U.S. interior secretary wants to proceed with Everglades restoration
Groups being asked to settle differences
By William E. Gibson Sun Sentinel Washington correspondent
June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON After a decade of foot-dragging, it's time to get moving on Everglades restoration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said today."We are going to be on this project with everything that we have," he said.Salazar brought the main players overseeing Everglades restoration to Washington for the first time to underscore the Obama administration's commitment to reconstruct South Florida's ecosystem after years of talk, planning, litigation and delays.
"It can be a template for other global landscapes," he told the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a group of government officials and representatives of the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes.Fresh from a tour of the Everglades last month, Salazar said he wanted to look back four years from now, at the end of President Barack Obama's term, to see progress toward restoring an ecological landmark.These were welcome words for the often-squabbling coalition of environmentalists, water-management, tribal and state officials who have complained for years that Florida has had to carry the whole weight of the work.The federal government pledged in 2000 to be a full partner in restoration and to pay half the cost. Since then, the state has bought land and begun preliminary work, but the first federal dollars for restoration construction did not begin flowing until this year.Much of Salazar's task is to overcome inter-agency divisions that have created bureaucratic delays."There's been in recent years tension and disagreement between the Army Corps of Engineers, the White House and the Department of Interior about how to carry out restoration projects and how to pay for it," said Eric Draper, deputy director of Audubon of Florida. "Given that the new president is all about cooperation, we can start with agencies working together on restoration."One of the first actions will be construction of a 1-mile bridge over Tamiami Trail in western Miami-Dade County to allow fresh water to flow into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.An injunction blocking construction was removed last week when a judge ruled against the Miccosukee tribe, which fears the project dubbed Modified Waters will flood and pollute tribal land.The tribe's attorney warned Wednesday of disastrous floods, a jarring note amid the mutual congratulations at the Washington meeting."When this happens, your political support will abandon you in a heartbeat," said Dexter Lehtinen, who represents the tribe.But the task force is determined to move ahead, with several projects slated to begin this year or next.The Army Corps plans over the next few months to build pumping stations at Picayune Strand on the western edge of the Everglades. The pumps will spread water in sheets across the Everglades to nurture plants and wildlife, reversing the past practice of channeling water out to sea.The state bought the land, plugged canals and removed roadways to prepare the way.Spending by Congress has unleashed the Army Corps to complete Picayune Strand and start work on other projects.Congress approved $241 million for the Everglades this year. The economic-stimulus bill added $119 million. And the administration has proposed $278 million for the Everglades in the fiscal year that begins in October."I hope you have seen from the Obama administration up to this point that he is walking the walk," Salazar said.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Everglades swamped with invading pythons
THE EVERGLADES, Florida (Reuters) – The population of Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades may have grown to as many as 150,000 as the non-native snakes make a home and breed in the fragile wetlands, officials said Thursday.
Wildlife biologists say the troublesome invaders -- dumped in the Everglades by pet owners who no longer want them -- have become a pest and pose a significant threat to endangered species like the wood stork and Key Largo woodrat.
"They eat things that we care about," said Skip Snow, an Everglades National Park biologist, as he showed a captured, 15-foot (4.6-meter) Burmese python to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was on his first fact-finding mission to the Everglades since the Obama administration took office.
With Snow maintaining a strong grip on its head, the massive snake hissed angrily at Salazar and the other federal officials who gathered around it at a recreation area off Alligator Alley in the vast saw grass prairie. It took two other snake wranglers to control the python's body.
"A snake this size could eat a small deer or a bobcat without too much trouble," Snow told Salazar before the secretary boarded an airboat for a tour of the Everglades.
Everglades biologists have been grappling with the growing python problem for a decade. The snakes are one of the largest species in the world and natives of Southeast Asia, but they found a home to their liking in the Everglades when pet owners started using the wetland as a convenient dumping ground.
"They're fine when they're small but they can live 25 to 30 years. When they get bigger you have to feed them small animals like rabbits, and cleaning up after them, it's like cleaning up after a horse," Snow said. "People don't want big snakes."
TRAPPERS AND HUNTERS
Pythons captured in the Everglades are often killed. Wildlife officials are trying trapping and other eradication methods, and are considering offering bounties to hunters. Scientists are experimenting with ways to lure the snakes into traps, including the use of pheromones -- chemicals that serve as sexual attractants -- as bait.
"They are estimating there are 150,000 of these snakes. They proliferate so quickly," said Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who accompanied Salazar on the airboat tour of the Everglades. "They've already found grown deer, they've found full sized bobcats inside them. It's just a matter of time before one gets the highly endangered Florida panther."
