Today I share recent photos of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon taken by my husband, Ed, yesterday, April 24, at 2:30pm. The water remains a lovey shade of turquoise blue but there is a visible plume exiting south of the St Lucie Inlet. As there has been no documented discharges from C-23, C-24, C-44, or Lake Okeechobee of late, this must be the effect of recent rains and local runoff.
I am also sharing the SFWMD’s weather site; it is full of information, including scientific predictions. You can access through this link here or type in “SFWMD weather” as a search. As June approaches it is very important for us to keep our eye on rains and weather systems that will affect the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee’s level.
As we know the St Lucie was once just a small river running in to the longer Indian River Lagoon, but the today she is connected to canals and Lake Okeechobee and it is killing her. The state and federal government are well funded and continue working to improve the situation every day. We too can help: Don’t fertilize! Plant your yard with native and Florida Friendly plants. Conserve water! It’s simple, like they said in the old days,“give a hoot, don’t pollute!”
-Peck’s Lake of Jupiter Narrows and Atlantic Ocean -visible plume but water still pretty. Happy sailing! -Below: St Lucie Inlet -one can see small plume from local runoff. The water near the St Lucie Inlet and offshore still looks good. There have been no major discharges in three years. Nonetheless seagrass is not lush and there is a UME for manatees in the IRL. We all must work for better water quality.
SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal, attached to Lake Okeechobee, is the canal “most southerly” in the image.
On February 19, 2022, famed environmentalist Maggy Hurchalla passed away. I shared shortly after this time, that I had asked my historian mother, Sandra Henderson Thurlow, if I could see her, “Hurchalla file,” and she that handed me a box.
The box included news articles from the life of Maggy and of her family as well. Today I share some of what was in that box so that it is available to all as we remember the great environmental and controlled-growth heroine of Martin County.
Earlier News Articles and Columns
Al Burt’s Florida, “Scrub Pines & Saw Palmettos,” Maggy Hurchalla
Maggy Hurchalla, 2015, Capitol Steps Tallahassee, “swimming in solidarity fish” in the fight for no harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St Lucie River, created by artist Janeen Mason. (Photo, JTL)
Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s full list of articles. As I wanted to focus on Maggy, not all articles were used in this post. Reno/Hurchalla-amazing family!
1979, March 11, TROPIC, Andy Taylor, “Calamity Jane”
1979, March 11, TROPIC, Robert Hardin, “Reno: Year One,”
1983, July 12, PBP, “Newspaper Pages a Treasure Trove for Miami Family, 1984, “Scrub Pines & Saw Palmettos,” Al Burt, MH,
1984, July 22, MH, R. A. Zaldivar “Reno sticks to low-key defense of job as prosecutor,”
1984, Sept. 19, MH, Margaret Landers, A Model Comes Home (Hunter Reno)
1985, March 10, MH, Margaria Fichtner, “Janet Reno”
1986, Nov. 5, SN, Edward Filo, “Maggy in for 4th Term.”
1987, January, Mademoiselle, Hunter Reno on cover
1988, Oct. 2, “Democrats whoop it up,” Photo with Buddy McKay
1991, June 7, SN, Edward Filo, “Alleged assault by Hurchalla investigated”
1992, Dec. 23, SN “Jane W. Reno,” obituary
1993, Feb 11, Prodigy, “Clinton Taps Miami Prosecutor to be Attorney General.”
1993, July 12, Time Magazine cover story, “Reno the Real Thing”
1993, June 12, PBP, Carolyn Fretz, “Janet’s Little Sister”
1993, March 29, People Magazine, “’General Janny Baby’”
1993, March 9, SN, “Demos want smooth sailing in Reno confirmation hearings”
1993, May2, Parade, Barbara Gordon, “Let’s Not Mix Things Up”
1994, Fifth Term Mailing with eight articles
1994, December, USAir Magazine, Rudy Maxa, “For Janet Reno, home will always be the wood-and-brick house that her mother built in Dade County, Florida?
1995, May 15, The New Yorker, Peter J. Boyer, “Children of Waco,”
2000, Feb. 13, SN, Dan McCue, “Hurchalla reflects on past battles in politics,”
2000, November 19, Parade, PBP, Peter Maas, “’I’ve Tried To Do My Best,’”
2001, Jan.22, SN, Terry Spencer, “Janet Reno back in Miami, but has little to say,”
2003, April 12, PBP, Jennifer Sorentrue, “Hurchalla lauded for Everglades work”
2003, May 20, SN, Maggy’s speech in Washington D. C.-
2003, April 8, 2003. SN, Jim Turner, “Hurchalla receives national award.”
