This email came in via my brother Todd this morning, amazing how similar the paths of the two hurricanes are. I thought I’d share. In any case, to all “be safe.” Jacqui
“Attached is the 1979 Hurricane David Track vs. the Hurricane Matthew track and forecast track.
Senate Pres. Elect Joe Negron’s proposal/landownership in EAA, TCRPC 2016
Yesterday we talked about the importance of maps and how they allow us to have a vision for the future. For today’s lesson we are going to visually compare Senator Joe Negron’s land proposal map with a map of land ownership. This ownership map was recently created by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC) and I shared these maps with Senator Negron prior to the choice of land ownership possibilities.
Learning about lands south of Lake Okeechobee can be dizzying. The first thing you have to do, not to lose your sense of direction, is to familiarize yourself with the canals. Your landmarks.
From left to right, the largest canals visible running north/south under Lake Okeechobee are the Miami, New River, Hillsborough, and West Palm Beach. You will also notice the Bolles Canal, (L-21), that runs east/west intersecting. When flying over this area with my husband these canals are the only landmarks that guide me in knowing where I am. Otherwise, it is just miles and miles of sugarcane.
Canal map SFWMD
I love the TCRPC map below with the list of land owners in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). It really makes it easy to “see.” Notice the color coded BLUE: Public (the state or federal government); YELLOW: Private Ownership; and RED: Major Private Ownership.
When I asked the council the difference between private ownership and major private ownership, they said bigger corporations quality as “major private ownership.” One can see by all the red that most of the land under Lake Okeechobee is in major private ownership!
In regard to landownership inside the circles, Isadora Rangel of TC Palm stated in her August 10th article as follows:
“Sugar giant Florida Crystals owns 60 percent of each of those two parcels, Negron said. U.S. Sugar Corp. owns 30 percent of one, and sugar grower King Ranch owns 30 percent of the other. The state and others own the rest of the land. A U.S. Sugar spokesman declined to comment on whether the company will sell. Florida Crystals said it was reviewing Negron’s plan, according to media reports. Negron said he’s “optimistic” the companies will sell and said if the state allocates the money, then negotiations will be easier…”
Well, as we learn about this area (so we can speak in an educated manner to those involved who win on November 8th) let’s look at ALL of the owners on the map.
1.United Stats Sugar Corporation
2. Okeelanta Corp.
3. New Hope Sugar Co.
4. King Ranch Inc.
5. Wedgeworth Farms Inc.
6. SBG Sugar Farms
7. Stofan Co. Inc.
8. Closter Farms Inc.
9. Sugar Cane Growers
10. New Farm Inc.
We know something about one or two but what about the rest?
In the coming days, we will learn about history of these land owners and the history of what was once the “river of grass.” It will benefit us to review the story of the this area, because it our story too, the story of the slow demise of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
As we know, my brother Todd has been keeping his eye on the Landsat satellite images as they provide tremendous insight into the condition of Lake Okeechobee and potential algae blooms that affect the health, safely and welfare of those living around the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Todd notes that in studying the Landsat images: “Perhaps the algae grows on Rocky Reef? The area just north of this location is were some of the earlier blooms originated.”
Hmmm? Could the Rocky Reef be an area where the water cannot flow in the lake as easily due to its nature? Could it be possible that nutrient rich back pumped waters from the sugar fields fester in this area feeding a lake wide bloom? Worth a thought as we try to fix our problems…
The toxic algae blooms –people are still talking about them….
You may have noticed recently in various publications and “Letters to the Editor” across the state that some are calmly claiming that “algae blooms have been occurring in Florida since the beginning of time…” This may be true, however, this summer’s 240 square mile algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee that led to the outbreak in the St Lucie River was unprecedented. Comparing the situation to prior algae bloom outbreaks of 2013, 2014, or any other is like comparing a dog to a wolf. The same but very different.
Another interesting thing Todd stumbled upon while researching the “Rocky Reef” located basically above Clewiston was a 1977 joint NASA/SFWMD report on, of all things, using Landsat radiance data to study the turbidity and chlorophyll concentrations in Lake Okeechobee.
Since obviously the South Florida Water Management District has been using the Landsat information since 1977, and Martin County has been paying taxes to the District since around the same time, I think it would have been polite if the District had let us know when Lake Okeechobee’s then poisonous waters were overflowing with algae and headed this way. Don’t you as well?
You can learn about Todd’s discoveries about the Rocky Reef below.
Jacqui
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In correspondence to Mark Perry, Todd Thurlow provided the following: (http://www.thurlowpa.com)
A. Ruhnke, Stuart Nov. 12, 1956. (Courtesy of Sandra Thurlow)
I started the day looking for a quote of inspiration; this is what I found:
“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
-Christopher Columbus
There have been some heavy set backs lately, for me and for others. After a year of total dedication and tremendous support, I lost a close race for Martin County commissioner. A race mostly inspired by our river…
Sometimes it may seem that we have fallen overboard and are surrounded by sharks, but we are not. We have just run aground… I believe because of our collective efforts since 2013 there is more wide-scale awareness for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon than in the combined previous 83 years. Progress is being made and will continue. There are always set backs as a goal is being achieved.
Just yesterday, I opened up “Florida Trend Magazine”and right there was the now famous aerial photograph of a beautiful North River Shores peninsula surrounded in fluorescent green algae. The title? Southeast “Bloom Blame, Florida researchers look for links between environmental factors and brain diseases.”
Unbelievable….
As you know, our plight, the plight of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon has become a state issue. A national issue. The sad story of Lake Okeechobee and the St Lucie River is now mainstream, not just for a certain well read group, but for everyone.
Why?
Because we organized, we protested, we taught our youth, we went into schools, we went into churches and synagogues, we spoke at our dinner tables, we created organizations, we exploded on social media, we inspired candidates to run for the river, we inspired incumbents who had not spoken for the river to speak…
We had the courage to lose sight of the shore, this dirty shore that we stand on, and cross the ocean of the unknown. Along this journey, some have been persecuted, others are spreading the word…
This 1956 photo of the City of Stuart nestled in the arms of the St Lucie River was taken eight years before I was born. There were problem with the river then too, but only a few to speak for it, and hardly a way to spread the news…
Such a beautifully composed photograph, isn’t it? With the bridge leading to Stuart and the St Lucie Inlet on the horizon?
EAA Reservoir in white section-Planning Phase Proposed
Recently, Senator Joe Negron proposed as part of his goal-set as incoming Senate President the purchase of lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee. The idea of a reservoir is not a new one, but is certainly an idea whose “time has come.” To have the Present of the Senate supporting this idea is unprecedented!
As we move forward, it is important to know that this concept has been “on the books” since the beginning of Everglades restoration and is doable. We have all been really fighting for land since 2013, but the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan took shape in 2000. Unfortunately is not taking shape very quickly as it is caught in the tar-pits of government and can’t seem to break free.
So now we the state must take leadership.
The chart I want to share with you– in case you are unfamilar —so you can see the “tar-pit”— has a confusing name.
It is called the “Integrated Delivery Schedule” or (IDS).
But what does that mean?
The Army Corp of Engineers “IDS” as seen above, in many colors, is like a goal sheet, but because there are so many moving parts going on simultaneously and they because they are dependent on each other, the chart is multi-dimensional rather than just “one, two, three.” Nonetheless, the projects are “in order”…just think of it as a “list of things to do” from top to bottom…as the money comes in and the ACOE tries to get things done between politicians and stakeholders fighting.
OK to stick on point, I want to call attention to the bottom of the sheet. Third from the bottom in white you will notice a line that reads: “EAA Storage & ASR/Decomp Ph2.”
EAA storage is referring to water storage for Lake Okeechobee in the EAA; ASR is an entire other subject–like deep injection wells in the aquifer to store and retrieve water. Obviously the two concept were seen to work together.
It is all very complicated and I will write more about it in the coming months, but Senator Negron’s proposal has the potential to put the EAA reservoir higher up on the list, save the St Luice River/Indian River Lagoon, promote faster Everglades Restoration and pull us out of the tar-pits.
I for one am very thankful to Senator Negron, and I plan on pulling this Mammoth out by his tusks! 🙂
Jacqui
La Brea Tar Pits,CA
Here are some insightful links on the subject.
1. “Florida Audubon 2016: The Role of the EAA in Everglades Restoration Storing water in the EAA is one of the central components of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). The EAA Reservoir project in CERP sought to hold water from Lake Okeechobee and farm runoff in the wet season and release this water south in the dry season. A er leaving the reservoir, freshwater would move through the network of man-made filter marshes called Stormwater Treatment Areas to remove phosphorus and other nutrients that are harmful to the plants and wildlife before continuing its path through the Central Everglades, Everglades National Park, and Florida Bay. Although an initial plan for the EAA Reservoir project was developed, the project was not constructed. The original location on for the project is now being used for two shallow water storage structures known as Flow Equalization on Basins (FEB). One FEB is part of the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) project while another is part of the State of Florida’s Restora on Strategies plan required to meet water quality standards. These are important projects, but as recognized in the CEPP plan, the EAA Reservoir project is s ll necessary to achieve the goals of restoration on.1 There is an urgent need for state and federal agencies to come together to plan for water storage in the EAA.” (http://fl.audubon.org/sites/g/files/amh666/f/audubon_eaa_reservoir_may2016.pdf)
Recently, at Rivers Coalition Defense Fund meeting, president Kevin Henderson brought along the old River League’s briefcase. It had been stored away for many decades in an aging house in Stuart. In case you have not heard of them, “The River League” worked tirelessly in the 50s and 60s to stop the expanding destruction of our rivers by the Florida Flood Control District (today’s South Florid Water Management District) and the Army Corp of Engineers.
I couldn’t believe the old brief case—a beautiful sight–aged leather, and rusted metal with the sweat of those who carried it unwashed from its handle…
Kevin placed the briefcase on the table and opened it. It had not been opened in almost 50 years! No pun intended, but the sound of the locks “clicked”and suddenly it was open…
I held my breath.
I swore for a second that I saw the spirit of Ernie Lyons come out of the old briefcase like a genie. He had a giant cigar in his mouth and dark rimmed glasses. His hair was greased back and he sat at a floating desk from the old Stuart News…He was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head smiling from ear to ear. His teeth were stained with tobacco juice and he looked happy as a clam.
“Ernie here….Ha! Good to see you workin’ so hard! Those bastards are still killing it aren’t they? The river that is! Don’t you for a moment have despair. As you know this war has been going on for a long, long time. All of us, who have passed, are on your side. We are here. All of us who worked so hard to save the paradise of this place. You’ve probably caught on. Good versus evil is not a game. And I got a secret to tell ya. —I know the end—and good wins. Don’t give up! And know we’re here working the magic behind the scenes to help you save the St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon.”
