Recently a gigantic swath of dead mangroves, east of the Indian River Lagoon on Hutchinson Island in Jensen Beach was brought to my attention. About a year ago, I had noticed the dead forest of trees; however, with my full attention on toxic-algae, water-quality, or lack thereof, I had put this graveyard of walking trees out of my mind. Until I got a phone call a couple of days ago…
My contact, as many others, proposes fundamental changes, such as culverts or another small inlet between the barrier island and the IRL to allow more flushing and increase salinity, pointed out that the primary reason the mangrove forest died, post Hurricane Irma, was too much fresh water. He also noted that the toxic-algae, as bad as it is, is not the worst killer for our St Lucie River. The worst killer is an old enemy: too much fresh water from Lake Okeechobee and area canals. The fluorescent toxic algae has just “put a face” on the carrier, the real enemy, too much fresh water.
The St Lucie is an estuary (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/estuary.html) and needs salt water to exist, also the microcystin toxin cannot survive in a brackish system. The constant discharges, from Lake Okeechobee especially, continually push fresh water through a once brackish system, poisoning it, and toxic algae is along for the ride…
I found this message a powerful tool in visualizing what has happened to our St Lucie River. The dead mangroves are indeed a metaphor for the entire St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon system: our lush seagrass beds have died and the water quality is terrible, leaving little or no wildlife.
We must remember, below our waters, too much fresh water has caused a dead forest too.
#Stop the Discharges
Algae and Cyanobacteria in Fresh Water, World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/bathing/srwe1-chap8.pdf
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Below, I am including Martin County’s response to my inquiry about the dead mangrove forest as a matter of public interest and education.
Jacqui,
This loss of mangroves at the JBI site prompted a serious investigation by the Mosquito Control and Environmental Resources Divisions. Given the large-scale mortality event, testing was conducted to rule out site contamination. Water quality testing was also conducted to determine dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, and hydrogen sulfide levels. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, St. Johns Water Management District, Smithsonian, a local mangrove arborist and Ecological Associates Inc. were all consulted regarding concerns over the mangroves. The majority opinion was that heavy late season rain and high water levels were the primary cause of the mangrove mortality with hurricane stress and suspended solids associated with storm surge as secondary causes. Additionally, lack of species and age structure diversity contributed to the loss, more diverse communities are associated with greater resiliency. Areas in close proximity to the JBI show evidence of mortality caused by ‘ponding’ in which high freshwater levels result in the loss of vegetation.
Recommendations going forward are to improve hydrological connectivity through the installation of additional culverts, clear out channel sedimentation, and install spillways. These actions will improve water quality by allowing for more exchange with the IRL and also increase the discharge capacity of the south cell to prevent high water levels associated with heavy rain and storm surge. In order to accomplish these actions, a capital improvement plan for the site was tentatively approved by the board on April 10th, 2018. Additional funding opportunities will be sought for site improvements and the board granted permission on July 24th, 2018 for staff to pursue State Wildlife Grant funding from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
While funding opportunities are being sought, in-house activities have been pursued. Specifically, staff gauges have been installed to monitor natural tide conditions to allow for careful water level monitoring. The Project Engineer from Field Operations has put together a conceptual plan. A failed culvert is in the process of being replaced. Blockages along the perimeter have been identified and several have been cleared. Transects are being put in for vegetative monitoring. New growth can be seen within the JBI site, however, this is primarily restricted to the areas in closest proximity to the IRL. Culverts are currently opened to allow for natural recruitment and mosquito control is being accomplished through alternative means to allow the area to reseed.
Let me know if you would like to meet to discuss this.
Terry B. Rauth, P.E., Public Works Director, Martin County Board of County Commissioners
I would remind everyone that we are experimenting with a system that our grandfathers messed up royally. Prior to 1890 the southern end of the IRL was either fresh or brackish. Before we start digging and moving this that and the other. Why don’t we build a virtual or scale model of the IRL and the Kissimmee River system to help determine what will and will not work. General Ernest Peixotto has a great deal of knowledge of the Mississippi River experimental station.
