Railroad Bridge, Stuart Florida. (Photo Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, 2014.)Classic photo of original wooden trestle bridge over the St Lucie River and train, 1894. (Courtesy of the Historical Society of MC and Sandra H. Thurlow.)Train going over new steel railroad bridge in 1905. (Archives of Historical Society of MC and Sandra Henderson Thurlow, “Stuart on the St Lucie.”)The present railroad movable part, “wide enough to accommodate a double track” was built/added in 1925. (“Stuart on the St Lucie,” Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)
Did you know that Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway was originally named “Jacksonville, St Augustine and Indian River Railway? ” I didn’t until I re-read The Railroad chapter my mother’s book “Stuart on the St Lucie.” The name was changed on September 9, 1895 to the infamous and famous “Florida East Coast Railway.” The train did and does, massively affect our Indian River Lagoon Region.
Yesterday, All Aboard Florida had a poster presentation at the Kane Center where the public was allowed to view and then put hand written comments in boxes. The Stuart News said 800 people showed up. When I was there, the tension was thick between the public and the paid, mostly young, working “presenters” in the room. These presenters looked exhausted. As usual business and outside politicians don’t know what they are in for when they come to Martin County. Like a mother bear protecting her cub, we fight for the beauty, tranquility and “quality of life” of our area. AAF met NOT All Aboard Florida. It was a train wreck…
I personally, am not against train travel at all, in fact I am for it, but I am against All Aboard Florida as there are no benefits, only unfunded mandated costs to the Treasure Coast area to maintain equipment and tracks and to alter the pleasant areas of downtown crossings that fill our counties.
Also it is so obvious that this is really about freight of course: the widening of the Panama Canal, the expansion of the Port of Miami, about feeding “all those people in Orlando” as it is encouraged to grow, consume, and excrete pollution that will drain down the Kissimmee then into Lake Okeechobee and be released into our rivers. It’s about Airglades Airport that really is not about the Sugarhill development “proper” as much as the already “approved” Airglades Airport Inland Port in Hendry County that will scare away every panther that has quietly walked that remote part of Florida over hundreds of years and yes affect Everglades restoration.
South Florida is headed to become a shipping center.
I recommend we lie down on the tracks. Honestly. I don’t want AAF’s freight corridor or fake passenger through trains. Not here.
Since a picture speaks a thousand words, I will stop “talking”and let you take a look at what we are, and you can image what we will become, how our real estate and marine industry will change, and what these new shipping tracks and trains will look like—unless of course, we rise up and change the course of history…never doubt that that can be achieved.
Google Earth view of Old and New Roosevelt Bridges today 2014.Train going over SLR railroad track 2014Close upThe railroad bridge up, built in 1925 and now expected to allow 32 more trains plus freight to drive over it.Close up view of the past to become the future.
Sunrise, photo by John Whiticar, St Lucie River, 2014.
Today I thought I’d share a transcribed old Stuart News Column, by award-winning river activist and newspaper man, Ernest Lyons, for whom the bridge between Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island is named. It was given to me by my mother. The year of the piece’s writing is unknown but Lyons lived in Stuart since 1915 and was the paper’s editor for 44 years. He wrote prolifically about the changes and his love of the St Lucie River and Indian river Lagoon. I would imagine this piece was written around the 1950s. It is a time capsule and gives perspective on today. Enjoy.
By Ernie Lyons: Retiree’s New Money Crop at River of Light
“One of the earliest names of the St Lucie River was “Rio de Luz,” or “River of Light.” The imaginative Spaniard who gave it that name must have seen the dawn come sweeping in the inlet on a green flood tide, bringing light to the broad estuaries upstream.
Light from the distant sun outlined the rude thatched hut of the Jeagas, the primitive Indians that lived on Hutchinson Island. Those Indians disappeared around 1670 and there were no white settlements until the Armed Occupation Act of 1840.
The white settlers fled fearing Indian attack, and the first serious settlement began in 1875 when Captain Thomas Richards introduced pineapples to the Indian River at Eden just north of Jensen Beach. Pineapples meant money.
No matter how beautiful a river may be, it takes money to provide the fuel for a civilization on its banks. With the coming of the railroad and the building of ice plants, the settlers began harvesting the incredible crops of fish in the Indian and St Lucie Rivers and adjacent ocean.
Some planted small orange groves of hit and run patches of truck crops out in the back country. Drainage was so poor that regular year round farms were impossible. Meat was secured by rounding up a few bony wild cattle or wild hogs. Regular ranging was discouraged by the fact that all of country was open range with no fences.
The flow of money often scant, determined the prosperity of the St Lucie River country. After the pineapples and fish came tourist willing to pay a fee to rent a place for the winter of even to hire a hunting or fishing guide.
Summers were long, hot and plagued by hordes of salt marsh mosquitoes that flew over from the mangrove swamps along the ocean to torment the few brave souls that managed to stick it out.
Money, is still the driving force for the area, although now it is from people. The retirees are now the basis our economy.
Some of them sold their homes or other properties for fancy prices up north and reinvested in the area. They opened savings accounts and bought certificates of deposit in our banks and savings and loans, fueling the building boom.
We are getting the benefits of a new sort of American, where folks older than 65 receive Social Security checks, often pension checks and, if they have invested wisely , dividend checks.
Sure we have thousands of citrus and productive farms lands, as well as fisheries but the real money that makes the St Lucie River region hum with prosperity comes from people.
And most of it comes from outside of our area. It is in the form of government checks, pension checks, saving interest and dividend checks.
Next time you see a retiree salute him of her and say you’re glad they chose this part of Florida. They are our biggest industry, an industry without a smokestack, the industry that keeps our food stores and shopping centers going, the industry that keeps our many services going.
Retirees are the reason for our modern hospital and the host of specialized medical services the town now has.
The old River of Light has seen some amazing changes but none so remarkable as the constant flow of new money from outside brought by the retirees….”
All are invited to attend the River Kidz Workbook II Event Fundraiser
The river is for everyone, especially for kids!
This has been the theme of the River Kidz who since 2011 have been following their self-created mission: “to speak out, get involved and raise awareness because we believe kids should have a voice in the future of our rivers.”
As you may know, River Kidz is a grass-roots group that began with two 5th grade girls in the Town of Sewall’s Point and today includes hundreds of kids who attend local events, follow the Kidz on Facebook, and receive a monthly newsletter through their parent organization, the Rivers Coalition. Groups also sprouted up in St Lucie County and across the state in Lee County. These kids have had a great effect on water quality and St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon issues along our Treasure Coasts and statewide.
To help educate kids and parents, workbooks came out through a collaboration of adults and Kidz in 2013 focusing on the effects of releases from C-23, C-24, C-44 and discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
This year, in 2014, the Jensen Beach High School Marine II Honors Class of Mrs Crystal Lucas, reworked the workbook, really entirely redoing it, with more depth of ideas on the canal and Lake Okeechobee problems focusing on the story of Marty the Manatee and his friends and the steady destruction of the rivers over time. New artwork from artist Julia Kelly helps tell the story. The new workbook is more sophisticated and meets Sunshine and Core Standards and most important for the Martine II students, has a mascot to lead the little kids, “Marty the Manatee.” Yes, Marty is based on the student’s experiences with our local Indian Riverkeeper, Mr Marty Baum!
Due to teacher, Mrs Lucas, the Martine II students over a two-year period had exposure to speakers from the Army Corps of Engineers; South Florida Water Management District; and took field trips to Lake Okeechobee and to the Everglades Coalition meetings among other things. Their depth of study is reflected in the new workbooks. Many of these students will be returning from university for this fundraiser event and to “see” their work published.
The coolest thing of all is that the River Kidz Workbook, Second Edition, is a collaboration of kids teaching kids. The Martin County School District has supported this effort and the plan is to share the workbooks in each second grade classroom in the county. Other workbooks will be shared in other grades and in private and independent schools as well, but second grade is the primary focus.
The final books are not yet printed as the group is raising money. The total costs for around 6000 workbooks is around $10,000 dollars. The books are beautiful full color, around 35 pages, and come with a completion certificate that “makes each kid a River Kid.”
The River Kidz and Adultz overseeing the project are confident they can raise this money as the did for the first workbook. It must be noted that Southeastern Printing of Port Salerno and the Mader family, have made it possible to print these workbooks at a much lower cost.
We hope that you will attend the November 15th Fundraiser from 4-7PM at Bluewater Editions located at 4665 SE Dixie Highway, Port Salerno, and donate what you can. ALL ARE INVITED!!
We will be joined by artist/photographers Justin Riney, Julia Kelly, and Mike Hoffman. There will be food and drink, live music, games, artwork for sale, and the River Kidz trademark lemonade stand.
A penny; a dollar; ten; twenty or a thousand…When Marjorie Stoneman Douglas started “Friends of the Everglades” each student gave a quarter and this is what made the organization work– EVERYONE WAS PART! This is what we wish to recreate.
So give what you can and come! Put your money in the jar by the door! All who donate will be recognized and thanked. Giving something is more important than how much you give.
