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News - November 2002
Everglades Village News
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30-November-02
Florida farmers in cyberspace
In a cooperative effort to cultivate an
understanding of the
importance of Florida agriculture among consumers, the Florida
Farm Bureau
and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
have joined
forces in a public awareness campaign entitled, "Safe,
Affordable, and
Abundant: Food for Thought from Florida's Farmers." Reaching into cyberspace, the team unveiled
www.Florida-Farmers.com, an
informative website to increase the public's understanding of the
importance of Florida agriculture to our individual health and to
the
economic health of our state. Most consumers are unaware that agriculture is the
second-largest industry
in the state. Florida's 44,000 commercial farmers receive nearly
$7 billion
in cash receipts for crops and other commodities annually. In
addition,
Florida agriculture and forestry products have an estimated
overall
economic impact of more than $50 billion annually to the state.
Copyright © 2002
Newszap All rights reserved.
Water management officials: Conservation always a necessity
Most of Southwest Florida has seen above-average levels of
rain so far this
year, but that's still not enough to allow you the luxury of
watering the lawn
to your heart's content. "I think at this point we're in good shape, but we have
to remember that we
are in a growing area and our seasonal friends are starting to
arrive and the
demands on the resource are going to be greater over the next
several months,"
said Kurt Harclerode, = spokesman for the South Florida Water
Management
District's Fort Myers office. "We need to keep that in mind
and not be
wasteful." Rainfall levels vary wildly from one area to another as they
always do in
Southwest Florida. But most are an inch or two above the normal
52-inch
average that usually falls during the first 11 months of the year. "Fortunately, I think those areas saw adequate
rain." Like Harclerode, Staiger says Southwest Florida residents will
always need to conserve, and he supports the water management district's efforts
to bring about permanent year-round watering restrictions.
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
FGCU, Edison to partner on environmental studies degree
"The purpose of this is to train people to
conduct biological and hydrological monitoring, which can be done with a
two-year degree. They can perform biological and water monitoring for the Everglades Restoration Project while they pursue
higher education." — Bill Wilcox
It's what state and regional agencies have wanted for a long
time. And although it's received just a fraction of its original
funding, a new environmental technology program will provide skilled workers who
can earn while they learn — and give agencies what they've been looking
for. The joint venture involves partnerships among Florida Gulf
Coast University, Edison Community College, the Lee County school
system's environmental education division, the South Florida Water
Management District and several other agencies and institutions. It's what state and regional agencies have wanted for a long
time. And although it's received just a fraction of its original
funding, a new environmental technology program will provide skilled workers who
can earn while they learn — and give agencies what they've been looking
for.
Copyright © 2002 Bonita
Daily News All rights reserved.
Water storage tests set to begin
The survival of Florida's Everglades may hinge on an
unprecedented plan to
store vast amounts of water deep underground. The plan calls for drilling more than 300 wells, each designed
to hold
millions of gallons of water in rock formations 1,000 feet below
the
earth's surface. The idea is to capture storm-water runoff, which now drains
quickly through
canals and rivers to the ocean, and save it for later use. In a key concession to environmentalists, federal and state
officials have
promised to treat the water before it's pumped underground, to
avoid
contaminating drinking water. Previously, they'd planned to save money by pumping the
surface water
underground without first cleansing it. Proponents say underground storage, known as ASR -- for
aquifer storage and
recovery -- is more efficient and economical than surface reservoirs.
Copyright © 2002 Herald
Tribune All rights reserved.
Lawmakers must start over on Everglades spending bills
Jennifer Sergent is the
Washington correspondent
for the Daily News.
This is my last column.
For six years, I've worked at the Washington bureau of Scripps
Howard News Service, serving as a correspondent for Scripps' four newspapers
in Florida: the Naples Daily News, the Stuart News, the Fort Pierce
Tribune and the Vero Beach Press Journal. The beat was never dull here, where the news of the day
could
range from Medicare to the Everglades to manatee protection to veterans'
health — all in one day. I really enjoyed interacting with readers who thought
enough of my stories (good or bad) to send me an e-mail or call. I will
miss that. But I'm not completely going away. I am moving over to the
features desk at Scripps Howard, where I will be covering homes, food and
lifestyle for the national news wire. Readers will find my byline in the feature
section of their newspapers. So, if you've got any great story ideas for me on the new
beat, you can still reach me at the old e-mail: sergentj@shns.com.
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Design for new science center unveiled
The design is otherworldly. Not exactly a
space ship but a structure that appears to have just set down and could leave
momentarily. Either that or it's a giant microphone resting on its side in
a stand. Unmistakably, the design for the $40 million Dekelboum Science
Center says
future and science in one riveting statement as much as the
structure it
will replace, the 41-year-old South Florida Science Museum, says
tattered
cardboard box. "It's unlikely you will guess it's an office building or
an institutional
facility," museum Executive Director Jim Rollings said
drolly of the new
design. "It seeks to gain immediate recognition as a science
center." It will not go unnoticed, perched just south of Palm Beach
International
Airport on the corner of Southern Boulevard and Kirk Road, at the
west end
of Palm Beach County's Lake Lytal Park. November has been a good month for the
museum.
Copyright © 2002 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
State gets $1
million to buy Collier County marsh
The state Department of
Environmental Protection is receiving $1 million to buy a 1,000-acre marsh
in Collier County. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced
the grant this week as one of 21 nationwide to share $15.7 million.
American crocodiles and dozens of other species of wildlife in the
110,000- acre Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve are
downstream from the McIlvane Marsh. The Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, which runs Rookery Bay, applied for the grant to
restore the marsh's historic sheetflow that roads and canals interrupted
over the last 50 years, said Gary Lytton, Rookery Bay director.
Allowing rain to wash over the land in thin sheets is important because it
allows the marshes to filter out contaminants and impurities.
Copyright © 2002
Sun-Sentinel
/ Associated Press All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
August 27, 2002
TRUSTEES
OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
November 18, 2002
U.S.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE GRANTS FUND WETLAND CONSERVATION PROJECTS IN 15
STATES
Editorial: Spotlight on growth
DCA chief Steve Seibert is leaving the Jeb
Bush administration. The governor's choice of a replacement will reveal
much about the future of growth management in Florida.
As Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert becomes the first
state agency
head to depart before Gov. Jeb Bush's second term, Bush has a
chance to
clear up some confusion about development and growth. Is the
state planning
to do more or less to control it? The signals in the first term were mixed:
In his first year, Seibert called for a multiyear review of
growth laws,
emphasizing the need to hear from citizens. But by the 2000
legislative
session, he and Bush were cooperating with a House-led assault on
growth
management. The Senate stopped it. Following that 2000 session, Bush appointed a 23-member
commission to study
how to streamline and improve growth management laws.
Copyright © 2002 St.
Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
Whooping cranes' flyover expected today at mall
If all goes according to plan, the flock of 16
cranes will land today at their winter home, Chassahowitzka National
Wildlife Refuge.