But biologists played down the risk to the panther, the most endangered species in the Everglades. There are believed to be only about 100 left, but they range over a territory of some 2 million acres.
"It would take some awfully unique circumstances for a python and a panther to meet up," said Darrell Land, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist. "And the cats are very wary and they have very quick reaction times."
Pythons are not the only invader troubling the Everglades.
New fish and rodent species have also become pests, and two thriving colonies of the Nile monitor lizard, an Africa native that can grow to 7 feet in length, have established themselves on opposite sides of the state.
Nelson, a Democrat, said the Obama administration had committed $200 million, including $100 million of stimulus money, so far this year to Everglades restoration, a 35-year project valued at $8 billion when it was started nearly a decade ago.
The project is designed to restore natural water flow and native wildlife populations to the shallow, slow-moving river that dominates the interior of southern Florida.
Wildlife biologists say the troublesome invaders -- dumped in the Everglades by pet owners who no longer want them -- have become a pest and pose a significant threat to endangered species like the wood stork and Key Largo woodrat.
"They eat things that we care about," said Skip Snow, an Everglades National Park biologist, as he showed a captured, 15-foot (4.6-meter) Burmese python to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was on his first fact-finding mission to the Everglades since the Obama administration took office.
With Snow maintaining a strong grip on its head, the massive snake hissed angrily at Salazar and the other federal officials who gathered around it at a recreation area off Alligator Alley in the vast saw grass prairie. It took two other snake wranglers to control the python's body.
"A snake this size could eat a small deer or a bobcat without too much trouble," Snow told Salazar before the secretary boarded an airboat for a tour of the Everglades.
Everglades biologists have been grappling with the growing python problem for a decade. The snakes are one of the largest species in the world and natives of Southeast Asia, but they found a home to their liking in the Everglades when pet owners started using the wetland as a convenient dumping ground.
"They're fine when they're small but they can live 25 to 30 years. When they get bigger you have to feed them small animals like rabbits, and cleaning up after them, it's like cleaning up after a horse," Snow said. "People don't want big snakes."
TRAPPERS AND HUNTERS
Pythons captured in the Everglades are often killed. Wildlife officials are trying trapping and other eradication methods, and are considering offering bounties to hunters. Scientists are experimenting with ways to lure the snakes into traps, including the use of pheromones -- chemicals that serve as sexual attractants -- as bait.
"They are estimating there are 150,000 of these snakes. They proliferate so quickly," said Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who accompanied Salazar on the airboat tour of the Everglades. "They've already found grown deer, they've found full sized bobcats inside them. It's just a matter of time before one gets the highly endangered Florida panther."
But biologists played down the risk to the panther, the most endangered species in the Everglades. There are believed to be only about 100 left, but they range over a territory of some 2 million acres.
"It would take some awfully unique circumstances for a python and a panther to meet up," said Darrell Land, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist. "And the cats are very wary and they have very quick reaction times."
Pythons are not the only invader troubling the Everglades.
New fish and rodent species have also become pests, and two thriving colonies of the Nile monitor lizard, an Africa native that can grow to 7 feet in length, have established themselves on opposite sides of the state.
Nelson, a Democrat, said the Obama administration had committed $200 million, including $100 million of stimulus money, so far this year to Everglades restoration, a 35-year project valued at $8 billion when it was started nearly a decade ago.
The project is designed to restore natural water flow and native wildlife populations to the shallow, slow-moving river that dominates the interior of southern Florida.
Florida's turtles
June 23
The (Lakeland) Ledger, on protecting Florida's turtles:
Florida's turtles are so slow they can't get out of their own way. That sounds like a joke, but it's not. Slow-moving turtles are especially vulnerable to large-scale harvesting, and there's a growing global demand for turtle meat. That's a prescription for extinction.
But no longer. This week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission slammed the door on commercial turtle harvesting. The commission banned the taking of alligators, snapping turtles, Suwannee cooters and other imperiled species, and it limited the taking of softshell turtles to one per day for personal use.
"This decision may be one of Florida's greatest conservation stories," Commissioner Brian Yablonski said. "This is a legacy vote."
Dr. Matthew Aresco, a turtle expert who directs Nokuse Plantation, a private wildlife refuge in the Florida Panhandle, said the vote was "a wise, forward-thinking move to protect Florida's turtles from mass commercial hunting."
In the period from 2000 to 2005, exports of snapping turtles shipped from the United States increased 1,200 percent; shipments of softshell turtles rose by 270 percent.
Having often been critical of the commission, especially for its ambivalence toward Florida manatees, we are happy to commend it for moving so decisively to protect Florida's turtle species.
