This slide was to sent to me from Jeff Kivett of the SFWMD. It shows Regional Flows “south,” for Water Year 2014-2015 or May 2014 thorough April 2015.Map south of Lake O. showing EAA, STAs, and WCAs. Everglades is south as is Florida Bay. (Map public.)
I was a teacher for many years. I taught 8th, 9th, and 11th grade English and German. Throughout my career, whether the students were 13 or 17 years old, there was nothing better for them than “getting an A.”
I don’t think in my ten-year career, I ever gave an A plus.
Until now that is…. 🙂
The South Florida Water Management District deserves an A plus for their creative, determined, and difficult work “sending water south” in a politically explosive environment. —-Probably the worst mine fields in the state…
For “WATER YEAR REGIONAL FLOWS May 2014, through April 2015” at least 585,000 acre feet of water was sent south to the Storm Water treatment Areas and into the Water Conservation Areas. This translated into 565,000 acre feet of water to starved Everglades National Park.
To appreciate this achievement one must compare:
This chart from Dr Gary Goforth shows water flow comparisons for water years 1995-2015. (Courtesy Dr Gary Goforth who worked for the SFWMD and was key in designing the STAs. 7-22-15.)
The chart above, courtesy of Dr Gary Goforth, shows acre feet of water going to STAs from 1995-2015. The highest number ever. The colors show the different STAs the water went through.
Sometimes when studying “sending water south” it gets VERY confusing as more water was sent south in 1995, but this water was sent when there were very few STAs and so Florida Bay got pounded with nitrogen and phosphorus laden Lake Okeechobee, and I would think some water from the Everglades Agricultural Area….
The Storm Water Treatment Areas clean the water…
It must be noted that some grading the system may think differently as South Florida certian water users and agriculture have been afraid we were, or are almost going into a drought or that the STA were overused. Some may say the ACOE and SFWMD district “should not have sent so much water south, but rather stored it in the lake…” Maybe they are right. Today I will not judge, but reward.
So anyway, “to repeat myself IRL students,” 🙂 THIS YEAR THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT HAS SENT MORE WATER SOUTH TO THE STAs THAN EVER BEFORE.
You may recall that the Army Corp of Engineers opened the gates to the St Lucie River on January 16th 2015 and this did not stop until late May. This water charted going south this year helped alleviate our destruction. It could have been worse… If they weren’t sending it south, it may have gone to “us.”
My hope is that water management becomes the top-cool thing to do for future generations, and that many River Kidz and even more young people from all over the world and our nation, come to our state to work, learn and study water management. It is a politically explosive and difficult work environment, but nothing is more important for the people and the for wildlife of our state.
I admit that I am part of that politically explosive environment..but my heart really is with the living creatures of the Earth and its waters. May we overcome our genetically wired warlike behavior, send the water south, and save the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon….
Thank you South Florida Water Management District for your outstanding work! Yes there are great difficulties, but for a better water future, we are counting on you!
The next generation! (Public photo of a shore bird baby in the Everglades.)
A pipe into the Indian River Lagoon from a cottage along the Indian River Drive goes directly into the river disposing of sewage. In our Treasure Coast’s regions’ early days there were no laws prohibiting this. Photo archives of historian Sandra Thurlow. ca late 1950/60s.
It’s been a tough week for river lovers.
It was reported by the Stuart News and others that a gentleman died suddenly after being “stuck by a fish.” He had put in his line in the Indian River Lagoon, near Harbor Branch, in St Lucie County. Just a few days later, the headlines noted the experience of Mr Bruce Osborn whose “knee and leg turned black, swelled up, and became hot to the touch after he dove into the confluence of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Mr Osborn was boating near the Sandbar which is located within sight of the St Lucie Inlet…
Mr Osborn had an open sore….he recovered with prompt, emergency-room, antibiotic-treatment and a good wife.
Today in Stuart New’s “Letters to the Editor” a retired New York sheriff is of the opinion that the news of the fisherman had been “sensationalized” noting that “no autopsy had been performed on the man– who died…..”
Who is right? Who is wrong? Or does “truth” lie somewhere in between?
Who knows…But it is all certainly worth thinking about.
Interestingly enough, in this river or near-ocean story, the culprit would not be a shark or anything scary like that, but rather a microscopic bacteria or virus that cannot even be seen….
Bacteria is everywhere. In soil and in water. On our skin and in our bodies. For humans there is “good” and “bad” bacteria.
How do we know where there “bad” bacteria is in the river?
Canal and basin map SLR/IRL. (Public) The basin has been expanded at least 5x its natural size since 1920.
I don’t know, but I do know numbers of bacteria everywhere in water communities are highest in the sediment. Sediment is the sand, clay and other soil types that build up on the bottom of the river in the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and all estuaries of the world.
Muck from the bottom of the Indian River Lagoon. (Public photo)
In our area, the most recent hundred years of sediment, this “muck,” has been heavily affected by human alteration of the environment, especially by drainage canals, like C-44, the drainage of Lake Okeechobee, C-23, C-24, and C-25, as well as shoreline development’s tear down of native vegetation along the shoreline. (That can no longer filter runoff.)
Giant, mile-long canals drain mostly agricultural lands from out west. Many if not most of these lands never even drained into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon in the first place. Not by God. Not by Nature. Just by “us” since around 1920.
So now literally thousands of pounds of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, metals, oils from cars and roads, septic effluent…..the list goes on and on….so these pollutants run into our waterways building up in the sediments of the river, —-to be re-suspended with every storm, with every boat that races by……as the sediment builds and flocculates, bacteria grows–especially if it is warm..many fish live on the bottom of the river….
Estuary depiction public photo.
On the positive side, as far as water, many things have changed for the better since my childhood.
During my lifetime, in the early 60s, sewage was directly dumped into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon from homes and boats….I swam and skied in this water every weekend….Not many people lived here. As kids, we did not know or notice although we used to make jokes about “logs passing by…”
🙂
And yes, since the 1960s and 70s tremendous improvements in sewage treatment plants, packaging plants, septic systems, “Best Management Practices” for Agriculture to lower runoff, etc…have been made. This is fantastic.
Ag runoff DEP photo.
