Banded Brown Pelican, Bird Island, died struggling to escape fishing line in the Indian River Lagoon. 2/16/14
Not a fun photo to see, but one that needs to be seen. This brown pelican was found at Bird Island, or MC-2, a well known bird rookery, just 100 feet off of Sewall’s Point. The bird, like many others, had become entangled in transparent fishing line, and in its struggle actually pulled its foot off trying to escape. Unfortunately, the line was caught around the metal band as well.
In 2012, when I was mayor of Sewall’s Point, I worked closely with The Florida Wildlife Commission and Martin County as they built a break wall to stabilize the erosion on the north end of Bird Island. During this time, they were required to monitor the island. On average, there were one to two birds per week found tangled in fishing line during this time. Many were euthanized as they were emaciated and weakened; a few recovered for a second chance, at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center, http://www.tcwild.org. This was an eye opening experience for me. What of all the birds that are never reported or found when they are not monitoring? Transparent death…
Personally, I don’t see how these magnificent water birds can keep their population numbers up with such terrible odds.
Let’s help them out and be sure to safely throw away our fishing line.
If you find an entangled bird call the Sheriff’s Department, Animal Control at 772-220-7170.
The above pelican was found by Sunshine Wildlife Tours operator, Captain Nancy Beaver, she states:
“This is why I don’t like metal banding of birds! I have seen many lose a foot or die
because they don’t release. This poor bird was alive when I found him and he had ripped his foot off attempting to free himself.” http://www.sunshinewildlifetours.com
People who really change the world are often not seen as much as some others. They orchestrate their goals like the Wizard of Oz, behind a curtain. So today, I wish to pull the curtain aside and credit Cris Costello of the the Florida West Coast Sierra Club, who is changing our world in the state of Florida in a big way.
I first met Cris in 2009, when the I was trying to usher through a strong fertilizer ordinance for the Town of Sewall’s Point ; it was only my second year as a commissioner, and I needed lots of help. And suddenly she appeared, like “Glenda the Good.”She contacted me, introducing herself, commending me on my efforts and forwarding me helpful information, ammunition, and contacts, to help me achieve me goal. Then she was gone but she came back to congratulate me when the town’s strong fertilizer ordinance passed in 2010, the first on Florida’s east coast!
Through out the years there have been other experiences with her like this, at the Florida League of Cities, at the Sugarland Rally in Clewiston, fighting the Florida Legislature each year as some there try to take away our Home Rule to have strong fertilizer ordinances and other water protections, and most recently the Clean Water Summit (CWS) in Orlando.
Cris helped organize people and press from all over our great state, as people all over our great state have water issues: overdrawn aquifers, algae filled springs, creeks filled with agricultural and residential fertilizer runoff, the dying Everglades, and especially “us,” the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, with our filthy canals and releases from Lake Okeechobee killing “one of the most bio-diverse estuaries in North America.”
I believe Cris saw the amazing citizen river/lagoon protests that occurred in Martin and St Lucie Counties last summer, and brought the movement state wide. The opening comments of the Clean Water Summit of which hundreds attended were: “The Indian River crisis spurred this movement. It is our responsibility to embrace this movement and embodied it now as a state.”
Today Cris and others organized the Tallahassee Clean Water Rally and thousands of citizens are signing the Clean Water Declaration, see link above. Hundreds of people will be descending upon the steps of the state capitol today, to say to our legislature: “Clean Water IS business in Florida; it’s our business!”
Kudos to Cris and those who are changing our world fighting for clean water in Florida. Let’s give her and her team a loud round of applause!
In 2000, after many years of compromise and work, the stakeholders of WRAC, or the Water Resource Advisory Committee, of the SFWMD, “agreed” on a monumental Everglades restoration project called CERP, or the Central Everglades Restoration Project. This accomplishment, and that it was, was approved and celebrated through the WRDA bill signed by our federal government, with the State of Florida, giddy, cheering on. Unfortunately, only one of the 60 projects of CERP, Spreader Canal 111, has been completed in fourteen years. Moving forward with projects is torturously slow. Time goes on, people, positions, the economy, and politicians change; and we forget…http://www.evergladesplan.org/about/rest_plan_pt_01.aspx
To overcome this molasses like state/federal partnership, in 2011, the SFWMD and the ACOE came up with CEPP, fast tracking of some of the components of CERP, “to move more water south…” The goal was to complete the study and recommend to Congress in 18 months. http://www.evergladesplan.org/docs/fs_cepp_jan_2013.pdf This goal was accomplished but another Federal WRDA bill and a final OK, presently “await.”