Fundraising aside, the River Kidz want everyone in the community to be a part of this grassroots effort to save our rivers. I am including some pages of the rough draft so you can see what is “around the corner,” and so you hopefully will be inspired to give.
For me, this project is the “best of the very best” of what will, and already is, creating a better future for our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
Rough Draft of CoverPage of authors: Mrs Lucas’ JBHS Marine Biology students, 2013First page of Chapter 1of 4Food webSample of questions and artworkMarty and friends“How you Can Help!
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR MR LARRY ROBINSON AND HIS “CUB CLUB” THAT WILL BE FLYING INTO HISTORIC BUCKINGHAM FIELD AIRPORT CLOSE TO THE CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER IN LEE COUNTY; I THOUGHT THIS MIGHT BE OF INTERESTS TO ALL.
Cub Club of Florida
When flying into Buckingham Airport near Ft Meyers, one will surely get a view of the beautiful Caloosahatchee River that runs from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.
The river, named after the warlike Calusa Indians, has a great history and is unfortunately under great pressure due to man-made changes in its surrounding hydrology. The original lands of the watershed allowed for the waters of the Kissimmee Valley, near Orlando, to move south through the then winding Kissimmee River, into Lake Okeechobee, and then slowly make their way to the Florida Everglades.
Historic flow of Lake Okeechobee. (Map courtesy of Everglades Foundation.)
Before the late 1880s, the Caloosahatchee was not truly connected to Lake Okeechobee; its headwaters started at Lake Hicpochee, west of today’s Clewiston. Marshlands filled from Lake Hicpochee to Lake Okeechobee in times of heavy rain “connecting” the waterway but this was not lasting.
In the late 1800s investor and land owner, Hamilton Disston, following an old Calusa Indian canal, connected the river permanently to Lake Okeechobee by digging a wide canal. This was done in order to drop the level of the lake and drain the surrounding lands for agricultural development.
Disston was not completely successful but he did inspire others to complete his work in the early 1920s.
Redirection of the waters of Lake Okeechobee through the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie Estuaries. (Map courtesy of Everglades Foundation.)
People had been farming in Florida south of the Lake Okeechobee since the late 1800s as the muck was very rich and produced wonderful crops. But flooding was a constant issue.
After the horrific hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 that completely flooded the area south of the lake and took thousands of lives, the state of Florida begged the federal government for flooding assistance which resulted in the Cross State Canal being built from Ft Meyers to Stuart and the building of the Herbert Hoover Dike around southern Lake Okeechobee.
The canal allowed not only for east west navigation across the state, but also redirected the waters of Lake Okeechobee that traditionally flowed south to be sent east and west through nearby estuaries: the Caloosahatchee on the west and the St Lucie River/Southern Indian River Lagoon on the east.
After another great storm and flood in 1948, and repeated outcry of the state and public, the Army Corps of Engineers “improved the system” through the Central and South Florida Project by widening and deepening already constructed canals and by building many more.
By the 1960 the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), south of the lake, became the number one sugar and vegetable producer of the state and one of the top in the nation; fortunes were made in the post-wartime era.
Simultaneous to the success of the EAA, development exploded along the two estuaries, the Caloosahatchee, and St Lucie/Southern Indian River Lagoon. Both of these areas depended heavily on fishing, tourism, and real estate values for their economies so when Lake Okeechobee would overflow and billions of gallons of fresh water would pour into the estuaries disturbing the brackish balance, killing seagrasses, destroying fishing stock and wildlife, of course these cities along the coasts complained.
Over time, even more people have moved the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie areas, and the massive population of Orlando has complicated the situation as “Orlando’s” polluted water full of nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilized lawns and farmlands travels south filling Lake Okeechobee. Since the water cannot go south, it is redirected to the estuaries. As a result, the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie estuaries experience toxic algae blooms during heavy destructive discharges.
This “health and safety” situation came to a head recently during the summer of 2013 when the Army Corps released from Lake Okeechobee for five months straight: May 8th- October 21st. This time became known as the “Lost Sumer” as health departments warned citizens and pets to stay out of the water for months on end.
Due to public outcry, Florida Senator Joe Negron, chair of the Appropriations Committee, organized a “Senate Hearing on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin” that included studies of both estuaries. Congressman Patrick Murphy invited citizens to Washington DC.
The east and west coasts and many politicians unified during this time, thousands rallied, and news of the toxic waters was told by local, state, national and global media.
The Florida governor, state legislature, US Congress, along with “water managers,” Army Corp of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, felt tremendous pressure to find alternative ways to store water and clean water north of the lake and to “send more water south.”
Under the 2013/14 state legislative sessions the state legislature and federal government designated monies for both estuaries to help abate these issues. Part of the Tamiami Trail was even “opened” to allow more water to flow south and plans are being made to lift and open more areas in the future. University of Florida water experts are studying the issue.
Unfortunately, in spite of what can be done, this is just the tip of the iceberg as the amount of water that needs to be redirected away from the estuaries is enormous, truly beyond comprehension. This is why many believe Everglades restoration plans are taking entirely too long and that we must find a way to fully restore the Kissimmee River and create a third outlet south of the lake.
In my readings, I come across quite a few interesting old maps.
The one above, is most unusual because it is labeled “Jensen” rather than “Stuart” as to where the canal draining Lake Okeechobee was to go in the early 1900s.
When reading such work form the late 1800s and early 1900s, it mind-boggling to think of how our perceptions have changed and how we as a society are constantly dealing with the decisions of our ancestors, who helped get us here, albeit today, possibly considered “politically incorrect.”
Take for instance the Swamp Land Act of 1885.
Let’s read about its encyclopedic history:
“The Swamp Land Act of 1850 was US federal law and essentially provided a mechanism for transferring title to federally owned swampland to private parties agreeing to drain the land and turn it to productive, presumably agricultural, use. This gave broke states like Florida an opportunity to make money and for people to buy very cheap land and make it “productive…”
This law was primarily aimed at the development of Florida’s Everglades, and transferring some 20 million acres (31,000 sq mi) of land in the Everglades to the State of Florida for this purpose.
The law also had application outside Florida, and spurred drainage and development in many areas of the United States, including areas around Indiana’s Kankakee River, Michigan’s Lake St. Clair’s shores, and elsewhere, and encouraged settlement by immigrants arriving in the United States.
Much later the law was considered to have been ecologically problematic. Many of its provisions were in time reversed by the wetland protection acts in 1972 and later legislation, but its historical effects on U.S. development and settlement patterns remain.”
I was born in 1964, so wet land protection is ingrained in me. Nonetheless my great grandparents were taught to think of wetlands or swamps as useless….
When reading through the piece by A.B Clark, he lists the counties as Lee, Desoto, Dade and St Lucie as the primary ones to be drained. One must note of course that the county lines were different then. For instance my parents live in Indialucie in Sewall’s Point and my mother created a sign and nailed it to a cabbage palm. The sign reads: “Brevard-Dade”
“St. Lucie-Palm Beach.” The sign represents the county line between the counties. St. Lucie was created in 1905 and Palm Beach in 1909.
We have gotten quite a kick out showing guests this sign over the years!
Old stuff is cool.
Here are some old public Florida county line maps. They are fascinating to look at too. The lines have gone back and forth and changed over the years.
Wonder what they will read in the future with rising seas, higher populations, and wetlands now known for their importance to water supply and water quality?
Florida marked as 1883Florida marked as 1850
They say “the only constant is change.” How true this is….
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. —Chief Seattle, Duwanish Tribe, Washington
Spiny-backed orbweaver spider. (Public photo)
As I have mentioned before, living close the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, I look to nature for inspiration and this year inspiration has surrounded my house in the form of tiny spiny-backed orbweaver spiders. My husband and I have seen these very small spiders, half the size of a dime, throw a connecting web to their interior design at least twenty feet if not more. It is absolutely remarkable, seemingly impossible, that these little creatures can do this.
Although you can’t see it, the spiny-backed orb weaver spider has a web across the trees in the front of our house. From one side to another between the trees is at least 15 feet. (Photo JTL)
Their beautiful webs blow in the wind reflecting sunshine like baskets catching insects. From what I have read, it is the female that makes the web and though I have never seen one, the smaller male is somewhere hanging on a single thread beside her.
Web in our yard…(Photo JTL)Inner web up close… (Public photo)
I learn a lot watching these little spider. First of all, that “you can do something seemly impossible”–it’s in you—. Second, I often see their webs which must have taken hours to weave get destroyed by birds, rain, wind or even me accidentally running into them–they just “quickly crawl back up and start right over again”…This is a good life lesson.
I have also learned that butterflies must be able to see spider webs as I have watched the many in my yard purposefully navigate away from them. Pretty cool.
In fact, I think that after the many months of the spiny-backed orbweaver spiders living in Ed’s and my yard, (much more so since we took out the grass and stopped using fertilizer and sprayed pesticides) they are learning to adapt to where we walk. I swear they now build their webs right in front of our walkways and doors but leave a large open space for us to walk though!
Its colors are red, black and white. (Public photo)
They do not bite and are they not aggressive…..like all of God’s creatures, they are my friends, and I learn from them.