Capping a whirlwind week marked by perfect
flying conditions, 16 endangered whooping cranes cruised another 53
miles Friday and are poised to finish their migration this morning. If the
weather cooperates, the cranes will depart Levy County at sunrise and
make the 14.5-mile jaunt to Crystal River, where they will fly over the mall, trailing
ultralight aircraft. Anyone wishing to view the cranes and their odd-looking guides
is encouraged to gather outside the mall by 7 a.m. The spectacle will last only a few moments but witnesses to
last year's migration, the first ever, say it is a moment not to be
missed. "It's a marvelous thing, a real thrill," said
Dunedin resident Joan Fenton, who plans to leave her home at 5 this
morning.
Copyright © 2002 St.
Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
Editorial: President's Environmental Views Are Far Out Of The Mainstream
A recent poll shows that Americans like and trust President
George W. Bush. The New York Times/CBS News poll found he had a 65 percent job
approval rating and that Americans' confidence in him clearly helped swing voters to
Republican candidates in November's election. In contrast, the poll found voters had little confidence in
Democrats, who they felt had not offered a plan for the future. While the results were mostly favorable to the
president, on
one issue the survey showed he is clearly out of touch with the
electorate. The poll, which was based on random interviews with 996 adults
and had a 3 percent margin of error, found nearly two-thirds of respondents
felt the government should do more to protect the environment and regulate
the safety practices of businesses. By a two-to-one margin, citizens
said they thought protecting the environment was more important than
producing energy.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa
Tribune All rights reserved.
29-November-02
Gator Trappers Deal With Down Market
Some have suggested a type of subsidy provided by the state.
When outdoorsmen stepped forward more
than 20 years ago to contract with the state to trap and kill rogue
alligators, international commodity markets and the world economy probably
weren't on their minds. They are now. A combination of low
prices for hides and the fact that the current market has even made many
hides unmarketable is causing problems for the state's 38 contract
trappers. The problem is aggravated by the fact that what started
out as a sideline for many of them turned into a full-time livelihood that
now barely produces a living wage. They are asking for help from the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the agency that
controls alligator harvests and operates the nuisance alligator program,
and the agency has agreed to try. "It's been a problem for
about 10 years," said FWC spokesman Henry Cabbage.
Copyright © 2002 The
Ledger All rights reserved.
Letter to Editor: The New Frontier, in the Heart of the City
To the Editor:
In "Wild Cities: It's a Jungle Out There" (Arts & Ideas, Nov.
23), the coordinator of Columbia University and Unesco's program on the
biosphere and society says: "The choice is no longer between cities and
wildness. It is, in the face of increasing population, between density and
sprawl." While density does indeed help preserve open space, an increasing population,
whether in single-family homes or apartment towers, will consume an increasing
amount of natural resources. Attention to urban ecology — prompted in part by the effects of global
warming — is undeniably important, but it should not be used as an excuse to
abandon efforts to preserve those wildlands and roadless areas that remain or to
stabilize population.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Related Article,
November 23, 2002
Wild
Cities: It's a Jungle Out There
28-November-02
Bush to Shorten Forest Environmental Reviews
File Photo/ Rich Pedroncelli
-- AP
Logging on federal land, such
as this operation in California's
Stanislaus
National Forest in
2000, would undergo
shorter
reviews under the rule.
The Bush administration announced plans yesterday to streamline the process of conducting environmental reviews before opening national forests to logging, drilling and other activities. The proposed regulations, which closely track recommendations by the timber industry, would reduce the number of scientific and environmental reviews required when 15-year master plans are developed for the 192 million acres of the nation's 155 national forests. The plans, similar to a zoning process, specify where recreation, mining and other development can take place. The proposal, overturning regulations issued by President Bill Clinton two months before he left office, would give local forest managers more leeway in complying with a 1976 law mandating the preservation of diverse plant and animal species. The rule, now open for public comment, will not take effect for at least nine months. Copyright © 2002 Washington Post All rights reserved.
U.S. Approves Power Plant in Area Indians Hold Sacred
The Bush administration has approved construction
of a geothermal power plant in the Modoc National Forest, a remote volcanic
field near California's border with Oregon that local tribes consider sacred.
Indians and environmental groups accused the government of betrayal today and
said they would fight the decision. The project, at Telephone Flat, was blocked two years ago by the Clinton
administration because of concerns about intrusion on the lands. The plant would
be two miles from Medicine Lake, which the tribes believe has healing powers.
In reversing the Clinton administration decision, officials said "the
overall interests of the public would be best served" by allowing the
project to proceed. Specifically, the decision, released on Tuesday, cited the
need for developing renewable energy sources. Calpine
, the utility in San Jose that wants to build the 48-megawatt plant, owns
extensive leases for geothermal development in the national forest.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Studies Conflict on Danger in Mercury-Laden Fish
Two studies have yielded contradictory findings about the possible heart
dangers of eating mercury-laden fish. The studies, reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine, looked at
the long-term effects of mercury exposure on the hearts of middle-aged and
elderly men. One found no clear link between mercury levels in the body and the risk of
developing heart disease; the other found that men who had suffered a heart
attack had higher mercury levels than similar men who had not. That left the researchers, Food and Drug Administration officials and other
experts agreeing on just two things: more research is needed and people should
not stop eating fish, because minerals and fatty acids in fish protect the
heart. Also, many seafoods, like salmon and shrimp, contain little or no
mercury.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times, AP online All rights reserved.
Bush Plan Gives More Discretion to Forest Managers on Logging
The Bush administration proposed today to give
managers of the 155 national forests more discretion to approve logging and
commercial activities with less evaluation of potential damage to the
environment. The proposal would thoroughly rewrite rules issued by President Bill Clinton
in November 2000. Under the Clinton-administration rules, the government must systematically
assess the likely effects on the environment whenever it revises a 15-year plan
for management of a national forest. Under the proposal issued today by the
Forest Service, the preparation of the assessments, known as environmental
impact statements, would be left to the discretion of the forest manager. The Clinton rules require the government to protect fish and wildlife in
national forests so the species do not become threatened or endangered. One of
the two major options in today's proposal says that forest management plans
"should provide" such protections but does not require them.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Related Link,
* pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)
27-November-02
Editorial: Cypress Creek, yes;
waterflow, slow
We have seen good news and a cautionary emerging from the vast
domain of the South Florida Water Management District recently. The WMD is a huge political entity that monitors and governs
water resources in a 16-county area in the southern end of the state.
It is one of five such groups formed by the Legislature in 1972 to protect
and manage a natural resource that is being squeezed by growth -- our water.
This year the District operated with a $728.6 million budget, much of which
draws from property taxes the District levies. What this agency does has an impact -- large and small, direct
and indirect -- on our daily lives. Kudos go to the WMD for becoming involved in the purchase and
preservation of a critical link in the water supply for northern Palm Beach
and southern Martin counties -- the Cypress Creek tract.