Several Floridians engaged in turtle harvesting objected to the commission's action, but as a St. Petersburg Times story pointed out, "the new rules allow turtle farms to collect turtles to reproduce in captivity and thus become self-sustaining without taking turtles from the wild."
"When you're over-fishing, you're not only hurting the species, you're hurting the food chain as well," argued Commissioner Ron Bergeron.
Florida's turtles were easy pickings, but no more.
--
The (Lakeland) Ledger, on protecting Florida's turtles:
Florida's turtles are so slow they can't get out of their own way. That sounds like a joke, but it's not. Slow-moving turtles are especially vulnerable to large-scale harvesting, and there's a growing global demand for turtle meat. That's a prescription for extinction.
But no longer. This week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission slammed the door on commercial turtle harvesting. The commission banned the taking of alligators, snapping turtles, Suwannee cooters and other imperiled species, and it limited the taking of softshell turtles to one per day for personal use.
"This decision may be one of Florida's greatest conservation stories," Commissioner Brian Yablonski said. "This is a legacy vote."
Dr. Matthew Aresco, a turtle expert who directs Nokuse Plantation, a private wildlife refuge in the Florida Panhandle, said the vote was "a wise, forward-thinking move to protect Florida's turtles from mass commercial hunting."
In the period from 2000 to 2005, exports of snapping turtles shipped from the United States increased 1,200 percent; shipments of softshell turtles rose by 270 percent.
Having often been critical of the commission, especially for its ambivalence toward Florida manatees, we are happy to commend it for moving so decisively to protect Florida's turtle species.
Several Floridians engaged in turtle harvesting objected to the commission's action, but as a St. Petersburg Times story pointed out, "the new rules allow turtle farms to collect turtles to reproduce in captivity and thus become self-sustaining without taking turtles from the wild."
"When you're over-fishing, you're not only hurting the species, you're hurting the food chain as well," argued Commissioner Ron Bergeron.
Florida's turtles were easy pickings, but no more.
--
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Everglades' wood stork
Everglades' wood stork enjoys a rebirth
A boom in breeding by the rare wood stork has added fuel to developers' argument that the bird no longer belongs on the endangered list.
The wood stork, an ungainly duckling among the Everglades' elegant wading birds, has been breeding in numbers unseen in decades.
Rain in the last crucial month of nesting season took a toll, leaving half the weakened fledglings prey for waiting gators. But even with that loss, preliminary surveys estimate that 3,500 will leave South Florida nests this year.
Contrast that to the survivors last year: zero.
''We haven't seen this kind of nesting efforts and eggs laid since the 1930s,'' said Dean Powell, director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which compiles an annual population assessment of wading birds.
A boom in breeding by the rare wood stork has added fuel to developers' argument that the bird no longer belongs on the endangered list.
The wood stork, an ungainly duckling among the Everglades' elegant wading birds, has been breeding in numbers unseen in decades.
Rain in the last crucial month of nesting season took a toll, leaving half the weakened fledglings prey for waiting gators. But even with that loss, preliminary surveys estimate that 3,500 will leave South Florida nests this year.
Contrast that to the survivors last year: zero.
''We haven't seen this kind of nesting efforts and eggs laid since the 1930s,'' said Dean Powell, director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which compiles an annual population assessment of wading birds.
For complete article go to http://www.miamiherald.com/news/environment/resources/story/1109340.html
Monday, June 22, 2009
Big Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in southern Florida, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Miami. The 720,000-acre (2,900 km2) Big Cypress, along with Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, became the first national preserves in the United States National Park System when they were established on 11 October 1974.[1].
Big Cypress borders the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park to the south, and other state and federally protected cypress country in the west, with water from the Big Cypress flowing south and west into the coastal Ten Thousand Islands region of Everglades National Park. When Everglades National Park was established in 1947, Big Cypress was originally intended to be included; however, because the land had not been purchased from its private owners, Big Cypress was ultimately released from the park system.
Ecologically, the preserve is slightly more elevated than the western Everglades, and Big Cypress has historically served as home to Native Americans, including the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes, as well as early settlers who hunted herons and egrets to supply feathers to hat-makers in New York and Paris, and poachers who hunted American Alligators and Crocodiles to near extinction. The timber industry also operated in the area, and built railroads to haul out most of the cypress ecosystem's old growth trees.
Big Cypress differs from Everglades National Park in that the Miccosukee and Seminole people have permanent rights to occupy and use the land, that the Native Americans and hunters[2] may use off-road vehicles, and home and business owners have been permitted to keep their properties. As in Everglades National Park, petroleum exploration was permitted within Big Cypress, but plans are under way to buy out the remaining petroleum leases.