Absolutely, Florida’s government has its problems, but in essence, the fast tracking stopped as soon as CEPP got to the Federal Government causing the people of Florida to wonder what is happening and continue fighting at home. Recently, our state government complained that “the feds” have not come forward with their promised share, and “being credited” it is an issue. Also, you hear about “cost sharing,” a complicated arrangement where the state cannot outspend the feds or visa versa. So if the feds don’t move forward after the state has spent money, the State has to just wait, and wait, and wait…
On its most basic level, the state and federal arrangement is a relationship of sorts. CERP/WRDA is a contract, kind of like a marriage or business document. In the end, if both parties don’t contribute, things go sour. The biggest problem for us in this relationship is that we are so dependent on the Federal Government and their money, ironically, just like the Sugar Farmers are dependent for their price limits through the US Farm Bill. And just like the Farm Bill, WRDA is so intertwined other other things/dependencies that have nothing to do with the original contract, that we can’t pull away, we can’t let go. We are handcuffed waiting for the money…
So the years go by, and a child grows up and votes and serves our county and has children before another Everglades CERP project is built. I say our best chance of throwing off the golden handcuffs and saving the Everglades and our dying estuary, the St Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon, is truly educating our youth on the faults and dreams of our system. They certainly can come up with something better.
Their stern faces stared at me for three years on the office walls of Stuart Middle School, and from the conservative backdrop of First National Bank and Trust Company of Stuart. My mom and dad told me stories at the dinner table about neighbor and artist James Hutchinson and his wife, Joan, living and painting these serious and beautiful people on their reservation, not too far from where we lived. I drove on the school bus and graduated with Kevin Hutchinson, James and Joan’s son; I saw Kevin’s younger brother learn to ride a tricycle. The faces of the Seminole warriors and the faces of the Hutchinsons were an integral part of my childhood and we remain friends today.
The portrait above is of Coacoochee, or Wildcat. Coacoochee was possibly the greatest of Seminole warriors; he was not a formal chief. He rose up as a leader in a time of need during the Second Seminole War. His people loved him; to them, it is said, he had a great sense of humor, of all things–during the worst of times for his people, and yet he taught them how to fight back; how to survive.
Somewhere, I learned that in early times, the Seminoles used to camp and hunt along the North Fork of the St Lucie River making their way south across the Indian River Lagoon to Hutchinson Island to hunt black bears. And once my mother, on the way to Ft Pierce, pulled over the car, and showed me how to find Native Indian pottery artifacts, right along the side of the road, close to the mound by the railroad track.
Often, today, when I drive over the bridges, or along Indian River Drive, I imagine the Seminoles; I imagine that I can see them right there, fishing, cooking, and hunting or even their Ais ancestors. Perhaps a difficult life, but one in harmony with nature, unlike my own people…
Today, I have all four of Mr Hutchinson’s Seminole prints in my office staring at me from all walls. And for me, their spirt is certainly alive.
I believe the first shorebird I “rescued” was a blue heron, along the St Lucie River. I was in middle school and my friends found the magnificent, four foot tall creature, caught in fishing line in Rio, in the mangroves by their home. If I remember correctly, I was the one who held the beak and body while my friends cut away the fishing line. I never let go, and my best friend, Vicki Whipkey, had an older sister Beth, who drove us to a Veterinarian, Dr Hooks. This was about 1976. I felt oddly important; I had a purpose, to help…
I have always felt a responsibility to assist animals in distress, but one must be careful. How I learned this stuff, I’ll never know. I think it was just part of growing up in Stuart when it was small and we as we were always outdoors. And my parents always had some animal for my brother and sister and I to raise: a raccoon, a robin, a opossum, a black snake….
With birds, the most important thing is to be very careful of the beak. Almost any shorebird, can take out an eye very quickly. Of course the bird is scared and thinks you are a predator when you try to rescue it, so if you are not comfortable, just call the authorities.
If you feel inclined, have a towel or shirt in one hand and ideally someone else with you; don’t hesitate, grab the beak and close it, not covering the nostrils; be gentle with the head and neck but be firm, you must be in control; move the head inward, in the direction of the neck’s natural curve, close to bird’s body; now use your other hand to scoop its body up and into your arms; keep the head away from your face. You’re almost done!