Copyright © 2002
Jupiter Courier -
TC Palm All rights reserved.
Students explore wildlife in the Everglades
Senior Brooke Davidson has been a member of the Life Sciences Club for more
than four years, but last weekend was the first time she visited the Everglades.
"I think it's amazing," Davidson said. "It's good that they
preserve a part of Florida, and that it's not going to change ... well, at least
not so fast, because that's how all of Florida used to look." Members
of the USF Life Sciences Club spent last weekend at the Everglades National Park
to see what they are trying to protect. They saw endless grass areas with
islands of cypress trees and mangroves. They also saw alligators, crocodiles,
raccoons and hundreds of birds. Club members took a boat excursion during which
they listened to a lecture about the Everglades wildlife and its history. They
also walked several trails. It was the group's first trip to the park, but they
said they plan to repeat that visit at least once every year. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2002
USF Oracle All
rights reserved.
Related Link,
University of South Florida
Life Sciences Club
FGCU instructor seeks to expedite approval for marine lab site
Florida Gulf Coast University instructor and longtime local
environmentalist
Bill Hammond told Lee County commissioners Tuesday that time
could be running
out on finding a home for the university's marine lab, and asked
them to host
a meeting with state park officials to try to get approval for
the Lover's Key site. "We need to finalize a site proposal before the Christmas
break," said
Hammond, who is co-chairman of the county's Smart Growth
Committee and whose
fingerprints are on many of the other environmental programs to
appear locally
in the past four decades. Commissioners agreed to invite state Department of
Environmental Protection
Deputy Director Robert Ballard and DEP's Parks and Recreation
Director Wendy
Spencer, as well as officials from the cities of Bonita Springs
and Fort Myers
Beach, to an early December meeting. The proposed site is within
the city of
Bonita Springs, which has expressed opposition.
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Agency Proposes Relaxing Rules on Logging in National Forests
The Bush administration is proposing to give managers of
the nation's 155 national forests greater leeway to approve logging and
commercial activities with less examination of potential environmental
damages. The administration said Wednesday its intent was to improve the forest
management regulations issued by the Clinton administration two months before
President Bush took office. The new land management rules would affect some 190 million acres of forests
and grasslands overseen by the U.S. Forest Service. The changes are ``designed to ... better harmonize the environmental, social
and economic benefits of America's greatest natural resource - our forests and
grasslands,'' said Sally Collins, the Forest Service's associate chief. Asked whether the changes will result in more logging, Collins said,
"We
can't say it's going up or down or sideways or the same."
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times, AP online All rights reserved.
26-November-02
Flying enemies unleashed on fire ants
A venture between Florida and U.S. scientists
deploys flies that inject the ants with eggs that become killer larvae.
Scientists are using Brazilian decapitating
flies (photo) in their biological war on fire ants.
He is so intent, he barely notices the fire ants crawling on his shoes, his worn khakis and his fingers. Fred Santana swats at the insects perfunctorily, and continues squatting in the field, stirring sand with a stick. This is, after all, serious scientific work. Santana, a Sarasota County coordinator of pest management, is on the front lines of a government-backed biological war against fire ants. On this warm afternoon, Santana has released hundreds of Brazilian decapitating flies, whose mission in life is to zoom in on fire ants like smart bombs. The fire ants do not, of course, take kindly to this air raid on their world and fight back, emitting alarm pheromones and attacking the flies as best they can. Copyright © 2002 St. Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
Watershed Deal Calls for City to Act, but Saves It Billions
New York City will avoid having to spend at least $5 billion on filtering its
drinking water that comes from the Catskill/Delaware watershed under an
agreement to be announced today, the federal Environmental Protection Agency
said yesterday. In exchange, the city will have to preserve more land around the reservoirs
and reduce storm water and agricultural run-off, among other measures, said Jane
Kenny, the agency's regional administrator. "There are many actions the
city must take to hold up its end of the bargain," she said. In 1997, the E.P.A. allowed the city to avoid filtering its drinking water as
part of an agreement in which the city pledged to safeguard the quality of its
water supply for the next five years.
Copyright © 2002
NY Times online
All rights reserved.
Opinion - Editorial: A Camellia Grows in Boston
If there's one trait that gardeners have in common, it's a desire to grow plants
that experts tell them they shouldn't be able to grow. Be it bamboo in Boston,
evergreen magnolias in New York or tree ferns in Atlanta, the urge to cultivate
something that nobody else in the neighborhood has runs deep. Whether this
passion comes from a need to compete, to experiment or just to be different is
irrelevant. What counts is pushing the limits of possibility and proving the
experts wrong. But what happens when the limits of possibility are pushed not by gardeners
but by climate change? Some of the joy leaves the enterprise; ambivalence seeps
in. At least it has for me. The arboretum where I work has given me a special vantage point from which to
witness — and react to — the shift in growing patterns brought on by a world
that's getting warmer. The Arnold Arboretum was founded in 1872 for the purpose
of scientific research.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Opinion-Editorial: Every Breath You Take
Last week the Bush administration announced new rules that would effectively
scrap "new source review," a crucial component of our current system
of air pollution control. This action, which not incidentally will be worth
billions to some major campaign contributors, comes as no surprise to anyone who
pays attention to which way the wind is blowing (from west to east, mainly —
that is, states that vote Democratic are conveniently downwind). But this isn't just a policy change, it's an omen. I hope I'm wrong, but it's
likely that last week's announcement marks the beginning of a new era of
environmental degradation. Some background: The origin of new source review lies in a big policy mistake
30 years ago. The original Clean Air Act imposed strict rules on new sources of
pollution, but it grandfathered existing power plants, refineries and so on. The
idea was that over time, as old facilities closed down, strict rules would
become the norm.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Related Article,
November 23, 2002
E.P.A.
Says It Will Change Rules Governing Industrial Pollution
November 25, 2002
Editorial:
Environmental War Clouds
December 2, 2002
Letters: The
Environment: Fight the Tide
Editorial: President
Unwise To Relax Key Provision Of Clean Air Act
Air pollution causes problems in addition to filthy air. Emissions from
power plants directly affect people's health, especially among the young
and the elderly. It can cause breathing problems,
respiratory ailments and even death, so there is cause
to be concerned about President Bush's intent to relax a key
provision of the Clean Air Act.
The president plans to eliminate the ``new source review'' rule, which
requires power plants to install modern pollution control devices when
undergoing major renovations. He believes the rule discourages utilities
from repairing and modernizing facilities. Industry officials say there are
simple affordable steps, short of installing all new pollution control
devices, that would dramatically clean the air.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune All rights
reserved.