But we can never catch up….We are always chasing our tail….Because we keep putting more pollution into the system than we can clean up. Like putting too many fish in a fish tank, and not cleaning your gravel often enough…our relatively closed lagoon system has met its limit…
The chart below just goes to the year 2000. Florida is now the third most populated state in the nation with over 19 million people. 19 million people’s’ waste….19 million people’s yards, and not just small time farmers anymore, but agribusiness– hundred of thousands of acres of fields and chemicals….a huge portion seeping into our water. Best Management Practices. That’s just not enough…Oh. Let’s not forget what runs down from Orlando….
What’s the truth? The truth is there are too many fish in our fish tank. And we whether we know the cause or not, until we stop draining so much of our personal and agricultural waste into our waterways, we will continue to “drown in our own filth.”
Mouth of a pacu fish with very human like teeth. Yikes! 🙂 These fish are reported to be in Lake O. Public photo.
Just the other day, one of my readers sent me a funny but educational video on Lake Okeechobee and the continued sightings of Pacu fish. Pacu Fish are related to Piranhas and both fish live in the Amazon River of South America. Both have TEETH.
Since my husband pulls out wisdom teeth and replaces teeth with implants, teeth are often a topic of discussion for us, even at the dinner table….when we first met, he told me my teeth were great, except my “lateral incisors were too prominent…..:) —-the vampire teeth! 🙂 I was not happy…:)
Me holding up a fried piranha Ed and I caught recently on a trip to Peru. (Photo Ed Lippisch 2015.)
Anyway. Today’s blog post is meant to be fun but serious.
Invasive species are forever changing South Florida. Between pythons in the Everglades, Lion Fish in the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, Cuban Tree Frogs as well as Bufo Frogs in Sewall’s Point, and Pacu Fish with their “human like teeth” in the Lake Okeechobee—that of course is periodically dumped into our rivers—our world is changing. Native species are being replaced and overwhelmed.
In their 5th Biennial Review of Progress in the Everglades or lack thereof, the National Reasearch Council noted Invasive Species as a top concern for Everglades Restoration.
I read about all this and get upset at the invasive species problem…then it dawns on me that some may say “we, modern man, in South Florida, are an invasive species too.”
Food for thought anyway….
Thank you to Ricardo Zambrano and Kelly Gestring of the Florida Wildlife Commission for replying to my question about PACU and Lake Okeechobee as seen below:
Pacu fish in an aquarium. Related to a piranha that looks somewhat similar but has sharp teeth. People have released them into Lake O. Public photo.
Dear Commissioner Thurlow-Lippish,
To the best of my knowledge, this report of a singleton pacu being caught by a commercial fisherman in Lake Okeechobee is true. The reporter contacted several FWC people and I was asked to confirm the identity of the fish.
We receive numerous reports every year of singleton pacu being caught (primarily in HOA ponds) every year from locations around the state. However, there is no indication that pacu are reproducing in any of our waterbodies. This strongly suggests that the illegal releases of pacu are by owners who no longer want their pet.
Pacu are primarily herbivores and pose little threat to native species. Anglers should be careful removing the hook as pacu’s have very strong jaws and their molar-shaped teeth could inflict a lot of damage to a finger.
We encourage anglers that catch a pacu to remove them to reduce any potential impacts they may have on the environment.
Thank you for your concern and if you have additional questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Kelly Gestring
Non-Native Fish and Wildlife Program Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 10216 Lee Road Boynton Beach, FL 33473 (561) 292-6007 office (561) 234-9925 cell kelly.gestring@myfwc.com
The Hobe Sound Depot with engine ca. early part of 1900s, photo courtesy of Stuart Heritage.
I was recently reminded of train depots while reading a front page “Stuart News” article showing an artist painting a mural of the old Hobe Sound Train Depot….All Aboard Florida being rammed down our throats has the Treasure Coast very unhappy about “trains…” yet our area has a history of trains that we may know a bit better if the rail service and the government hadn’t demolished most of the depots that once peppered the Indian River Lagoon Region from Volusia to Palm Beach counties.
As the daughter of a historian, I was fortunate to hear many stories during my youth that if nothing else “made me think.” One of these stories was about how lonely it was to be pioneer here in Stuart’s early days. My mother would say….
Stuart Train Depot, photo courtesy of Historical Society of Martin County, Elliott Museum via archives of Sandra Thurlow.
“Jacqui, for the people, for the women especially, this was a very lonely place.”
The daily train used to alleviate that loneliness and give the people a place to meet, gossip, and share. Kind of like today’s Facebook. As my mother Sandra Thurlow notes in her book, “Stuart on the St Lucie,” “Town life centered around the arrivals and departures of passenger trains that also brought the mail.”
Sound familiar? “YOU’VE GOT MAIL!”
Jensen Depot. Photo courtesy of Seth Bramson via Sandra Thurlow.Train depot in Hobe Sound, courtesy of Seth Bramson via archives of Sandra Thurlow.
From my reading it sounds as if most of the construction and the use of depots and lesser “flag stops,” (a flag was raised if they needed the conductor to stop?)….was between 1894 and 1935. The Hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 coupled with the real estate crash of 1926 was a big part of the railroads’ demise as was the fact that wholesale fishing industries waned from unwise over-fishing, and pineapples had to start competing with Cuba. So basically, in about one generation, the railroads depots and the railroad of Henry Flagler along the Lagoon had seen their “best days.”
In the 1960s and before, the aging, remaining, cute-little, aging stations were demolished by order of F.E.C. Railway officials. As my mother writes about the Stuart Depot: “The depot that was once the center of the community’s activities was demolished without fanfare during the 1960s.”
And so “it goes,” and “so it went”….. THERE GOES THE TRAIN!
The passenger train is gone, along with the depots….today we have too much car traffic, roads are everywhere, All Abroad Florida threats purport a bleak future, Florida’s population is expanding, Panama Canal freight is coming…
Well, at least we have Facebook or we can stay home and text…..
Hmmmmm?
What will the future bring? 🙂
Walton Flag Stop, with people happy to see each other and get the mail. Photo. Photo courtesy of Reginald Waters Rice and Sandra Thurlow’s book “Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River.”
Great link shared by Rick Langdon of Walton Flag Stop and what wonderful things came of it: (http://rickinbham.tripod.com/TownOfSIRD/SIRD_Homes_11090RidgeAve.html)
(In Martin and southern St Lucie counties, there were stations in Jensen, Stuart, Salerno, Hobe Sound, and “Flag Stops” in Walton, Eden.)