Then he looked away and started furiously typing…the words he was writing could be seen above his head:
Today’s column, 1968
HOW THROATS OF OUR RIVERS WERE CUT BY CANALS
“There was never anything more beautiful than a natural South Florida river, like the North and South Fork of the St Lucie…
A bank of cabbage palms and live oaks draped with Spanish moss and studded with crimson-flowered air-plants and delicate wild orchids– were scenes of tropical wonder, reflected back from the mirror-like onyx surface of the water….”
When I looked up, Ernie was gone and our meeting was in full discussion…
As a reflection from the mirror of the St Lucie’s onyx-like water–I know that Ernie is here…
Ernest Lyons, Editor Stuart News and state and national award-winning conservationist: Florida Press: (http://www.flpress.com/node/63)
Ernest Lyons with Mr Oughertson, (bow tie) Timer Powers (hat) and other dignitaries ca 1960s (Photo Sandra Henderson Thurlow) The bridge between Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island is named in honor of Ernie Lyons.
Sandra Henderson Thurlow, photo by Lindsey Potter, 2016.Sewall’s Point Post Office, 1892.
With the help of Ms Kelly Arnold, my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow, has a web-site! My brother, Todd; my sister, Jenny; my father, Tom; and I –are very happy that people can now contact her directly to purchase or discuss her local history books.
Mom’s web site tells you where you can buy a book locally, or you can even arrange to get one at her Sewall’s Point home–she will sign the inside cover should you wish. Her work is meticulously researched, cited, and contains wonderful photographs and maps that take you back to a time of wild beauty and raw grit.
Undoubtedly because of my mother, Martin County has one of the best documented historys in Florida. All of her books, Sewall’s Point, The History of a Peninsular Community on Florida’s Treasure Coast; Stuart on the St Lucie; Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River; and Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge, Home of History; are about the pioneer families that came here to live and thrive because of our waters-a precious resource that must be restored.
Rand, McNally, and Co. 1884 (Bloomfields Illustrated Historic Guide) Library of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
Yesterday, my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow, came across this map while going through some old things…isn’t it a beauty? Look at the sprawling Everglades! Look at how the St Lucie River was not connected to Lake Okeechobee– at all…Look how at that time the inlet, Gilbert’s Bar, our inlet, was open…naturally.
When my mother came across this image, she wrote my brother and I:
“I know Todd has every map there is but still holding an original is fun and I thought the configuration of Lake Okeechobee was interesting on the 1884 Rand, McNally & Co. map tucked in the back of Bloomfield’s Illustrated Historical Guide. Of course it was too big for me to scan the whole thing. I love it that I know right where I am on this map. I am about on the former Dade/Brevard County line as I type this.” Mom
What is she talking about? Our family home in Indialucie, Sewall’s Point, named so as it is located between the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, sits on the border of what once was Dade and Brevard counties. Since I was a kid there has been a piece of wood nailed to a tree, in my parent’s back yard that reads: “Dade County.”
My, how things change..too bad we didn’t save more our state’s natural water connections. Swamp or no swamp, it must have been beautiful. But I am glad our family home in now in Martin and not Dade County. 🙂
Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a Carl Hiaasen novel….
On June 16th, I attended a Water Resources Advisory Commission meeting of the South Florida Water Management District.
Of course, by this time, a 33 square mile algae bloom, parts toxic, had been documented in Lake Okeechobee by the Department of Environmental Protection. The St Lucie River, having been discharged into since January 29th, was looking pretty disgusting. Tempers flared.
At the WRAC meeting, water advocates, not just from Martin County, but from around South Florida were once again pleading with the SFWMD Board of Directors to “endorse buying land south of the lake in the EAA for storage, cleansing and conveyance to the Everglades in order to stop damaging discharges to the estuaries and restore freshwater to Florida Bay.”
“Send the Water South!” rang through the rafters. “Send the Water South!” As usual, the Board looked straight ahead….
And then the presentations came, and a well spoken District scientist started taking about the “The Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project,” and how it is tied into the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan form 2000. —-It’s time had come…
A slide appeared showing pink, green, brown, and blue— representing the watersheds of Fisheating Creek, Indian Prairie, and Taylor Slough northwest of Lake Okeechobee.
ACOE Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project
According the Army Corp of Engineers who also attended the WRAC “the objectives of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed, or “LOW Project, “are to improve the quality, quantity, timing and distribution of water entering Lake Okeechobee, provide for better management of lake water levels, reduce damaging releases to the Caloosahatchee, and St Lucie estuaries downstream of the lake, and improve the system wide operation flexibility.”
It is a probably good project… No doubt. Do you wonder more about what goes on behind the scenes? Surely….
It is ironic that when the message of the people is “Send the Water South!” the government is finally getting around to “Blocking the Water North!”
Maybe one day we will all be on the same page so our lives don’t seem so much like a characters in a Funny Farm.
Life’s ironies abound.
Here’s the meeting information. A drive from Stuart to Okeechobee is about 40 minutes.
A “Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project NEPA Scoping Meeting will be led by ACOE’ Gretchen Ehlinger, Ph.D. Senior Biologist in the Okeechobee Auditorium, 3800 NW 16th Boulevard, Suite A, Okeechobee, FL 34972, on Tuesday, July 26 with an open house beginning at 6 p.m., followed by an official presentation at 7 p.m.
As this meeting is run by the ACOE, this meeting will only be able to address the LOW Project.
Let’s all attend the meeting even if Dr Ehlinger has to focus on the northern watershed. Maybe we should invite Carl Haaisen?
First page of letter ACOE dated June 28, 2016Page 2.
The Army Corp of Engineers has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee since January 29th and toxic algae from the lake has been released into our St Lucie River. We are being invaded. This is horrific for the people, but what about the animals? Thank God someone is documenting their plight….
Facebook friend, Rebecca Fatzinger, is not only a voice for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, but for its wildlife. With the cries of the people “loud and clear” sometimes it seems the animals are but an afterthought for our local, state, and federal government.
I can’t help but wonder….
The Florida Wildlife Commission? The Department of Environmental Protection–have you written a statement about the wildlife implications of this bloom? What are you thinking? Are you allowed to say?
How could the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon once have been the most bio-diverse estuary in North America? How could we be home to some the state’s most important aquatic preserves?
Thank you to Rebecca for documenting and giving us an up close look as the animals try to cope.
Heartbreaking. Disturbing. Disgusting….
This is home?
…….Manatee….SLR……Little Blue Heron…SLR…………LimpkinDove….….Seagull at on shoreline of Atlantic Ocean, Bathtub Beach.Seagull up closePelicans diving in toxic algae–this bloom came back at from DEP 414 mpl. Bathtub Beach.PelicansSt Lucie River wide water looking towards Roosevelt bridge.Crab…Duck….Duck with baby duck…….Night Heron..Water coming out of St Lucie Locks from Lake Okeechobee with visible algae…….Little Blue Heron eyes dead fish in algaeGreat Blue Heron……OystersAnhingaOsprey waits out rain to hunt below………Armored catfishWestern side of C-44 Canal at S-80, St Lucie Locks and Dam. Algae can be seen going through S80 into the SLR hurting wildlife and people. (Photo Dr Scott Kuhns, 6-22-16)St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-25-16 Dr Scott KuhnsThis one is from Megan Remnick also Facebook friend…Aerial of S-80 at St Lucie Locks and Dam. Visible algae flowing through S-80 from western area of C-44 towards the St Lucie River. Photo Ed Lippisch.St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-21-16 JTL…..….VultureSFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image and is connected to Lake Okeechobee.
THANK YOU TO REBECCA FATZINGER FOR SHARING HER PHOTOS!
7-12-16 NOTE: Although there are no photographs of bottlenose dolphins in this series they are certainly swimming in algae waters further from shore where the algae is more “particulate.” Yesterday, I spoke with Nic Mader of Dolphin Ecology Project and she said she has seen dolphins swimming around in their “normal” areas on her runs. The animals are very “sit specific” (territorial) like people. I also called Dr Gregory Bossert now of Georgia Aquarium formerly of Harbor Branch and his response was that this is just one more layer in an already health-affecting system— noting the animals sicknesses such as low immune system, lobo mycosis, and lessons the animal have been prone to for over 15 years since HERA Heath Environmental Risk Assessment began. Nic has stated if she gets photos she can share she will.
Evan Miller grew up in Stuart, Florida, not far from the St Lucie Locks and Dam. He attended Crystal Lakes Elementary School, Hidden Oaks Middle School, South Fork and Martin County High Schools, graduating in 2002.
As a kid, Evan would ride his bike down to the St Lucie Locks and Dam with his friends. He knew the sad story of the lake and St Lucie River. He knew about the long history and steady destruction of the waterways he loved that one day would come to a head. But little did he know, that it would happen in his lifetime, and he would lead the message.
The story is this—
After graduating, Evan was sponsored as a professional surfer and lived in Costa Rica, and came home in 2012. Upon his return, he saw the river’s decline and innocently put a message on his Facebook page during the “Lost Summer os 2013,” when the river was posted by the Health Department as “off-limits.” Evan’s message read: “Who wants to meet me at the locks?”
Believe it or not, this request turned into a rally of over 5000 people!
Two weeks later, Evan organized a beach rally, putting down stakes and having a surveyor friend help him create the letters–over 2000 people came and spelled out in the sand SAVE OUR RIVER.
Destiny had found its man…
Now in 2016, under even worse conditions, after the St Lucie River and area beaches turned into a toxic-soup from an onslaught of releases from Lake Okeechobee since January—- that in time were dumping toxic algae from the lake into the river—- Evan has used his Facebook talents again.
This past Saturday, on July 3rd, the Martin County Sheriff’s Department reported that over 3500 people, from every walk of life, came out to spell in the sand the message of the masses to fix the lake and river debacle: BUY THE LAND.
This event played out over the 4th of July weekend on national media outlets. People in Martin County were getting phone calls from people in other states they had not spoken to in years. My father got a call from a man in his wedding from 1962 who lives in California. They had not spoken in years…
“What’s going on down there?”
Yes, the world has “seen” the peoples’ message thanks to Evan.
SAVE OUR RIVER/BUY THE LAND!
Sometimes it’s just destiny…
2013/2016 Evan Miller
From the Cub Ed Lippisch and Scott Kuhns2016 The crowd. Rebecca Fatzinger2016, The crowd. Rebecca Fatzingerwith daughter SummerOcean of algae July 2016 (Evan Miller)Evan Miller at the bullhorn. Kenny Hinkle looks on. (Facebook)
1. Lake O algae 6 26 2016Map of bloom2. Lake O algae 6 26 2016SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. S-308 is at the lake, Port Mayaca and S-80 along the C-44 canal. Both discharge into SLR.
Today’s photos were taken by Dr Gary Goforth this past Sunday. During a trip, he flew over Lake Okeechobee.