Related Links,
Left Behind--Emissions Increases at Power Plants and in States Across the US*
* pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)
25-November-02
Editorial:
Environmental War Clouds
The environmental community,
already battered by two years of struggle with the Bush administration, is expecting the perfect storm when the 108th Congress convenes
in January. For starters, the chairmanship of two key Senate committees will pass from
two reliable conservationists to men with deplorable records on energy and the
environment, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Pete Domenici of New Mexico. Second,
the election results are likely to encourage the administration's quiet but
lethal efforts to undermine environmental law through administrative rulemaking
and judicial negotiation. Finally, and most depressingly, it is hard to imagine
a scenario in which this group comes up with any new and imaginative initiatives
to deal with problems that badly need attention, especially global warming. Most
people who care about such things will be so busy preventing further rollbacks
that the idea of moving forward will seem hopelessly farfetched.
Copyright © 2002
NY Times
online All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
November 26, 2002
Opinion-Editorial:
Every Breath You Take
December 2, 2002
Letters:
The Environment: Fight the Tide
Wal-mart to share bald eagles' nest
Facility bends over backward to accommodate birds
Photo: A bald eagle flies across the St. Lucie
County Landfill across from Florida’s Turnpike.
Wal-Mart plans to build a 1.2 million-square-foot
distribution center just south of where a pair
of bald eagles nest.
When Wal-Mart executives started scoping out sites for a multi-million
dollar distribution center in southeast Florida, they weren't expecting a
pair of bald eagles for neighbors.
After picking a wooded section of property east of Florida's Turnpike,
that's exactly what they got.
Tucked into a canopy of pines just north of the 300-acre site -- where
Wal- Mart is planning to build a 1.2
million-square-foot warehouse -- rests a colossal bald
eagle nest.
It's more than 5 feet across and roughly 7 feet tall, and a pair of
eagles has been nesting there for at least four years,
said Tony Steffer of Tampa- based Raptor Manage-ment
Consulting. Although the federally protected birds don't show themselves
very often, they have been known to make an appearance at the St. Lucie
County Landfill just across the turnpike to pick up some fast food.
Copyright © 2002 Stuart
News - TC Palm All rights reserved.
State to consider new information on pollution in
SW Florida waters
Environmental groups are reporting progress in changing the way the state
Department of Environmental Protection measures pollution in Southwest Florida
waters. Their efforts have focused on adding rivers,
lakes and bays to the state's list of polluted waters.
Waters on the list would be subject to new pollution
control rules. A version of the list released by the DEP this summer came under fire from environmental
groups in Collier and Lee counties. The Responsible Growth
Management Coalition, the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the
Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida challenged the list. The
Conservancy of Southwest Florida asked for more time to file its
challenge. That may not be necessary after a meeting last week in Fort
Myers between the DEP and environmental groups, said Gary Davis, environmental
policy director for the Conservancy.
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Bush Names Rodriguez General Counsel
Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a Miami attorney to be his
top lawyer Monday.
Raquel A. Rodriguez will start Dec. 9, replacing Charles Canady, who was
named by Bush to be a judge on the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Bush said Rodriguez showed she was "extremely suitable for this position
through her well-rounded experiences."
Rodriguez, 41, is a lawyer at the law firm Greenberg Traurig. She was
born in Miami Beach and graduated first in her class
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1985.
Rodriguez will make $115,000.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa
Tribune All rights reserved.
24-November-02
Foreign wasps failing to save residents' sago palms
RIO The sago palm saga continues. Despite the efforts of state agricultural officials earlier
this year to save the Treasure Coast's sago palms, residents continue to watch
small insects destroy their beloved sagos. "It's worse, and it's getting worse throughout the
county," said Julie Preast, a Rio resident who's been watching her 10 sago palms
slowly become covered with the snowy-looking wax of the Cycad aulacaspis scale,
a pin- point-sized bug eating away at her plants. "I was starting to panic," she said.
In February, Ken Hibbard, the area supervisor for the state
Division of Plant Industry, released more than a thousand tiny parasitic
wasps on the Treasure Coast, hoping the wasps would kill the bugs that were
killing sagos. The scale, native to Thailand, sucks away the inner juices
of the leaves, trunk and roots.
Copyright © 2002 TCPalm All
rights reserved.
With Canker, Citrus Profits Fall
More fruit would go to processors and it would depress
prices on that fruit.Few people conversant with Florida's war against
citrus canker approach the controversy with dispassionate objectivity. Florida citrus growers, fresh fruit shippers (called
"packinghouses") and juice processors view the bacterial disease as a threat to their
livelihood and speak bitterly about "ignorant" opponents of the
state and federal canker eradication program. The citrus industry generates $9 billion of direct and
indirect economic activity in Florida. Opponents, mainly residents and local politicians in South
Florida who've successfully hamstrung the eradication campaign through the
courts, often speak just as bitterly. They've used terms like "storm
troopers" to describe the government crews that come onto residential
properties to inspect trees for canker or, worse yet, cut down infected
trees.
Copyright © 2002 The
Ledger All rights reserved.
For Solar Power, Foggy City Maps Its Bright Spots
Peter
DaSilva for The New York Times
Dan
Lichtenberger
performed a maintenance check
on a section of solar panels on the roof
of the
Santa Rita County Jail in Dublin, Calif.
High above the streets on rooftops flat and wide,
nearly a dozen sun-gazing contraptions are shedding new light on this city's
foggy reputation. Resembling lunar probes on spindly legs, the machines are equipped with
sensors that measure solar energy. Readings are transmitted by radio to the San
Francisco Public Utilities Commission, where engineers plot them on a
computerized "fog map" of the city. The
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Breeding birds raise hope for 'Glades fauna
The Everglades' graceful wading birds, such as the white ibis and
snowy egret, are breeding at a rate unmatched since 1940, a new survey
shows. But scientists caution that this year's
increase is probably caused more by favorable weather
than by conservation efforts. And more breeding hasn't
yet translated into more birds, experts said.
Still, the scientists who produced the annual South Florida Wading Bird
Report see the increase as a sign that the Everglades' fauna can recover
from decades of unnatural water flows.
Wading birds are excellent indicators of the Everglades' overall health
because they travel over the Southeastern United States before deciding
where to breed, said John Ogden, the South Florida Water Management
District's chief representative for Everglades restoration.
Copyright © 2002 Sun-Sentinel
/ Associated Press All rights reserved.
Everglades restoration: South Estates project
could be funded next year
An environmental project in rural Collier County could be getting back on
track toward becoming one of the first initiatives in the multibillion-dollar
restoration of the Florida Everglades.
Environmental advocates hailed the renewed effort and said it could put
the focus of Everglades restoration on
Collier County. "This is a huge jump forward,"
said Mike Bauer, Southwest Florida policy director for
Audubon of Florida.
Everglades restoration planners are putting together the revised proposal
to re-establish natural water flows through Southern
Golden Gate Estates, situated south of the portion of
Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley. The plan stalled when it was beset
by questions about whether it will worsen flooding in the rural Estates
neighborhoods north of I-75 and whether it will provide enough environmental
benefit. The questions contributed to delays in asking Congress for money
for the project and delayed the project's timetable.