Dear Charles, my mother has lectured me many times on the SL Inlet being opened by hand in 1892 as idea of Capt. Henry Sewall of which Sewall’s Point is named for… In any case it opened and closed of course over time. I am not a fan of permanent inlets along the IRL, but as long as the SL is permanently open I feel we must function as an estuary. I love your thoughts and your ideas; thank you so much!! You may enjoy this previous post on Changing Inlets: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/inlets-over-time/
There are two natural inlets north of the power plant on S Hutchinson Island that used to flush the lagoon with ocean water but past generations took it upon themselves to closethese inlets. One of them, Little Mud Creek, naturally re-opened in the 2004 hurricanes.
St Lucie County used their emergency powers to close the inlet back up, by dumping sand on the beach and creating a dune to block the flow of water. This is a shame, because now to reopen it there would have to be years of study.
However, a good thing that was done at the same time is that the road there over Little Mud Creek was improved with a large bridge. If the inlet were reopened to let the water flow back and forth from the ocean, the road would not need additional infrastructure. It would just be a matter of moving the sand place by St Lucie County to block the inlet.
Alternatively, in lieu of opening up the natural inlet, culverts could be installed to allow better flushing of clean salt water into the lagoon.
I would love to see our lagoon restored to what the soldiers stationed at Fort Pierce described – crystal clear water filled with fish they could actually see swimming by. Not the turbid brackish mess we have now.
I so appreciate your sharing these locations!
I have lived in the Jensen Beach area for over 33 years and I have never seen this level of pollution coming from Lake Okeechobee. It has been so bad that they closed beaches, even our Bathtub Beach was closed due to pollution, so I’m not sure putting in a culvert to open a way for salt water to clean the Lagoon.
The only way any real cleaning can be accomplished is to stop the pollution by not allowing it to pour into the Lagoon. I have written letters for 25 years saying the only way is to build the hold lake south of Lake O, then into a winding lazy river the water would clean itself and drain clean water into the Everglades.
If Hurricane Florence which has a prediction of WALLS OF WATER drifts far enough south and west, it could dump feet of water into the Kissimmee River which could be a disaster for the Lagoon, Lake Okeechobee, and south Florida, the water has to go somewhere and it most likely will follow traditional paths, our Rivers.
However all that water could clean as it floods, but getting through those floods for the people in the way of the storm could be very bad for them, we will be thinking of them during the storm & hoping they will be OK.
I agree completely, Joe. Re-opening the natural inlets should be IN ADDITION to sending the water south, not in lieu of it.
SENDTHEWATERSOUTH!
Thank you Joe so much for sharing what I think so many feel.
My goodness. I am glad the county is correcting the problem that seems to me, to be that there was no longer tidal action in the mosquito ditches. When I interviewed pioneers like the Pitchfords, who I believe once owned this land, they said originally there were no mangroves. The government dug mosquito ditches connected to the lagoon by culverts causing the mangroves to flourish. Then laws protecting mangroves, made it impossible to develop the property. I guess there were ways to get around this because Sailfish Point and Indian River Plantation were criss-crossed with mosquito ditches and covered with mangroves. I have many photographs I would like to share but I do not know how to add them to this.
Mom thank you so much for commenting and I will add your photo and comment to the post as there seems no easy way to submit a photo that shows without a link in Comments.
To me it is obvious. Oxygen from calcium sand has activated poison preserved in acid and when the mosquito control pumped salt water in to kill mosquitos they pumped posion in and killed trees. I would say stop releaseing water from Lake O. if you are about to get hit with a hurricane or else issue a run for you lives order.
Brent I do believe your idea is catching on. I saw it written about recently with the oyster shells along the lagoon kind of thing. Keep up your activism.
After hurricane mathew evergreen trees were dead on the lagoon side only for miles inland. Fortunatly currents there should take poison far out to sea. The fact that they have been activeated means they are in the process of breaking down. There is allways a ripping ocean current going from south to north. The contintal shelf gets deeper as you go south . This channels water out to sea
Interesting Brent.
I would make sure Martin Memorial hospital installed some activated carbon air conditioning filters. Anyone else with health issues needs these chemical filtering filters.