…My mother used to sometimes say: “The webs we weave……”
Seeing the little hard-working spiders each day makes me mindful that, yes, we are all connected, and that I choose where and how to build my web.
Port Sewall development map, 1911. (Courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)
I have wanted to share this Port Sewall land development map for a while as it is so interesting to observe.
Port Sewall, established in 1911, was one of our area’s first “planned developments.” It consisted of lands from the Hanson Grant that Captain Henry Sewall acquired through his family line. The infamous Hugh Willoughby later joined him and they formed the Sewall’s Point Land Company, which according to Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s book The History of Sewall’s Point: ” built the Sunrise Inn, dredged for a yacht turning basin, and planned to develop a deepwater port.”
Due to the Great Depression of the 1920s theses dreams evaporated but left this map that became the basis for part of South Sewall’s Point, Stuart, St Lucie and Old St Lucie Boulevard, Port Sewall, and Golden Gate.
The body of water in the Port Sewall map is today’s Willoughby Creek. The original name Oyster Creek, was changed. This is fitting as today when I look over the edge of the little bridge on Indian Street, I do not see many oysters, only manatees swimming around in dirty looking water.
Today, I pose what may be an odd question but it is one I think about in light of my Florida League of Cities meetings and friends that force me to think about climate change and where things are going in the future of South Florida.
This is not “bad,” it is just change. Just 12,000 years ago there were mammoths, mastodons, saber toothed cats, 17 foot tall sloths and broad horned bison walking around looking for watering holes and hoping not to get “bow and arrowed” by a paleo-Indian. Things change. Times change. Slowly. We must adapt.
As a side note, a few years ago my husband Ed and I visited his birth city of Buenos Aries, Argentina. We noticed, just like Ed’s father told us, Argentina’s development was further back from the river. Most of the lands along the water bodies were left for “everyone” along with wildlife and to promote the area’s fishing. This was prompted by periodic flooding and storms. Just like we have here….
“We,” on the other hand, have completely built out to the edge of the water, right up in fact or over every little creek and rivulet.
It may be a rhetorical question, but if we had it so do all over again, how would we develop our lands to ensure the integrity of the surrounding waters, giant hammocks, upland forests, forks, creeks, wetlands, and shorelines?
As a Sewall’s Point commissioner of seven years, one the “craziest” things I have ever heard was that FEMA would help our town buy out some of the shoreline houses that have experienced repetitive flood losses. Hmmmmm….But we would lose the tax base I thought…..but then if the water is coming up, and the storms seem to be getting stronger, and it is my responsibility to plan for the future of the town….is this really such a crazy thought?
Ft Lauderdale is doing this…..Miami is doing this…..
Most certainly many elements have added to the degradation of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. Intense coastal development is right up there.
As we move forward in light of climate change, there may be opportunities to offset that destruction. These changes are not something anyone is ready for or wanting to discuss.
Nonetheless, Mother Nature just may force the conversation. We should start thinking now, what exactly we are going to say to her, because she is coming…
“Save Our Beaches 1974-2014,” Stuart Kiwanis Club holiday ornament commemorating 40 years, in honor of the “Save Our Beaches” program, Martin County.
The older I become, the more I realize how incredibly wonderful it was to grow up in Martin County and where I get my sense of environmental activism. Yesterday, I attended Stuart Kiwanis with my dad, to see Congressman Murphy speak, and while I was there I saw the choice for this year’s Kiwanis holiday ornament, “Save Our Beaches.” This brought back a flood of memories as this program influenced me greatly as a child.
When I was 10 years old, the SAVE OUR BEACHES (SOB) program was getting into full swing in Martin County. You can’t see the entire shirt but you can see part of it (SAVE) below in this family picture where my father, brother, sister and I were trying on hats from the attic.
I am wearing my Save Our Beaches T-shirt in this family photo, 1974. (Photos Sandra Thurlow.)
According to the History of Marin County, the original SOB campaign was brought forth in 1969 by civic-minded people who realized that although the ocean beaches along Hutchinson Island were available to local people, this would not continue unless measures were taken…
This same group had first fought to approve a set back line to protect the dunes of the beaches from development and were successful before the county commission and state making Martin County the first in the state to achieve this beach set-back protection.
So the group was already geared up and organized to implement the Save Our Beaches (from developers) program. With the advice of the Army Corp of Engineers, the group started organizing to purchase eight 100 foot strips of beach from the St Lucie/Martin County line to today’s Sailfish Point.
With great enthusiasm and leadership, the group found a way to raise money privately along with matches from the county and federal government. Most impressive was that the school children of Marin County raised $36,500; this was so outstanding that the youth movement contributions were recognized by the White House and even won a Freedoms Foundation award. I remember giving my nickels and some of my birthday money to this cause and feeling like the beaches “were mine,” throughout middle and high school…
These eight strips ensured the parking and public beach access we all enjoy today!
As I left the Kiwanis meeting, I bought an ornament, having seen it on the way out. It brought a tear to my eye when I read the insert, it reads:
“As the Treasure Coast faces once again a continued threat to one of our most valuable natural resources, the St Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon, it is a great reminder, on the 40th Anniversary of the “Save Our Beaches Campaign” to recognize how much a determined community was able to accomplish in the efforts to save a precious and valuable resource for all.”
To purchase or learn about the ornament please see below a reading from the Stuart Kiwanis website:
“Each year the Kiwanis Club of Stuart designs and sells ornaments that represent a historical part of Martin County. Kiwanian, Virginia Lane Hill designs the ornaments. The ornaments are made by ChemArt, the same company that makes the ornaments for the White House. ChemArt is the last remaining ornament maker in the United States. Each ornament is laser cut, dipped in 14 K gold and hand enameled for a beautiful and long-lasting finish. Each ornament is accompanied by a history brochure which gives detailed information about the featured topic.
The current and past years ornaments, if not sold out, are available, year around, at The Stuart Heritage Museum, 161 SW Flagler Avenue in Stuart.”
This is real estate agent Debbie Potter who after reading this blog went through all of her old stuff and found her original SAVE OUR BEACH sweat shirt!!! Cool! Thank you Debbie!
Florida sailfish ad, ca. 1960s. (Florida Memory Project.)
I vividly remember my father going fishing for sailfish with his buddies in the 1960s and 70s; my brother has taught his three girls to “reel them in…”
Me? I have never caught a sailfish; I am not a hunter either. Nonetheless, I recognize that fishermen and women, and hunters are some of the strongest conservationist in the United States and around the world. People protect what they love…
I started thinking about sailfish recently because Jamie Burns asked me if I would be a “judge” for a boat theme contest taking place October 24-25 for the “Salt Water Sisters” Lady Angler Tournament.
I was honored to be included and started reading about the organization which is an arm of the famous “Stuart Sailfish Club” that formed in Martin County informally in the 1930s, and later formally in 1941. This organization set the bar on conservation in our area.
According to my mother, Sandra Thurlow’s book, Stuart on the St Lucie:
“Immediately after the club’s incorporation, Ernie Lyons announced the next immediate goal was the creation of a release button to be given to individuals who consistently released their sailfish….in 1941 records show that a record, over 5000 sailfish, were caught in a 90 day period, January through March 1941. Many sportsmen let their sailfish go but thousands were slaughtered only to be dumped into the river, carted off by garbage collectors, or used for shark bait.
Because of the efforts of the Stuart Sailfish Club, anglers soon began to compete for Curt Whiticar’s beautifully designed release button in preference to all the rest.”
Stuart Sailfish Club release button, designed by Curt Whiticar, 1941. It reads “Stuart Sailfish Club, Released.” (Photo courtesy of Thurlow archives.)
I think this is an amazing and inspirational story!
As a St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon side note, I hear a lot of things about the Indian River Lagoon and someone once told me the sailfish spawn right off the St Lucie Inlet. In our area the fish can spawn a good portion of the year but mostly in the warmer summer months, therefore, polluted releases from our canals and Lake Okeechobee have an effect on the sailfish population in our area. Just one more reason to stop them!
Ernest Hemingway was an avid sailfish fisherman and popularized the sport. (Photo Florida Memory Project.)Drew family of Jacksonville in Stuart ca. 1920 fishing for sailfish. (Photo Thurlow archives.)Stuart Sailfish ClubSaltwater Sisters
In closing, I would like to wish all of the participants of the Salt Water Sisters Lady Angler Tournament “good luck” this weekend. Wear your “catch and release” button with pride in the memory of those who came before us and had the foresight to protect the beautiful creatures of the ocean and our way of life.
Plume from canal runoff C-44, C-23 and C-24, October 17, 2014. (All photos Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Ed Lippisch.)
Today, I will take you on an air tour, hopefully one of the last of this year’s rainy season. In Florida, rainy season corresponds with hurricane season that lasts June through November. Nonetheless, typically the rains start to wind down towards the end of October.
The Army Corp of Engineers has not released from Lake Okeechobee this year so it has given us an opportunity to see what the runoff in our area is “in and of itself.” I refuse to use the words “local runoff” because the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon’s runoff is over 50% of what is was before the Water/Flood Control Districts and the ACOE created since the 1920s in order to drain the land for development and mostly agriculture.
