mark Renz. If you post details of your events/meetings and links to articles of interest to the Eco-Voice Facebook page you multiply your outreach.
Special property tax treatment for Florida property deemed to be "agricultural" allowed the avoidance of $967.9 million in local property taxes last year. Real property in 2009 that was worth $88.1 billion was taxed as if it were worth only $14.4 billion. Although mostly hidden from view, this tax giveaway is one of Florida's most powerful water use and agricultural policies. This tax break is larger than the annual budget of entire state agencies (in millions of dollars):
Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a 14,000 acre preserve located near Naples, Florida in the heart of the Western Everglades. It is home to the largest remaining stand of old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America. A 2.25 mile boardwalk trail, which winds its way through 4 native habitats, is open to the public 365 days a year.
Everglades-restoration boosters are pushing Congress to approve funding for a spreader canal project in South Florida designed to improve freshwater flow and preserve wading birds.
You'll be hearing more about this "C-111" project when Congress turns to Everglades spending this election year.
Money is tight, but so far restoration forces have been winning the battle for funding as the Obama administration, as well as some Republicans, show they care about the environment.
The Army Corps of Engineers last week signed off on the C-111 project in Miami-Dade County, making it a top priority for (authorization and) funding.
"If this project is operated to achieve ecological benefits, such as revived wildlife populations, we will demonstrate that successful restoration of the Everglades is possible," said Megan Tinsley, Everglades policy associate for Audubon Florida.
The spreader canal will increase freshwater flows to Taylor Slough in Everglades National Park, considered essential to species such as the Roseate Spoonbill and other iconic wading birds.
Salinities increased throughout the Caloosahatchee estuary over the past week, with flows averaging 469 cfs at S79. Surface salinity at Ft Myers increased to 17.8 psu, salinity at Beautiful Island/I75 increased 5 psu to 13.8 psu and the Franklin Lock (S79) salinity increased to 7 psu. The salinity at Ft Myers has exceeded the 30 day Minimum Flow Level moving average for the past 44 days. Elevated salinities in the upper estuary have caused the loss of all tapegrass in the critical area between the US 41 bridges and I75 where manatees congregate in the winter.Salinities in the lower estuary also exceeded the upper limit of the preferred salinity range for oysters (15-25 psu) the past week.
Salinities over the past 2 months have exceeded the salinity envelope for tapegrass causing the last transplants to disappearfrom Beautiful Island. Flow volumes delivered in pulse releases have not provided enough water to meet ecological targets and keep salinity below the harm threshold of 10 psu at Fort Myers or 5 psu at the I75 monitoring station.
Scientists studying the Indian River Lagoon, long considered one of the world's richest ecosystems, say new findings show the lagoon is a critical nursery for one of the ocean's top predators.
After reviewing 30 years of research and conducting new studies by catching and tagging live young sharks, one trio of scientists says the lagoon may be "the most significant bull shark nursery area on the U.S. Atlantic Coast."
While the average person may not be able to fathom why anyone would care about sharks, fisheries biologists say as an apex predator, the bull shark plays a key role in the food webs in the lagoon and the ocean.
"If things go south (in the lagoon), the population of bull sharks all up and down the United States gets affected," said George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History. "The ramifications could be huge."
While Volusia County leads the country in shark bites, Burgess, an international shark bite expert, said the blame for those frequent shark bites near Ponce de Leon Inlet shouldn't be placed on the bull shark.
Though larger bull sharks are often "one of the prime suspects" for the more serious attacks in Volusia and elsewhere, Burgess said most of the incidents in Volusia "tend to occur from smaller, fish-eating species that are presumably making mistakes in judgment."
The Indian River Lagoon is actually a cluster of three lagoons that stretch more than 150 miles along more than a third of Florida's east coast, from Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County south to Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County. It includes Mosquito Lagoon in Volusia and Brevard counties, the Indian River and the Banana River.
The lagoon's health and water quality is vital for many species of wildlife, said Tobey Curtis, who co-authored the study while obtaining his master's degree at the University of Florida.
"A lot of people think about birds and fisheries for snook, tarpon and redfish, but don't realize how important it is to sharks," Curtis said.
The lagoon provides two things that are critical to the success of a nursery, for bull sharks as well as other species, Burgess said: abundant food and a degree of protection against predation by larger animals.
The food resources in the lagoon make it "very special," not just for sharks but for shrimps, crabs and any number of fish, he said. That includes "important commercial and recreational species, as well as the little unsung 97 percent that aren't highly esteemed as food fish but important as intermediary steps in the food chain."
"Each of these species has its own ecological niche to fill, and when you start to reduce or start to take away from that, it does throw off the balance, without question," said Doug Adams, a fisheries biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the third and final author of the study.
The lagoon helps sustain larger offshore populations of other species, said Adams, who monitors fish populations in the lagoon and just offshore for the commission.......
"If you tweak something in the Indian River Lagoon," Burgess said, "it's going to have a reaction that might go into the Gulf of Mexico or it might go up as far north as North Carolina."
Underscoring the state's commitment to Greater Everglades ecosystem restoration, the Florida Legislature in 2007 expanded the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act to strengthen protection for the Northern Everglades. This is being achieved by restoring and preserving the Lake Okeechobee watershed and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. The legislation required watershed plans for Lake Okeechobee (including Fisheating Creek), the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers and their estuaries. Features of the Northern Everglades & Estuaries Protection Program:
Recognizes that the Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds are critical water resources of the State
Builds upon and consolidates numerous restoration activities into a comprehensive approach
Expands use of the Save Our Everglades Trust Fund to include Northern Everglades restoration and extends it through 2020
Initial phases of these plans are now being implemented, as is planning for feasibility studies of sub-basins within each plan. Details of each of these plans, developed in 2007 and 2008 in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, as well as with stakeholders and members of the public, are listed below.
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