Now to get the bird some help. I have driven pelicans to the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center while holding them in my lap, probably not a good idea. Ideally, you have a large container and gently put them into it, covering it so they calm down. You can now deliver the bird or call the authorities to come pick it up.
The Treasure Coast Wildlife Center is located at 8626 SW Citrus Blvd. Palm City, Florida 34990, 772-286-6200. Animal Control’s number is 772-220-7170, through the Sheriff’s non emergency number.
Most recently with the Gannet, it was after 5PM so I had to call Animal Control. The control officer’s name was Michele Thonney. She was terrific: prompt, knowledgeable, and compassionate. I am planning on writing Sheriff Snyder a note expressing my gratitude for his professional staff. She even sent me a link to a video on Gannets (below), amazing dive bomb birds that hunt fish from fantastic heights and can swim/dive 40 plus feet deep; they live at sea and migrate thousands of miles, if “from around here,” probably to Nova Scotia. Their airodynamic bodies have been used in the design of missiles. It is rare to find a Gannet along our Martin County beaches: I feel lucky to have helped one. Good luck to you, should you decide to as well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPrXOtBoVg
“Why did we learn that almost 40 manatees had died in the north/central IRL from a Tampa reporter and not FWC?” was the pointed question of Marty Baum, the Indian Riverkeeper, during the Harbor Branch Symposium last week. The speaker was clearly uncomfortable as she presented onward, “Investigations into Multi Species Mortality Events In the Indian River Lagoon.”
The Florida Wildlife Commission’s website states: “More than 575 species of Wildllife; More than 200 native species of fresh water fish; More than 500 native species of saltwater fish…..balancing these species’ need with the needs of nearly 19 million residents and the millions of visitors who share the land and water with Florida’s wildlife…”
Hmm? Balancing? Just two days ago Palm City resident, Annie Potts, called FWC to report a dead pelican. FWC told her “they do not monitor any animal mortalities except manatees.” She asked what she should do with the carcass. They replied: “she could throw it in the trash.”
Is there a disconnect here? In the northern and central lagoon, since January 2013, there are now two UMEs, or Unexplained Mortality Events: including over 132 in northern/central IRL (250 for entire lagoon)of manatee deaths, 92 dolphins and 350 pelicans. 40% of the the IRL’s seagrass has died since 2009.
Mind you most of these deaths have been in the north and central lagoon, but wouldn’t it make sense to follow death patterns in along the entire 156 mile lagoon? And apparently when they “were” following them, in the northern/central lagoon, FWC did not share with the public the horrific tragedy that was occurring. A Tampa reporter had to write a story before the public found out on the east coast.
Perhaps this data would have interfered with the “millions of visitors who share the land and the water with Florida’s wildlife?” Perhaps it would have tainted the state’s proud statistics that tourism in Florida is increasing in spite of its dry aquifers, algae filled weak-watered springs, toxic algae blooms and UMEs in the IRL?
Martine de Wit, of the FWC, St Petersburg, told Marty Baum that the information was on their website, but they did not know why the manatees died, so there was no urgency for the report. FWC and other state agencies continue say they do not know why the manatee’s died. And the dead seagrass, oh, they don’t why that died either. Not really.
At this point, the people of Stuart continue to report to FWC, but they are also posting and sharing on Facebook what dead sea and river animals they find along our shores and in our waters.
The Governor appoints the FWC commissioners for a five year term. Like the SFWMD most of these people are “businessmen and women.” I still don’t get it, don’t they know that in Florida, clean water is business? FWC and many other state agencies have forgotten what counts.
On any given day around Stuart, you may hear the buzz of the engine overhead, or see the unmistakeable bright yellow plane fly past; many know the plane as the “River Warrior.”
This plane is one I never thought I would fly in, as I do not like to fly. In fact, when up in personal aircraft, belonging to my my husband, I am usually saying the Lord’s Prayer and preparing for my death as he rolls his eyes at me. But last summer, the day came when I knew I did not have a choice, that fear had to take a back seat. I knew in an instant that I had to overcome my insecurities, for the benefit of the river.
Then from May, through October 2013 , Ed and I started going up every Saturday, rain or shine and taking photos of the destruction of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, due to the Lake Okeechobee releases and C-23, C-24 and C-25 as well. These photos have been shared on Facebook, gone to many state agencies and politicians, have been shared with children in classrooms, and more.