Jacqui,
It looks like someone dumped left over weed killer in that one quadrant. I have never heard of mangrove dying from too much fresh water. They survive and can be raised in entirely fresh water. They don’t move inland because 1 they are so frost sensitive 2 they have competition from fresh water plants
That doesn’t mean it’s not possible. I can’t imagine what knocked out that whole quadrant.
In the Keys after then 1935 hurricane miles of mangrove were killed. Later studies showed they suffocated from being drowned in silt so the roots got no oxygen. That certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here. Irma winds weren’t that bad.
I’m very curious to hear what the answer is. Maggy ________________________________
Very, very interesting. The best thing about writing and sharing these things is that I learn myself.
I am with Maggy. Mangroves don’t die from too much fresh water and much research supports that. It appears to be selective destruction of one quadrant of property that matches MC’s Goverment 2 and Goverment 3 parcels.
Nothing about this area looks “natural”. Was the (now developed) land to the east of this – mangrove, originally?
There are a lot mosquito ditches. My mom is sharing info and photos with me so I can write about this. Very interesting. Very detrimental to lagoon. Did help with the bugs…
It has to be some serious poison to kill these mangroves. In front of our lagoon house we have mangroves that were not affected by Hurricane Mathew activating poison while Brazilian Pepper trees—muscadine grapes—ceder and certain others were toast.
I have to disagree with Joe. Right now the sea grass on the beach is reacting with the calcium sand . Calcium peroxide and hydrogen peroxide is cleaning some deadly chemicals up. The only way to clean the lagoon is to bring back the chemistry the way it used to be before they removed all the shell. Salt is a preservative and nutriants do not break down in salt water the way they do in fresh or brackish water. Someone once said fishermen tend to be more engaged in what is happening in the lagoon. I agree—In the lagoon situations are fluid. It is kind of like the game –rock–paper– sizzers—except instead of 3 players there are thousands.
Water has been calm here and the other day I was wadeing on an underwater calcium shell area. I noticed little holes about a foot round and 6 inchs deep. Do you remember the little worm I said was the most inportant creature in the lagoon. Well these little guys grab macro algae and weave there home compresing macroalgae and coquina shells forceing the acid–base reaction. The calm–warm water has made it obvious how the acid in macro algae desolves underrwater calcium. Not far from this spot the water is 4 foot deeper. These little worms have grabbed macro algae as it drifted over and desolved the equivilant of dumptruck loads of calcium!!!
Why just this one area? Were these killed off for land development?
> WordPress.com
I watched the short vidio on estuaries. How can baby creatures survive without calcium? What about calcium cloride salt. Our fresh water rivers and estuaries were formed when the calcium carbonate underneith turneed to liquid from acid. Then the heavy topsoil pushed toward the sea sometime creating a new inlet. This is what I read from on I ndians eyewitness account. —He said there was there was a great wind—then the ground collapsed—then there was a new river. I think special interest own our government and everything they say should be questioned. A healthy estuary with no calcium in it for baby creatures. Give me a break.Thats as big a whopper as Bill Clinton told when he said—I did not have sex with that woman.
Jacqui, I’ve been hearing comments regarding this that ‘the pattern’ looks suspicious (almost like a line had been drawn). What are your thoughts?
I think a mistake was made unintentionally-poor maintenance, poor management. I do not see malice.
I received a well spoken voicemail from Mr Paul Laura who does the water testing for FOS for that impoundment area. He said basically the short answer is that the mangroves were oxygen starved due to the decay from the loss of leaves during Hurricane Irma, and as a result of that they took up all the oxygen, and there was not enough water replacement due to the tides and a very limited pumping that’s available to get them the oxygen they needed and also the water was so high – the tides were not effective and they basically drowned…
I still don’t totally understand this….but I appreciate Mr Laura’s input.
The land is zoned Public Conservation and is an old mosquito compound owned and managed by MC. There was a pump malfunction a year or so ago. Not just pumps failed, according to FOS, but mainly a now recognized lack of sufficient culverts coupled with not opening them up when they should have been. Over 50 acres of mangroves and trees are dead, everything inside the perimeter road you see in the lower section. It was caused by a HIGH salinity event where lagoon water was pumped in and never released. In reading the Conservation Protection Agreement MC has in place for this property, I do believe they are libel and certainly should be more forthcoming about the truth.