Copyright © 2002 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Cape Coral rallies to 'unlock docks'
City, county unite against moratorium
State and local government officials pledged their support Saturday in the
fight over a proposed moratorium on dock building in Southwest Florida.
"We really have a fight on our hands,'' state Rep. Jeff Kottkamp, R-Cape
Coral, told the crowd attending the "Moratorium Madness'' rally in Cape
Coral. "The only way to win this is to stick together.''
Temperatures in the 50s didn't keep an estimated 1,000 real estate
agents, boat dock builders, waterfront property
owners, boaters and other residents from scurrying
into Jaycee Park. Signs were held high declaring "Docks
don't kill manatees,'' and the crowd erupted in chants of "Unlock our
docks." The rally was organized by area dock builders and
Standing Watch, a statewide boating rights coalition, in response to a set of
rules released earlier this month by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Copyright © 2002 News-Press
All rights reserved.
A Closer Look: The New Rules on Industrial Plants
The Bush administration announced changes yesterday to rules on industrial plants intended to
make it easier for utilities and refinery operators to change operations and expand production without installing new emission
controls. The new Environmental Protection Agency regulation will do the following:
Set higher limits for the amount of pollution that can be released by calculating emissions plantwide rather than for individual pieces of
equipment. Rely on the highest historical pollution levels during the last decade when figuring whether a facility's overall increase in pollution requires
new controls. Give plants that have installed state-of-the-art pollution control equipment a 10-year exemption from having to make further pollution
improvements.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Wild Cities: It's a Jungle Out There
Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
Urban density is favored
over
suburban sprawl now because it
leaves wild areas like this untouched.
For most of her career, Christine Padoch did her environmental research in
distant, exotic locations like the rainforests of Amazonia and Borneo, while
Steven Handel studied evolution in the Galapagos Islands. Now Ms. Padoch, an
ecological anthropologist, takes the subway from her job at the the New York
Botanical Garden in the Bronx to count exotic vegetables at the green markets of
Queens, while Mr. Handel, a professor of evolutionary biology at Rutgers
University, is studying the vegetation that grows along the tracks of the New
Jersey transit railway — a true test, if ever there was one, of the survival
of the fittest. Their projects are examples of the new frontier of environmental studies:
urban ecology. Until recently, the only real environments thought worth studying were in
"pristine" nature, remote areas as far as possible from the footprint
of human beings.
Copyright © 2002 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Related Article,
November 29, 2002
Letter
to Editor: The New Frontier, in the Heart of the City
FARMER GETS SPIKED
Gary Farmer is irked at the way Adaptation has turned out --
but, contrary
to some gossip, he hasn't asked that his name be scrubbed from
the credits. Adaptation is the new movie (or should that be meta-movie?)
from Spike Jonze, the creator of the astonishing Being John Malkovich,
probably the
best motion picture out of Hollywood in 1999. His latest
creation, done
with Malkovich scripter Charlie Kaufman, opens Dec. 6, and the
advance buzz
is good, phenomenal, in fact. Farmer, the Canadian-born star of Dead Man and Powwow Highway,
has a
relatively modest part in the Jonze-Kaufman enterprise. He plays
a Seminole
named Buster Baxley who, in fact, is a real person from Florida,
featured
in Susan Orlean's 1999 non-fiction bestseller The Orchid Thief,
based on an
article she prepared for The New Yorker.
Copyright © 2002 Globe
and Mail All rights reserved.
Related Links,
ADAPTATION (2002)
reviews from the nation's top critics and audiences.
Also includes movie info, trailer, poster, photos, news, articles, and forum.
"Adaptation"
Movie Trailer
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formats.
"Adaptation"
Movie Stills. Click on photos for larger view.
Adaptation Nicolas Cage is both ...
Adaptation Movie Production Photos - Nicolas Cage Meryl Streep
Adaptation movie posters and memorabilia at MovieGoods
Erosion washing away wildlife refuge in Indian River
The nation's first wildlife refuge is sinking. The tiny mangrove island has whittled to half its size 30 years ago. As the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge approaches its centennial, the federal government is planning to spend millions of dollars to save the battered pelican getaway. "The long-term prognosis for Pelican Island, if we were to do nothing, would result in the island eroding to the point where it would disappear," said Paul Tritaik, refuge manager. The island in Indian River County is home to more than 30 species of birds, including brown pelican, wood stork, snowy egret and great blue heron. Loggerhead sea turtles also rest along its banks. At the turn of the century, German immigrant Paul Kroegel shooed pelican poachers with a double-barrel shotgun. It was about a 5 1/2-acre island during his days as America's first refuge manager.
Copyright © 2002 Palm Beach Post All rights reserved.Pahokee turns back clock for festival
Going back 80 years, Pahokee was not much more than farmland, a bank and a church. The farmland, the original church and that bank are still in town, each offering a bit of history that will be marked at this weekend's Grassy Waters Festival. This year's annual lakeside event at Pahokee's campground and marina will double as a celebration of the city's eighth decade, event Chairman Larry Wright said. The party begins at 10 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m., featuring a hot dog eating contest, chili cookoff, tricycle race, children's carnival and petting zoo. Gospel music and other live entertainment will play throughout the day. The event wraps up with a "Classic Looney Tunes" film festival at the Prince Theater, a short walk from the lake on Main Street.
Copyright © 2002 Palm Beach Post All rights reserved.County Loses Bid To Block New Mine
Charlotte County's arguments against more phosphate mining in the Peace River Basin were rejected Friday by a state arbiter. The ruling grants IMC Phosphates a permit to mine 2,800 acres in East Manatee County. Steve Seibert, secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, said opponents failed to prove that the phosphate mining would degrade the quality and quantity of water flowing into the Peace River, which drains into Charlotte Harbor. (IMC is Polk's fourth largest private employer with about 2,000 workers at the Four Corners, Fort Green and Kingsford mines and the New Wales and South Pierce chemical fertilizer plants.)
Copyright © 2002 The Ledger All rights reserved.First `Whooper' Returns To Wildlife Refuge
A yearling female whooping crane known as No. 7 on Friday became the first of the endangered birds to return to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. The bird's arrival generated excitement and renewed hope that a migrating colony can be established east of the Mississippi River, said Ted Ondler, deputy refuge manager. Officials say No. 7 and four other members of last year's flock still en route are coming on their own or are following a flock of sandhill cranes, their biological cousins. Sixteen cranes in this year's migrating class remained stranded Friday in Tennessee, 687 miles and 41 days into the more than 1,200-mile journey from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Those birds, like last year's, were trained to follow ultralight aircraft that serve as their surrogate mothers. Last year the migration took 55 days.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune All rights reserved.Hillsborough Bay To Stay Off List For Priority Cleanup
State regulators heard nothing Friday to persuade them to leave Hillsborough Bay on a scaled-back list of Florida waters dubbed ``impaired'' and targeted for new limits on pollutants. Members of Save Our Bays, Air and Canals met with Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials from Tallahassee and Tampa to discuss the group's concerns about periodic low dissolved oxygen readings in the bay. DEP officials said the data didn't meet new criteria to remain on a list that until this year included more than 700 bodies of water. The state is slashing about 600 from the list. Officials said Hillsborough Bay would have remained on the list because of high levels of chlorophyll, an indication of algae problems.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune All rights reserved.Skeptics question plan to restore river
A high-level water manager thinks by establishing minimum freshwater flow into the Loxahatchee it will protect a "wild and scenic river."