Ed and his friend Scott Kuhns have also photographed “The River Beach Protest,” “Hands Across the Lagoon,” “Blessing of the Fleet and River,” and other river events. If you would like your pro-river event photographed just email jthurlow@me.com. Today, Ed and I still go up after big rains or just for fun to spot migrating sharks, turtles, manatees, schools of fish, birds, and dolphins.
I do believe the photos of the river’s destruction, and the ones we will take in the future, made, and will make, a huge difference, in educating, and showing the river’s health, destruction and importance in our lives.
I wouldn’t say I have overcome my fears, and every time we are up there, I am praying that if something happens we live; but I am grateful to the little yellow plane for giving me wings to see and to share. Next time you see it from afar, please wave and say to yourself, the little yellow “River Warrior….” and if you don’t mind, go ahead, just in case, and say a prayer for me…
Change on the Map “Seat of War, 1839,” East of Lake Okeechobee
I use my mother a lot when I speak about myself because she has had such a profound impact on me. She and my father taught me to like maps, to like history, to like the stories of the people of today and of those that were pioneers, in our once great wilderness. And my mother, unlike me, is much more accepting of our area’s change. “It’s history,” she says….
I look at this 1839 map excerpt, I see so many changes, and I wonder if the history we are creating is going awry. This 1839 map was a war map because we were at war with the Seminoles pushing them further into the interior of the Everglades. They never surrendered….but we took most of the lands they lived on and changed them.
In 1892 we dug, by hand, the St Lucie Inlet, once Gilbert’s Bar, that had closed up since this map was drawn, creating the most bio diverse estuary in North America, as salt water and fresh water of the ocean, and St Lucie River/ Indian River Lagoon, mixed; in 1923 we dug the C-44 canal from Lake Okeechobee to the St Lucie River as an outlet for a “diked” lake that had been created for agriculture south of the lake, the first and “most important” industry in our state; in the 1930s and 40s we built C-23 and C-24 to drain the “useless” Alpatiokee Swamp meandering through “Martin and St Lucie Counties,” once known as “Mosquito County;” we “moved” the Indian River Inlet, creating the Ft Pierce Inlet; we built bridges, houses, roads, schools, churches and other places of worship, and finally we built shopping malls. We fought wars, had children, we had grandchildren, farmed, started businesses, went through desegregation and women’s rights. And along the way we loved and cherished what we had created, although it was hard: “a human paradise,” a veritable Garden of Eden.
And what do we have today? For me, it is still paradise, with a couple of caveats, a dying river, children who can’t swim or catch fish with out the possibility of a tumor or lesion, a lot of people on the road…. Can we turn back? Or is this change going to be constant? I think even my mother would say: “the river’s history, is a history to change.”
Sheepshead with tumor from North Fork of St Lucie River caught 2-8-14 by Dave Smith
This photo showed up on the Rivers Coalition facebook page yesterday. The fisherman reported catching the sheepshead near the mouth of Bessey Creek, close to the hugely polluting C-23 canal. Within minutes, the photo had been shared 30 times and numerous comments ensued.
Unfortunately, tumors and lesions are not new or unique to our time. In fact, the Rivers Coalition formed in 1998 when the locks were opened from Lake Okeechobee to a level rarely experienced. So many fish had lesions that the cover of the Rivers Coalition handout included the photos below.
As usual the government did a “study” to determine the “possible” causes: SLR/IRL fish lesion studies and the study did state “water quality” was the cause—polluted water from Lake Okeechobee; C-23; C-24 and others local runoff. Years of destruction to fish habitat.
Today,we seem to be making progress as people, as voters, but policy makers and politicians continue to ask for more studies, more science. I completely respect science, and yes, science changes over time, however; you don’t have to be a scientist to “know/see” there is a problem and have the common sense just to fix it.
S. Indian River Lagoon Dolphin with skin disorder due to impaired immune system from polluted-water discharges (photo Dr Gregory Bossert)
Tonight I am chairing “Love Your Lagoon,” a fundraiser of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation. http://www.indianriverlagoon.org. Funds will support and benefit the HBOI Symposium, that occurred yesterday and will again next year. Over 300 scientists and students from across the state collaborated giving presentations on “bio-diversity,” within the 156 miles lagoon and it’s changes. It was an inspiring and depressing day.