Every once in awhile I copy and past Facebook comments to a post:
These are not complete due to folding of replies, but still interesting. All comments are on on my facebook page 9-14-18. JTL
Marjorie Shropshire
Mosquito control plays a big part in this. Something needs to be done to reconnect these areas with the IRL so they can function naturally.
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch Thank you Marjorie Shropshire
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Nicole Lebel
Nicole Lebel Gee, what a perfect quadrant for building on. There is some shady sh#! going on. I’d look at who is waiting to clear that and plop a development on it. Jerks.
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Anne Krueger Stimmell
Anne Krueger Stimmell MY FIRST THOUGHT!!!!!! Notice how the mangroves around the edges are pretty well intact? Nobody wanted it to be seen. Something shady going on, indeed!
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Mark Hill
Mark Hill ….Jenkins, who?
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Curt Grimmer
Curt Grimmer Few things have straight lines in nature. Somebody did this. Nicole is probably correct.
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Mark Hill
Mark Hill Ive wondered about that area. Look up tax records for ownership. Doug Smith’s district maybe he will tell what is going on…. Or not. Ask.
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Rick Langdon
Rick Langdon This property is owned by Martin County according to the MC Property Appraisers map (which BTW is the source map in Jacqui’s linked write-up) However, if you do explore the PA’s map closely and check parcel ownership – it’s very conspicuous that at “some point in the past” MC sold portions of these mangrove covered properties – for development. So, IMHO, the “one’s to watch” are the ones governing Martin County!
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Missy Knight Harris
Missy Knight Harris Rick Langdon this just gets worse and worse and worse everywhere we’re turning
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Nick Peragine
Nick Peragine Jacqui, years ago, I owned a house that was somewhat adjacent to that area. There were amazing trails with incredible wildlife in that area.
So, so sad to see this area dying. Just another symptom of the problem you are fighting to resolve.
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Richard Marney
Richard Marney
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Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy clearly poisoned. The trees along the road are fine, so they can block the view in. This has been going on for awhile. You can see how defined the area is. Somebody wants them dead.
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Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy Also, there has been a yellow land use change sign out there for a long time. Right on the road to Jensen Beach.
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Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy Sign says land use change proposal, from Medium Density Residential to public conservation.I was driving and could not read the rest.
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Vincent Encomio
Vincent Encomio Please read Jacqui’s write-up. The die off is not due to any poisoning, but sustained, elevated water levels due to high rainfall (seasonal + Irma), King tides, & lack of flushing (culverts not opened when they should have been). They basically drowned…See More
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Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy Vincent Encomio Thank you Vincent. Why did all the trees around the perimeter stay alive?
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Vincent Encomio
Vincent Encomio Bill Murphy they were not perpetually inundated like the interior ones were. The ditch along Jensen Beach Blvd east of the causeway got enough flushing. There is another culvert that connects to that ditch. I forget where, maybe to the south under the road?
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan I too doubt the explanation from the MC Public Works director. The entire parcel is owned by Martin County, and only half of their 153 acres is affected. The other half of the property is just as affected by fresh water and shows no signs of dying.
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Richard Marney
Richard Marney The perfect ‘shape’ of the dead zone is curious at best!
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Rick Langdon
Rick Langdon Dennis Phelan – I totally agree. I just “captured” and annotated this Google Earth Image to see these areas in a bit greater detail. Note that the GE Imagery date is January 2018.
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Jim Dirks
Jim Dirks Looks like the work of Round up
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Curt Grimmer
Curt Grimmer Jim Dirks Agent Orange!
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Wendy Whiting-Coombs
Wendy Whiting-Coombs Is that just north of Jensen Causeway?
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan Yes, the land on the left after crossing the causeway.towards the beach.
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Marguerite Krute
Marguerite Krute How is all of this devastation happening right in front of people! Cannot believe our beautiful natural resources are becoming extinct. Unbelievable!
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Ed Killer
Ed Killer Zack Jud
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Chris Phoenix
Chris Phoenix Interesting they left about a 12foot mangrove break along the causeway to hide it
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan Yes, for ‘fresh water damage’ the immediate borders to the Lagoon appear healthy.