Saying his agency wants to avoid "analysis to paralysis," a high-level water manager came to Jupiter this week to sell a plan to establish minimum freshwater flow into the Loxahatchee River. However, local skeptics question the long-term effectiveness of the South Florida Water Management District's controversial proposal to protect and restore the "wild and scenic river." At a hearing Thursday in Jupiter Town Hall, Chip Merriam, the district's deputy executive director of water resource management, tried to boil down a 193-page draft proposal titled "Technical Documentation to Support Development Flows and Levels for the Northwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River."
Copyright © 2002 TCPalm All rights reserved.E.P.A. Says It Will Change Rules Governing Industrial Pollution
The Bush administration today announced the most sweeping move in a decade to loosen industrial air pollution rules. The administration said the changes would encourage plant improvements that would clean the air. But critics denounced the changes as a retreat from tougher rules now in place that require factories to make costly investments in pollution control equipment when they modernize. The announcement of the new rules triggered a storm of criticism from environmentalists, Democrats and some Republicans including Gov. George E. Pataki of New York. In addition, the attorneys general of the six New England states, New York, New Jersey and Maryland announced they would sue. They are all Democrats.
Copyright © 2002 NY Times online All rights reserved.Related Article,
November 26, 2002
Opinion-Editorial: Every Breath You TakeDialogue on Pollution Is Allowed to Trail Off
When William Bilkovich died in a car accident on a country road near his home in Tallahassee, Fla., on Dec. 30, 1999, Mr. Bilkovich, a 56-year-old chemical pollution expert, was listed by the police as the only victim. But the accident also turned out to be a crushing blow to a novel environmental program at Dow Chemical, where he had worked as an independent consultant bringing Dow engineers and managers together with some of the company's harshest critics. Dow says it has preserved what it learned from the program and does not need such extensive engagement with critics to pursue pollution prevention. But environmentalists contend that the most important lessons have been ignored both inside and outside the company.
Copyright © 2002 NY Times online All rights reserved.
22-November-02
Ship accused of crushing coral
A world-roaming cargo ship smashed more than 1,000 rare corals at one of Florida's most pristine dive spots when, officials say, it dropped its massive anchor in a prohibited area. A survey of the 6,500-square-foot damage site, completed last week, stunned researchers with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The 15-ton anchor flipped over corals that weigh more than 1,000 pounds and began forming their star-shaped clusters before explorer Ponce de Leon sailed over them. "This is some of the greatest destruction of living coral I've ever seen in my life," said Harold Hudson, a biologist who conducted the survey. "It was heartbreaking." For two decades, Hudson has surveyed some of the worst ship groundings along the Keys -- the world's third largest barrier reef, which was placed under federal protection in 1997.
Copyright © 2002 Palm Beach Post All rights reserved.Illnesses blamed on Florida waters
The state leads the nation in reporting disease outbreaks linked to pools and drinking water, a CDC study finds.
Hours after a group of high school cheerleaders took a dip in the pool of their Tampa hotel last year, some complained of itchy skin. Within days, 53 people who swam there, and 34 guests at a nearby hotel, reported a red bumpy rash covering their arms and legs. Hillsborough County health officials knew they had an outbreak on their hands and closed the pools. They found the pools had overloaded filtration systems and inadequate disinfection. Low chlorine and pH levels provided a breeding ground for the bacteria that caused the painful rash in the March 2001 outbreak.
Copyright © 2002 St. Petersburg Times All rights reserved.Charlotte County Looses Bid to Block New Phosphate Mine
Approval of Park Drilling Angers Environmentalists
Charlotte County's arguments against more phosphate mining in the Peace River Basin were rejected Friday by a state arbiter. The ruling grants IMC Phosphates a permit to mine 2,800 acres in East Manatee County. The order by Steve Seibert, secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, didn't stray far from a March ruling by an administrative law judge that sided strongly with IMC and state environmental regulators. Seibert said opponents failed to prove that the phosphate mining would degrade the quality and quantity of water flowing into the Peace River, which drains into Charlotte Harbor in souwestern Florida. Charlotte has 30 days to appeal to the state appeals court in Tallahsassee. Tampa attorney Ed de la Parte Jr., representing the county, said he would urge an appeal. "We're obviously disappointed in the decision," de la Parte said. "But I can't say it's unexpected.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune / Associated Press All rights reserved.
The Bush administration has approved the drilling of two new natural gas wells in this national park, which lies along the nation's longest stretch of undeveloped beach. The approval, which has not yet been publicly announced and which follows a decision last spring to permit the drilling of an exploratory gas well in the park, ratchets up an environmental quarrel about the pace and wisdom of energy development on federal land. The Interior Department, which oversees the national parks, said the drilling would be done carefully to protect the park's 80-mile-long unspoiled beach and the 11 endangered species on the island. The department points out that oil and gas exploration is not new on this barrier island. Sixty wells have been drilled here in the last 50 years, but the pace of drilling has fallen off sharply in the last two decades.
Copyright © 2002 NY Times online All rights reserved.U.S. Easing Pollution Rules to Spur Building of Power Plants
The Bush administration said today that it wanted to ease cumbersome anti-pollution rules to encourage the expansion of power plants and refineries without fouling the skies. The long-expected change in policy will actually "encourage emissions reductions" by giving plant operators more flexibility, Christie Whitman, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said at a news conference this afternoon. Ms. Whitman said that the old rules "have deterred companies from implementing projects that would increase energy efficiency and decrease air pollution." The new rules contain language more palatable to the plant operators on what constitutes "routine maintenance," a definition that can be crucial in determining how to interpret the E.P.A.'s "new source review" rules.
Copyright © 2002 NY Times online All rights reserved.Related Article,
July 28, 2001
Whitman Begins to Consider Streamlining Pollution ChecksAlvin Jackson: Keeping our water safe
Alvin Jackson's unique role in helping to manage one of Florida's lifelines: Offering job opportunities while protecting Florida's water supply
From Central to South Florida, Alvin Jackson has left a trail of accomplishments that have impacted the lives of millions of people inside and beyond the Sunshine State. As Deputy Executive Director for Corporate Resources for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) , he ensures that business opportunities are made available for qualifying entities throughout Florida. Presently, the restoration of the Everglades is the District's largest project. Read more . . .