He writes: “Jacqui–The photos are of the southeast part of Lake; the plane had just passed over Clewiston and is headed northeast. The city of Pahokee is visible along the upper right shoreline. The FPL reservoir is visible in the background. The bloom is enormous – easily over 100 sq miles in extent, although areas are patchy.” GG
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STATE OF EMERGENCY
It’s hard to understand state of emergencies.
Martin County waters are experiencing their third “state of emergency” since 2013–two of those being this year in 2016.
Yesterday, Governor Rick Scott declared one, after our county commission declared one first, over the blue-green algae blooms in the St Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon and Atlantic Ocean —I am very grateful.
What I do not understand is that when you really read between the lines, we will continue to be under siege.
After one sifts through the words of the declaration there are basic things that stand: the emergency order directs Water Management Districts and the Florida Wildlife Commission to stop flows into the lake as soon as possible coming from the north. It also allows a waiver of requirements to purchase pumps to move water south, and increases water testing.
This is all good and well, but there is one problem. This means the discharges from the lake continue– perhaps lessened, but they will continue…full of the same algae that is causing the emergency in the first place. And the lake is very high at 14.90. The dumping could go on for months even if no new water enters the lake from the north…
Until the gates at S-308 and S-80 are closed we will suffer. Like having the dike too high is a safety issue for those south of the lake, sending the lake’s algae waters to the St Lucie River is a safety issue too. Take a look.
“Too Unthinkable” sits in the algae waters of the St Lucie River-with Evinrude motor. JTL 6-26-16
The blue-green algae, the cyanobacteria–sometimes toxic— that we first saw in aerial photos over Lake Okeechobee weeks ago, is not only here, it is everywhere…our river has been made completely fresh by our government. Now the algae is blooming fluorescent green-blue, dying a putrid brown-green, flowing out of our inlet, and poisoning not only or rivers’ shores but our beaches.
On the widest level, this is a health hazard brought upon us by a “knowing government.” Our state, federal, and local governments have seen this coming for years. The slow and steady destruction of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is well documented.
Now, in 2016, all of Martin County’s beaches and the southern most beach of St Lucie County are closed. Palm City; Stuart; Rio; Sewall’s Point, Jensen. All waters are off limits. “Don’t Touch the Water.” –A health, safety and welfare issue for the people, a nightmare for local government, and a complete environmental and economic disaster for us all.
Included for purposes of documentation– to be added to the thousands of other posts on social media this weekend— I share the following, some that were shared with me…Divided into 8 sections: 1. Algae in the waves at Bathtub Beach, by JTL; 2. algae aerials at C-44, S-80, and S-308, by Dr Scott Kuhns; 3. Lake Okeechobee and St Lucie River’s extensive algae bloom, by jet pilot Dave Stone, and local pilot Ron Rowers; 4. Rio, a residential disaster, Jeff Tucker; 5. Sewall’s Point as seen from the Evan’s Cray Bridge with a river full of algae by walker Tracy Barnes; 6. Rebecca Fatzinger’s duck eating algae; 7. my Uncle Dale Hudson’s lead to Snug Harbor’s Marina “a multimillion dollar disaster,” and 8. Really blue-algae at Central Marina, Stuart/Rio.
The outpouring of the public is immense, and the powers that be, must look our way. Document, call, write, demand, and VOTE.
Jacqui
I. Bathtub Beach, JTL
Algae rolling in the tide at Bathtub Beach on Hutchison Island, 6-26-16, JTL
II. Photos by Dr Scott Kuhns Lake Okeechobee, Port Mayaca (S-308), St Lucie Locks and Dam (S-80) and C-44 canal. All aerial photos taken 6-25-16.
St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-25-16 Dr Scott KuhnsEast side of Lake O north of Port Mayaca 6-25-16S-308 structure at Port Mayaca, heavy glare on Lke Okeechobee–bloom visible on bottom left area of photograph.C-44 Canal connecting to St Lucie RiverC-44 canalC-44 canalNear Fuge Street in Martin County approaching Palm City from C-44 as it connects to the South Fork of the St Lucie River where original curves still can be seen.
III. Professional jet pilot Dave Stone coming from Lee County to Martin County 6-26-16.
Aerial Video St Lucie River approaching North River Shores at 700 feet.
Lake Okeechobee from 13,000 feet, Dave Stone 6-26-16. Mr Stone said algae on the top of the lake is visible as far as the eye can see.Near the Harborage Marina in Stuart, Roosevelt Bridge in background
……Rio approaching Roosevelt Bridge from Sewall’s Point….….…Sewall’s Point SLRSewall’s PointFloridian on west side of SLR–the border of Martin and St Lucie Counties.
IV. Jeff Tucker, Rio
Rio St Lucie River, Jeff Tucker 6-24-16……green algae turning blue=toxic.
Duck in St Lucie River’s bloom, Rebecca Fatzinger 6-24-16.
VII. Dale Hudson, alerted Ed and I to Snug Harbor Marina where we took these photos yesterday.
Snug Harbor Marina, JTL Ed looks on.blue on walldead oysters
VIII. *Central Marina, Rio/Stuart blue algae
Central Marina blue green algae….Green algae turning blue at Central Marina 6-27-16.….
“Too Unthinkable”
“Too Unthinkable” sits in the algae waters of the St Lucie River, 6-26-16. JTLSFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image, Lake O is released into the SLR through the C-44 canal. All canals and the lake destroy our estuary. The water must be redirected south and stored north and south. Fill the canals in; they have killed this area. JTL
From what I’m told, the last water story the Discovery Channel did was on Flint Michigan….perhaps the next will be on the Lake Okeechobee and the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon….
Discovery reporter Katie Carpenter visited Stuart yesterday just for a tour. She visited Florida Oceanographic speaking to Mark Perry, others, and then met with me at the Town of Sewall’s Point for a tour of the area. She is just doing preliminaries–groundwork, seeing if there is a story.
I did my usual spiel trying to be a good hostess; I’ve done this before for high level government officials and reporters, and I am happy to do it—-it’s how we are going to change this mess–by sharing our story, putting it out for the world. So I put my smile on, got out my history books, maps, photographs, and river advocacy educational materials from 2013 and offered a road tour.
I figured we’d hit a few places and maybe there would be some algae blooms to show her. Maybe they’d look toxic–
Not only did I see particulate algae in the water off Sewall’s Point but mats of it awaited us at Sandsprit Park, The Harborage Marina under the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart, and most dramatically at St Lucie Locks and Dam where the waters of Lake Okeechobee are released by the ACOE along C-44 through Structure-80 into the South Fork of the St Lucie River.
Today I will share some photos and videos from the trip to continue documenting this 2016 Lake O Event that started January 29th, 2016.
It’s a crazy story isn’t it? From most biodiverse estuary in North America to a health hazard.
I wish there were a better story to Discover.
Katie was brought to our area through locals who referred her here. We have many connections. Yes, the world is Discovering what is happening here, and this exposure will help facilitate change because we definitely have a story.
LOCATION #1
St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-21-16St Lucie Locks and Dam looking east to the SLRLooking north over algae bloom and 7 gates releasing Lake O water and agricultural canal C-44 water.Looking down at St Lucie Locks and Dam….
As many of us have read in Ed Killer’ excellent TCPalm article, the discharges from Lake Okeechobee have surpassed the level of 2013, the “Lost Summer.” As my husband Ed and I go up fairly regularly in the Cub, I will attempt to share shorter more frequent posts with more aerial photos of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon in order to document this year’s continued destruction.
This destruction is not expected to stop anytime soon as Lake Okeechobee yesterday was reported at 14.77–very high for hurricane season. Last year, on 6-10-15, the lake stood at a “comfortable” 12.58. As we know, the entire reason we are being dumped on is because the water cannot go south as Mother Nature intended.
The photos below were taken 6-15-16. The ACOE has been releasing since January 29th, 2016. Today is June 17th, 2016. All charts below showing basin water inputs of area agricultural canals and tidal runoff are courtesy of the South Florida Water Management District and Army Corp of Engineers’ Periodic Scientists Call.
Aerial photos taken by Ed Lippisch at the confluence of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon around Sewall’s Point, Sailfish Point, Manatee Pocket and St Lucie Inlet 6-15-16, formerly the richest seagrass beds in the county as well as North America.
All aerials in the area of Sewall’s Point and Sailfish Point by Ed Lippisch, 6-15-16.
Today I will share aerial photos of the Manatee Pocket area around Sandsprit Park taken yesterday by my husband, Ed Lippisch, and a short written update by Dr Gary Goforth dated 6-12-16.
Manatee Pocket lies close to the St Lucie Inlet just across from Sewall’s Point. It once was the mecca for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon commercial fishing business. The Lake Okeechobee discharges continue having started by the Army Corp of Engineers January 29th of this year and are approaching the level for all of 2013. Lake Okeechobee yesterday was reported to stand at a very high for this time of year 14.77 feet—-There is no end to discharges in sight for the St Lucie River. Conditions are very bad and the state and federal government are stuck in a pattern that is killing our quality of life and economy.
There must be a better way…
For the St. Lucie, the 2016 Lake discharges: – exceeded 133 billion gallons (compared with 136 billion gallons for 2013) – dumped more nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment than the “Lost Summer” of 2013 – dirtier than 2013 (higher concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and suspended sediment) – have exceeded the nitrogen and phosphorus TMDLs for the C-44 Canal by 600% For the Caloosahatchee, the 2016 Lake discharges: – have exceeded 302 billion gallons (compared with 456 billion gallons for 2013) – are dirtier than they were in 2013 for nitrogen and phosphorus
Gary Goforth, (garygoforth.net), 6-12-16
Photos of SLR at Manatee Pocket, Ed Lippisch, 6-15-16.
The name of the St Lucie River is linked to the legend of Saint Lucy who is the saint of sight. (Francesco del Cossa c. 1430 -c. 1477)
There are many names and many spellings and they are all related: Saint Lucie; Saint Lucy; Santa Lucea; Santa Lucia…they are related to the name of our ailing river.
If one lives in Martin County or St Lucie County one may drive over the bridges across the Saint Lucie River every day. But do we ever stop to think?
Saint Lucie….
Santa Lucia…
What’s in the name?
The legend and name of Saint Lucie–is an ancient one, one that was first given to our area by the Spanish who built a settlement whose inhabitants were famoulsy killed by the Ais Indians. These indians lived along what became known as the Indian River Lagoon of which the St Lucie River is part.
From what I have deduced, the word “Lucie” is related to the word “light.” Perhaps the Spanish named their settlement and the near river after the river the beautiful sunrises and sunsets reflecting heavenly light—the light of their creator…
Interestingly, Saint Lucy’s legend is one of which she defended and spoke up for herself and for her beliefs and was persecuted as a Christian as many were during her day. The story goes that the judge was so angered by her that he had her eyes torn out prior to her execution, however, when she was buried her eyes miraculously reappeared.