Salerno Depot, courtesy of Seth Bramson via Sandra Henderson Thurlow.Train route along Indian River/St Lucie. Map Sandra Thurlow’s book “Jensen and Eden…”Eden’s Flag Stop. (SHT)Inside cover of “Stuart on the St Lucie,” Sandra Henderson Thurlow. Photo shows train depot in downtown, Stuart.
Thank you to my mother, Sandra Henderson Thurlow, for sharing all the photos for this blog post.
The seawall at Sailfish Point’s Dunes Condominium is right next to the ocean. St Lucie Inlet lies beyond this point by about a quarter-mile. 7-26-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
Yesterday afternoon, Ed and I had hoped to walk our dogs, Bo and Baron, to the St Lucie Inlet, but were cut off by an incoming tide and a Sailfish Point’s seawall. Having grown up in Martin County, it is amazing to see such changes “right before my 50-year-old eyes…”
Of course when I was a kid there was no Sailfish Point development, no seawall, no apparent sea level rise, just the beach sun-flowered sand dunes and Bathtub Beach changing daily to the winds of time with the remnants of James Rand’s “Seminole Shores” development crumbling…
Today Sailfish Point is here. Its 625 homes are some of the most exclusive in the county. Built in the 1980’s it was developed by Mobile Oil Corporation. The area brings tremendous tax revenue to everyone and to every school in Martin County…if it washed into the sea there would be issues for all.
Sailfish Point: (http://www.sailfishpoint.com/martin-county/)
It must be noted that the St Lucie Inlet itself is responsible for some of this erosion…the inlet was opened permanently in 1892 by pioneers led by Captain Henry Sewall of Sewall’s Point. Naturally the inlet would open and close with tides and time. Opening the inlet permanently now defines our county, and we would not give it up; but as all things in life: there are both positives and negatives to every action.
Today the waters of the ocean are encroaching….and time seems to be speeding up.
Building on barrier islands is not particularly long-term in that barrier islands are meant by nature to turn over on themselves like a conveyor belt. On the other hand, I have been to the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and their seawall is right up to the historic hotel and has been for years….We stave off the ocean as long as we can. Much of Florida east coast is built on barrier islands…
What does the Bible say? “The wise man built his house upon a rock…”
Anyway….today I wanted to share Ed and my walk as it is symbolic of our times.
Google map showing Hutchinson Island showing St Lucie Inlet. Sailfish Point immediately north of inlet. East is Atlantic Ocean and west is the Indian River Lagoon and Sewall’s Point and St Lucie River.
Other than the surreal seawall and encroaching sea….there were many sea turtle nests, marked by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Many turtles had laid their eggs right up against the seawall! Many of them! I counted at least 50 just in our short walk. Good for the turtles but it seems many nest are doomed to wash away… For thousands of years these turtles have returned to the beaches of their birth to lay eggs. Now many of them literally come up “against a wall.”
Turtle nest right up the seawall at Sailfish Point. 7-26-15.(Photo JTL)Turtle nest close to SP’s seawall. (JTL)Sea turtle nest. (JTL)
I must mention that the people of Sailfish Point are also “up against a wall,” as they have to worry about their homes falling into the sea….Here one sees a sea wall repair taking place. I don’t think the sea wall is that old in the first place.
Home at Sailfish Point undergoing seawall repair. 7-26-15. (Photo JTL)Ed looks inside sea wall being repaired. (Photo JTL)
The most intense erosion seems to be the north area of Sailfish Point, closest to Bathtub Beach….and it is summer. This should be the time the ocean, sands and tides are most forgiving. Winter waves are much more brutal, unless there is a hurricane of course….
The other interesting anomaly Ed, Bo, and Baron and I experienced was the hundreds of sea hare mollusks that had washed up on shore. Ed Killer of TC Palm just wrote a great piece on these interesting, harmless creatures that scientists believe are washing ashore due to cold water upswells and algae shifts in the ocean–their swimming affected, they slow down and are carried to shore by the waves fated to dry out in the sun.
As Ed and I walked back I picked up as many as I could and threw them back into the ocean knowing that really I was only “buying them some time.” Chances are they will wash right back up on the shore. In the end, nature always wins. In time, we like the sea hares, will find this out , but until then it’s a great walk on the beach, isn’t it?
One of hundreds of sea hare mollusks that had washed ashore near Sailfish Point 7-26-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
Ed stands with Bo and Baron in front of the seawall at Sailfish Point looking towards the sea….(Photo JTL)
Playing fetch with Bo and Baron, (Photo JTL)Jacqui and Ed, near Bathtub Beach, Stuart, Florida. 2015. We had fun even though the beach is not what it used to be….
THIS ADDITION CAME IN FROM MY BROTHER TODD: AMAZING!
Jacqui–
Interesting blog post!
In the meantime I thought I would respond to your post with a rough video of Sailfish Point while eating my lunch…..
(https://youtu.be/TW8URTQG2o0)
It is a movie of the following:
1. 1935 NOAA Chart – note the jetty already in place
2. 1940 Aerial
3. 1952 Aerial
4. 1968 Aerial – quick. I should have skipped it.
5. 1970 Aerial – note the old “Empire of the Ants” pier and the strange water slick to the south.
6. 1981 Aerial – showing the construction of Sailfish Point.
Look at these two screenshots of the beach just a few months apart late last year—-Todd Thurlow
Google image seawall is covered 8-12-14.Google image seawall is uncovered 12-2-14.
Stuart, Florida youths pose with a 14-foot sawfish hoisted on a dock around 1916. (Photo Jack E. McDonald courtesy Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s book “Stuart on the St Lucie.”)
I recently heard a great story from Doug Bournique who is executive vice-president of the Indian River Citrus League (http://ircitrus.wpengine.com). He told me he accidentally stepped on a sawfish! Doug is very vocal about “leaving a legacy” for the Indian River Lagoon. He advocates at government meetings for the reconnection of the waters of the North Fork of the St Lucie River and the St Johns River, as well as “water farming.” He grew up along our Treasure Coast and loves fishing, especially in the area of Sewall’s Point.
Doug was excited to see a sawfish and I was excited to hear about it. Seeing an endangered sawfish is a “good sign” for the river.