It is the runoff of these expanded lands that we are dealing with today, full of sediment, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, road pollution, and whatever is on people’s yards.
I think seeing how “bad” our canal runoff is also shows why WE CANNOT ACCEPT WATER FROM LAKE OKEECHOBEE on top of this already bleak situation of our own.
Green is original flood plain and yellow is expanded flood plain. Photo from A “Citizens’ Report to Congress” 1995, St Lucie River Initiative.
So anyway, enough of my lecture, let’s get started!
Ed in front of Cub Legend.
The tour starts at Witham Airport in Stuart.
Run off from canals and Willoughby Creek
The first thing one sees once up in the air off of runway 12, is the polluted freshwater pollution/sediment line coming around the tip of Hell’s Gate in the St Lucie River. This water is coming from the South Fork of the St Lucie River where C-44 is located and the North Fork area where C-24 and C-23 are located. This filthy water flows into the St Lucie River proper and then around the tip of Sewall’s Point, into the Indian River Lagoon, out the St Lucie Inlet and then into the open Atlantic Ocean. (See map/chart 3 above for canal locations and expanded watershed runoff.)
Close up of plume in SLRSewall’s Point
Continuing on, as one flies over the St Lucie Inlet and along the Atlantic Coast over Jupiter Island one sees the dark water in what is usually a turquoise blue ocean. It must be noted that although this runoff canal-plume is disgusting looking it is nothing close to how dark and sediment filled it was last year when the runoff included releases from Lake Okeechobee.
Beach along Jupiter Island
There was some fun stuff to see also. There were many sharks in the dark waters. Ed and I wondered if they were sneaking up on the fish in all the cloudy water, there were so many. We must have seen 20-25 large sharks. We also saw sea turtles and giant rays, and lots of bait fish and sea birds both in and out of the plume area.
Plume from canal runoff C-44, C-23 and C-24, October 17,2014.
As we approached Peck’s Lake, we could see the tip of the plume in the distance like a giant slug. The plume ended about a mile short of Hobe Sound Beach, in Jupiter Island.
Ed and I talked about how one house would have the dark plume waters and another only a few feet away had blue ocean…
Plume up closeAnother angle, tip of plumeLong shot with Peck’s Lake in background.Shot of ocean on the trip home showing edge of plume.
Well that’s the end of the tour. Hopefully you learned something or saw something new. And hopefully it is also the end of the rain for 2014. To learn more about these canals please see links below.
Another year, another rainy season behind us….
As we flew home, I was grateful to live in such a beautiful area and with every flight I become more determined to save it from the dirty waters of our canals and Lake Okeechobee. To destroy such a paradise is wrong.
Area along Indian River Lagoon in Jensen 1945 where Ocean Breeze Park is today. Note extensive seagrass beads. (Historic aerial courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)
Seagrass, the basis of life for the Indian River Lagoon… how much was there in the past and how does it compare with today?
This is not always an easy question to answer. I have asked the South Florida Water Management District for their records and basically their records show seagrass was declining in the 1970s and then there was more than ever in the 1990s, and then there was the crash in the northern and central lagoon in 2009-2013, but here in Martin County? They say the seagrass comes and goes based on how heavy the releases from Lake Okeechobee and canals C-23, C-24 and C-25.
Mark Perry of Florida Oceanographic stated last year in 2013 that about 80% of the seagrass was lost in key areas. The SFWMD seems to always report it is coming back and improving but this is difficult for me to always believe because when Ed and I fly over it, it looks so disgusting if it is low tide and you can see it, full of algae and blackish in color.
Seagrass off Sewall’s Point, June 2014, photo JTL.
Anyway, today I thought I would share two of my mother’s historic photos for reference.
First, I must state that according to Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River, by Sandra Thurlow, there were freshwater grasses in the lagoon even into the early 1900s. Her archives include an old ad from 1914 that reads: RIVER GRASS WILL NOT DISCOLOR THIS PAINT. Apparently before the St Lucie Inlet was opened by hand in 1892, the river was mostly fresh as at that time the natural inlet had closed. Over the centuries it opened and closed depending on the moods of Mother Nature.
When it was closed for any length of time, fresh water grasses filled the river; apparently there was a lot of iodine in the grass so if it were exposed in the hot summer months it would turn a “white house black.”
Old add to overcome freshwater seagrass staining. ( Thurlow archives.)
Bizarre.
Well over the years this fresh water grass died off and was replaced with brackish marine grasses that formed a home for many fish and much wildlife, the IRL became “the most bio diverse estuary in North America.” Today with all the sea grass loss and pollution it is not holding onto that honor.
This UF link has a lot of great information of seagrasses in our area (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in189) and it is important to know because if we have healthy seagrasses we will have a healthy river.
This is a photo of a sewer pipe going straight into the Indian River Lagoon. (Royal Poinciana Cottages, Jensen, ca. 1950 photo courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)Changing oil over the IRL, Pitchford Filling Station, Jensen 1920/30s. (Photo courtesy of Thurlow archives.)
As bad as things are today for the St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon, in the past we did things that today would be inconceivable, like having sewer lines drain directly into the river, or draining oil into the lagoon from a car…. For centuries people have put waste into the water so it could just “flush away.” Things like this were done when very few people lived along the river and the waterways could actually handle this misuse. Today with over a million people living along the 156 mile lagoon such ignorance is not an option; we know better now. It is interesting to wonder what photos from today will look so atrocious as these above in the future? Lake Okeechobee and canal releases full of filth? Fertilizing one’s yard? Herbicide and pesticide use by the water? Septic tanks? Only time will tell… and it always does.
If there is one thing that government likes best, it’s an uneducated public. It is so-o-o-o much easier for the government to “do its job,” if no one knows what’s going on…
The best tool to fight being taken advantage of as a citizen, is to educate yourself. I have watched this at work over the past three years with the Indian River Lagoon. Through social media, the Stuart News, and other sources the public has become VERY educated on St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon issues and thus our Florida state legislators and even the governor could no longer ignore us. We even educated our children thorough the River Kidz…..
An educated public is a very threatening thing to the status quo….
My friend Scott Dudley at the Florida League of Cities said it best:
“The power of the government is derived from the consent of the governed. Consent can be granted through apathy or approval…”
I invite everyone, of all cities and counties, to continue their education tomorrow in my hometown of Sewall’s Point.
Tomorrow we will fight apathy and share opinions in a public forum. Please join us tomorrow, October 16th, from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Sewall’s Point Town Hall, located at 1 South Sewall’s Point Road. Richard Geisinger will present along with others on behalf of the Martin County Taxpayers Association. Richard is a Sewall’s Point resident of many years, whose family goes back to our early days. He is an amazingly dedicated servant for the public and truly cares.
Topics covered will be:
1. The Water and Land Legacy Amendment, known as: Amendment 1.
2. The Proposed 1 Cent Sales Tax Referendum for Martin County and local municipalities.
3. The Children’s Services Council Reauthorization that is on the ballot this year, its first in many.
4. An All-Aboard Florida update.
Even if you already “know” how you are going to vote on these issues, please attend.
In historical times the Town Hall gathering was a time when the people would come together and discuss TOGETHER proposed ideas and laws that would affect their town. We rarely have this kind of discussion any more and that is a great loss. In spite of technology the best way to communicate is “face to face,” “person to person.” Communication experts explain that 85 percent of communication is non-verbal. The important nonverbal element is often missed today as we often do not communicate face to face…
Town Hall gatherings are also fun. They make you feel American! Involved! Educated! Non Apathetic!
Please come out and learn. Come out and share. See what others are thinking and tell others what you are thinking yourself.
We don’t always have to agree but should all fight apathy and work hard at being informed because then we are less likely for our government to run us over with a train…
McCarty Ranch is/was located in St Lucie County and will be the future water supply for the City of Port St Lucie.
The first time I heard about McCarty Ranch was from, at the time, City Manager Greg Orvac. It was 2012 and he invited me up to Port St Lucie to see all the wonderful work they were doing building areas to clean water run off and to learn about how the city was planning for its future water supply.
I was told that the idea of McCarty Ranch was that the city would build a water treatment plant to withdrawal the polluted agriculture tainted water in the C-23 canal before it gets to the river, hold it, treat it, and use it.
“Wow,” I thought. “This is wild, I have heard of things like this in other areas of the state, but right here at home?”
This is great news about cleaning the filthy C-23 canal water that is one of many canals along with Lake Okeechobee releases killing our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, (http://www.dep.state.fl.us/southeast/ecosum/ecosums/c23.pdf) but there is also a tang of future “water wars” in this scenario as cities jostle for securing their future water supply.
Port St Lucie recently has become the 9th largest city in the state of Florida and has approximately 250,000 residents. By 2060 or so, they expect 400,000 or more. Three years before I was born, in 1961, a handful of residents petitioned the legislature for the fish camp area to become a city…
By looking at the Google map above, one can see that McCarty Ranch is located just above the C-23 canal east of Gatlin Boulevard. The C-23 canal is the “county line” between Martin and St Lucie Counties. I do not really know the details, and I think the city and county are still arguing over details in spite of a front page article in Scripps Newspapers today, but one would think the city will either have to also annex some of the lands below the McCarty piece or just have giant pipes connecting it to the C-23 through a small connected parcel. Either way, I am sure over time it will occur. They will build what they need to remove by South Florida Water Management District, (SFWMD), permit, water from the C-23 canal and use it for their citizens.