Jan.9, PBP, Michael Browning, “Maggy’s Developing Fears.”
2012, July 12, MH, Elinor J. Brecher, “Robert Reno, brother of former U. S. Attorney General dies.”
2013, March 17, TCN, Sade Gordon, Hurchalla fighting to protect her world”
2013, Sept. 1, “Sugarland,” speech by Maggy Hurchalla
2014, Nov. 22, SN “Mark Wood Reno,” obituary
2016, Nov, 8, PBP, Carl Hulee,“Janet Reno 1938-2016 First female attorney general endured major controversies.”
2016, Nov. 8, TCPalm, Tyler Treadway, “Reno remembered as ‘Janny’ by sister in Stuart.”
2016, Nov. 8, USA Today, Jane Omyanga-Omora and Kevin Johnson, “Janet Reno, first female US attorney general, dies,”
2016, Nov. 8, PBP, “Growing up with ‘Janny’”
2018, Feb. 13, USA Today, Lisa Broadt, “Hurchalla trial goes into its second week.”
2018, Feb. 14, USA Today, Lisa Broadt, “Hurchalla takes stand in civil trial.”
Ed took a pre-Easter flight in his new RV plane on April, 16, 2022 at 10am. He flew from Witham Field in Stuart west to Lake Okeechobee, back over parts of the C-44 Canal, and then over the St Lucie Inlet.
We are at the hight of the dry season. Once the wet season begins in the next couple of months, conditions will drastically change. We can use these photos as an “end of dry season base line.”
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon looks very good as we have had little rain and no major Lake O discharges in three years. See page 14 below of “SFWMD Environmental Report,” – meeting date 4-14-22.As far as Lake O, although on April 8, 2022, the Martin County Health Department issued a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) warning for area near Port Mayaca and Lake Okeechobee, blue-green algae was not visible from the sky. Please read press release.
We must stay vigilant.
I.
-Lake Okeechobee at S-308, Port Mayaca
II.
-C44 Reservoir/STA at Indiantown-at 10 feet being filled and check for safety by ACOE
-C44 STA and intake canal from C-44 canal
-More of Reservoir and STA -Caulkins Water Farm next to C-44 R/STA
On January 12, 2022, Ed sold the Baron and I entitled my post “Last Flight Old Friend.” Today I am hoping to make a new friend with Ed’s RV. To begin this friendship, on April 3, 2022, I sent Ed up to take photographs in RV flight.
His aerials came out well; I wanted to share them today. They provide a striking look at some of the beautiful and changing areas of Martin County.
-Ed and his new RV
I.
-C-44 Reservoir located in Indiantown & being filled up by the ACOE.
-I am not sure what development this is being created, however, one can see the St Lucie Inlet and Jupiter Narrows as a reference. If anyone knows, please share. It looks to me to be located around Hobe Sound.
IV. April 3, 2022, 11:30am
-The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon looks good. There have been no major discharges from Lake Okeechobee since 2018. Mind you, April is the near end of the dry season. The wet season begins around June 1. According to NOAA, the 2022 storm names are: Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Ian, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Martin, Nicole, Owen, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie and Walter. I hope it is not foreshadowing that of of them is named “Martin.”
Ed’s aerials below show the effects of discharge on the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon near the St Lucie Inlet not from C-44 or Lake O, but from Canals C-23 , C-24 and local runoff. Seagrasses, or lack thereof, is a concern. Please see link for recent Army Corp updates: ACOE Periodic_Scientists_Call_Power Point 2022-03-29 2
Slide Periodic Scientist Call ACOE 3-29-22
Thank you Ed for taking photos! Maybe next time, if I get my nerve up, I’ll be up there with you! I have to say, my favorite plane so far was not the Baron, but the original “River Warrior”, the Cub. 🙂 No matter what you’re flying we will continue to document the St Lucie fighting for her health!
Today I share recent photos of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon taken by my husband, Ed, yesterday, April 24, at 2:30pm. The water remains a lovey shade of turquoise blue but there is a visible plume exiting south of the St Lucie Inlet. As there has been no documented discharges from C-23, C-24, C-44, or Lake Okeechobee of late, this must be the effect of recent rains and local runoff.
-Below: St Lucie Inlet -one can see small plume from local runoff. The water near the St Lucie Inlet and offshore still looks good. There have been no major discharges in three years. Nonetheless seagrass is not lush and there is a UME for manatees in the IRL. We all must work for better water quality. 
SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal, attached to Lake Okeechobee, is the canal “most southerly” in the image.