…..
I have written about sawfish before, and recently I came across the photo at the top of this post in my mother’s book “Stuart on the St Lucie.” This time, with Doug’s story in mind, I looked at the photo a little differently.
It is a curious photo, isn’t it?
The “boys” all dressed up in coats and ties, the younger one on the far right, hand on hip, gazing to the horizon like a Norman Rockwell painting….The gigantic, contoured, muscular, sawfish hanging from a hook like a piece of meat in a butcher shop….in 1916 a common nuisance perhaps. Today an endangered species…
The photo says a lot about people, about Florida’s history, about humankind, about culture, about sportsmanship, and also about how times and perceptions change…
All sawfishes are now critically endangered. Scientists say they don’t reach sexual maturity until maybe 12 or 14 years old. Their reproduction number increase is very slow like many sharks to which they are related. The are nocturnal. They are remarkable and ancient. They are awesome. They have been overfished.
What if we could find a way to use the sawfish to protect the Indian River Lagoon? What if we could use it as an “endangered species”? This may be difficult as they adapt and can live in both salty and fresh water…
“Single species management” is taking a beating lately as we know. The Cape Sea Side Sparrow, the Everglades Snail Kite, the Florida Panther….Many say when you manage an ecosystem, especially water, for a single species, it is at the expense of all the other animals in the eco-system. Of course the animal we are always most concerned about is really ourselves. It’s hard to give anything up when you at the top of the food chain….
But that is why being human is so different from being a dinosaur. We can think. We can reason. We can dream. If we want to, we can save the sawfish and the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon..let’s pick up our sword and win!
Confluence of SLR/IRL at Sewall’s Point. “The Crossroads.” 7-22-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
Of course when it rains the waters of the St Lucie River/Southern Indian River Lagoon get darker due to runoff into the river. But unless it keeps raining, the water will clear up. The government likes to call this water “storm water.” This is all of the water that flows into the river from people’s yards, roads, agriculture fields, etc….
Lately it seems to me, our recent storms, like yesterday, and a few days before have concentrated right along our coast. I am not certain, but I looked on the South Florida Water Management District’s website and it did not appear that C-23, C-24 and C-25 were open or if they were it was not a lot. To check C-44 you have to go to the ACOE website; it is definitely not open. So I think most of what we are seeing right now in our river is runoff from the lands closest to the coast not necessary connected to canals. You can see a basin map below.
Canals in Stuart, C-23, C-24, C-25 built in the 50s and 60s. C-44 connected to Lake Okeechobee constructed in the 1920s.
So anyway, the photo above with the murky-grey colored water was taken yesterday 7-22-15; it was an outgoing tide; and it was around 11AM. Thank you Ed!
Today, I will share some of Ed’s photos and then compare others from when there was some rain, and the ACOE was dumping into our river JUST FROM LAKE O, and others from very rainy times when dumping from Lake O and the area canals of C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44 by ACOE/and SFWMD was “constant.”
THESE PHOTOS IMMEDIATELY BELOW FROM yesterday 7-22-15 in the area of Sewall’s Point. They show grayish-murky waters from storm water coastal runoff but green-blue shines through…
Confluence of SLR/IRL at Sewall’s Point. “The Crossroads.” 7-22-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)Sailfish Flats looking towards Sewall’s Point. Hutchinson Island in foreground. 7-22-15. Photo Ed Lippisch.Runoff plume as seen over St Lucie Inlet 7-22-15. Jupiter Narrows on left and S. Hutchinson Island. (Photo Ed Lippisch)Reefs off Hutchinson Island. north of SL Inlet 7-22-15 St Lucie Inlet so appear clear. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
THIS PHOTO BELOW IS FROM July 14th, 2015, a week ago. It had not recently rained and my yard was bone dry. It was an incoming tide. Sewall’s Point and confluence of SLR/IRL appears very “blue.” It is beautiful although seagrasses and the benthic community are still “recovering.” Blue does not mean the river is “healthy,” but BLUE IS GOOD.
Sewall’s Point looking north SLR/IRL from the air 7-14-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
THIS PHOTO BELOW IS DATED May 18th 2015. This is the tip of South Sewall’s Point looking towards the St Lucie Inlet and Jupiter Narrows. Sailfish Point is under the wing. It was not raining much at this time in March of 2015, but the ACOE/SFWMD was dumping from Lake Okeechobee because the lake was “too high.” The river looked brown and gross.
Flying north at convergence of SLR/IRL at St Lucie Inlet. (Photo Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, 3-18-15.)
Ironically, now we appear to be on the verge of a serious “water shortage”….too bad there isn’t a place to store this water somewhere north and/or south of Lake O….that the ACOE and AFWMD dump during the dry season trying to get the lake down in case there is a hurricane….The agriculture community could use that water now as could the Everglades, Miami/Dade, wildlife etc…..the C-44 STA/Reservoir is wonderful and we are thankful but it is only for C-44 BASIN RUNOFF not Lake O.
THIS PHOTO BELOW IS SEWALL’S POINT’s west side, IRL, looking north with the confluence of the SLR/IRL in foreground. This was September of 2013 during some of the highest releases from Lake O and C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44. This is when the river was toxic and there were signs not to touch the water. It is very dark brown. Too dark.
Looking north toward Sewall’s Point on east/left. The Sailfish Flats are to the right/east as is Sailfish Point. (September 2013.)
THIS DISGUSTING SHOT BELOW is of the St Lucie Inlet with Sailfish Point foreground. This photo was also taken in September 2013 during very high discharges from Lake O especially and the C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44. Yes. It was raining! And certainly coastal storm-water runoff not going into canals as seen in the photo at the beginning of this blog was also included. It was all horrible, but the biggest single overdose during this time was from Lake O.
September 2013, St Lucie Inlet JTL.
At this time our river was almost black in color and had a strange consistency due to all of the sediment and pollution in the water. During this year of 2013 our river lost about 85 percent of its seagrasses and ALL of its oysters. The releases lasted from May through October. Salinity was way down and 0 in some places. Algae blooms, toxic in nature, were documented from Palm City to Stuart to Sewall’s Point. The Sandbar at the mouth of the inlet was posted as a health hazard area by Martin County. Real estate sales were lost and animals were absent; it was a true state of emergency as filed with the state by many local governments.
We live in a state of unbalance.