I first became became intrigued with Harbor Branch four years ago when I read the research of Dr. Gregory Bossert and lobo mycosis numbers in southern IRL/SLR dolphins.
His research documents that the southern IRL dolphins are “sicker” that their lagoon comrades north of them. Dolphins are site specific and have strong family and territorial bonds. Their ranges generally are limited to one “area” of the lagoon. So even when water quality is awful from discharges, they stay, as we would to protect our homes after a hurricane.
Dr Bossert’s work states the polluted discharges from local canals and Lake Okeechobee are the reason southern IRL dolphins are even “sicker” with lobo mycosis. Since his research came out in the mid 2000s, starting in 2013, a “UME” Unexplained Mortality Event has taken the life of 92 northern lagoon dolphins, 132 manatees, 350 pelicans and 40 percent of the seagrasses have died since a “super-bloom”/brown tide in the northern/central lagoon that started in 2011.
Love Your Lagoon? South, north or central, I think we better save it.
2005 Satellite Map showing Water Location. Notice EAA South of Lake is Dry.
This 2005 map from the water districts shows where the water is located. Although it is now 2014, a map of today would show a similar situation, a feat of American engineering that unfortunately is to the detriment of the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries.
The Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee is allowed by law to pump the water off their lands into the STAs (Storm Water Treatment Areas) south of the lake. They do this so as not to flood their crops. Once these STAs are full, there is no way to send the overflow water in Lake Okeechobee through the STAs to be cleaned before it goes to the Everglades.
The real pinch here is that mostly public tax dollars and yes, some monies from the EAA paid for the STAs. So why do “they” get 100% of the storage in rainy times and why do we get 100% of the discharges reeking havoc on our economy and our bio-divese/dying treasure, the St Lucie River /Indian River Lagoon?
The government, the ACOE and the SFWMD and even local entities don’t often point this out; they simply say “there is no place for the water to go but through the estuaries.”
This model may have worked in the 1960s but it is not working today. Especially since much of the EAA is subsidized through our Federal Government. “Feed the world” or not, this is government sponsored ecological destruction in an era where we need to rethink the model not embrace it.
The ACOE may need to start dumping 1170 cubic feet per second into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon starting tomorrow as “there is no where for the water to go but through the estuaries….”
One of the greatest things about the river movement that started in the summer of 2013 is that young people are involved. This video entitled “Estuary’s Story” is by local and FIT student, Allison Randolph. She aims to educate and inspire. This video will complete nationally for young directors. Kudos to Allison and all the young people who are speaking out for their and the river’s future. Please click on link: “An Estuary’s Story” above.
St Lucie River Photos display Local runoff from C-24, C-23, C-44 basin and Willoughby Creek in St Lucie and Martin Counties. All runoff flows to the St Lucie River/IRL (Photos by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Ed Lippisch, 2-2-14)
Our beautiful St Lucie River on a gorgeous winter day, a week or so after extremely heavy rains that flooded parts of Port Saint Lucie and Martin County. An eighty foot section of Indian River Drive collapsed. It rained 6-11 inches, I have read. All that rain has to go somewhere since manmade canals don’t allow it to stay on the land as nature planned.
Viewing a map of Florida from the 1800s one sees that Port St Lucie and parts of western Martin County were in a swamp, Alpatiokee, that stretched from about the mid eastern inland coast of Lake Okeechobee to north of Ft Pierce.
Most of these wetlands, like the Everglades, were drained for agriculture and development in the 30s and 40s. Most of us live on “these lands.” The C-23, C-24 and C-25 are not connected to Lake Okeechobee but they too destroy the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. There is no turning back but there must be room for improvement.
When I was a kid growing up here in the early 1970s, I was never taught about the canals really. I remember driving in the family Pontiac “Catalina “around Ft Pierce and my mother would point out a rolling dry lands and say: “This all used to be swampland; a layer of water used to flow across these lands to the river during rainy season, but now they are drained.” “What about all the animals?” I would ask. “Jacqui, it’s progress.” Mom then turned looking straight ahead and kept on driving.
It’s been 40 years since those days. I’ve kept my mouth shut for a long time. But today I speak out. For me it won’t be progress until we re-look at the destruction we have caused and really improve the situation. Mom, I love you, but times have changed and progress is never progress if you are soiling your own nest.