“1933 photograph shows Hugh Willoughby flying over Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point in Port Sewall. The insignia of the New York Yacht Club is on th side of the biplane.” (Photo, Dale M. Hudson from Sandra H. Thurlow’s book “Sewall’s Point, A History of a Peninsular Community of Florida’s Treasure Coast”.)
One of my favorite aerial photographs from my mother’s history books on Martin County is of the infamous Hugh Willoughby flying over the St Lucie River at Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point. In more familiar terms for boaters, this location is known as “Hell’s Gate” due to the bottle-necking of the rushing tide.
Mr Hugh de Laussat Willoughby, one of the “early birds” of aviation, and a resident of Sewall’s Point, (http://earlyaviators.com/ewilloug.htm) had the idea of locating the New York Yacht Club at the southern tip of the peninsula as envisioned in the map below. It is difficult to see in the aerial, but the insignia of the New York Yacht Club is on the side of the biplane.
The yacht club never materialized as the market crash of the late 1920s and following depression of the 1930s dashed that dream. Today many local pilots fly over the St Lucie River at this same location to photograph a different dream. –By showing the devistation, inspiring a dream for our state and federal agencies, of clean water…
Would Mr Willoughby ever have imagined his paradise would be one of controversial pollution? Never in a thousand years….
This year, the ACOE has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee since January 29th 2016; in 2013 they released May through October, and in 2014 nothing…
May the photographs or today’s ailing river inspire change, and may the spirit of Mr Willoughby keep adventure and love alive in our hearts—and the wind— ever at our backs.
New York Yacht Club Station courtesy of Sandra H. Thurlow.Cub taking photo of a cub, pilot Ron Rowers. (Photo Scott Kuhns, 2014, St Lucie River, Stuart.)St Lucie River at Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point 2016 with dark waters from Lake O releases and area run off. (Ed Lippisch)….further away–Hell’s Gate.Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point, 2016Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point 2014.JTLEast side of Sewall’s Point and confluence SLR/IRL Lost Summer–(JTL)2013 SLR JTL
Aerial of S-80 at St Lucie Locks and Dam. Visible cyanobacteria bloom flowing through S-80 from western area of C-44 towards the St Lucie River. These blooms were documented in Lake Okeechobee and around S-308 weeks ago and are now being released into our now fresh river. Photo Ed Lippisch.
I have been questioning the sick irony of the government sanctioned “toxic algae” releases into the St Lucie River since 2014. This was questionable, until now…
Let’s back up a bit…
My blog post on July 8th, 2014 was entitled: “Do the ACOE and SFWMD Release Lake Okeechobee Into to SLR When There is Toxic Algae?”
At that time there was a question for me; now there is not.
The 2014 post told the story of seeing cyanobacteria’s fluorescent blooms in the lake when my husband Ed and traveled through the St Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee by boat passing the St Lucie Locks and Dam (S-80) and Port Mayaca, (S-308) in 2009. This was just when I was beginning to focus my interests on the health of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon as I had been elected to office in the Town of Sewall’s Point in 2008. During this trip it hit me that the algae started in the lake. Ed and I had traveled throughout the St Lucie River and C-44 canal, and when we got to Port Mayaca, at the lake, there it was….the fluorescent green algae.
Not being a scientist or biologist –it finally hit me “this is a fresh water bloom.” It blooms in the lake….not in the river that is more saline. But once the river is fresh from releases from the lake and canals, it can spread there too.
Hmmm?
The story of the blog continues into 2013, when I saw the SFWMD testing the water at S-80, St Lucie Locks and Dam, and to my surprise I could see the unmistakable flourescent green cyanobacteria that often becomes “toxic”going right though the gates! I found this unsettling. Obviously the SFWMD, the ACOE, DEP, the Florida Health Dept and other official entities were in full knowledge that these dangerous blooms were being sent down the river to the residents of Stuart, Florida. Here I was an elected official representing a peninsular community and I had no clue. I had never even heard of this. Something is weird here, I thought. There is no warning to local governments. There is no press for the public. This is just everyday business….the everyday business of quietly poisoning Martin County’s citizens.
How could this be? I wondered…Maybe I am missing something? Maybe I am exaggerating?
Over time, I wrote other posts about this too.
I decided that this concept could be widely shared and understood, but we needed a good visual.
Well the ultimate visual is here…
Thank you to my husband, Dr Ed Lippisch for these photos and two short videos taken on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016 of tremendous blooms knowingly being sent through the open gates at S-80 towards the St Lucie River. We don’t have to wonder anymore.
In broad daylight, for all to see. State and Federal agencies….you’re busted.
*Thank you to the Stuart News, the River Warriors, Bullsugar.org and other river advocates for all of their work identifying and reporting the blooms especially in the lake and around Lake O this 2016.
Toxic Algae blooms (Microcystis/Cyanobacteria) :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcystis_aeruginosa
Stairs leading to the former home of Hubert W. Bessey, the Perkins family, and later William H. and Lucy Anne Shepherd ca. 1890-1947- via historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.Courtesy of “Stuart on the St Lucie,” by Sandra Henderson Thurlow.Shepherd’s Park shoreline, St Lucie River, Stuart 5-30-16. The ACOE in collaboration with the SFWMD and other state agencies has been discharging waters that cannot go south to the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee as they are blocked by the EAA. The ACOE has been releasing this year since January 29, 2016. The estuary is now fresh and breeding the algae blooms of Lake Okeechobee. JTL
My earliest memories of Stuart include stairs…stairs leading to the river…
Walking in Shepherd’s Park as a child, I would ask, “Where did those stairs go Mom?” Her answer may have gone something like this…
“Jacqui, those stairs led to a great house, one of Stuart’s first, built by pioneer, Hubert Bessey. It later became the residence of William and Lucy Ann Shepherd who first came to Stuart in the early 1900s. They came, like so many did at that time, for the fishing. Stuart, you know, was “the fishing grounds of presidents” and known as “the greatest waters in America” for this sport. Mr Shepherd was president and owner of T.H. Brooks and Company, a steel corporation in Cleveland. He and his wife were generous citizens of our community. In 1947 the house was almost demolished by a hurricane, but repaired. Then in 1949, disaster struck. Right in the middle of the winter season, the house mysteriously burned to the ground, but the stairs still stand today…” (Adapted from “History of Martin County”)
Yesterday, with these 50-year-old lessons ringing in my ears, I approached the remains of the old Shepherd residence that became today’s Shepherd’s Park. I was here on Memorial Day to meet reporter Jana Eschbach, from CBS affiliate Channel 12 News in West Palm Beach. It was Jana who had alerted me to a large fluorescent green algae bloom-more than likely toxic.
I arrived early and walked around. Lots of memories. Seeing the old stairs, I thought about how they used to lead to “the fishing grounds of presidents and the greatest fishing grounds in America.” And today, less than 100 years later, they are leading to toxic algae blooms. Never in my wildest dreams would I have foreseen this as a child.
Walking around the breakwater, I thought to myself:
“I will not give up on this place–this former paradise. It could recover if given the chance. History can repeat itself in some form here for the positive. Yes, and I will remember the words of Ernest Lyons who my mother taught me about too—the writer and editor of Stuart’s early paper–a leader and inspiration in fighting against the digging of the excessive agricultural canals that have destroyed our St Lucie River.
I mused for a second and remembered his inspirational quote:
“What men do, they can undo. And the hope for our river is in the hundreds of men and women in our communities who are resolved to save the St Lucie.”
Yes.
The recovery of this river is in the people, for no government can exist in today’s age knowingly bringing this upon its people…It continues to be our time to change history.
Front page Stuart News 5-27-16 by Tyler Treadway.….
Today I have posted pictures from the front page of the Stuart News, and I am also providing Dr Gary Goforth’s “Lake Event Update” for May 2016. This report gives an update on nutrient, sediment, and polluting fresh water loads into the St Lucie Estuary from Lake Okeechobee. Numbers from Lake O are at/or close to “Lost Summer “2013 levels now.
Today, the ACOE reports Lake Okeechobee at 14.38 feet – a very high level going into hurricane/rainy season beginning June 1st.
Thus the Army Corp of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, with the knowledge of other state agencies and entities such as the Dept. of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Legislature, and the Governor will be opening the flood gates to begin releasing more water from the lake today.
Cyanobacteria of toxic levels (as determined by the World Health Organization) is now reported in the lake and canals leading to the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. This is a fresh water bloom and as the estuary becomes more fresh from lake releases the bloom will be able to survive throughout the river and estuary. I do not understand how this is legal in spite of the safety issues of the dike. The federal government in cooperation with our state government is knowingly releasing toxic algae into our waterways –Worse than a third world country.
SLR/IRL conditions report, Dr Gary Goforth 5-26-16 http://garygoforth.net With poor water quality conditions in the Lake, the nutrient and sediment loads to the River/Estuary have already exceeded the 2013 Lake event. Feeding the bloom …
Since January 30, 2016: Nitrogen – more than 1.6 million pounds Phosphorus – more than 190,000 pounds Sediment – more than 34 million pounds
Average flow – more than a billion gallons per day …
I was on the Army Corp of Engineers Periodic Scientist Call this past Tuesday. These are excellent calls and one learns quickly the difficulties and the burdens of water management for our state and federal agencies in the state of Florida. I have participated in the calls as an elected official for the Town of Sewall’s Point since 2012.
This past Tuesday, something was said that struck me. Mark Perry, of Florida Oceanographic, reported something to the effect that over 600 acres of seagrasses inside the St Lucie Inlet are now “sand bottom.” Six hundred acres….
I went home and asked my husband that night at dinner…”Ed could it really be six-hundred acres? The seagrasses dead?”
“Easy.” He replied. “Just think of when I lived at the house at 22 South Sewall’s Point road when we first got married in 2005, and we’d walk out with the kayaks and there was lush seagrass all the way out ….well that’s gone–its gone all around the peninsula–you can see this from the air.”
Ed took some aerial photos the day after this conversation. Yesterday. I am including them today.
—-So it’s true, 600 acres of seagrasses are dead in one of the most bio-diverse estuaries in North America, the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon or southern IRL —for many years, as many of us know, confidently cited as not “one of,” but rather, “the most diverse…”
The Army Corp has been releasing from Lake Okeechobee this year since January 29th, 2016. We are only in June and there is more to come. Yes there is…there is “more to come” from us. There has to be. Because we are losing or have lost —everything.
Please compare the 1977 photo and then the 2012 map to photos taken yesterday. Please don’t give up the fight to bring back life to this estuary.