South Florida is a swinging pendulum of too much water and not enough water. It makes no sense. We waste water, yet we encourage more people to come to South Florida when do often don’t have enough as it is because we are dumping it all…
We want things to be like they were in 1970 and 80….
We want to be the sugar and vegetable basket for the world, and have everyone move here… Well no matter how much sugar we produce, or how many houses we build, “we can’t have our cake and eat it too.”
We need more storage south and north of Lake Okeechobee. If we can engineer to send a camera to photograph Pluto 2.7 billion miles away, can’t we fix things here at home?
Well, unless we can figure out how to live on Pluto, we are going to have to—
Pluto 2015 as photographed by NEW HORIZONS spacecraft.
Everglades Snail Kite, Audubon web site. Photo by R. J. Wiley.
To me there are few birds as striking as the Everglades snail kite, especially the hooked-beaked, wicked-talloned, dark/red-orange colored male. They are raptors in the family of eagles, hawks and vultures. Skilled beyond belief they have specialized their hunting ritual to include one thing, the apple snail. They fly with what is described as the slow, head-down, gargoyle-like flight of a blue heron, but eyes lowered with radar vision positioned to see and seize their tiny prey. Beautiful, remarkable, a machine of God’s creation and nature’s adaptation. An inspiration to all.
You may have heard that recently at the South Florida Water Management District the Snail Kite was discussed in light of pumping water from Lake Okeechobee. I do not know all the details of the meeting, but I would imagine it had something to do with the Endangered Species Act, the birds are endangered, and that the snail kite’s habitat. Their habit is around Lake Okeechobee, so if too much water were pumped out of the lake, more than likely their habitat and health would be affected. They are protected by federal law.
Another species also affected by the level of Lake Okeechobee is humans. We are not endangered. Homo Sapiens flourish in Florida. Especially those who are farming south of the Lake in the Everglades Agricultural Area, (EAA), 700,000 acres of sugar cane, vegetables, and citrus that is also reliant on the waters of the lake (to water their crops free of charge….) This area totally blocks the once free-flowing waters of Lake Okeechobee. Those waters were diverted to the estuaries such as the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee.
Do I sound like I have a chip on my shoulder? I do.
Also— I believe the aquifers under and surrounding the Water Conservation Areas south/outside of the EAA are connected to the people of Miami-Dade and their water supply.
This is huge….
Presently it is not raining that much and the lake is close to being near “water shortage,” for the Homo Sapiens as defined by the SFWMD.
I feel for everyone “hemmed in by this situation,” I really do but I also feel for the birds, for the lake, and for all of us who endure the wrath of a system that is totally altered and totally out of balance. A system we have created and can work harder to improve.
Perhaps situations like these will push us to develop more water storage south, north, and around the lake? To buy more land? To support Amendment 1? To exercise the option…or something like it?
Because we all know, with out the needed water levels, we too, like the snail kite are “dead.”
As all fertilizer companies, Scotts has traditionally developed many products heavy in phosphorus and nitrogen, they are now producing products with no nitrogen and phosphorus. Amazing. (Public photo)
It is a good thing when one sees the market adapting to an educated public rather than fighting it. For me, this is especially rewarding when it comes to adapting to a public educated on fertilizer use, and how it negatively affects the health of our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
In 2010 the Town of Sewall’s Point passed the first “strong fertilizer ordinance” with a black out period on Florida’s east coast. A blackout period is a period when no fertilizer using phosphorus or nitrogen is allowed during a designated time frame that corresponds with South Florida’s rainy season. Due to fertilizers role in the destruction of waterways and increased harmful algae blooms, this idea first took shape on Florida’s west coast in 2007.
Although local governments can affect residential fertilizer, farmers are dealt with separately through the Dept. of Agriculture. So anyway—–
After Sewall’s Point, Martin County a much bigger player, soon followed with a black out period and the domino effect ensued. River advocates worked tirelessly, and within about one year St Lucie, Indian River, parts of Brevard and Volusia counties, also along the lagoon, had jumped on board. The public showed they were willing to put “skin in the game” to achieve clean water. Many are rethinking “green lawns” in general…and becoming ever MORE EDUCATED.
Recently, Dianne Hughes, who works for Martin County, sent out an email announcing that Scotts Fertilizer would be launching a new “Florida-Friendly Lawn Supplement in Key Test Markets.” I would image this will include “us.” Dianne has worked very hard on promoting the BE FLORIDAN, a program thats model includes fertilizer education and a summer black out period. (http://befloridian.org)
A photo from DEP showing a yard along the North Fork of the SLR. In instances like this it is easy to see the negative effects of fertilizers on area waterways.
Dianne’s email read:
Scotts® Launches New Florida-Friendly Lawn Supplement in Key Test Markets
Scotts® Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways Initiative Brings New Lawn Response™ Nitrogen and Phosphorus Free Product to Florida
West Palm Beach, FL (July 15, 2015) – As part of it’s Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways initiative, ScottsMiracle-Gro, announced the launch of Scotts ®Lawn Response™, a nitrogen and phosphorus free lawn nutrient supplement that will help residents in communities with local fertilizer restrictions support the health of their landscapes. This new product is the latest addition to the Scotts® portfolio in Florida and is a lawn nutrient supplement that replenishes essential micro-nutrients for improved plant health. Produced in Florida and specifically for Florida lawns and gardens, Lawn Response™ is currently available in select areas of the state.
Designed to use on any grass type, outdoor plants and trees, Lawn Response™ is nitrogen and phosphorus free and is compliant for use throughout the year, even during the summer for communities that have localized fertilizer restrictions in place.
Kudos to Scotts for these changes. Kudos to Scotts for listening and adapting to the public. Kudos to Scotts for realizing you can still find a market and make money and protect the environment. I won’t tell them though that I have not put any fertilizer on my almost grassless yard for over six years and it’s still green. 🙂
FULL PRESS RELEASE:
For Immediate Release
Contact: Molly Jennings; (561) 681-7683
molly.jennings@scotts.com
Scotts® Launches New Florida-Friendly Lawn Supplement in Key Test Markets
Scotts® Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways Initiative Brings New Lawn Response™ Nitrogen and Phosphorus Free Product to Florida
West Palm Beach, FL (July 15, 2015) – As part of it’s Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways initiative, ScottsMiracle-Gro, announced the launch of Scotts ®Lawn Response™, a nitrogen and phosphorus free lawn nutrient supplement that will help residents in communities with local fertilizer restrictions support the health of their landscapes. This new product is the latest addition to the Scotts® portfolio in Florida and is a lawn nutrient supplement that replenishes essential micro-nutrients for improved plant health. Produced in Florida and specifically for Florida lawns and gardens, Lawn Response™ is currently available in select areas of the state.
