News: Loxahatchee Refuge

 ARTHUR R. MARSHALL LOXAHATCHEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

L-40 Levee and Canal Partial Closing Begins October 1

Beginning October 1, the L-40 Levee and Canal will be closed from Loxahatchee Road north for two miles to boating, hiking, bicycling, and all other public use.   The closure, due to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction of a reservoir just east of the Refuge, is scheduled to last 12 months. This project, known as the Site 1 Impoundment Project, will capture and store storm water that would otherwise be lost to tide during dry times and preserve clean water in the Refuge.

Loxahatchee Road itself will remain open.  Only the L-40 dike and canal will be closed from around the gate area.  Hunters and other visitors can still access the parking area and the marsh except for the canal and levee going north.  Informational signs are being developed.

Cypress Swamp Boardwalk Halfway Open

The western side of the Cypress Swamp Boardwalk is open while the eastern side remains under construction.  The plan is to reopen the entire boardwalk by November 1. 

 
SCHEDULED PROGRAMS

 
Juried Art Contest - Loxahatchee Visions

The Friends are sponsoring a juried art contest and show.  Entries will be accepted at the Visitor Center from October 10-17, 2010, with a reception and award presentation Sunday, October 24, at 1:00 p.m.  After the presentation, entries will be displayed in the Auditorium through January 4 and will be available for visitors to purchase. 

This contest is open to all artists.  Each artist may submit one or two works of art, inspired by "Loxahatchee Visions".  Any media or mixed media may be used, except photographic art (save that for next year's photo contest).  Each entry must be framed and ready for hanging.  Wrapped canvas with painted edges may be used.  Size limit is 36" on each side, including frame.  

Prizes will be awarded in 2 categories - Novice (to age 18) and Adult (age 18 and older).  
First prize - $250; Second prize - $150; Third prize - $100

Winning entries will be determined by a distinguished panel of judges from FAU and the Norton Museum of Art.

The entry fee is $5 for Friends members and Refuge staff and $25 for non-members.  The fee is waived for Novices.
Bring your artwork along with the entry form and entry fee in an envelope labeled "Friends Art Contest" to the Visitor Center.  

For a complete list of rules and entry form, check the Bulletin Board at http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com 

Site 1 Impoundment Project Construction to Begin in October

The Fran Reich Preserve, named for the late west Boca Raton community organizer who led the fight against a proposed landfill, will be converted over the next four years into a reservoir as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will construct an approximately 1,660-acre, 8-foot deep, aboveground impoundment and pump station for the project, known as the Site 1 Impoundment Project.  Phase I, scheduled to begin in October, will strengthen and enhance the structural integrity of the L-40 levee. 

The impoundment will be used to capture and store stormwater runoff during wet times instead of discharging it to the Intracoastal Waterway, then release water during dry times when it is needed to provide groundwater recharge and avoid saltwater intrusion.  This will reduce the need to remove clean water from the Refuge for water supply and allow that water to remain in the Refuge and flow south.

Once complete, the project will bring several benefits to the Everglades and local communities, including:

• Maintaining water levels in the Refuge to improve habitat for native plants and animals, including the 257 species of birds that use the Refuge's diverse wetland habitats.
• Capturing and storing excess surface water runoff from the Hillsboro Watershed.
• Reducing dry season demands on water from the Refuge and Lake Okeechobee.
• Improving quantity, quality and timing of freshwater flows to the estuarine portion of the Hillsboro Canal.

The South Florida Water Management District acquired the approximately 1,800 acres needed for the project through a 50-50 cost share grant agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The total investment for these lands was approximately $8.4 million. The estimated amount to be invested in construction is $118 million, including the costs of land acquisition.  Federal funding for Phase 1 construction was invested through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress in 2009.

Exotic Fish Survey Finds No Snakehead Fish

Throughout the months of July and August the Refuge conducted an exotic fish survey to determine if the invasive and destructive fish, snakehead (Channa spp.), was present in our waters here. The survey was accomplished with the help and cooperation of many participants:  Refuge staff and volunteers, John Galvez with the South Florida Fisheries Resource Office, the Youth Conservation Corp, and students and volunteers from Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University.  Electro-fishing was the principal method used to survey the fish at eight different sites located around the Refuge, establishing fish abundance, density and species composition.  Electro-fishing uses electricity to temporarily stun the fish, leaving no permanent damage, causing them to swim near the surface where they can be more easily surveyed.

During this survey a stun boat was used, with a driver and two people to net and catch the fish in order for another three surveyors to record them on a separate boat.  Numerous fish were caught; a variety of species consisting of bowfin, largemouth bass, Florida gar, sunfish and more. Fortunately though, the snakehead was not among them. However, there were other invasive species caught including blue tilapia and the sailfin catfish, serving as a constant reminder of how delicate our ecosystem really is.  In all, 1,078 fish were caught, measured and released from the eight sample locations.  