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Ed Holzer
Ed Holzer · Friends with Michael Purcell and 1 other
Yep
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Irlagoon Medic
Irlagoon Medic Mosquito control pumps water to areas like this to kill mosquitos. It is obvious calcium sand has released oxygen and activated chemicals that have been preserved in acid. I would say they pumped more than saltwater in this year. After hurricane Mathew…See More
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan These are red mangroves and can adapt and grow in fresh water. This article says they can sustain salinity changes better than most other forms of plant life. https://www.nhmi.org/mangroves/phy.htm
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NHMI.ORG
Mangrove Morphology & Physiology
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan Here’s a reference from UF: “As facultative halophytes, mangroves do not require saltwater to survive. Most mangroves are capable of growing in freshwater habitats, although most do not due to competition from other plants.” https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/…/mangr…/requirements/
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FLORIDAMUSEUM.UFL.EDU
Habitat Requirements :: Florida Museum of Natural History
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Mark J Shaber
Mark J Shaber Open up the dikes 100% and let the natural flow of the river rejoin the mangrove estuary. 95% of mangroves in St Lucie are diked off preventing the natural breeding grounds of hundreds of species along the Indian river. This is a hidden destructive man made system most don’t know about.
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Thomas Gidus
Thomas Gidus I did not know that Mark, but it makes sense. Thank you for the education. 👍
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John Pittman
John Pittman · 2 mutual friends
correct once dead development starts
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Mark J Shaber
Mark J Shaber Notice the white line surrounding the swamp. Just like Lake O the dikes are all about controlling Mother Nature in the name of mosquito control. It’s got to stop.
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John Pittman
John Pittman · Friends with Robin Ann Baum and 1 other
if you keep watching soon they will start pumping sand into that area in preparation for development notice the defined outline of the dead trees!roundup
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Ed Holzer
Ed Holzer · Friends with Michael Purcell and 1 other
Looks like a very distinct border. I remember years ago small canals running through there right of the river. It’s as if they strategically choked this area off.
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta Yep, you are so right Eddie! I remember those canals… loaded with Tarpon too!
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Ed Holzer
Ed Holzer · Friends with Michael Purcell and 1 other
Janet Crews Coppoletta I also used to wade Bessie cove across from bathtub through ell grass 3 feet long and all the sandbar area was covered in grass it’s all gone. It’s disheartening. The reality is it would take another lifetime for it to come back and my kids never got to experience it so they’ll probably never bring they’re kids there if they fix it. Sux!!
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta Yes it does. i grew up on this lagoon and river… oystering, clamming and fishing. Now we cant even touch the water for fear of getting sick 😡 pic circa 1940’s.. my grandpa, dad and my Unc’s clamming on Hutchinson island
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta You can see all the oysters around mangrove roots. The hump behind my grandpa to the left is a huge oyster bed
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta To much fresh water killing everything😡 and they want to blame it on our toilets 🤬 pisses me off
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John Pittman
John Pittman · 2 mutual friends
it seems like I should know who you are I lived in Martin county for a long time but I moved on I’ve only been back two Times in 20 years,once last Christmas.what I saw going on in Martin county is a travisty
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Ed Holzer
Ed Holzer · Friends with Michael Purcell and 1 other
Janet Crews Coppoletta my Greatgrandpa lived here and so on I got some pics in the archives used to eat those oysters and dug a lot of clams. I got some where the causeway was a wooden bridge. The cost of development can’t be reversed sadly what’s done is done. I remember going over to St. Petersburg many years ago. Unspoiled land but probably same scenario as us.
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta Yes your are right Ed!
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta I ate those oysters and clams in 70’s.. cant find them now 😪
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta John Pittman my parents were Clyde and Christine Crews who ran Hometown Printing at. Confusion Corner next to MC dry cleaners. My Aunt owned the first daycare center called the Little Red Schoolhouse. My great aunt had a florist company in PC calld …See More
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John Pittman
John Pittman · 2 mutual friends
I really hate to ask you this but how old are you I’m 61
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John Pittman
John Pittman · 2 mutual friends
I think I remember seeing the little red schoolhouse
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta John Pittman 53
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Mark J Shaber
Mark J Shaber Janet we filled buckets of clams in Martin waters thru the end of the 70’s than they all but disappeared replaced by snails. Gone forever.