You may be thinking, the McCarty name rings a bell because you know or because I recently wrote a blog about Dan McCarty awhile back. The blog was about how I stumbled upon a grave in Palms Cemetery along Indian River Drive that read: “Governor Daniel McCarty.”
Yes, the ranch belonged to this prominent St Lucie County, former 1800s pineapple, then ranch and citrus family.
If you have the time to listen to the first video link below, there is a fascinating video interview with Mrs Peggy McCarty Monahan, the granddaughter of Charles Tobin McCarty, talking about her father, the brother of Dan, the governor, saying to her when she was a young girl: “Water is gong to be an issue, water is going to be the most important thing…”
Through these words he was telling her that one day the ranch’s proximity to the City of Port St Lucie would make it ideal for water storage and supply. Many of these old time ranchers preached this theme to their children knowing we had worked so hard to get the water off the land and one day we would be trying to put it back on…
Apparently there are lakes and mined areas on the property for water storage; I am unsure if the original McCarty idea included drawing water from C-23 canal; it very well could be, as C-23 was built in the 50s and 60s and waste tremendous amounts of water to tide in order to drain the surrounding lands for agriculture and development.
C-23 is one of the dirtiest canals dumping into the St Lucie River; it will be good to remove some of the water before it gets to the river but will there ever be a day when it takes too much or Martin County wants that water too?
Sounds far-fetched for sure, but all I know is that stranger things have happened along the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Who would have though Port St Lucie would one day be projected to have over 400,000 people?
Aerial of what was to become the City of Port St Lucie, 1957. (Photo Ruhnke/Thurlow collection, courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)
This aerial shows the area of the future almost 10,000 acres that will become the C-44 Storm Water Treatment Area and Reservoir. A landmark of this area is Indiantown Airport, a grass strip located above and north-east of the lake in this photo. So far the C-44 STA/R. project’s four mile intake canal has been built. The immense lands beyond, east, north and west of this area will become the STA and Reservoir.
I spend a good amount of time studying the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon; nonetheless, I am constantly amazed to learn what I don’t know. In a nutshell, the C-44 storm water treatment and reservoir is part of the Indian River Lagoon South Project to clean up the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon by storing and cleaning water from our huge C-44 basin.
The project is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and even though I have read about it for years, I did not know how or the order of it being built. Today I will share my experience in learning just the beginning.
To look back a bit for the history, building the C-44 storm water treatment area and reservoir is combined effort of many years of work of local, state and federal governments and it is one of the most expensive water projects being built in the Florida, with an estimated costs of almost 4 million to complete.
I wanted to SEE this because it is so hard to understand it all.
So a few weeks ago my husband Ed, and his friend Shawn and I are flying over this area and I’m saying “where is it? It’s supposed to be here. I want to take some pictures. Hmmm? I don’t see anything…I was expected a big lake like thing off of the C-44 canal or something.”
Ed calmly, says: ” This is it Jacqui. Over the past years the ACOE has been working hard to build this new intake canal. We have seen it for years as we fly over. It must be built first probably; you can see the results.”
So we flew north over the four mile intake canal that finally stopped in a wilderness of agricultural lands.
Intake canal on east, agricultural lands on west.End of intake canal.
The intake canal was completed in July of 2014 at of cost of 28 million dollars. This is huge accomplishment and this is only the beginning. This is what we can SEE so far.
So what will we SEE in the future?
To get an idea as seen below, the FPL cooling pond off the east coast of Lake Okeechobee is 5,000 acres. The C-44 STA/R. will be almost 10,000 acres. So in the future, when one looks at a Google Maps, there will be another gigantic lake looking thing consisting of the STA (6300 acres) and the reservoir (3, 400 acres) east, north and west of the Indiantown Airport, the red dot below.
Area from Lake O following C-44 canal to St Lucie River in Stuart.Indiantown Airport along C-44 canal.Map of C-44 STA/R black. Basin in pink.Engineering map from ACOE/SFWMD showing where the cells of the C-44 STA/R. will be.
The monies and energy needed to build the C-44 STA and reservoir is and has been tremendous. In spite of one’s political affiliations or the project itself, we must recognize those who have recently helped ensure the success of the project: the SFWMD, the ACOE, Senator Joe Negron, Governor Scott, Congressman Murphy, the Martin County Commission and the public. I am sure there are many others that I do not know. This gigantic project has taken many years and has been no easy feat. Kudos to the decades of people who have worked to make this first step of the intake canal possible. I recognize your efforts.
Yes it is good to be positive, the C-44 STA and Reservoir is a great start, but it is important to also realize that the resovoir will hold about 50,000 acre feet of water. During some storm seasons we get much more than that just from the C-44 basin alone, and that is NOT counting releases from Lake Okeechobee.
We have a lot more work to do, to get to where we want to be, but finally we are beginning to SEE RESULTS of something getting built to help improve water quality, and that is something more than Martin County has ever seen before in its long fight to save its treasured St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.
The Jensen Bridge was completed in 1927. (Photographer unknown, photo courtesy of Bob Washam.)
The idea of a toll bridge over the Indian River Lagoon is not a new one as there were toll bridges in Jensen and Stuart in Martin County’s early days.
Toll Tickets for the Jensen Bridge. Courtesy Bob Washam.Cover of toll ticket packet for Jensen Bridge. Courtesy Bob Washam.
As my mother says in her Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River book:
“People fishing on both side os the Jensen Bridge made it necessary for automobiles to cross the narrow wooden bridge with extreme caution.”
Over time, we have had caution for people, but not for fish.
This morning the Tyler Treadway’s article in the Stuart News states there has been a catfish kill along the Indian River Lagoon Ft Pierce north; it is not yet reported to be in Martin County; in the 1920s no such virus or water quality issues prevailed and fishing was the sport of the day, some of the best in the nation, along the bridges, in the forks, in the St Lucie and Indian River Lagoon, along the clean and sparkling Atlantic Ocean…
Unidentified man with Goliath Grouper caught in Jensen area. Photo courtesy of Bob Washam.
Mrs Thurlow writes in her book:
The Jensen Bridge was instrumental in the development of Jensen with its numerous tourists camps. In the 1930s, the Pitchford, Gideon, and Wade camps sprang up at the western end of the bridge. Other camps, including the massive Ocean Breeze Park, soon followed. The Jensen Bridge was given so much publicity that it became a nationally famous fishing pier.”
“The Jensen Beach Bridge was advertised in the Martin County Chamber of Commerce Fishing Guide, published in 1935. (Courtesy of Robert McClinton Pitchford, Thurlow archives.)
Today the Indian River Lagoon is still famous for fishing, but also for its seagrass loss and declining fish stock. Yesterday, my father gave me an issue of Florida Sport Fishing, the lead article was entitled “Gator County, Florida ‘s Famed East Coast Lagoon System May No Longer Be the State’s Premier Destination for Giant Trout,” by Jerry McBride.
The beginning of the article reads:
“Two miles of previously lush green vegetation dotted with sandy potholes and carved by narrow channels–once home to monster gator trout–has been reduced to a single acre of sparse seagrass, I fished the entire stretch in less than an hour and paddled home… The estuary’s south end is losing its 80 plus year battle against polluted discharges from Lake Okeechobee, while the rest of the 156 miles long waterways faces an even more insidious adversary—a multi-source nutrient-fueled brown algae scourge that virtually overnight reduced 43,000 acres of rich seagrass habitat to a sandy desert…”
Most of this seagrass loss may have happened north of us, but it is here too. Also, the lagoon is one waterway, whether it is Lake Okeechobee and local canal releases here in Martin County, or brown tide in the central and north lagoon, we are all affected.
Usually on Friday I try to post something positive and happy.
I have been wanting to share friend Bob Washam’s Jensen Bridge photos, today was the day. Nonetheless, I could not ignore the slow and now pronounced losses to our Indian River Lagoon, especially in light of Mr Treaway’s article this morning.
If the tin-can tourist who hardly had a nickel in their packs could be raised from their graves to see what has happened to the Indian River Lagoon, I am certain they would say:
“You may have more money, but you sure lost a piece of Heaven…and which would you rather have?”
One good thing is that nature is programmed to heal itself, may we have the strength to continue to fight for some semblance of the “good old days,” and should we need to exact a toll on our bridges to start an IRL Fund, I’ll vote “yes.”
Thousands of dead hardhead catfish are floating in the Indian River Lagoon from Palm Bay to Fort Pierce.
Because only one species is affected and all the dead fish are juveniles mostly from 4 to 12 inches long, a local marine biologist believes the cause is a specific virus rather than poor water quality in the lagoon.
Weve had die-offs like this in the lagoon before, where only sea cats and nothing else was dying,said Grant Gilmore, lead scientist of Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science in Vero Beach.