In the 1960s, Native Americans, hunters, and conservationists succeeded at fighting an effort to move Miami International Airport's international flights to a new airport in the Big Cypress area, and then campaigned to put Big Cypress back into the National Parks System. Although construction of the new airport had already begun, it was stopped after one runway was completed, and it is now known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
A cottonmouth crosses a heavily-traveled off-road vehicle access road in Big Cypress National Preserve.
The preserve is the most biologically diverse region of the terrestrial Everglades, and while dominated by a wet cypress forest is host to an array of flora and fauna, including mangroves, orchids, alligators, venomous snakes like the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti) and eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), a variety of birds, and the Florida panther (Puma concolor couguar).
The preserve is also home to nine federally listed endangered species including the West Indian Manatee, the eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi), and the Florida Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis pratensis).
A number of campgrounds in Big Cypress are tailored to motor vehicles, where tourists planning overnight stays can park their vehicles and ORVs in designated areas. The southern terminus of the Florida National Scenic Trail is located in Big Cypress, and provides hiking opportunities during the winter months.[3] For nature lovers who don't mind getting their feet wet, hiking throughout Big Cypress is enjoyable in all seasons, with most of the cypress country more hospitable to hikers than the dense sawgrass prairies of the central Everglades. Some of the most beautiful wading and walking can be found in cypress strands and prairies between the Loop Road and the Tamiami Trail. Because alligators are numerous and often large, wading through the cypress country requires constant alertness.
Big Cypress borders the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park to the south, and other state and federally protected cypress country in the west, with water from the Big Cypress flowing south and west into the coastal Ten Thousand Islands region of Everglades National Park. When Everglades National Park was established in 1947, Big Cypress was originally intended to be included; however, because the land had not been purchased from its private owners, Big Cypress was ultimately released from the park system.
Ecologically, the preserve is slightly more elevated than the western Everglades, and Big Cypress has historically served as home to Native Americans, including the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes, as well as early settlers who hunted herons and egrets to supply feathers to hat-makers in New York and Paris, and poachers who hunted American Alligators and Crocodiles to near extinction. The timber industry also operated in the area, and built railroads to haul out most of the cypress ecosystem's old growth trees.
Big Cypress differs from Everglades National Park in that the Miccosukee and Seminole people have permanent rights to occupy and use the land, that the Native Americans and hunters[2] may use off-road vehicles, and home and business owners have been permitted to keep their properties. As in Everglades National Park, petroleum exploration was permitted within Big Cypress, but plans are under way to buy out the remaining petroleum leases.
In the 1960s, Native Americans, hunters, and conservationists succeeded at fighting an effort to move Miami International Airport's international flights to a new airport in the Big Cypress area, and then campaigned to put Big Cypress back into the National Parks System. Although construction of the new airport had already begun, it was stopped after one runway was completed, and it is now known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
A cottonmouth crosses a heavily-traveled off-road vehicle access road in Big Cypress National Preserve.
The preserve is the most biologically diverse region of the terrestrial Everglades, and while dominated by a wet cypress forest is host to an array of flora and fauna, including mangroves, orchids, alligators, venomous snakes like the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti) and eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), a variety of birds, and the Florida panther (Puma concolor couguar).
The preserve is also home to nine federally listed endangered species including the West Indian Manatee, the eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi), and the Florida Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis pratensis).
A number of campgrounds in Big Cypress are tailored to motor vehicles, where tourists planning overnight stays can park their vehicles and ORVs in designated areas. The southern terminus of the Florida National Scenic Trail is located in Big Cypress, and provides hiking opportunities during the winter months.[3] For nature lovers who don't mind getting their feet wet, hiking throughout Big Cypress is enjoyable in all seasons, with most of the cypress country more hospitable to hikers than the dense sawgrass prairies of the central Everglades. Some of the most beautiful wading and walking can be found in cypress strands and prairies between the Loop Road and the Tamiami Trail. Because alligators are numerous and often large, wading through the cypress country requires constant alertness.
Panther Preserve
The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in southwestern Florida, twenty miles east of Naples, in the upper segment of the Fakahatchee Strand of the Big Cypress Swamp. It is north of I-75 and west of SR 29.
The 26,400 acre (107 km²) refuge was established in 1989 under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,[1] to protect the endangered Florida Panther, as well as other threatened plant and animal species. The Florida panther is the only cougar species found east of the Mississippi River.[2] It is part of a network of private land and government protected areas. Some of the public sections of the system are the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. In all, less than 100 panthers use the area, with fewer than a dozen passing through the refuge each month.[1]
To protect the panther and other endangered inhabitants, general public use is only available at the southeast corner of the refuge, on designated hiking trails. All other areas are can only be seen by way of limited tours.