Copyright © 2002 Onyx Magazine All rights reserved.Related Links,
Alvin Jackson's Biography (SFWMD biography)
Editorial: July 2001, Orlando Sentinel
Feathered friends' boom awes scientists
The number
of wading birds breeding in the Everglades
system skyrocketed this year to nearly
70,000 pairs- a level last estimated in 1941.Wading birds, the most visible and beautiful denizens of the Everglades, have been engaged in a breeding frenzy unseen in more than half a century. A survey recorded nearly 70,000 nests in the Everglades and surrounding natural areas this year -- half of them in one amazing rookery alone, a rare ''super colony'' packed onto a stand of willow trees rising from a sawgrass marsh a few miles west of Broward County suburbia. It was 1941 when scientists last estimated so many white ibis, snowy egrets and nine other wading species making whoopie in the Everglades. Marjory Stoneman Douglas had not yet begun writing River of Grass. Everglades National Park, dedicated in 1947, did not exist. Encouraged but cautious, scientists say it is too early to tell if the increase is part of a spectacular rebound or a statistical blip, perhaps an extraordinary surge of weather-driven bird sex.
Copyright © 2002 Miami Herald All rights reserved.
21-November-02
Exxon-Led Group Is Giving a Climate Grant to Stanford
Four big international companies, including the oil giantExxon Mobil , said yesterday that they would give Stanford University $225 million over 10 years for research on ways to meet growing energy needs without worsening global warming. Exxon Mobil, whose pledge of $100 million makes it the biggest of the four contributors, issued a statement saying new techniques for producing energy while reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases were "vital to meeting energy needs in the industrialized and developing world." Many scientists and environment experts said the Stanford project was likely to be a valuable new assault on a serious environmental problem. But some environmental campaigners said Exxon, which has long expressed skepticism about risks posed by climate change, was mainly trying to improve its image.
Copyright © 2002 NY Times online All rights reserved.Environmentalists work to block restoration of Broward beaches
Environmental activists are urging Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet to halt Broward County's plans for a massive beach restoration project because of concerns that it would destroy reefs, kill sea turtles and alter much of South Florida's offshore environment. The $52 million project -- sliced into three phases in hopes of greasing its passage through regulatory agencies -- would widen 12 miles of beach using 2.5 million cubic yards of sand dredged offshore. The work would begin in south Broward and add up to 90 feet to the shoreline stretching near condominiums and hotels while burying 13.5 acres of coral beds that scuba divers and others consider a precious natural resource comparable to the redwood forests of northern California.
Copyright © 2002 Sun-Sentinel / Associated Press All rights reserved.Related Link,
Catholic school to be built here
Ave Maria University, town planned for east Collier County
OVERVIEW: This is a rendering of the planned
university and the adjacent town of Ave Maria.
Special to The News-PressThe founder of Domino’s Pizza and the chairman of Barron Collier Companies of Naples said Wednesday they will build a private, Catholic university in a town they will build in eastern Collier County. Thomas Monaghan, Domino’s founder and chairman of the Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Mich., envisions the university as a “Catholic Princeton of the South." Monaghan will endow the school with $200 million and build it on a 750-acre site that has been donated by Barron Collier Companies. The location is in rural eastern Collier County, about five miles southwest of Immokalee — two miles north of Oil Well Road and a mile west of Camp Keais Road. Monaghan said the campus will open as soon as possible, and no later than fall 2006.
Copyright © 2002 News Press All rights reserved.Related Articles,
November 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Catholic university coming to Collier CountyNovember 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Review process maze stretches before school, townNovember 21, 2002
Environmentalists, planners like conceptRelated Links,
Key players of Ave Maria University and the Town of Ave Maria
Site in Collier rural lands area
Environmentalists, planners like concept
A 5,000-student university surrounded by a new town to serve students and staff could be Florida’s prototype for new planning techniques, environmentalists and planners said Wednesday. If Ave Maria University and its surrounding town grows as envisioned near Immokalee “it has the potential to be just the kind of development we want in areas like this,” said Mike Bauer, Southwest Florida policy coordinator for Florida Audubon. University leaders and planners who announced the project at a news conference in Vanderbilt Beach said the town will provide retail and other services for students and staff, and housing will be provided on campus. That eliminates the need for cars and furthers a sense of community, said Thomas Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza and former Detroit Tigers owner who gave $200 million to get the university under way.
Copyright © 2002 News Press All rights reserved.Related Articles,
November 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Catholic university coming to Collier CountyNovember 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Review process maze stretches before school, townNovember 21, 2002
Catholic school to be built hereRelated Links,
Key players of Ave Maria University and the Town of Ave Maria
Site in Collier rural lands area
Ave Maria: Review process maze stretches before school, town
The founders of Ave Maria University and its new town have big ideas and big money, but they'll also need stamina. Stretching out — probably for years — is a maze of local, state and federal reviews dealing with everything from road capacity to wildlife protection that planners will have to navigate before they can turn vegetable fields south of Immokalee into a university town. The development is shaping up to be the first test of a new plan for rural growth that Collier County commissioners adopted in October after three years of study. The plan is the result of a 1999 order from Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet after an administrative law judge ruled that the county was not doing a good enough job protecting the environment.
Copyright © 2002 Naples News All rights reserved.Related Articles,
November 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Catholic university coming to Collier CountyNovember 21, 2002
Environmentalists, planners like conceptNovember 21, 2002
Catholic school to be built hereRelated Links,
Key players of Ave Maria University and the Town of Ave Maria
Ave Maria: Catholic university coming to Collier County
Bernard Dobranski announces the possibility
of the Ave Maria Law School moving to the
Naples area after the Wednesday announcement
of the creation of the Ave Maria University,
the first new Catholic university in the United
States in 40 years, to be established in Collier
County. Dobranski held a press conference
at the La Playa Beach and Golf Resort on
Wednesday. Erik Kellar/StaffThe official announcement finally was made after eight months of wondering and waiting: Ave Maria University is coming to Collier County. Not only will a university be built, but a town to go with it, Ave Maria officials said Wednesday at the La Playa Beach and Golf Resort in North Naples. The venture, first mentioned as a possibility in the Naples area in March, is headed by Tom Monaghan, whose name became famous as the founder of Domino's Pizza and former owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball franchise. "Our goal is to have the finest Catholic university we can possibly build," Monaghan said. "We want to be the best Catholic university, not the biggest."
Copyright © 2002 Naples News All rights reserved.Related Articles,
November 21, 2002
Ave Maria: Review process maze stretches before school, townNovember 21, 2002
Environmentalists, planners like conceptNovember 21, 2002
Catholic school to be built hereRelated Links,
Key players of Ave Maria University and the Town of Ave Maria
Site in Collier rural lands area
NSU seeks academic village in Davie
Nova Southeastern University, along with the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University, is looking to bring a $350 million academic village with research laboratories, a 300-room hotel and 500 residential units to Davie. On Wednesday, George Hanbury II, NSU's executive vice president for administration, presented the concept to Davie Town Council members, who said they were impressed. ''We do need to move forward in a very positive fashion,'' said Councilwoman Judy Paul. "I think this is a marvelous addition." The project is far from a reality. First, the town would need to establish a mixed-use ordinance that would allow residential, retail and office uses on the same property. A key component would also be getting the United States Geological Survey to establish a science center at the complex to work on the Everglades restoration project.