Aerial of seagrasses in 1977 in and around Sailfish and Sewall’s Point displaying rich seagrass beds. FOSSeagrass map of seagrasses in area from SFWMD/MC ca. 2012. JTL
All aerial photos taken by Ed Lippisch, 5-25-16. St Lucie Inlet area, the Crossroads and Sailfish Flats between and around Sailfish Point and Sewall’s Point in the confluence of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon near the St Lucie Inlet. This area has been inundated by release from Lake Okeechobee and area canals for many years most recently particularly Lake O during 2013 and 2016.
Cover of the Witchery of Archery, 1879, Maurice Thompson.A young Maurice Thomson as photographed for book publication.
One of Lake Okeechobee’s earliest accounts was written by Maurice Thompson in 1879. Thompson’s book the “Witchery of Archery” is “credited with reviving the sport” and is still considered an American classic.
For me what is most interesting is Chapter VIII, entitled: “The Mysterious Lake,” written about an “untouched” Lake Okeechobee in South Florida just west of our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
You can go to the link at the end of this blog and read the entire book or chapter on-line, however for the blog reader, and for the beauty of the visual, I am providing some slides of the first few pages, and will quote–pulling, changing tense, and mixing a few lines:
“Lake Okeechobee, formerly called Mayaco, or Macaco, ever since the discovery of Florida by Europeans.. and long before, —has slept in a sort of poetical fog of mystery.
No doubt the far-famed story of the Fountain of Youth hidden away in the wild tangles of the Land of Flowers, being once disproved let fall something of its delightful romance upon the lake, which though hemmed in with most impassable swamps marshes, and everglades, and jealously guarded by all the cunning of its wild owners, really did and does exist…
This vast body of water lies on the Floridian peninsula, far towards its southern point, having a shape not unlike that of a great spider, from whose elliptical outline of body radiate short, crooked legs…
All around it stretch the cypress swamps and wet prairies, through which innumerable dark sluggish streams crawl like indolent serpents. Its shores are in most places low, only a few inches above the water, and a great portion is unapproachable…
The islands in the lake…are wild gardens of tropical fruit and parterres of fabulously beautiful flowers among which all sorts of gaudy birds and butterflies float and feast the year round. Springs of health giving water well up through he snow while sands and perpetual breezes blow cool from the rippling lake…
Vegetation is variegated and luxuriant beyond compare; gorgeous flowers and gay foliage make the woods and banks dazzlingly bright and beautiful…
No wonder the lake is jealousy guarded by the Indian, and still less the wonder that his descriptions of it are touched with the coloring of romance, and bathed in an atmosphere of fascination and mystery. “
How beautiful this place, our Lake Okeechobee, must have been…
*Lake Mayaco, Macaco, and names of similar derision were named after the native Maraca people of Florida who came from the upper area of the St. Johns River and migrated to the Lake Okeechobee region in the early 18th century. “Port Mayaca” on the east side of the lake in Indiantown, Martin County, preserves their name today.
1. Chapter 8 “The Witchery of Archery” first shared with me by historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow.2.3.
Historic aerial of Port Sewall’s Golden Gate area in 1954, US1 and Dixie in foreground. (Photo courtesy of historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow)
If you ever drive the easterly location of Indian Street in Martin County, you are in the historic subdivision for the proposed Town of Port Sewall. According to the “History of Martin County,” in 1910, Hugh Willoughby and Captain Henry Sewall established the Sewall’s Point Land Company which developed Port Sewall–of which Golden Gate is part.
I was taken by these old aerials from 1954 showing the straight roads of the Golden Gate section of the development with Sewall’s Point and St Lucie Inlet in the distance; I wanted to compare the photo to a cool old plat map and a Google map of today.
I love this old area of Martin County. So much history. It is fun to drive along Old St Lucie Boulevard and through Golden Gate. There are still remnants of the past. To visit the old Golden Gate building on Dixie Highway now getting a new life as the office of House of Hope—that was once a real estate office…..an awesome old Whiticar Boatworks from a bit later…
One of the long forgotten thing about this area is that Sewall and Willoughby’s vision for this development was a deepwater port off of Sewall’s Point. According to historian Sandra Thurlow, “The port was to be established at the junction of the waterways known today as the Crossroads. It would be called “Port Santa Lucia” and would handle the vast amounts of produce that would be shipped out of the interior of Florida via the cross state canal.”
The cross-state canal in this reference? Yes, the cross state canal of the 1920s was the dreaded St Lucie Canal or more lovingly know today as C-44…the canal that connects Lake Okeechobee to the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
Willoughby and Sewall’s development and the Port of Santa Lucia never succeeded as the Great Depression of the 1920s killed that dream. But unfortunately part of the dream of that era lived on. Today the cross state canal or since named “Okeechobee Waterway” (C-44 in Martin County) does not transport vast amounts of fresh produce, but rather is used to “manage” the waters of Lake Okeechobee and to send sediment and nutrient filled Agricultural run off to feed algae blooms and destroy the property values of Sewall’s Point, Port Sewall, Golden Gate, and the rest of Martin County.
Golden Gate 1954Historic Port Sewall plat map 1913 – Version 2 (rotated for comparison.)Google maps of Port Sewall area today, 2016.SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. The canal goes from Lake Okeechobee to the St Lucie River exiting at the ocean near Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island.Waters off of Sewall’s Point where the Port was to be located in August 2013 during high levels of discharges from Lake Okeechobee. (JTL)Releases from Lake O at tip of Sewall’s Point at the Crossroads, 2016. Photo Ed Lippisch.
Dr. Gary Goforth has more than 30 years of experience in water resources engineering, encompassing strategic planning, design, permitting, construction, operation and program management. (Photo JTL, 2015)…
The following was written by Dr Gary Goforth as a response to U.S. Sugar Corporation’s months long ad campaign in the Stuart News. http://garygoforth.net
· The health and economies of the St. Lucie River and Estuary, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, and Florida Bay have been sacrificed for decades by the management of Lake Okeechobee for the protection of US Sugar and other agricultural lands south of the Lake.
The recent ad blitz by US Sugar appears to be an attempt to divert the public’s attention away from this preferential treatment and from an egregious betrayal of south Florida taxpayers perpetrated by US Sugar, the Florida legislature and the Governor’s administration – the failure to exercise the willing seller contract to purchase US Sugar land south of the lake. Failure to secure needed land south of the Lake is the single biggest obstacle to long-term protection of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries from destructive Lake discharges, and providing Florida Bay and lower east coast wellfields with needed water.
· Water storage necessary to reduce high flows to the estuaries by about 90% will require about 10% of the land in the EAA – not complete elimination of farming in the area. The recent UF Water Institute study reconfirmed what scientists have been saying for decades – additional storage and treatment beyond what is currently planned in CERP and CEPP is needed south of the Lake: “If this required storage were to be provided strictly though deep 12-ft reservoirs, new land area between approximately 11,000 and 43,000 acres would be required south of Lake Okeechobee.” The upper limit – 43,000 acres – is less than ¼ of the amount of land US Sugar was willing to sell to the state (187,000 acres).
· Regarding the numbers in the ads – some are accurate, some are completely fictitious (e.g., the distribution of water from Lake Okeechobee), and many critical numbers are missing, e.g.,
-millions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus from lake Okeechobee that feed algal blooms and wreak havoc on the ecology of the river, estuary, lagoon and near-shore reefs. (million off pounds of nutrients that the State of Florida ignores in their BMAP progress reports for the St Lucie River.) – the hundreds of millions of pounds of Lake Okeechobee sediment that turned a once sand-bottom clear water estuary into a muck-filled lagoon that belches blackwater every time it rains. – the hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact to local businesses, tourism and real estate values attributable to poor water quality If you’re interested go to the SFWMD’s (or my) website.
· Most of the area that the ads calls “local waterways” did not flow into the St. Lucie River (SLR) until after the major agricultural drainage canals (C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44) were dug, connecting more than 250,000 acres to the SLR. Historically these areas flowed north into the St. Johns River watershed, south into the Loxahatchee and Everglades watersheds, evaporated or recharged the groundwater.
· The ads ignore the fact that more than half of the “local watershed” is agriculture, and that more than half of the flows and nutrient loads to the St. Lucie River and Estuary come from agricultural land use.
· Nutrient loads from septic tanks along the Indian River Lagoon need to be addressed in cost-effective ways based on good science. Nevertheless, nutrient loading and sediment from Lake Okeechobee and agricultural runoff constitute a far greater threat to the health of the St. Lucie Estuary than does loading from Martin County septic tanks. The loading from septic tanks in Martin County have been overstated by upwards of 200-300%.
· The 2016 Florida Legislature was an unmitigated disaster for the environment of Florida, with misappropriations of Amendment 1 funds for the second year in a row and the passage of a water bill that rolled back environmental protection for the benefit of agricultural interests. What role did lobbyists for US Sugar and other agricultural interests play in this debacle? —–Dr. Gary Goforth
*Dr. Goforth has more than 30 years of experience in water resources engineering encompassing strategic planning, design, permitting, construction, operation and program management. For the last 25 years, his focus has been on large-scale environmental restoration programs in the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem. He was the Chief Consulting Engineer during the design, construction and operation of the $700 million Everglades Construction Project, containing over 41,000 acres of constructed wetlands. He is experienced in public education, water quality treatment design and evaluation, engineering design and peer review, systems ecology, statistical hydrology, hydrologic modeling, hydrodynamic modeling, water quality modeling, environmental permit acquisition and administration, hydrologic and water quality performance analyses. (Website: http://garygoforth.net)
Economic Survey of Ft. Pierce and St Lucie County, 1936. Shared by historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
Looking back at history is such an amazing thing.
It clearly allows us to see “where we have come from,” and “how we got to where we are today”–especially in regards to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon region.
In the early decades of the 1900s, Chapter 298 of Florida Statues allowed for Drainage Districts to be created, (most still exist today), by early settlers across the state so they could begin the hard work of “settlement.” These early Floridians often chose areas around rivers for their location, riches and soils.
Nonetheless, “drain baby, drain!” was the mantra.
Drainage of small tributaries of the forks of the rivers such as the St Lucie created rich farmlands and the ability to develop the lands. This was expected of settlers. During this same era, giant public works projects such as the St Lucie Canal, (C-44), linking Lake Okeechobee to the South Fork of the St Lucie River, were dug through the cooperation of state and federal governments to create what would become the Everglades Agricultural Area, or EAA, south of Lake Okeechobee.
“The rest is history…”
As we sit here today with news of a substantial blue-green algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee, and cringe as the ACOE dumps it into our estuary, I find this small booklet my mother came across recently “a through looking-glass” —–of the mentality of the times when all this over-drainage was the goal and the repercussions were not understood.
Counties all over our state had such little booklets. As you can read, this one is from St Lucie County connected to the North Fork of the St Lucie River. These hard-working people of the day dug their canal around 1936 so it would “veer to the southeast and then east to the St. Lucie River….” certainly they were not thinking about toxic algae blooms or water quality at this time. It did not even cross their radar. But it does ours….What will our little booklets look like for future historians to read ? Well, that’s for us to decide.