Designed to use on any grass type, outdoor plants and trees, Lawn Response™ is nitrogen and phosphorus free and is compliant for use throughout the year, even during the summer for communities that have localized fertilizer restrictions in place.
“Last year we publicly committed to help create solutions for Florida’s one-of- a kind environment and the launch of Lawn Response ™ is part of that commitment. Several Florida communities concerned with excess nitrogen and phosphorus in local waterways have restricted the use of lawn fertilizers during the summer season. We recognize that nitrogen is an essential building block for all plant life and while there is no substitute, Lawn Response ™ gives residents a new lawn care option that will help to keep plants healthy, hearty and drought resistant“,” said Mark Slavens, ScottsMiracle-Gro Vice President of Environmental Affairs.
ScottsMiracle-Gro along with leading academic institutions have long agreed that by naturally filtering and storing water before it reaches stormwater treatment centers and local waterbodies, a healthy lawn promotes cleaner waterways. Lawn Response™ features a micro-nutrient packet that includes Iron, Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium, which can enhance greening and increases water efficiency.
Last year, ScottsMiracle-Gro’s “Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways” initiative included a three-year, $5 million commitment to in-state water quality research, habitat restoration, consumer education and green infrastructure improvements. The company is supporting local independent research to determine the sources of pollution in the Indian River Lagoon; results from which will help create solutions to improve the lagoon’s water and wildlife, and create a model that can be replicated for other sensitive waterways. Through its partnerships with additional local partners, Scotts is helping to restore more than 20 acres of salt marsh plants will be restored in Tampa Bay, and supporting research on the Bay’s long-term environmental resiliency. Grants to community gardens, farms and greenspaces throughout Florida have protected more than 47,600 square feet of land. The addition of Lawn Response™ nutrient supplement is an extension of that initiative and demonstrates ScottMiracle-Gro’s continued commitment to Florida’s waterways.
The development of Scotts® Lawn Response™ is consistent with the company’s long history of innovation. Over the past several years, ScottsMiracle-Gro has developed products designed to preserve and protect the local water bodies by removing phosphorus from their Turf Builder® lawn maintenance products, and reducing the amount of total nitrogen while also increasing the amount of slow-release nitrogen in fertilizers. Additionally, the company has developed a SNAP® lawn care system that eliminates product pouring and possible spills and continues to make advances in product applicators, like EdgeGuard®, that help consumers apply the product correctly and on-target.
For more on the product launch and additional information on the Florida Smarter Solutions for Cleaner Waterways initiative, visit http://www.scotts.com/Florida.
About ScottsMiracle-Gro
With more than $2.8 billion in worldwide sales, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. The Company’s brands are the most recognized in the industry. In the U.S., the Company’s Scotts®, Miracle-Gro® and Ortho® brands are market-leading in their categories, as is the consumer Roundup® brand, which is marketed in North America and most of Europe exclusively by Scotts and owned by Monsanto. In the U.S., we operate Scotts LawnService®, the second largest residential lawn care service business. In Europe, the Company’s brands include Weedol®, Pathclear®, Evergreen®, Levington®, Miracle-Gro®, KB®, Fertiligène® and Substral®. In 2015, the Company ranked in Forbes 100 Most Reputable Companies in America. For additional information, visit us at http://www.scottsmiraclegro.com.
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Molly Jennings ·
This email was sent to DHughes@martin.fl.us.
The 2015 ACOE Jacksonville District leaders. (L to R top down) Lt. Col. Jennifer A. Renyolds; Col. Jason A. Kirk; Lt. Col. Mark R. Himes. (ACOE website)
This past Thursday, at 5:30 PM in Jacksonville, Florida, was the farewell celebration for Col. Alan Dodd who has served the ACOE Jacksonville District the past three years. During his tenure he faced almost immediately the “Lost Sumer” of 2013. Something very positive that was born of that disaster was that communication between the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corp of Engineers improved. This is a tremendous achievement. As all War College graduates know, you cannot win a war with out good communication.
Col Dodd and Lt Col Greco are now retired I believe. Or determining their futures. Thank you. The Jacksonville office of the US ACOE will now be led by Col. Jason A. Kirk along with two Lt. Cols. Mark R. Himes, and Jennifer A. Renyolds. Lt Col Renyolds will be our main point of contact as she will oversee South Florida and be stationed here in West Palm Beach. Many have already met her. She is very popular.
I wish I had been at the celebration. I wish I had been a fly on the wall. Over a couple of beers, I wonder what the conversations were like:
Army War College….Engineering….Bosnia….Kosovo….Iraq….Afghanistan….Fort Hood…West Point…West Palm Beach….Jacksonville…St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon…Calooshahatchee…Everglades Restoration…Lake O…Agriculture…the EAA…U.S. Sugar…the Florida Legislature…
That says it all doesn’t it?
I encourage everyone to reach out and introduce yourself to this new leadership team. Yes, there is a conundrum in that now these leaders are in charge of “opening the gates” to allow the polluted waters of Lake Okeechobee to ravage our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. They have a job to do. To listen to Congress and the Dept of the Interior. Safety. Flood Control. More recently, the Environment. A job whose history, responsibility, and direction predates us. As is so often the case in this life, they are charged with managing and undoing what was done by our forefathers in an era where “man over nature” reigned supreme.
Can the same agency that historically destroyed our waterways through the building of drainage canals help to undo this mess? I think so. The Kissimmee River restoration is a testament to that.
This does not come easily or quickly but it can come. And through our passion we can win the hearts of these modern-day warriors, a step at a time…a year at a time. A disaster at a time.
Yes they have outstanding resumes and wide experiences but in the end, they are human like everybody else. I am certain they want a better future for their children. This is the key.
Their mission is stated as follows:
Jacksonville District provides quality planning, engineering, construction and operations products and services to meet the needs of the Armed Forces and the nation.