Willoughby Creek’s surrounding runoff into St Lucie River/ Indian River Lagoon 2-2-14
Dark waters stained from deteriorating vegetation and full of sediment, phosphorus, fertilizer, pesticides, pet waste and other pollutants seep out into the the St Lucie River from Willoughby Creek in Stuart near St Lucie Boulvard and Indian Street. After hard rains last week the runoff makes its way to the Indian River Lagoon and St Lucie River. Dirty waters are also rounding the corner here at Hell’s Gate, shown in this photo, from “up stream” at C-44, C-23 and C-24 canals. This is basin water runoff, not from Lake Okeechobee. One notices the runoff more as one approaches the St Lucie Inlet, as the incoming ocean waters are bluer and cleaner. During this photo, it was an incoming tide. Lake Okeechobee is not being released into the C-44 canal/SLR at this time. As you can see, even without Lake Okeechobee we are killing the river all by ourselves. Nonetheless, the last thing we need is releases from Lake Okeechobee during the summer rainy season. Please be vocal to our local state and US delegation in letting them know “clean water is business” in Florida. We expect them to vote for policies in favor of the SLR/IRL. As for ourselves, let’s start doing our own part by slowly removing turf grass in our yards and replacing it with native and Florida Friendly plantings and thus stop throwing pollutants on our lawns as in the end, all water runs to the river…
Willoughby Creek runoff 2-2-14. Hell’s Gate and Sewall’s Point in view, Hutchinson Island and Ernie Lyon’s Bridge in the distance.
The Indian River Lagoon is damaged by more than releases from Lake Okeechobee. After days of a hard rain, like today, February 1st 2014, local canals not attached to the lake dump tremendous filth into our river as well. Right now, not during the summer “rainy season,” Canal-25 in Ft Pierce is dumping agricultural and residential runoff into a once beautiful Taylor Creek, that in turn, runs into the Indian River Lagoon. This is not just water staining from vegetation, it is fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, sediments and other pollutants. Fortunately, the Ft Pierce Inlet is close by so this runoff goes into the ocean quickly, but of course this is not good for the ocean either. Please fight for source control and stricter laws in favor of our river. (Photo taken 2-1-14 by Ed Lippisch)
The St Lucie & Caloosahatchee estuaries drained Lake Okeechobee for agricultural lands south of the lake, 1920s.
Before the land was altered, a sixty mile wide, winding, shallow, grassy, river, meandered south of Lake Okeechobee feeding the Everglades. The powers of the time were determined to drain these lands since the mid 1800s and by 1920 they had; a remarkable feat. And as many of the great “accomplishments” of the past century, this feat, not only achieved its goal, but also led to massive environmental destruction. Progress went too far. It is now the mission and economic opportunity for upcoming generations to undo damage done. The only true way to accomplish this is to create a third outlet south of the lake as the amount of water needing to go south in rainy times could never possibly be fixed by well intended “projects” north or around the lake…
I may have reached the peak of my “career” to be called “irresponsible” in a Letter to the Editor today by US Sugar VP, Mr Robert Coker. The way I look at it is “they” hold the key to allowing more water to flow south to the Everglades and not through the estuaries. All the “responsible” projects in the world will not be enough to save the Indian River Lagoon/St Lucie River with out a type of flow system south. There is too much water….They are blocking our artery of life. To truly be responsible stewards of our state the Sugar industry must help us get more water south and not just tell us how clean the small amount of water they send south is…also, yes, trashing the IRL has all been a “problem” since the 1920s when the C-44 canal was dug, but it was not until the 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the Sugar Industry’s success south of Lake Okeechobee soared, almost completely consuming the 700,000 areas EAA Everglades Agricultural Area, and really blocked any possible chance of water flowing south. I do want to work together, and they must do more than support the status quo. The public must call for this as people are what push politicians to act. Working together in this county is a “will of the people” not businesses and agencies that are intertwined and have been driving with a blindfold on for decades…
Springs’ Destruction (photo of algae in Troy Springs, by Alan Youngblood, 2013)
My focus has been on the destruction of my hometown’s Indian River Lagoon as we were wiped out from May through October this year by the diverted and polluted waters of Lake Okeechobee.
In August of this year, I began chairing the Florida League of Cities “Environmental, Energy, and Natural Resources Committee” and I learned of even more. The members on my committee are from all over the state.