The 26,400 acre (107 km²) refuge was established in 1989 under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,[1] to protect the endangered Florida Panther, as well as other threatened plant and animal species. The Florida panther is the only cougar species found east of the Mississippi River.[2] It is part of a network of private land and government protected areas. Some of the public sections of the system are the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. In all, less than 100 panthers use the area, with fewer than a dozen passing through the refuge each month.[1]
To protect the panther and other endangered inhabitants, general public use is only available at the southeast corner of the refuge, on designated hiking trails. All other areas are can only be seen by way of limited tours.
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades are shaped by water and fire, experiencing frequent flooding in the wet season and drought in the dry season. Writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas popularized the term "River of Grass" to describe the sawgrass marshes, part of a complex system of interdependent ecosystems that include cypress swamps, the estuarine mangrove forests of the Ten Thousand Islands, tropical hardwood hammocks, pine rockland, and the marine environment of Florida Bay.
Human habitation in the southern portion of the Florida peninsula dates to 15,000 years ago. Two major tribes eventually formed in and around Everglades ecosystems: the Calusa and the Tequesta. After coming into contact with the Spanish in the late 16th century, both tribes declined gradually during the following two centuries. The Seminoles, a tribe of Creeks who assimilated other peoples into their own, made their living in the Everglades region after being forced there by the U.S. military in the Seminole Wars of the 19th century.
Draining the Everglades was first suggested in 1848, but was not attempted until 1882. Canals were constructed throughout the first half of the 20th century, and spurred the South Florida economy, prompting land development. However, problems with canals and floods caused by hurricanes forced engineers to rethink their drainage plans. In 1947, Congress formed the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, which built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals, levees, and water control devices. The South Florida metropolitan area grew substantially at this time and Everglades water was diverted to cities. Portions of the Everglades were transformed into farmland, where the primary crop was sugarcane. Approximately 50 percent of the original Everglades has been turned into agricultural or urban areas.[1] When the construction of a large airport was proposed 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Everglades National Park, an environmental study predicted it would destroy the South Florida ecosystem. Restoring the Everglades then became a priority.
National and international attention turned to the environment in the 1970s, and UNESCO and the Ramsar Convention designated the Everglades as one of only three wetland areas of global importance. Restoration began in the 1980s with the removal of a canal that straightened the Kissimmee River. The water quality of Lake Okeechobee, a water source for South Florida, became a significant concern. The deterioration of the environment was also linked to the diminishing quality of life in South Florida's urban areas. In 2000, a plan to restore the Everglades was approved by Congress; to date, it is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was signed into law, but the same divisive politics that had affected the region for the previous 50 years have compromised the plan.
Human habitation in the southern portion of the Florida peninsula dates to 15,000 years ago. Two major tribes eventually formed in and around Everglades ecosystems: the Calusa and the Tequesta. After coming into contact with the Spanish in the late 16th century, both tribes declined gradually during the following two centuries. The Seminoles, a tribe of Creeks who assimilated other peoples into their own, made their living in the Everglades region after being forced there by the U.S. military in the Seminole Wars of the 19th century.
Draining the Everglades was first suggested in 1848, but was not attempted until 1882. Canals were constructed throughout the first half of the 20th century, and spurred the South Florida economy, prompting land development. However, problems with canals and floods caused by hurricanes forced engineers to rethink their drainage plans. In 1947, Congress formed the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, which built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals, levees, and water control devices. The South Florida metropolitan area grew substantially at this time and Everglades water was diverted to cities. Portions of the Everglades were transformed into farmland, where the primary crop was sugarcane. Approximately 50 percent of the original Everglades has been turned into agricultural or urban areas.[1] When the construction of a large airport was proposed 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Everglades National Park, an environmental study predicted it would destroy the South Florida ecosystem. Restoring the Everglades then became a priority.
National and international attention turned to the environment in the 1970s, and UNESCO and the Ramsar Convention designated the Everglades as one of only three wetland areas of global importance. Restoration began in the 1980s with the removal of a canal that straightened the Kissimmee River. The water quality of Lake Okeechobee, a water source for South Florida, became a significant concern. The deterioration of the environment was also linked to the diminishing quality of life in South Florida's urban areas. In 2000, a plan to restore the Everglades was approved by Congress; to date, it is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was signed into law, but the same divisive politics that had affected the region for the previous 50 years have compromised the plan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)