US Sugar ad, Stuart News, May 1, 2016.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
It’s easier to communicate your message when you have billions of dollars, but it is not a limiting factor if you don’t…
Today, I will share a “Draft Report” from Dr Gary Goforth. This report is a response he has created specifically to U.S. Sugar Corporation’s May 1st full- page ad in the Stuart News entitled: “The Water That Ends Up In Our Local Waterways.”
This is one of multiple full-page ads U.S. Sugar Corporation has run in the local Martin County paper over that past months trying to “educate” our citizenry. Why are they spending so much money doing this? Why all the propaganda? Because they know that though our advocacy for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, we are changing the course of human events. For the first time, many people and some important politicians and are looking at South Florida and saying “It needs to be re-plumbed…..”
Dr Goforth (http://garygoforth.net) is no stranger to these water issues, nor to the controversy and ability to manipulate the numbers complicated by the historic and supportive relationship between those doing business in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of the lake and today’s South Florida Water Management District. Thus the intertwined propaganda.
So here we go, each idea is presented on a separate slide. You can click the slide to enlarge if you need to. Thank you Dr Goforth!
DRAFT COMMENTS ON U.S. SUGAR AD—G.GOFORTH 5-4-16
12.
3.4.5.6.7.8.9.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
Today, I was looking though my family library of photos and saw one from 2005, the year Ed and I got married.
“Boy we looked young,” I thought…”We have really changed…”
Then I noticed these SFWMD nutrient loading maps in the same file, as they were “published” in 2005 as well. These awesome maps were shared by SFWMD’s Boyd Gunsalus, such a helpful and smart person when it comes to water.
These SFWMD maps were very helpful to me when I was first learning about phosphorous and nitrogen loading by basins and Lake Okeechobee. The lake’s cumulative pollution is even higher than the different canals/basins. I would bet these numbers have not changed much. The state’s approach with BMAPS and TMDL’s is to be appreciated but just too slow.
Well, Ed and I have clearly aged and changed… but the maps–I bet if they made new ones for 2005-2016, the numbers would look about the same. I can’t say I’m envious. We are meant to change. To get better.
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Maybe a scientist will chime in and let me know???
Comparison of Lake Okeechobee releases to the St Lucie River & Estuary 2016, Dr Gary Goforth.
This year, the Army Corp of Engineers– with input from the South Florida Water Management District, and other stakeholders— has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River and southern Indian River Lagoon since January 29th, 2016. Today will review an April update.
We as citizens must pay attention and know what is happening to the river so that we can intelligently fight for its future.
Dr Goforth’s chart above gives a good visual comparison of 2016’s discharges, thus far, compared to those of 1997/98, another El Nino year with fish lesions, fish kills, and toxic algae reports. This chart also compares 2013, our recent “Lost Summer,” when toxic algae blooms filled the river, on and off, for about three out of five dumping months. (–Running May through October, 2013.)
One can see, that Lake Okeechobee’s 2016 discharge amounts are quickly approaching the total numbers released in 2013— although well below those of 1997/98.
Although discharges have been lessened lately, with the Army Corp of Engineers reporting a possible La Nina indications for the 2016 Hurricane season, (4-26-16 ACOE Periodic Scientist Call) considerably more rain could be on the way.
With the lake sitting at 14.29 today, —a high level going into “wet season,” starting June 1st—we should all be watching the situation very closely. Hopefully 2016’s total Lake O release numbers will be nowhere close to 1997/98.
We must continue to advocate hard for a third outlet, and land purchase south of the Lake Okeechobee, as this is the only way to spare our rivers’ repeated total destruction.
Thank you to Dr Goforth for his contribution today.
The following is from an email dated from Dr Gary Goforth on April 26, 2016 including the slide used for today’s blog and others of interest. Click on image to enlarge.
Hi all,
Attached are
1. Summary of the 2016 Lake discharge event to the St. Lucie River and Estuary.
2. Preliminary Water Year 2016 (May 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 – missing April 2016) summary, including a. Inflows to Lake Okeechobee by basin, with comparison to last year b. Outflows from Lake Okeechobee by region, with comparison to last year c. Flow diagram for Lake releases, with comparison to last year d. Lake releases to STAs, with comparison to last year e. Nutrient and TSS load from Lake discharges to the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuary f. The graphs are shown for both acre feet and billion gallons
Willoughby Creek in Stuart, Martin County 1949. Photo courtesy of Sandra H. Thurlow.
Today I will share an historic aerial photo along Willoughby Creek together with a brief history lesson by my mother. Following, there are recent Google Map photos to compare…Stuart is still “paradise,” but sometimes I wish I were born 100 years ago. 🙂
“Jacqui, I came across this in my computer and thought it might be interesting for you to see. The date is Feb. 26, 1949. You can see Marvista… I think the house in the middle is the one that became Lee Rasch’s home. Patty Irons Child’s mother, Marge Irons was Lee’s second wife. The house at right was originally “Lagunita” built by Hugh Willoughby, Sr. (There is a big write-up on it on page 158 of the History of Martin County.) It later became a small hotel-like place call “Inlet Tides.” Both of the structures on the right side have been demolished… I am sure you know that Marvista was built by Hugh Willoughby, Jr. in 1924-25.”
—-Sandra Henderson Thurlow, Historian
You may have to “look” a bit, but if you do you will find Marvista and Lagunita today.
…2016….2016…2016 Blue dot is my home in Sewall’s Point not Willoughby Creek area. The islands that housed Marvista and Lagunita are near the left upper part of the upside side down triangle in the area of Hell’s Gate.
I don’t know about you, but I love maps! As a visual person, a map helps me understand more than words…
In his “Student Guide to Map Making” Ralph Ehrenberg writes:
“Maps are one of the most important types of documents associated with exploration. A map is a graphic representation that facilitates a spatial understanding of things, concepts, conditions, processes or events in the human world. They are used by explorers to help find their way. They are also prepared by explorers to document or record what in fact they discovered.”
It may not be the 1800s, but we are still explorers. We are trying to find a way for a better water future. One of the best ways to achieve this is to study the past. Over the weekend Facebook friend, Jim Wilson, discovered a very interesting 1866 map of Florida and the Everglades:
I emailed Dr Gary Goforth about it and this is what he said: “Portions are accurate, but feel that other portions are not accurate, e.g., the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee. Regardless, it is an amazing compilation of “known” information from 1866!”
In spite of perfection or imperfection, the map has the ability to inspire and give us a visual of what the lands and area south of Lake Okeechobee may have looked like—-I have studied many maps, but I had never had a way to envision the rivers/rivulets running south to the Everglades—–yes, the multiple “fingers” so often reported by early explorers. For me the 1866 map, in one form or another, was an “ah-ha” moment. Thank you Jim!
Maps give “vision…”
We are still explorers…
—I think we should create a “map” of what we would like to see in the future for the waters of our state, particularly south of Lake Okeechobee. Not a drawing, or a satellite, but a good-old map.
Black bobcat cubs following their mother in western Martin County on 4-11-16. Shared by Exec. Dir. David Hitzig, Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, Jupiter Florida.mom bobcat…two black bobcat juvenile cubs!
Martin County’s theme is “Our Good Nature.” We have kept some of it, unlike so many other counties in the state of Florida. I grew up appreciating this. My mother and father used to bring home injured animal for my sister, Jenny, my brother, Todd, and me to care for when we were growing up in Stuart in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. I was taught never to be afraid of wild animals, but to respect them.
One of my favorite fascinations with local wildlife is the black, or “melanistic,” bobcats of western Martin County. I have written before about this local genetic phenomenon. In fact, it is one of my all time most popular posts. Indeed, there are more reports of black bobcats or “black panthers” occur right here, especially around Lake Okeechobee and the St Lucie Canal, than anywhere else in the state!
Yesterday, my friend and UF NRLI classmate, FWC biologist Angeline Scotten– who was in town to give a coyote presentation for Sewall’s Point and Martin County, took me to visit Busch Wildlife Sanctuary and to meet her mentor– of animal-fame– David Hitzig, Busch Wildlife’s long time executive director. I was totally impressed. What an amazing place. You must visit! http://www.buschwildlife.org
Early on in the conversation I told Mr Hitzig that for whatever reason, although an animal fan, I had never visited Busch Wildlife Sanctuary—but that I had written about a black bobcat that was documented to be at the sanctuary after being trapped near the St Lucie Canal in Western Martin County. This bobcat had been eating somebody’s chickens.
Excitedly, Mr Hitzig noted that yes, the melanistic bobcat had been at the center a few years ago, and was released. He also shared that just this month, April 2016, there had been reports of not one, but two, black bobcat cubs walking behind their mother; he later shared this rare and awesome photo.
What a sight! Two black bobcat cubs strolling happily along behind their mother in western Martin County. I love this place. Don’t you?
Black Bobcat cubs following mother in Western Martin County on 4-11-16. Shared by Busch Wildlife Center, Jupiter Florida.
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Correction to blog 🙂 Just after completing this post, I just received an email from David Hitzig of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, and this black bobcat cub photo was taken in Okeechobee, a western neighbor to Martin County not Martin County itself as I thought when I wrote this! Certainly there are no boarders for the cats and Okeechobee and Martin are side by side “out west.” See map below. Wanted to note for the record. jacqui
“County lines are for people not cats….” nonetheless most black bobcats reports of the state have been in the area of western Martin County “whose “western edge boarders Okeechobee County.
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Thank you Mr David Hitzig for sharing this marvelous photo.
Thank you to FWC Angeline Scotten from UF NRLI Class XV for taking me to the Busch Wildllife Sanctuary and for her excellent coyote presentation for the Town of Sewall’s Point: http://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu
Today I wanted to get caught up on Langford Landing, the 53 acre property along the St Lucie River that I have written about before. This property used to belong to the late, great Frances Langford.
As time goes on, from the air, we can see that development seems to be “coming along…”
Months ago, when I first called and asked about the property, I was told that the high bluff along the river would not be flattened as rumored by some residents of Sewall’s Point–that “the elevation was why the property was so valuable.”
I guess I did not ask the right questions, because although it was not flattened, it certainly has been altered.
Ancient lore states that in the early days of the Spanish’s exploration, Don Pedro, the famed “black-beard” pirate, sat drinking wine along this bluff to watch for approaching ships. Now it is fitted and flattened for houses of a subdivision.
I think I rather it be fit for a pirate. How about you?
Lake O has been drained and lowered so that it is approximately 250 square miles smaller than it was in the mid 1800s. (SFWMD) Florida became a state in 1845.