The cause was a viral infection back then, so I would assume its the same this time. Kelly Richmond, a spokeswoman at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission laboratory in St. Petersburg, said the agencys hotline has received 16 reports of dead catfish beginning Monday.
Staffers collected three live catfish and water samples from the lagoon for analysis.
Results should be available early next week, Richmond said, and the agency wont guess at a cause until then.
Paul Fafeita, a Vero Beach fishing guide, said he saw dead catfish Wednesday morning in the lagoon from the Barber Bridge in Vero Beach to the North Causeway bridge at Fort Pierce.
Im talking hundreds, if not thousands of dead fish,Fafeita said.They werent sporadic, one here and one there. They were steady, up and down the lagoon. Mike Peppe, a Sebastian fishing guide, reported seeing dead catfish Wednesday in the lagoon from Wabasso to the Sebastian Inlet.
They were everywhere,Peppe said.There had to be thousands. Look down and youd see a bunch of white things in the waterthe catsbellies.
The area of Ed and my back yard where grass has slowly been removed, planting areas enlarged, and mulched with leaves.
In 2010 the Town of Sewall’s Point passed a strong fertilizer ordinance, the first on Florida’s east coast. It was during this time, that I became “anti-turf grass.” Today when I look at a “beautiful” sprawling yard of green grass, all I see is fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, and heavy water needs that are contrary to a healthy St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and a successful Florida future.
Native coontie.
In order to put my “money where my mouth is,” in 2010, I informed my husband that I was going to start removing the grass from our yard and mulching with leaves from our oaks, strangler figs, and other trees. As usual, he looked at me like I was slightly crazy, but as usual, he agreed.
This decision was made easier in that around this same time our well was starting to go dry and I had gotten estimates in from $5000 to $8000 to replace it. Not to mention the well guys said if they did drill, as it is well-known wells are going dry in this high hammock area of Sewall’s Point, and they were unsuccessful, Ed and I would still have to pay half.
“Not my kind of odds.” I thought, especially knowing water issues regarding wells, and salt water intrusion are only going to increase. Last week, in 2014, I changed the house over to “city water” as our well has finally died. I am very glad that over the past few years I have de-grassed the yard for the most part, a heavy water user, and filled it with Florida Friendly (http://www.floridayards.org) plants that do not require much watering. I am hoping to irrigate only once a week, or never, and just water by hand.
City water is expensive! The South Florida Water Management District states that “up to 60% of a south Florida homes’ water use can go to irrigation. That’s insane and a huge waste of water and money.
I have read that Florida produces 25% of the WORLD’S turf grass.(http://floridaturf.com/about/) Considering that, I’d say the state has an interest in keeping us “in grass.” This is a problem…a conflict of interest. I wish they were investing in inventing an attractive low-water/low-or no fertilizer, ground cover other than floratam type grasses; they would make billions, and help save the state’s precious spring, lake, and estuary waters rather than encouraging us to destroy them. The sod and fertilizer industries are multi-billion dollar industries that want to keep us “addicted.”
Well, I have broken free. 🙂
Back to my family, I have to say, also, that my brother-in-law, landscape architect Mike Flaugh (http://mikeflaughla.com) and my mother, always ahead of her time, also inspired me on this issues. As they too have de-grassed their yards years ago and their yards still look beautiful. Mike has “natively” and “Florida Friendly” landscaped some of the newest and finest homes in the area with no or little grass and these homes are examples of the “new yard,” “the conscious yard,” “the yard of the future.”
Today, I’d like to share some photos of my de-grassed yard in hopes of inspiring you, should you wish to be inspired, and hopefully are already! 🙂
Font of house is now ferns and other plantings.Creeping jasmine vine has replaced grass in the front yard. Loves shade or partial sun, but not full sun.Back yard where grass was removed and replaced with stepping stones and Florida Friendly plants.Front yard with stepping-stones and edged with ferns and plantings.Leaves from the trees in the yard are used as mulch, as they break down they enrich the soil.One area of the house in the front was left with grass for our dogs to run, and play, and…Bird houses for wildlife; wildlife increases dramatically once grass and chemicals are removed. The birds eat bugs.More native plants like this satin leaf started to germinate and grow once the grass was gone. I am letting more natives grow-letting the yard “be itself.”Native Beautyberry provides food for wildlife and color.Wild coffee grew like crazy in our area once the grass was out. It has colorful berries for wildlife and a shiny green leaf.Native firebush attracts butterflies.Golden dew drop with its pretty purple flowers is a butterfly magnet.Lantan, another butterfly and low water plant.Purple porter, yet another butterfly and low water native.Once grass was gone, this Mexican star, or something like that, started to come up all over the yard; it has a pretty yellow morning flower and is native.this century plant needs little water and has an interesting shape; native beach sunflower vine in rear.Crotants are not native but use little water and add color.Side yard…no more grass, with lots of blue flowering plumbago, also a low water, butterfly attracting, Florida Friendly plant.
St Lucie River Initiative’s Report to Congress 1995; River Dayz ’96 Festival booklet; and historic newspaper info in this article courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
A woman’s right to vote did not come come in a day; stopping the horrors of slavery in the Untied States took a civil war and the life of one of our greatest presidents; most recently, we are seeing a revolution in gay rights.
These movements take time, but eventually, there is tipping point were things begin to change direction. As we know, our river movement has been going for almost 85 years as the first time the Martin County commission asked the ACOE to stop releasing Lake Okeechobee water into the St Lucie River was documented in their minutes of 1930.
1930 request of the MCBOCC for the ACOE to halt releases from Lake O to SLR.
Today I wanted to encourage you not to feel discouraged that the St Lucie Indian River Lagoon movement has been going on so long, but to feel empowered that you are part of something that is big, that takes years, and has a moral element to it just like human rights. This moral element is what in time will force the State of Florida and the United States of America to scrutinize our destructive drainage practices of the past.
As it says in our Declaration of Independence: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires they should declare the cause which impels them to the separation.
For me, this document gives permission to pull away when necessary. We are and have been pulling away. We envision something better and we are willing to fight for it. Just for the record, some of those before us include:
1. Commercial fishermen in 1925, two years after the canal opened in 1923, in the newspaper of the day, The Florida Developer fought the destructive abundance of fresh water from the lake.
2. A 1931 article from The Florida Developer’s editorial team notes it was “critical” that the releases from Lake Okeechobee be stopped.
3. 1945 another paper, The Stuart Messenger notes that the river had turned into a “mud soup,” killing fishing; tourism; and real estate.
4. 1958 local citizens filled the Martin County Courthouse to discuss with a delegation of the Flood Control District and the Army Corps of Engineers the possibility of a third outlet from Lake Okeechobee. Although hopes were high, nothing materialized.
5. Editor, and writer for the Stuart News, Ernest Lyons (1931-1974) wrote many award-winning articles against over canalization in our area of not only C-44 from Lake Okeechobee but also C-23, C-24 and C-25 further north that drained even more polluted fresh water into the rivers. His newspaper/writing career continued for many years.
6. In the early 1950s the Izzak Walton Group; the Martin County Conservation Committee and the St Lucie- Indian Rivers Rivers Restoration League all fought for the river even garnering meetings with top government officials. Apparently the ACOE met with locals and a report was done “but nothing ever happened…”
7. In 1990 Ernest Lyons, who had been prominent in all groups listed in #6, died: to fill that void, “Leadership Martin County” in 1992 , with the help of Mr Bud Jordan, Kevin Henderson and Tim Kinane, founded the St Lucie River initiative whose report to Congress is today’s blog photo. Their “River Dayz Festival” on behalf of the river brought hundreds together, they created river materials for elementary, middle and high school students, focused on muck removal and business support.
8. In 1993 the Greater Martin County Board of Realtors joined in its support of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, sending out a letter stating that the organization had joined the St Lucie River Initiative and encouraged a “call to action to contribute to the organization and to write letters to government officials.”
9. In 1998, after the worst toxic algae bloom and fish kill/fish lesion outbreak ever documented in Martin County during heavy releases from Lake Okeechobee, the Rivers Coalition came into being unifying businesses and an education program as well as developing the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund set up to sue the Federal Government and others on behalf of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Realtor Leon Abood, became the longstanding and outspoken chair.
10. On December 4th, 2010, a Rivers Coalition Lawsuit against the Federal Government was heard in the Court of Federal Claims in Washington DC. According to edited words of Karl Wickstrom, chair of the Defense Fund at that time, U.S. District Judge Lynn Bush wrote in her explanation:
“The St. Lucie River is by all accounts, a national treasure.The longterm environmental consequences of defendant’s, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,’ massive discharges into the river are tragic, and the court takes note of plaintiffs’ tireless efforts to reverse that damage.”
The court ruled that a remedy to stop the harmful discharges must come not from the courts but from Congress; she dismissed the case, but it garnered national attention and moved issues of the river forward.