Our missions include five broad areas:
• Water resources
• Environment
• Infrastructure
• Homeland security
• Warfighting
Within these mission areas, our programs and projects:
• Ensure navigable harbors and channels
• Provide flood damage reduction
• Restore ecosystems
• Protect wetlands
• Stabilize shorelines
• Provide recreational opportunities
• Respond to natural disasters and in emergency situations
• Provide technical services to other local, state, federal and international agencies on a reimbursable basis
Welcome ACOE Warriors! Yes, the River Warriors and the River Movement of Martin and St Lucie Counties truly welcome you! We are relying on you to protect us and our river the best you can.
River Kidz founders Evie Flaugh and Naia Mader, 2011.River Kidz 2015.(Photo Nic Mader.)
“Time flies”… “Time waits for no one”… “Time is of the essence”….
There are hundreds of sayings about time, and none of them can truly encompass its passage and what it feels like to know it is slipping away….
Having no children of my own, I am dependent on the children of others to really see time “fly.” As time seems to fly fastest when it comes to children turning into adults–right before our eyes, while we of course feel “exactly the same…”
I deeply believe that all kids are River Kidz!
The two closest to me are my niece Evie Flaugh, and Naia Mader, two Town of Sewall’s Point girls that founded River Kidz in 2011 when I was mayor. Sometimes they come and visit me. These are some of my favorite days. When they visit, I am struck by how they are changing. They are growing up. They are becoming women.
“10ish” years old when their endeavor started, I think they are now both “15.” Three months apart. Evie is a bit older but they are in different grades. I can’t keep up actually. But I do know they were both once well below my shoulder and they now stand almost a full foot taller than me. I noticed recently, when I sat on the bench with them for a picture, that my feet hardly reached the ground. Their knees were bent…
I look at them in awe.
“Was I that young once?
I was, and boy did want to be older…. This I remember.
Things are going to start changing even more quickly.
They will be driving soon….Gulp….
And where have “we” all driven the river since 2011? The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is in really in the about same predicament it was in 2011. In some areas worse. A lot has happened, and good has been achieved, however, the biggest killer, discharges from canals C-23, C-24, C-25, C-44 and Lake Okeechobee will continue to slowly kill the river with no end in sight, because our state in is denial of the depth and timing of our pollution and water crisis. They think we have 30 years…Oh let’s make that 50 years….no 100….
However awareness is high. As Amendment 1 and our local River Movement has shown, the public is pushing for change; and not giving up. WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS even though it seems sometimes it may take forever, or that we will return to our maker not having achieved the goal.
I am certain that one day there will be substantive positive change for the Indian River and all of Florida’s precious waters. There must be in order for the state to survive. To feed this change and the human will for survival which requires clean water, we must continue to put “gas in the car,” or better yet, use solar energy—- we have to keep making “River Kidz out of kids.” We have to keep driving.
One day soon, these kids will take the wheel of life. I am confident they will drive with more care than previous generations did; they will do all they can to navigate the crash we will be leaving them.
The River Kidz, Naia and Evie, they inspire me. But my heart aches for them. For them we must work harder to change the tide of legislative and agency complacency. We must make more people realize that we do not have 30 years. We have now.
Pink River Dolphin, Amazon River of South America. They can be large, up to 8 feet. Shared Pinterest photo, Nic Bou 2013.
Today I feature an incredible and mystical creature that I just recently saw, the Pink River Dolphin of the Amazon River. This mammal does not live in our rivers, but their relations, our resident Indian River Lagoon bottle-nosed dolphins do. I think the story of the pink river dolphins is a good one to share and may make us look at our IRL bottle-nosed dolphins a bit differently.
Except for a few people, here in the U.S., we “all love dolphins.” The TV show “Flipper” indoctrinated many of us. In fact until the late 1980s we liked dolphins so much we were still capturing them from the wild to put into theme parks…. thankfully, this practice was finally stopped after the implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Here dolphins are “protected.”
I have alway loved dolphins, but over recent years people like Nic Mader of Dolphin Ecology Project, and Nancy Beaver of Sunshine Wildlife Tours, have helped me to appreciate these very smart and adaptable mammals even more. Many scientists believe they are as intelligent or more intelligent than humans. They live in extended families and are territorial like people.
So when I was in South America just recently with my husband Ed, who was born in Argentina, I was stuck by the story of the Pink River Dolphin of Peru and wanted to share it with you today.
Here we go….
The life of the people in the Amazon River Basin is one that I would say none of us can comprehend as these people living along the river are totally self-sustainable. Their value is judged not by how much they “have” in material wealth, but in their ability to provide for their very close-knit families, and their ability TO ADAPT. The powerful and plentiful Amazon River can vary in water level by up to 45 feet! This means that when the river decides to change course, it can quickly erode away chunks of land and forest that are the entire size of the Town of Sewall’s Point. Gone….History….See ya!
–Giant Kapok trees and towering palms that stood only yesterday are suddenly floating down the river with your village or your lone school-house. Such is life and so it has been for thousands of years.
When this happens the people just “move back” into the jungle and adapt. They see it coming. Incredible. The river keeps you alive and it can kill you. The river gives; the river takes away.
From what I heard about 95 percent of the people’s diets, in the area we visited, are fish. They are a fishing society. But they do eat “bushmeat” from the jungle, and other things like birds, caiman, manatee, and monkeys. “Easy to judge,” and at first it was hard for me as an animal lover to “accept this,” but then—-I get my food from Publix.
Ed and I decided we would be dead in two weeks if we had to try to live off the land like these villagers. There is no way. We are not trained to do it. We are soft.
So the people eat what they need to survive but mostly fish.
Nonetheless, according to what Ed and I were told by the locals, there is one animal they do not eat. The Pink River Dolphin.
As a local tour guide explained: “Why don’t the people eat them? They don’t eat them because superstition is stronger than the law.”
According to what we were told, the people of the Amazon River in this area of Peru believe that the Pink River Dolphin is part human, or was so years ago ….they believe or have grown up hearing stories that there are cities under the muddy waters of the river that have developed from a people who once lived along the shoreline, like them, but who decided to move into the water….they also believe if you kill a pink river dolphin you will have very bad luck, and you will not be able to find the fish that sustain your family….the dolphin which are swimming around just about everywhere, show you where the fish are. They help you.