“Navigable waters of the state” are protected under Florida law. They cannot be sold–they cannot be owned. They belong to the public…
Although the Swamp Lands Act of the 1850s allowed for drainage of Florida’s swamp lands, in some instances the drainage and claims may have been overdone. In accordance with state law “you can’t convey what you do not own.” This is part of what is known as “The Public Trust Doctrine.”
Hmmm? In all the excitement to develop, did the state break its own rules in conveying lands south and around the lake? Certainly powerful entities own those lands today.
—–That would be a bite wouldn’t it?
Let’s look a bit closer….
It is common knowledge that Lake Okeechobee has lost a tremendous amount of its former self, and that large portions of the lake have been drained and diked for agriculture and development.
Just recently while attending a University of Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute presentation in Clewiston, Jeff Summers of the South Florida Water Management District gave a Power-Point presentation using the slide below. It shows the natural vs. altered conditions of the lake going from approximately 1000 sq miles in the 1850s to 750 square miles today. –Thus the approximate water stage has gone from 20 feet to 14 feet. Definitely a loss of navigable waters–don’t you think? Today those lands around the lake are used for growing mostly sugarcane. Today most of those lands are “owned.” How could this be as they were once under water enough to be “navigable waters of the state?”
Slide from Jeff Summer’s power point presentation SFWMD, 2016.
The excerpt below is straight out of the “Florida Bar Journal” as shared by my brother Todd. After reading the paragraph, click on the link below to read the entire article. It is certainly worth thinking about…The maps below show land ownership.
Florida Bar Journal’s article conclusion:
The Public Trust Doctrine imposes a legal duty on the state to preserve and control title and use of all lands beneath navigable water bodies, including the shore or space between ordinary high and ordinary low water, for public use and enjoyment. The people of this state have raised the protection afforded by the doctrine to constitutional stature. In the most recent challenge to this doctrine, the Florida Supreme Court relied upon this constitutional provision in reconfirming longstanding Florida law that swamp deeds do not create a private property interest in sovereignty lands. Attempts to use swamp deeds as a justification to legislatively redefine the ordinary high water boundary and thus transfer all or part of the shore to the adjacent private owner are similarly inappropriate and unconstitutional.
Map of land ownership south and around Lake O TCRPC 2016. Key below.Key to above map, 2016 TCRPC.The bigger picture: Lake O used to flow to the Everglades but is now directed to the northern estuaries St Lucie/IRL and Caloosahatchee causing great destruction. Google Earth, 2016.
Seagrass….it has had a rough few years in the Indian River Lagoon-south,central, and north. Seagrass is a flowering plant, and just like plants that grow on land, it “comes and grows” with the seasons. We are just going now into spring…maybe it hasn’t flowered yet? Maybe it really grows in summer? Anyway…
My husband, Ed, brought home these photos yesterday of the area between Sewall’s Point and Sailfish Point. The area looks pretty naked to me. Ed will fly over again and we will watch whether the seagrass comes back or not. At least these are good baseline photos for 2016.
We all know the seagrasses have been terribly compromised throughout the years of due to agriculture and developments’ rampage in Florida, and Mother Nature’s too. For instance, 2004 and 2005’s hurricanes, 1998 and this year’s El Nino…Tough times were especially visible in 2013 with the toxic Lake O “Lost Summer,” and again this year in 2016—-with the constant releases from Lake Okeechobee since January. But even with these tough conditions the seagrass usually comes back, although weaker than before.
At the end of the blog I linked a post from August 2015, where you can see the seagrasses here in 2015 that looked dark and full of algae but were visible.
Just in case you don’t know, the location between Sewall’s Point and Sailfish Point is considered the cradle of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. For years it has been labeled the “heart of the most biodiverse estuary in North America,” with more fish species that any other, over 800 (Grant Gilmore, formerly of Harbor Branch).
What a crime to allow this fishery to go into to such demise. A nursery that affects all of Florida’s east coast. An engine for our economy and quality of life for all species.
To conclude, the photos Ed took below are in two groups: taking off from Witham Airport in Stuart (1-11) and then from Jupiter Island over the waters of Sewall’s and Sailfish Point (12-26). Parts of these waters are known as the Sailfish Flats. You will notice the waters of Lake O slowly exiting the St Lucie Inlet.
Sewall’s Point is the peninsula between the SLR/IRL and Sailfish Point is the ball like formation at the south end of Hutchinson Island (R) Atlantic on far R. Stuart is far left with Witham Field clearly in center. (Google Maps 2013) This is the southern IRL.
1952 today’s Sailfish Point (cropped) Photo courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
My father’s parents moved to Stuart, Florida from Syracuse, New York in 1952. This aerial photograph of the St Lucie Inlet was taken that same year so it holds personal significance to me.
This was one of many aerial photographs my parents acquired from Aurthur Ruhnke when he closed down his photography shop in Downtown Stuart during my childhood.
My mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow, wrote about the image when she first shared it with me in 2010.
“Jacqui, I have quite a few Sailfish Point images I have never scanned. This is one I think might do for you. It is one of the ones that has an exact date on it. February 28, 1952. It is before any of the Rand excavation took place. People would probably enjoy seeing the way the inlet looked as well as how the land was bisected with mosquito ditches. You can also see the fresh water lake and the way the waves broke over the reef. ” Mom
What else do you see?
Below I am including a timeline of the inlet with a history up to 1994, and ACOE dredging costs up to 2000. See links below for source of ocean science.net.
St. Lucie Inlet Jetties and Detached Breakwater
St. Lucie Inlet, Florida
Dredging Records
Date(s) Construction and Rehabilitation History
1892 St. Lucie Inlet, located at the south end of Hutchinson Island, is reported to have been cut through the barrier island by local residents. Initially, the inlet was 30 ft wide and 5 ft deep.
1909 Federal interest in a navigation project recommended Federal funding of a 18-ft channel as well as a jetty along the north side of the channel.
1913 The 1913 River and Harbor Act provided initial appropriation of funds for experimental dredging of a channel 18 feet deep across the reef and ocean bar.
1916 Federal construction of the channel seaward from the mouth of the inlet began. The dredged portion of the project rapidly shoaled with sand and abandonment was recommended in 1917 and again in 1933, but no action was taken.
1926-1929 Local interests constructed the north jetty out of coquina rock to a length of 3,325 ft. The maximum dimension of the rock was 6 to 7 ft with a density of about 120 pcf. The offshore 100- to 200-ft portion of the jetty was partly covered with granite blocks. Martin and St. Lucie Improvement District dredged a turning basin at Port Sewall and an 18-ft deep by 150-ft wide by 10,000 ft long channel.
1966 Federal legislation was passed modifying the St. Lucie Inlet project to include maintenance of a 6 by 100-ft channel along the best natural deep water alignment between the Federal bar-cut channel and the Intracoastal Waterway.
1974 An extension of the north jetty and modification to it for a weir section, excavation of a sand impoundment basin, construction of a south training jetty with a fishing walkway, a 10 by 500-ft channel through the bar-cut tapering to 150 ft through the inlet, and a 7 by 100-ft channel to the Intracoastal Waterway were authorized by Congress.
1979-1982 This Federal project consisted of extension of the north jetty 650 ft (350 ft south-southeasterly and then 300 ft southeasterly), construction of a 1,400-ft south jetty with fishing walkway and a connecting rock bulkhead, construction of a 400-ft detached breakwater directly south of the north jetty extension (700 ft apart at their outer ends), an entrance channel 16 feet deep by 300 feet wide, an inlet throat channel 10 feet wide, and the dredging down to rock of a 2,500 foot long by 450 foot wide impoundment basin. Capstone was to be 6 to 10 tons (at least 75 percent to be 8 tons or more), except on the outer ends of the jetties and the detached breakwater, where the capstone would weigh 10 to 12 tons. Estimated quantities for completion of the improvements were 64,800 tons of capstone, 8,000 tons of core stone, and 28,600 tons of foundation stone. The fishing walkway was built using asphaltic concrete cap and grouting mixes. During construction there was a severe problem with scour, and large apron blankets had to be added (no details on apron or jetty cross sections).
1994 Construction by non-Federal interests of a sand tight groin about 450 feet long at an elevation of about 4 feet NGVD located about 50 feet north of and parallel to the north jetty.
Looking at Lake Okeechobee from Port Mayaca in Martin County-sky and lake are one. (Gary Goforth)
Today I am going to share an adventure of engineer and St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon advocate Dr Gary Goforth. I will tie in his Lake Okeechobee experience with a few wonderful historic postcards from my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow. Although you couldn’t get my mother on a motorcycle if you paid her, there is a common thread. The lone cypress…
“The Lone Cypress…” You may have heard of it? As we know, cypress trees live for thousands of years. There were large forest of these magnificent trees prior to their being cut down around the turn of the last century. But a few still stand. Like this one in Moore Haven.
Dr Goforth’s account of his ride around the lake is inspirational. I have done it a couple of times by car, most recently during the final session of my UF Natural Resources Leadership Institute in Clewiston. During Dr Goforth’s ride, he visits the ancient cypress tree–the one in my mom’s historic post cards. I find this really cool. I hope you do too!
Historic map from 1948 book “Lake Okeechobee” written in 1948 by Alfred Jackson and Kathryn Hanna as part of the Rivers of America Series gives some idea of where the many cypress tree forests and others natural systems were once located.
“Hi Jacqui – I know you’re very busy as always – in fact more so these days I imagine. I got around to reading a recent blog of yours entitled “Taking the Emotion out of “Clewiston”-UF’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute, SLR/IRL.” I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share a trip I took on Sunday afternoon – a motorcycle ride around Lake Okeechobee.
It started out as a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride around the Martin County countryside. When I got to Port Mayaca I decided to head south for a couple of mile to the trailhead of the Lake to Ocean Trail – a 55-mile hike I’ll get around to tackling during cooler weather. When I got to the trailhead, I said what the heck – might as well circle the Lake. I’ve done the route before, and love to roll through the small towns that we are linked to primarily because of the Lake releases. Probably my favorite stretch is along the eastern shore of the Lake where the old-growth linear forests still remain – the magnificent cypress, bay, and others. My companion for the entire way around the Lake was the Herbert Hoover dike – almost always in sight off to my right along the small roads I took. Before I knew it I was passing through Sand Cut and Pahokee on my way to Belle Glade with their motto “Our Soil is our Fortune.” I thought of my Dad’s cousin Jack Fullenweider who was a general manager of the old Talisman sugar mill (bought by the State prior to construction of STA-3/4), and whose son, Jack, Jr. was a sheriff’s deputy in Belle Glade. I thought of Fritz Stein – a former District Board member from Belle Glade and all around good guy.