11. In 2011 the River Kidz were born of two 5th grade girls and became a division of the Rivers Coalition. They held two river rallies at the St Lucie Locks and Dam in 2012 during discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Senator Joe Negron, Chairwoman Sarah Heard, and other politicians mingled with parents looking for a way to deal with the discharges. Congressman Patrick Murphy later also supported the Kidz in their efforts. The key: parental involvement and youth.
12. 2009-2011, going public in 2012/13, it was realized a that a super bloom and brown tide algae bloom had killed 60% of the seagrasses in the northern and central IRL. Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs), declared by NOAA, followed for both endangered manatees and the protected bottle nosed dolphins. Hundreds of pelicans also died. This galvanized the counties of the IRL, southern, central and northern alike.
13. 2013, the ACOE starts releasing from Lake Okeechobee May 8th until October 21st. This time becomes the “Lost Summer,” toxic conditions ensue. Young Evan Millar and Clint Starling and others call for a rally at the locks on Facebook. Over 5000 show up. Beach rally later brings over 2000. Hands Across the Lagoon unifies thousands across the 156 mile lagoon as well. The STUART NEWS/SCRIPPS NEWSPAPERS starts a river news campaign that has educated thousands and is still going today. St Lucie County as well as Lee County River Kidz is born…
14. 2013 the Sugarland Rally in Clewiston; Senator Negron’s Senate Hearing on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin; Congressman Murphy invites the state and local officials, the River Warriors, and River Kidz to to a meeting on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake O. in Washington DC. …..Commissioner Ed Fielding forms the Indian River lagoon County Collaborative unifying all counties along the lagoon. (Palm Bach quits.)
15. In 2014 the fight has continued. The pressure has not let up. Presently the University of Florida is studying the issue of “sending water south…”
16. 2014, last week, the South Florida Water Management District and Dept of Environmental Protection and others recommend against Sugar Hill, a proposed development in Hendry County on option lands, most designated for Everglades restoration or trading.
It has been a long journey, but I am confident that the tipping point is coming. We have over drained our lands, we have destroyed our rivers and lakes, we are wasting 1.7 billion gallons of fresh a day to tide knowing we have a growning population coming…
If nothing else, it will be the need for fresh water and the knowledge that wasting it is wrong that will in the future push the St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon movement tipping over the edge…
Charlie Crist visits the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon October 3, 2014. (Photo by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch.)
As you probably saw in the paper, Charlie Crist, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Florida, visited Stuart on Wednesday, October 3, 2014. Very exciting! I have been waiting for the governor’s race to crank up and for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon to be in the spotlight as it should be.
In my dream of dreams Governor Scott and Charlie Crist would come to Stuart debate. For now, I will be satisfied that this year both have visited and spoken and are aware of health issues facing the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
I had seen Charlie Crist speak before at the Florida League of Cites, in Hollywood, but it was fun to see “the man, the myth,” our former governor, up close, face to face, along with his beautiful wife Carol.
I shall tell you of my short experience…
As I did not learn of the visit until the day before, I already had commitments and thus was one hour and a half late to Mr Crist’s planned arrival to tour the lagoon at the invitation of Marty Baum, Indian Riverkeeper.
This was inconsequential as the Crist team was late itself, so when I arrived at Sandsprit Park, Mr Crist and his team had just gone out in the boat with Marty Baum, Mark Perry of Florida Oceanographic, and others.
Coming in off the boat.Marty Baum and friends.
As Mr Crist came off the boat I moved to greet him and grabbed his hand to help him onto the dock. I thanked him for his visit. His wife, Carol was at his side holding a sign that read, A FAIR CHANCE FOR FLORIDA. I knew that the couple had married in 2008 and that she was a very successful business woman who ran the family business, Franco American Novelty Co . and was most well-known for inventing the slogan: “Where Fashion Meets Halloween,” and creating sexy Halloween costumes that were big sellers. She is a talented marketer.
I wondered what she thought so far of Stuart. She smiled, stepping off the boat in high heels.
Charlie Christ’s wife, Carol, was at his side on the boat ride. (Public photo)
Once off the boat they got their sea legs as apparently a big wave had hit…the small crowd loved him and gathered around.
Mr Crist composed himself, a calm and confident speaker. This was obviously a man used to being in the public eye.
The questions from the reporters about the lagoon were many, and Mr Crist did a good job answering. Nonetheless there was an awkward moment that must be noted.
Tyler Treadway from the Stuart News asked Mr Crist about how he would stop the discharges from Lake Okeechobee and Mr Crist answered that “he would put the right people on the South Florida Water Management Board and the discharges would stop; like they did before, when he was governor…”
There was silence. Tyler’s lips quivered; he said something like …”Sir I don’t know how you can say that? …That you stopped the discharges….”
Charlie Crist repeated again that he had.
I watched this crowd who adored and appreciated Mr Crist but they were too educated and too far into this not to know that stopping the discharges is a lot more complicated that that….and that they have NEVER stopped for long.
The was the pregnant pause….Silence….Tyler looked at his writing pad….the crowd stared into space.
As usual I could not stop myself and I finally blurted out: “Temporarily…..”
Charlie Crist looked straight at me; I respectfully held my gaze, head slightly down.
We all looked at each other….and stared. It was time to go.
We all thanked him. It was a great visit.
I believe Mr Crist’s intentions are good, I just don’t think, he like all politicians, is used to speaking to such an educated public.
We know the truth, we need a third outlet from the lake and other water holding areas, there are no saviors, no boards that will fix our terrible St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon/Lake Okeechobee problem.
“Why didn’t he speak about his US Sugar buyout plan from 2008?” Said someone as we were all walking away?
“He didn’t know who he was taking to,” I answered. “The most educated public in the state. Politicians are not used to that…”
We waved goodbye. And Charlie flashed us that winning smile. We hope he’ll come again.
Pam Joy hold a sign SAVE OUR RIVER.SAVE USSt Lucie River Kidz were there to meet Charlie Crist. Their mission is to speak out, get involved and raise awareness….
Flying west towards Clewiston and the proposed Sugar Hill development, along the southern rim of Lake Okeechobee, looking north, one sees wet lands inside of the lake, the rim canal, a water structure, a southerly canal, agriculture lands, and highways…(All photos, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch.)An open field exposes the land’s black gold. Pahokee area heading to Clewiston.
On Sunday, a beautiful day, Dr Shawn Engebretsen flew my husband and I, in his Piper Lance, to get a “higher view” of the proposed Sugar Hill Sector Plan around the area of Clewiston in Hendry County and to get a shot of its heart, Airglades Airport.
I decided to continue this planned trip even though on Friday, October 3rd, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) sent a letter to the state land planning agency “recommending against approving the proposed Sugar Hill Sector Plan, DEO #14-3SP, as it does not provide sufficient information to show that future Everglades restoration efforts will not be harmed…” The letter goes on to give additional comments on flood protection, pollutant loading , irrigation sources, and ecosystem restoration.
Kudos to the SFWMD!
Nonetheless, we must keep a close eye on this the project as it still has other state reviews and could resurrect itself at any time depending on timing, politics, and money.
So let’s go!
The most interesting way to fly to Clewiston from Witham Airfield in Stuart is to follow the C-44 canal from the St Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee and then fly to the southern edge of the lake. In doing so one sees the towns/cities of Canal Point, Pahokee, Bell Glade and South Bay on the easterly and southern side of the lake and Clewiston and Moore Haven further west.
It is a huge place out here and time and space somehow seem enlarged, like in the American West. The distances are vast and it takes a while to get one’s bearing.
After about thirty minutes, passing Pahokee and Bell Glade, hugging the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee and looking out toward the horizon one finally one sees, emerging out of the smoke of its processing plant, the historic city of Clewiston.
Lake Okeechobee, cities and agricultural lands.Circling over the city of Clewiston, the headquarters of US Sugar.
In the photo above one sees the sugar processing plant (smoke), the old Clewiston Airport which is no longer functioning, parts of the city and the agriculture lands south. The sector map below shows this same area but looking straight on. Clewiston is the gray square at the edge of the lake.
Sugar Hill Sector Plan map, Clewiston area. Courtesy of Miller, Legg.
Continuing, the next landmarks out in this open agricultural land, one sees the Airglades Airport and Highway 27 turning north. This area would be the “heart” of a Sugar Hill development. Right now there is just the air strip and miles and miles of agricultural lands. I believe many in this area are citrus.
Airglades Airport and surrounding agricultural lands.Looking south to Highway 27 turning north-miles of agricultural fields.Map of Airglades Airport and surrounding proposed development. Note curve in highway 27 at top left side quickly turning north. Courtesy of Miller /Legg.
The third area on the far western edge of the proposed Sugar Hill development has Lake Hipochee as a landmark. Lake Hipochee was the headwaters of the Caloosahatchee River that Hamilton Disston put a canal through and dynamited its waterfall in order to lower Lake Okeechobee in the late 1800s. Although the lake appears as “a lake” on maps it has been destroyed by drainage and is now a sprawling wetland.
Lake Hipochee with canal to Lake O.Lake Hipochee wetlands area with encroaching agriculture lands.“Lake Hipochee” and agricultural lands south into proposed SH sector lands.
So hopefully this little tour has helped you get your bearings and not totally confused you.