Copyright © 2002 Miami Herald All rights reserved.Developer presses to add 28 acres to project east of FGCU
Would 28 more acres of gated golf course community "support and enhance" Florida Gulf Coast University? So far local agencies say it would not, but the developer of Miromar Lakes is still asking the question. Miromar Development has been trying to add the property to its sprawling project east of the university for more than a year. The request is scheduled to be presented to the Lee County Local Planning Agency on Monday. The Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management weighed in on the proposed change to the already-permitted Miromar Lakes project this week. The agency, an advisory body comprised of various civic and environmental groups, regulatory agencies and developers, sent off a letter to Lee County commissioners saying the change would amount to more of the same inappropriate development around the university.
Copyright © 2002 Naples News All rights reserved.People are lapping up groundwater
Lake County's unquenchable thirst for groundwater is expected to jump by 150 percent in coming years as rural landscape is replaced by rooftops. Huge demands could have a heavy impact on the area's water supplies, drawing down the aquifer and tainting it with pollution, according to a report to be presented today by the U.S. Geological Survey. Public water demand for growing residential areas is expected to increase by more than 185 percent - from 35 million gallons a day in 1998 to 100 million gallons a day with 20 years. Add agricultural interests and other water uses, and additional pumping could deplete groundwater levels by several feet in some areas. "The largest simulated drawdown will be in the southeastern part of Lake County as well as Mount Dora and Eustis," said USGS hydrologist Leel Knowles.
Copyright © 2002 Orlando Sentinel All Rights Reserved.Related Links,
USGS Orlando Subdistrict Office
Leel Knowles, Jr., Hydrologist (Env. Engr)
lknowles@usgs.gov
(407) 865-6725 X168New county for Estates
After plans for a new city in the Northern Belle Meade area fell through, Property Rights Action Committee (PRAC) President Bill Lhota says he has a better idea. "I think the county route is the thing to do," he says. On Nov. 13, PRAC members voted to propose a new county be established for all property east of Collier Boulevard with north and south boundaries to be decided. Established in the 1960's, the 57,000-acre Golden Gate Estates became the largest subdivision in America. Today, a state buy-out of 53,000 acres of the Southern Estates to form Picayune State Strand Forest is 90 percent complete. PRAC members say growing federal, state, and county control of their community has diluted their property rights and its time to have more say.
Copyright © 2002 Golden Gate Gazette All rights reserved.
20-November-02
Manatee County Bans Phosphate Mining On Thousands Of Acres
Manatee County has designated more than 12,000 rural acres that drain into tributaries of the Peace River as off-limits to any new phosphate mining proposals. In it's decision Tuesday, the Manatee County Commission said it wanted to better protect a drinking water supply shared by Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. Manatee County is a member of the Peace River-Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, which operates a reservoir on a stretch of the Peace River in DeSoto County. The authority supplies drinking water to Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties. Although Manatee County doesn't rely on the Peace River for potable water, its county commissioners say they have an obligation to help protect the resource for other counties downstream.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune / Associated Press All rights reserved.Village wants to develop park
In another effort to expand its recreational offerings, the village wants to develop about 320 acres of land into a park -- only this time it doesn't own the property and doesn't have the money budgeted right now to pay for it. The village is seeking proposals to develop a wetlands recreation area on land west of Flying Cow Ranch and south of Norris Road. It's owned by the South Florida Water Management District. Village Manager Charlie Lynn said he is hoping engineers can work with the water district to reach an arrangement to put the land to use. "My vision is that it would be a kind of partnership, some kind of interlocal agreement," Lynn said. "We would like to use either half of the land or any portion they would agree to work with us on."
Copyright © 2002 Palm Beach Post All rights reserved.Rock mine OK'd near Everglades
A new rock mine on the fringe of the Everglades won approval from the Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday, despite concerns about the project's environmental impact. The commission voted 12-1 to approve a 110-acre limestone mine in northwest Miami-Dade County proposed by Rinker Materials Corp., a branch of an Australian company that operates one of the largest mining operations in Florida. The limestone will go into cement, asphalt and other building materials. Environmentalists oppose the mine, as well as several others in western Miami-Dade County that recently won approval from the state and Army Corps of Engineers. They say the mines will destroy wetlands, ruin habitat for endangered wood storks, and interfere with the massive state and federal project to restore the Everglades.
Copyright © 2002 Sun-Sentinel / Associated Press All rights reserved.Land buy protects river system
A plan to buy almost 4,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land in Palm Beach and Martin counties was praised on Tuesday as a major step toward preserving part of Florida's past and ensuring clean water and a healthy environment for the future. "It gives all those animals and plants a place to live that otherwise would be bulldozed," said Joanne Davis, community planner for 1000 Friends of Florida. "It's beautiful [and] pristine. It's breathtaking." The tracts of land will be bought by several government entities, including the state, Palm Beach County, Martin County and the South Florida Water Management District. If all the pieces come together, the governments will own 3,996 acres. Agreements among the different levels of government are designed to prevent development on that land, said Richard Walesky, county director of environmental resources management.
Copyright © 2002 Sun-Sentinel / Associated Press All rights reserved.Editorial: Seibert's Commendable Job At DCA
We hope the resignation of Steve Seibert as chief of the Florida Department of Community Affairs does not signal any retreat from growth management by Gov. Jeb Bush. Seibert, an attorney and former Pinellas County commissioner, was the first major appointee of the Bush administration to announce he would not return for Bush's second term. Seibert performed admirably in a difficult job. Community Affairs oversees the state growth laws and also coordinates emergency preparedness. Since Bush had been critical of heavy-handed state oversight of local governments, many feared he would be less than zealous in enforcing growth management laws. These regulations were designed to ensure new development did not create costly problems for taxpayers, destroy the environment and harm existing neighborhoods.
Copyright © 2002 Tampa Tribune All rights reserved.Plan to obtain Cypress Creek praised
The water district will provide funds for preservation instead of the state.
Stuart Water managers on Tuesday announced a new plan to speed the purchase of about 5,000 acres in Martin and Palm Beach counties to restore and preserve the Loxahatchee River. The $41 million purchase would be completed more quickly and smoothly with the district buying the Cypress Creek property instead of using a more restrictive state funding source, said officials with the South Florida Water Management District. "It's wonderful news for the citizens," Martin County Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi said of the announcement. "This is the most fast-tracked environmental land purchase we've ever had in Martin County.
Copyright © 2002 Stuart News - TC Palm All rights reserved.Clam farming plans stalled as few quahogs found for study
Quahog farming is still on hold in Collier County as researchers scramble to find enough clams for study and state officials survey potential parcels of underwater farmland in the Ten Thousand Islands. In September, a group of local fishermen pooled their resources with state and local environmental agencies to track down at least 50 clams to determi