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Janet Crews Coppoletta
Janet Crews Coppoletta Yes, we did too! Clams and oysters! Then put them on grill. Good times
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Paul Mcelroy
Paul Mcelroy You can’t destroy mangroves
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan Somebody did
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Cyndi Lenz
Cyndi Lenz Jacque did you ask Chris Dzadovsky?
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Chris Dzadovsky
Chris Dzadovsky This photo is NOT SLC
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Chris Dzadovsky
Chris Dzadovsky The other one is being confirmed and it may be an FDEP / FIND future spoil site.
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan Cyndi, the mangrove property in question is in Martin County and owned by MC. Chris, your help in understanding the other issue is much appreciated.
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John Pittman
John Pittman · Friends with Robin Ann Baum and 1 other
future spoil site sand pumping from the area out on the river for a deep water marina I wonder how many hundred million dollars are involved and who if someone will check with corps of engineers you will find a paper trail
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Cyndi Lenz
Cyndi Lenz Chris Dzadovsky but yet you knew the answer! ❤
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Chris Dzadovsky
Chris Dzadovsky As to the issue of the mangrove area. It appears to be a mosquito impoundment (the definition is pronounced in each section) As are many who are concerned about sea level rise concerns of mangrove drowning is a real issue. Here is one link to the issue http://theconversation.com/rising-seas-threaten-to-drown…
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THECONVERSATION.COM
Rising seas threaten to drown important mangrove forests, unless…
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Vincent Encomio
Vincent Encomio Thank you Commissioner. Sea level rise coupled with aging mosquito impoundment infrastructure & a catastrophic event (e.g. a hurricane) can lead to drowning of mangroves.
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Cyndi Lenz
Cyndi Lenz Thanks Dz!
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Mark J Shaber
Mark J Shaber Sorry I call BS. Sea level rise would let more salt water in not less. Let’s not get side tracked. Soon we’ll be blaming Trump. Two years ago we had the super moon which had extreme high tides for a couple months. This didn’t cause a mangrove kill. It’s something specific to this area.
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Vincent Encomio
Vincent Encomio what you’re missing is it’s the water levels themselves regardless of whether it’s salty or fresh that caused the mangrove die-off. These areas are essentially manmade (& managed) mangrove swamps. A combination of excessive water levels coupled with an error in management led to this. Wouldn’t matter if it was fresh water or salt water, but king tides would result in elevated salt water levels. Sea level rise is making those tidal events worse over time. Climate change is also predicted to make our rainy seasons more intense, so there’s the potential for high levels of fresh water being a problem. It’s an environment x infrastructure interaction, not either on their own.
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Sonja Sunny
Sonja Sunny · 29 mutual friends
I live on the island and drive the causeway all the time. Noticed this mass die off within the last couple of months. The water is disgusting and the smell… It’s always been horrible right there but lately…ugh. it definitely appears to be a purposeful kill.
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Cyndi Lenz
Cyndi Lenz It always smells like dead fish
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Steven Perry
Steven Perry Boy, sad – the perimeters are artificially perfect. Who owns the adjacent properties.
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Dennis Phelan
Dennis Phelan All parcels of the mangrove compound up to the county line are owned by Martin County.
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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch
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Nicole Chabot Winchip
Nicole Chabot Winchip I have a dead one on the river in Sewells Point that happened out of nowhere this summer.
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Michael Conner
Michael Conner You would suspect that this is a case of foliage death from controlled spraying. The borders are too perfect. I may get my TV media friends on it. Might be a story here.
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Blake Faulkner
Blake Faulkner I think Vincent Encomio is correct about what has killed off the mangroves in that mosquito impoundment cell. It had to be some kind of culvert flow blockage that trapped too much freshwater in that cell for too long and the trees’ prop roots couldn’t …See More
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Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson Most of the length of the Indian River Lagoon prior to the 1900s was a fresh water eco system. There were only two inlets in its entire 156 mile length. The salt water lagoon we know today was mostly created by man. Just want to give a historic perspe…See More
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