The traffic was light and the weather was beautiful. Before long I was riding along US 27/SR 80 with the big dike/dam to my right. The site of the 1928 breach and untold deaths. Along this stretch the ground level is the lowest of the entire lake’s perimeter; the Lake’s water level that day was a foot or two above ground level, which has subsided more than 6 feet since records began decades ago due to the drainage canals and ag practices. Around the rest of the Lake, the actual lake level is below the surrounding ground level.
Soon I was in Clewiston where the banners were hung announcing the upcoming Sugar Festival (today through Sunday). I thought of the many good folks who worry about the State purchasing US Sugar lands with the purported 12,000 people who would be out of a job – the folks that get angry at the estuary folks – and wonder who they turned their anger toward when US Sugar announced they had struck a voluntary deal to sell the land to Gov. Crist. What a missed opportunity, and to think the Legislature and Gov. didn’t go through with the deal – likely out of spite towards Gov. Crist – they didn’t want anything to do with extending his legacy. Deplorable. I put that out of my mind as I rode through Clewiston – a lovely little town.
Lone Cypress as it appears today.Picture taken in 1917 showing Lone Cypress tree as it appeared during the construction of Lock No. 1 in Moore Haven. (via Gary Goforth)
Before long I was in Moore Haven and thought about the big history of that small town – the early Indian canal excavations, the early dredging/draining activity of Hamilton Disston connecting the big lake to the Caloosahatchee, the farming community, the devastating hurricanes and the Lone Cypress Tree which has stood as a sentinel along the Caloosahatchee Canal since the days of Disston. The Lone Cypress Tree! I have always wanted to find that tree! So I rode around till I found it along the banks of the river/canal. It was beginning to send out the bright green needles and was remarkable in its majesty!
A few more miles on US 27 and I turned north onto SR 78 – a pleasant ride along the west side of the Lake. Pretty soon the road drops onto the floodplain of Fisheating Creek – the only unregulated tributary feeding Lake Okeechobee. I was reminded how the flows into the Lake from Fisheating Creek increased 6-fold this dry season compared to last year. All along the west side of the Lake are small mobile home and RV communities enjoying the good life!
Before long I crossed the Kissimmee River and was into the south side of Okeechobee. White pelicans ushered me along the road lined with hotels filled with seasonal fishermen and women. On around the lake and passing J&R Fish camp – busy with Sunday afternoon bikers. Many days I’ve enjoyed the free hot dogs and music. Before long I passed alongside of the FP&L cooling reservoir – site of the levee failure that occurred just before midnight in October 30, 1979.
Then I crested the bridge over the C-44 Canal with Port Mayaca off to the right. The calm water belied the massive and destructive discharges that were occurring, sending tons of sediment, algae and nutrients on their way to the troubled St. Lucie River and Estuary.
A quick turn back to the east onto SR 76, past DuPuis (my favorite public land to hike), past the sod and cane fields where once there was citrus and before long I parked the bike in the garage – it was a good ride.
Enjoy!
Gary
The attached photo of me on the motorcycle was taken on a post card perfect day in 2009 at Port Mayaca – the wind was calm, the Lake was still and the air was so clear you could see all the way across to Moore Have, some 30 miles to the southwest! I love how the water and sky blend together on the horizon.
…..Dr. Gary Goforth ready to tour Lake Okeechobee.
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After reading Gary’s account I kept thinking about that lone cypress standing like a sentinel as all has changed around it… I wrote my mother to see what she had in her history files. She sent the following four postcards from her historic collection:
We should all go ride and see it and make post cards or Facebook posts of our own!
1. Postcards courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.2.3.4.
Rand’s Pier being built in 1957; the pier was built out 400 feet into the Atlantic. I visited the pier often through the 60s-80s growing up in Martin County. Photo Sandra Henderson Thurlow archives.Aerial of Seminole Shores. Thurlow Archives, ca. 1950s.
I think it is typical to think the time one grew up in was the “best of times,” but I feel mine really was…
One of my fondest memories of growing up in Stuart is visiting Rand’s Pier at Seminole Shores on Hutchinson Island. This area became today’s Sailfish Point. Tromping through the hot sands, my mother would lead my brother, sister, and I down a long, winding, sand-spur/beach-sunflower covered path. Finally, we would arrive at our destination, a pier that would provide shade and shelter for the outing.
From here my brother, sister, and I would take our buckets and nets and catch baby fish, collect shells and sea glass, or dig holes and bury each other up to our necks.
The pier was a reference point for a time past, and man gone, who my mother said was famous. The man was James Rand Jr. of Rand Ledger Corporation decent who went on to build his own fortune. An impressive eccentric, a Harvard graduate, with his share of troubles—but always a gifted business man— he did many wonderful things for Martin County including becoming a benefactor to the hospital and helping found and fund the Florida Oceanographic Society. Although it was not to be his fate, he had dreams of fully developing what was then known as Seminole Shores—-today’s Sailfish Point.
According to the History of Martin County: “In the early fifties James Rand acquired part of what was known as Seminole Shores on Sailfish Point three miles south of the House of Refuge. It was his intension to develop the area with exclusive residences, a marina, a clubhouse, cabanas, and a restaurant. He built the marina, the clubhouse and yacht basin, laid out and paved a number of streets, and built some thirty cabanas in a semicircle around a swimming pool, facing the ocean that one might take advantage of either fresh or salt water bathing. He also put in the telephone lines for the south end of the island at a cost of approximately $15,000…”
When my siblings and I were running around we did not think much about the man who built the pier, or put in the telephone lines, or helped make the island accessible for us to play. But his name always stuck in my head as someone who had made a difference to Martin County. The years have passed and Martin County has changed.
Today, Sailfish Point is beautifully developed– certainly beyond what Mr Rand would have ever imagined. The pier? Time tide and time have taken it: it has washed away– But when I walk the beach I still look for it and remember the “best of times”…
Remaining pier 2009. (Photo JTL)My husband Ed under the pier in 2009. The entire pier washed away a few years later after a great storm. (JTL)Beach sunflowers…(JTL)
Thank you to my husband Ed for taking these photos once again of our east coast Indian River Lagoon inlets: Sebastian, Ft Pierce, and St Lucie– in this order. He took them Saturday, 3-12-16, around 4pm.
How to recognize a photo up close if you are not sure? Sebastian is recognized by its bridge over the inlet, Ft Pierce by the discharges exiting C-25 into the IRL at Taylor Creek near the marina, and Stuart’s St Lucie by “ball-like” Sailfish Point and undeveloped Jupiter Island south across the inlet.
Each inlet is unique, but all share that destructive channelized discharge waters running through them to the Atlantic Ocean—carrying sediment covering seagrasses, oysters, and reefs—too much freshwater for healthy fisheries and wildlife….and over nutrification—–
The rare, old-fashioned, 1987 “IRL Joint Reconnaissance Report “map below shows the Indian River Lagoon basin as a whole all the way from Ponce de Leon, in Volusia County to Jupiter Inlet, in Palm Bach County. The image shows the various freshwater discharge points into the Indian River Lagoon “basin.”
Yes, the Florida we know was “built on drainage” of the lands, but if the Florida of tomorrow is going to thrive, this system must be re-plumed/reorganized.
As we are aware, and have been aware, we are slowing killing our treasured ecosystem with these discharge outlets. It is time to rethink the drainage equation. Hopefully, in the future, “the canal map” will not look like this, nor will the aerials. To view series of aerials below, please click image and then direct with arrows.
Source: Indian River Lagoon Joint Reconnaissance Report 1987 as shared by Gary Roderick.
Aerials of Sebastian, Ft Pierce and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlet 3-12-16 Ed Lippisch.
Clewiston, Scott Kuhns 2013.A developed Lake Okeechobee. Clewiston and the EAA lie south of the lake. Google maps.….
I am part of Class VX for the University of Florida’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute. It has been an incredible journey, and I have learned so much. It has been both exhausting and rewarding. As I am on the campaign trail running for Martin County Commissioner, and a sitting commissioner for the Town of Sewall’s Point, leaving for three to four days every month is difficult. When I get home I am behind and worried I will not meet my fundraising and outreach goals for the month….My husband, Ed, has been supportive, but it is an additional challenge for our family balance and my responsibilities.
Last year Ed and I really talked it through. “Go!” He said.
“You need to learn what they are teaching, Jacqui. You need to learn how to take out the emotion and deal with these political issues objectively…”
Hmmmmm? OK.
And I have been learning….
I have been learning “leadership.” I have been reading. I have been building relationships with others in agencies and government positions across our state. I have been practicing… And most important, I am learning to apply a “framework for understanding conflict,” to resolve conflict together–collaboratively.
—-I keep my notes on my dresser and look at them every morning. Recently, it has all has begun to make sense.
My notes summary notes from the NRLI program.
This journey to study some of Florida’s top resource conflicts began almost one year ago and reads like a “Who’s Who”of Florida issues: Titusville, NASA: Indian River Lagoon–Space Port in National Wildlife Refuge; Apalachicola, Water Wars/Dying Historic Oyster Industry; Silver Springs, Aquifer Recharge/Springs Health; Jacksonville, Wildland Interface (where the state burns wooded areas within feet of people’s homes due to rampant development); Key Largo, Sea Level Rise; Crystal River, Manatees/Endangered Species, Recreation/Protections; and finally our last stop tomorrow before graduation in April: Clewiston, Agriculture South of Lake Okeechobee….
I have been to Clewiston before, but that was a few years ago to protest at the “Sugarland Rally.” Remember the Sugarland Rally that statewide paddle-boarder Justin Riney organized during the “Lost Summer of 2013?” When the St Lucie and Indian River Lagoon were toxic for three months with overflow waters of Lake Okeechobee?
The red colored blocks south of Lake O. are the EAA-700,000 acres of sugar lands and vegetables. South of the EAA are the STAs and water conservation areas .(SFWMD map, 2012.)
This time I will visit not to protest but to study the situation objectively using my new tools. It’s of kind of ironic that Clewiston is my last stop, isn’t it? The final test. My class will be meeting with stakeholders and touring US Sugar Corporation’s headquarters in Clewiston.
Gulp.
I am excited to learn. I am excited to see it up close and hear their side of the story on their home turf. To be fair, this is a historic issue. But whether I can take the emotion out of it or not….that I’ll have to let you know.
Speaking at the Sugarland Rally, Clewiston 2013.….Clewiston’s Sugarland Rally, 2013.…..with Mayor Phillip Roland of Clewiston, 2013.
FLASH FORWARD TO TODAY:
2016 with Class VX NRLI. Learning skills to deal with conflict. My classmates are from all over the state. It is a great group!
Recently, at Rivers Coalition Defense Fund meeting, president Kevin Henderson brought along the old River League’s briefcase. It had been stored away for many decades in an aging house in Stuart. In case you have not heard of them, “The River League” worked tirelessly in the 50s and 60s to stop the expanding destruction of our rivers by the Florida Flood Control District (today’s South Florid Water Management District) and the Army Corp of Engineers.