There was one legend, in fact, where a fisherman harpooned a pink river dolphin because it got caught in his net or “stole” one of his fish. When the fisherman was magically transported to a judgement hall under the water and he saw that the dolphin he had stabbed was actually human! He was mortified. The dolphin tribunal told the fisherman he could redeem himself if he returned to the surface and told all villagers the story of the underwater dolphin city and taught the people NOT to hurt the dolphins, but to honor them.
Stories such as these told through generations have protected this species.
The guide asked me if I thought the story could be true? First I laughed, and then after a while I started to wonder. This magical species who is related to our Indian River Lagoon bottle-nosed dolphins certainly is very special. They do seem kind of human-like….
Hmmmm?
Lima is Peru’s capitol city. In Lima’s airport, there is a giant mural on the wall. I was taken by the images and thought about the story of the pink river dolphin as I got ready to fly back home. Ed was yelling at me not to be late as I snapped away thinking about this incredible story of the pink river dolphin.
I have included some of the photos below.
—-Myths….stories….how we see the world….
Even though the human-dolphin story is “just a story” from the Amazon, I don’t think I will ever look at our bottle-nosed dolphins quite the same. 🙂
Mural Lima airport, 2015.The dolphin people.Mural Lima airport, 2015. a mermaid or a dolphin girl?Half dolphin half boy. Mural Lima 2015.Half baby half dolphin. Mural Lima, 2015.Mural Lima airport, 2015.Purple looking pink river dolphin, up close. Mural Lima, Peru, 2015.
Is the SFWMD losing power if every year it feels it must levy less money to make Tallahassee happy, not to mention the District’s ability to determine how to use that money?..And doesn’t this mean that on a local level we are losing power too? (Picfont image, 2015)A beautiful Sewall’s Point SLR/IRL from the air 7-14-15. No dumping from Lake O or area canals show what the area is meant to be. Under the water much recovery is still needed. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
Well it’s great to be home! When it is beautiful here along the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon there truly is “no place like home.” It’s hard to put a price tag on this…
How much are beautiful water, high property values, a healthy environment, recreational opportunities, and a plethora of fish and wildlife worth anyway? For me, it is “priceless,” and therefore it is worth spending money on.
Today in the “Stuart News,” Tyler Treadway wrote an article entitled “Water District Lowers Tax.” Lowering taxes always sound good but as with everything in life, “there is a price.”
According to the South Florida Water Managements District’s ( SFWMD) website: “The annual budget funds the agency’s core flood control and water supply missions as well as its continued progress to restore and protect the South Florida ecosystem.”
Just out of curiosity I did some research. Of course millage rates and property values determine taxable value, and years must be compared “in context”–but nevertheless it is interesting to compare and contemplate:
Here are the budget number from the SFWMD since 2007:
2007: 1.439 billion
2008: 1.283 billion
2009-2010: (did not find separately) 1.5 billion
2011: 1.07 billion
2012: 576.1 million
2013: 567.3 million
2014: 622 million
2015: 720 million
2016: 719,300 million (This number is based on Mr Treadway saying the value, if approved, would be 700,000 less than the previous year-so this is just a very soft estimate.)
Yes, building up to 2007 we were in a “bubble.” We can see that after the Financial Crisis (2008) and Gov. Scott coming to power shortly thereafter, the budget numbers drop drastically around 2012.
We can also see that the numbers have gone up the last couple of years but this is because thankfully our property values have increased. In fact as Tyler Treadway notes the millage rate has gone down over the past four years. This means final budget number is “less that it could be if the millage rate were left the same instead of going to its “roll-back rate.” A rate that allows a taxing agency to generate the same amount it did the previous year. Confusing. Basically the budget number could be higher if they just leave the millage number the same.
Governor Scott has certainly kept his word about cutting taxes. This is impressive. But have the Governor and the Legislature gone too far? I think so.
Why?
The first reason is because I believe a lot of “this change” was based on an emotional reaction…
Basically, the 2008 Governor Charlie Christ plan to buy out US Sugar’s land “pissed” a lot of people in Tallahassee off. Excuse my language, but it did. Because it was such a tremendous land purchase and was out of the hands of the legislature— because the governor at the time was kind of on a “white horse” and up for election to the US Senate some people got really mad….For me if it had happened it would have been a dream come true, for others “it did not happen” and it was a nightmare. An emotional reaction on both accounts to what was really a historical anomaly. Understandably so, the 2008 Financial Crisis was also part of this emotional quagmire…
So after Gov. Scott got into office, he and others felt strongly about insuring this kind of land-buy would “never happen again….” So they revamped things in Tallahassee, cut the budgets of the water management districts to the bone, and folded it law into law that the water districts had to have their budgets approved by the legislature. This really changed things for the district and for the governing board members too….Now they have to be more submissive to Tallahassee. Yuk.
Some would say answering to the legislature is very good. Being careful with money is always “good,” and I agree, but to hang water districts on the pendulum of politics is an ineffective model for success.
Let’s look at history.
–On March 9, 1976 a voter-approved, Florida constitutional amendment authorized water management districts to levy ad valorem taxes up to 1 mill. Today we don’t even blink an eye at this. Years ago it was a feat of Florida history in favor of the environment and water planning.
Think about it.
If you have the power to levy your own millage as a special assessment district, kind of like a city, shouldn’t you be given the authority to determine how to manage and what to do with that money? What if the Town of Sewall’s Point had to run its budget by the state legislature? That would be fun. “Please! Please! Let us have that street light!”
I know I am going far out there, but still.
Why allow the water districts to levy their own millage rates if they are simply an arm of Tallahassee? Every district has its own local problems and this is why there are five separate water districts….perhaps the next “secret” step is to formally put the water districts all under one hat? Like the Department of Environmental Protection also known as “Don’t Expect Protection….”
Looking at our state’s history and the intensions of those who have gone before us, the water districts were meant to “change our world”. To save Florida. Thank you to all those working for the District and may the future give you the freedom to create your own destiny-our destiny. Shouldn’t you represent us and not Tallahassee anyway? Isn’t it our taxes that are being levied? Shouldn’t we have a loud voice? Shouldn’t you not be afraid to listen?
I think so.
These wonderful timelines of history are wonderful perspectives on how far we have come and why we should keep going!