Many southern members spoke up on the destruction of the Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee Estuaries, while many central and northern Florida members spoke about springs that don’t flow anymore, about “fountains of youth” full of algae.
Wanting to learn more, “spring movement leaders” like John Moran and Dr Robert Knight were brought to my attention. This link of John Moran, from 2010, shows a rally in front of the state capitol.
If there is anything that unites us in Florida, it is our water. We must unite for a new water ethic and a new political will … we must rise up together across the state and demand something different. Please join us.
Black water is released into the ILR near Ft Pierce Inlet
Along the Treasure Coast it seems “everyone” always thinks Ft Piece does not get any releases. It does. C-25 is one of three that lie in the northern Martin/St Lucie region that drain rain water and runoff from agricultural and some residential lands. This area is part of the IRL Project for CERP that was appropriated in 2007. At this point lands have been purchased for C-23 and C-24 but otherwise it s the same old _______ running right into our beloved estuary. Disgusting.
The photo above shows the reservoir for Ten Mile Creek located in northwestern St Lucie County. The project was defunct before it was ever used. Since 2009, Ten Mile Creek has been in a “passive operating state” as near the end of construction, the concrete liner was “found to be deficient.”
The reservoir is designed to hold 6,000 acre feet of water at 10 feet. This water which would come from nearby 10 Mile Creek would then run though a storm water treatment area, retuning the cleaned water to the north fork of the St Lucie River.
The Army corp and the South Florida Water Management District must resolve their lawsuit over who is to blame and move on. The St Lucie doesn’t have time to wait.
A flow-way south of one kind or another is the only way the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries will survive. Lake Okeechobee is 730 square miles and it is necessary to take the lake down by three to four feet during rain event. No reservoir will do enough…
JACQUI THURLOW-LIPPISCH
At Senator Joe Negron’s IRL Senate Hearing in August, I made a statement about eminent domain. If one listens carefully, I stated that there is an option to purchase the lands south of the lake, and if that is not enough to send water south, then “take” the rest.
This seems wise considering water is the “new oil” and many parts of our state do not have enough, and yet the ACOE is dumping 1.75 billions gallons of fresh water to tide a day, on average, through the the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
Any way one looks at it, the only long term solution for the St Lucie River and the Caloohasatchee, and for a thirsty and growing state, is a “flow way south.” And the only way to ever achieve this is through purchasing the sugar lands that are on the table today at an agreed price of $7400 per acre. Tomorrow will be too late.
The first rule of real estate is to “buy low and sell high.” Right now at $7400 an acre, the lands south of the lake could be purchased “low.” Just this year the land market is starting to go up. Time is of the essence. In the future, these lands will be too expensive to purchase.
It seems counter intuitive for the state to buy when it feels poor. But if the price is right there is no other option to achieve one’s goal. This is how investors make money or government entities achieve big item tickets like under grounding power lines or buying lands. Smart governments, governments serving their voters responsibly, think ahead.
So, 48,600 acres would cost the state $359,640,000. 153,000 acres would cost $1,132,200,000. An enormous sum, yes, but within the state’s reach with land prices still suffering from the Great Recession.
It is also good to keep in mind, that once this purchase is made into a flow way it achieves more than saving the estuaries. It will recharge the aquifer for millions of south Floridians; it will restore Everglades National Park; it will provide jobs to thousands of people; it will help create a future for tourism and for our children who are watching our every move.
Please tell the Governor that the purchase of the sugar lands south of the lake is an investment, not a waste. Write to Governor Scott at 400 S Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida, 32399; emails at rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com and/or call him at 850-488-7146. The option to buy at $7400 expires on October 12th. Time is of the essence…
Town of Sewall’s Point, St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, Martin County Florida, 9-13, surrounded by polluted waters released from Lake Okeechobee
You may wonder, “how we got here,”to this polluted Lake Okeechobee sewer running through the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and the Calooshahatchee?
In order to do so, we must go way back.
In 1845, Florida became a state, and even before this time, there had been discussion about “draining the Everglades and reclaiming the swamp lands for productive use.”
Florida was poor and the legislature wanted to build its coffers, so when the “Swamp Land Act of 1850” transferred twenty million acres from the federal government to the state of Florida, of course the state legislature had dollar signs in their eyes.