Why do we need to know about this?
Basically many of these option lands need to be purchases by the state by October, 2015 for Everglades restoration and or trading for other lands, to create a “flow way south.” Otherwise certainly, in time, there will be one more sprawling city in the area of the historic Everglades blocking it regaining a healthy future and water supply for south Florida. Personally I believe the way to build an economic future for the people south of the lake is through Everglades restoration not development.
But presently, the state does not want to buy these lands as they say there is not enough money to manage them and the purchase would impede on the continuation of projects already in progress.
I believe this to be true, but sometimes you’ve got to take advantage of an opportunity before its gone. Sometimes you just have to “do it,” or you never get another chance.
Entire map of proposed Sugar Hill area. Lake Hipochee is the blue dot in the very upper left corner that is cut off.Key.
River Kidz was started in 2011 in the Town of Sewall’s Point by two 5th grade girls, Evie Flaugh and Naia Mader after a public call to action by Stuart News/Scripps columnist, Eve Samples for “younger members of the Rivers Coalition.” The group swelled to over 300 Facebook and event attending member by 2013. Today there are River Kidz chapters in St Lucie County and across the state in Lee County as well. These kids serve as an inspiration to adults.
I believe, politicians are changing water policy because of these kids.
Over the years I have collected and photographed their art work, slogan, and their letters to politicians. Today, I am going to share some of their slogans. For fun and just to review, a “slogan” is defined as:
noun–
1. a phrase expressing the aim or nature of an enterprise, organization,or candidate; a motto.
2. a phrase used repeatedly , as in advertising or promotion.
and 3. (my favorite). A battle cry of a Scottish clan.
These slogans span from 2011 to 2014. They are from different children, including the students from the honors class at Felix A. Williams Elementary in Jensen; St Josephs Catholic School in Stuart, and the Pine School in Stuart. Public and private schools alike have embraced the message: “Speak out, get involved and raise awareness, because we believe kids should have a voice in the future of our rivers.”
Enjoy, and “stay strong” for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon!
Save Our RiverKeep It Like ThisMove the Water SouthOur Water Our FutureMaybe We Can Change the LawStop and ThinkLet It Flow SouthIt’s Not Always Black and WhiteStop. Don’t Trash Our RiverDon’t Trash the LagoonLet it Flow SouthWe Love Our River So Please Keep It CleanWhy Pollute It?Stop DumpingStop the DischargesNo! (to fertilizer) Save The RiverWhy Ruin Our Future?River Kidz’ first art slogan by artist Julia Kelly: YOU ARE OUR RIVERS’ FUTURE
“Farmer Fred,” Mr Fred Burkey, stands in front of the outlet of the new rain garden just installed by Martin County at the Hoke Library in Jensen. (All photos by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch 9-27-14.)
Recently, I kept hearing about “rain gardens,” and how they could be used in the Town of Sewall’s Point to help the Indian River Lagoon. I kept nodding my head, but I really had no idea what they were. A “garden for rain” obviously, but nonetheless, no image would crystallize in my mind.
After a field trip with UF IFAS extension office representative (http://martin.ifas.ufl.edu) Mr Fred Burkey to the Hoke Library, I now know. So today, I am going to share with you about a very cool, beautiful, and useful thing Martin County and others are promoting to help our ailing St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and waterways across our nation.
The idea of a rain garden is to hold water and filter it before it enters our waterways and if everyone held just a “little bit” of water it could make a very big difference. In most circumstances today’s drainage is designed to “roll off the land” as fast as possible, and is directed to a gutter or pipe which leads to a body of water. There is little filtration so all the pollutants go directly into the “river.”
Mr Burkey is an expert and professional on the subject of water, but still it was amusing to be working with him on water ideas for the Town of Sewall’s Point, as in the early years of my life he was my neighbor….
He and his wife Jackie, live across the street from my parents in Indialucie, Sewall’s Point. I lived across from the Burkey family from 10 years old until I was 18. The Burkeys have four kids and we all grew up together. Mr Burkey was always “Mr Burkey.” But the day of the rain garden it was “adult to adult.”
My morning went something like this:
“Ding dong” went the door bell and Mrs Burkey answered the door.
“Hello Mrs Burkey . Is Mr Burkey here please? We are supposed to look at a rain garden…”
“Call me Jackie please. Fred! Jacqui’s here!” she yelled into the kitchen.
He came to the door.
“Hello Mr Burkey.”
“By gosh, Call me Fred! You are making me feel old…”
So after a quick conversation and being told to call Mr and Mrs Burkey by their first names, something I was trained never to do as a kid, “Fred” and I got in my car and made our way to the Hoke Library in Jensen. As I mentioned, Fred works for IFAS, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and in coordination with the Dainne Hughes at Martin County, he is promoting rain gardens. He was my guide.
Once we arrived and I got out of the car, it all finally made sense because I “could see.”
Fred explained that a rain garden is meant to filter water coming from impervious surfaces. In the case of the Hoke Library, they took an area that had very heavy gutter runoff, put rocks right at the base of the gutter, dug out the earth for a distance of about 50 feet, to hold and filter the water, planted native and Florida Friendly plants to help with filtering , and then put a berm around the area.
Here are some pictures of the Hoke’s rain garden to help you envision what a rain garden can look like.
The area to the west side of the Hoke library shows surrounding berm.Gutter and rocks where heavy rains caused erosion and water would just quickly run into parking lot.Runoff area of gutter.Middle area of shallow rain garden.Western sloping edge of rain garden.Native plants inside rain garden remove pollutants. This firebush attracts butterflies.Native grasses.Black eyed Susan.Magnolia.Fred Burkey and head librarian Emma Castle from the Hoke who gave us the grand tour.Rain Garden: Bioretension and Infliltration site: (http://www.greeningthegray.org/gi-features/gi-features/bioretention-infiltration/)
A rain garden is a relatively easy and inexpensive thing to do.
When I got home and started looking at Sewall’ Point I could now see there are many areas where the water just runs off houses and buildings onto driveways and dirty streets into the river. Could we create a shallow area with native plants to hold, clean and filter that water? I’m sure we could.
We can all help in little ways to improve our rivers. Together, it is a big way. Take a look at your yard please. Hopefully, you see a rain garden in your future!
ca. 1944 post card advertising Ocean Breeze Camp. (Photo, Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s book, Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River.)
I love driving north along Indian River Drive towards Jensen Beach from the Town of Sewall’s Point. The palm trees, the river, the old brightly painted houses, and the Town of Ocean Breeze. Since childhood, “Ocean Breeze Park,” has been an icon for retired people growing old and having a great time. A little crowded in there for my taste, but still, what a cool place!
According to Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s book, Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River, “In the 1930s, Harry and Queena Hoke along with their two teenage sons, came to Martin County in a red trailer that was their home.”
According to the family: “The trailer was so small you had to go outside to change your mind.”
After visiting Pitchford’s trailer camp further north, the family eventually purchased 23 acres of the former C.F. Wolf pineapple plantation. The formation of the town is an American dream story. After success as a park, they eventually incorporated in 1960 increasing their coffers and their land holdings by buying adjoining properties.
With a great advertising campaign and true caring for the lives and fun of their residents the park-city became a true home.
Early advertising for Ocean Breeze Park.(Courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)Original site of Ocean Breeze Park, 1948. (Courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.)
According to the town’s Wikipedia article: “at the time of its incorporation, in 1960, the 65-acre park was said to be the largest privately owned trailer park in the United States.”
One of the great town stories is Mrs Geeben.
Mrs Dorothy Geeben, embodied the spirit of Ocean Breeze. She was mayor from 2001 to 2010. When she was re-elected in 2004 at age 96, the national media dubbed her “the nation’s oldest living mayor. She passed on January 11, 2010 at the age of 101 just short of her 102nd birthday.
The Ocean Breeze Park Clubhouse, social center for parties, dances, meetings and performances. (Thurlow collection.)Ocean Breeze Park, 1965.Recent aerial photo. (Internet)Photo 9-27-14 by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Ed Lippisch.Town of Ocean Breeze’s town limits.
Today new things are on the horizon for the Town of Ocean Breeze. Yes, it is run down, but it is improving. Flying over or driving through one can see that many trailers have been removed and western lands belonging to the town are being cleared for residential apartments. The town owns a tremendous amount of land as well as land in the Indian River Lagoon. (see chart above.) The Town of Ocean Breeze is a sovereign. They regulate themselves.
Hmmmm? What will the future bring?
Recently, there was a rumor going around that the town could ignore the county’s four-story height limit within its boarders and build condominiums to “see the sea.” I think that is doubtful, but stranger things have happened in Martin County and if Ocean Breeze is to evolve into the future it will certainly have to change.
According to Scripps Newspapers, after great financial difficulty the town was bought in 2013 by Carefree RV Resorts for Arizona for 16.5 million. The company owns 60 communities nation wide.
Although I know I’ve got many more good and productive years, I find myself thinking about where Ed and I might eventually downsize. I want a great location, a place where I can see the Indian River, somewhere within walking distance to town, and a community where I can have fun and grow old. Ocean Breeze just might be the ticket!