From 1851 to 1885 the Internal Improvement Fund, overseen by the Florida Governor and his cabinet, sold swamp lands, and others, to the railroad companies ; with the money the state made, it built canals and drained more lands, an endless and helpful cycle for building the state’s immature economy.
By 1864, at the end of the Civil War, Florida was broke and it wasn’t until 1881 when Hamilton Disston entered the picture that draining the land started again. Disston paid for the land and started draining it by running a canal through the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast to Lake Okeechobee in the interior as well as parts of the Kissimmee River. The lake dropped substantially; Florida would never be the same. Disston ended up committing suicide due to the Panic of 1893, but he inspired generations of drainers to come.
As early as the mid 1800s, the legislature had discussed draining Lake Okeechobee through the Caloosahatchee and the St Lucie rivers . By 1923, this had been accomplished, on a shallow level, creating a water way across the state through Lake Okeechobee. At the same time, agriculture south of the lake excelled in the the rich soils that had been reclaimed from the great swamp. The state was happy and “feeling rich.” However, within only a few years, the country had fallen into the “Great Depression” and Mother Nature brought Florida to its knees.
The hurricanes of 1926 and 1928, together, killed thousands of agriculture workers when the water of Lake Okeechobee went south, as nature intended. The outcry from the local and state governments of Florida made it to Washington DC, and the true dependency on the the Army Corp of Engineers began.
By 1938 the Herbert Hoover Dike had been built around the once magnificent lake until another hurricane, in 1947, flooded the agriculture south of the lake again.
As it had done after 1928, the Army Corp dug the canals of St Lucie and the Calooshahatchee deeper and wider. Eventually, the Central and South Florida Flood Control Project was formed by the state and federal government for seventeen counties; its headquarters was placed in West Palm Beach, today the headquarters of the South Florida Water Management District -which the flood agency eventually morphed into.
More canals and pump stations were constructed and by the 1960s most of what was eventually called the Everglades Agriculture Area, 700,000 acres south of the lake, would grow primarily sugar. These sugar families became very powerful and influential in government and remain so today.
It wasn’t until the 1970s, under Governor Rubin Askew, that the environment and natural resources became “important,” as the conservation movement of the time demanded such.
The South Florida Water Management District now received an expanded mission that went beyond flood control and water supply for agriculture and other users; this mission now included an “ecological mission.”
To this day, the environment is certainly last in the mission of Florida’s government and today’s sick and polluted waters of the St Lucie, Indian River Lagoon, and the Caloosahatchee attest to this.
For 168 years the state of Florida has protected agriculture above all others. In light of the state’s history and prior poverty, this makes sense. Nonetheless, a lot has changed in 168 years. We’ve had a civil war, slavery has been outlawed, women can vote, children are no longer used as common labor, and we have an African America president. Don’t you think it’s time to change how we drain and destroy our rivers?
OVERVIEW: The water system for South Florida starts in the chain of lakes, just south of Orlando. This water runs south, along the canalized Kissimmee River, making it to Lake Okeechobee in just a few days, a trip that took months before the snake like river was turned into a canal by the Army Corp and the State of Florida in the 1960s. The now unfiltered water is full of pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorus it picks up along the way.
The giant lake, once open to the south to nourish the Everglades, has been closed off by a dike since the late 1920s. Thus when the lake water rises too high for the “safety” of agriculture, mostly sugar, south of lake, the water is diverted east and west through the estuaries: the Caloosahatchee and the St Lucie.
From this diverted water, billions of gallons goes to tide through the Gulf of Mexico on the west, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Along the way, the estuaries are destroyed of all life and the economies of the surrounding cites are decimated.
At South Florida Water Management meetings, stakeholders fight over water rights…
For the St Lucie, dumping billions of gallons to tide, there are toxic algae warnings from the health department and state; salinity is so low oysters and seagrasses have died off by 99%; wildlife suffers and dies; business and recreation are at a standstill; children go back to school speaking of the “lost summer…”
Yes, the estuaries have been the dumping ground for Lake Okeechobee since the 1920’s when the estuaries were canalized by the State of Florida and the Army Corp of Engineers…
And yes, Martin County residents have fought against this destruction before, but this time it is different…
This summer a “Riverlution” began….
Right now, this “Riverlution” is building and organizing….
This new blog is dedicated to the “Riverlution” of Martin County, Florida, 2013. May it educate and inspire you….as you inspire me!
For the Estuaries,
Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, Commissioner, Town of Sewall’s Point