Snakeheads are native to Africa and Asia but are imported to the U.S. as aquarium fish and for food.  They can cause ecological damage as they are top predators and have no natural enemiesoutside of their native habitats.  Remarkably, snakeheads can breathe atmospheric air and survive on land for up to four days!  They are also known to migrate up to ¼ mile on wet land to other water bodies by wiggling with their bodies and fins!

INVASIVE SNAKEHEAD ALERT!!
If you catch or see a snakehead, please call the Refuge Invasive Species Coordinator Lisa Jameson at 561-735-6025.  Thanks for helping us protect our Refuge from this Everglades invader.

Wading Bird Nesting Population in South Florida Up Significantly

The South Florida Water Management District reports that the number of nests of wading birds within the district are estimated to have more than quadrupled between 2008 and 2009.  The estimated total number of wading bird nests in South Florida was 77,505 in 2009, which eclipses the number of nests recorded during the previous high recorded year in 2002 by about 8,000 nests, and represents the largest nesting effort since the 1940s.  Increases in nesting occurred for most wading bird species and especially for the endangered wood stork.  Approximately 6,452 wood stork nests were recorded in 2009, about four times the number of nests over the average of the past decade.  

According to the SFWMD report, the 2009 survey numbers may be the result of extensive drought conditions in recent years that reduced predatory fish densities, allowing crayfish and small fish populations - which are food sources for wading birds - to increase in size and abundance. 

Notes from the Gulf 

Thoughts from National Wildlife Refuge Association President Evan Hirsche who visited Delta and Breton NWRs in Lousiana and Bon Secour NWR in Alabama last month... 

The exact toll of the spill may be never fully known. On the surface, a combination of fortuitous events prevented the disaster from becoming an all-out catastrophe. Rains in the Midwest helped swell the grand Mississippi, pushing oil away from many fragile coastal marshes, and the warm climate helps degrade oil more rapidly. The hard work of Fish and Wildlife Service staff and other agencies to boom off beaches and wetlands prevented oil from visibly affecting many federally managed lands in the Gulf, and drastic measures to protect and relocate hatchling sea-turtles prevented the loss of an entire generation. Playing an integral role in these preventative measures have been Refuge Volunteers and Friends groups, such as the Friends of Bon Secour, who have worked hard to relocate turtles and restore fragile dune ecosystems.
Yet amid the positive news that the well has finally been capped, you only need to scratch the surface to see that many more questions remain. At Bon Secour NWR, we were shown beaches that appeared to be free of oil, yet layers of congealed and weathered oil began to emerge once you dug down a few inches into the sand. Likewise, while the widespread and unprecedented use of dispersants helped prevent most of the oil from reaching beaches, out of sight does not necessarily mean out of harm’s way. Scientists fear that as microbes digest the millions of gallons of dispersed oil in the water column they have the potential to suck all of the oxygen from the water - possibly making vast tracts of open ocean inhospitable to life.
Even as BP continues to be on the hook financially for Gulf Coast recovery efforts, the immediacy of the disaster shifted federal resources away from many important wildlife conservation projects. At the peak of the response efforts, almost 900 FWS staff were deployed in the Gulf to address the oil spill, approaching 10% of the overall FWS workforce nationwide. This means that across the country, conservation projects far removed from any real impacts of the oil spill were being put on hold...  For an agency already short on money and manpower, the repercussions could continue to ripple throughout the Refuge System and have an adverse affect on our wildlife and wild lands for years to come.

Donations to the NWRA Gulf Oil Spill Recovery Fund

Oil has impacted eight refuges:  Breton, Delta, Big Branch NWRs (LA), Bon Secour NWR (AL), Grand Bay NWR (MS), St. Vincent NWR (FL) and McFaddin NWR (TX).  As of August 2nd, 563 FWS personnel were still engaged in the response - significantly less than the nearly 900 deployed at the height of the disaster.To donate to the National Wildlife Refuge Association's Gulf Oil Spill Recovery Fund, visit:

http://www.refugeassociation.org/new-issues/delta.html

- OR - 

You can make a cash donation to this fund in our Refuge Visitor Center.  Donations placed in the donation box from now until the end of the year will be given to the NWRA Gulf Oil Spill Recovery Fund to help the National Wildlife Refuges affected by the oil. 

House Includes Full Funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund in Oil Spill Legislation 

On Friday, July 30th, in response to the oil spill in the Gulf, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act or CLEAR Act. Within the bill were several provisions to help wildlife impacted by the devastation in the Gulf as well as full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, one of the most important ways the Refuge System acquires lands and water rights. The LWCF is financed by a designated portion of the receipts from offshore oil and gas leasing.  The bill helps wildlife and the people of the Gulf Coast in a number of ways. Of particular importance for the Refuge System, the bill would:

• Fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million annually without being subject to annual appropriations. Appropriators will still determine the percentage for federal and state projects including refuge land acquisitions, as well as what projects ultimately are funded every year;
• Give National Wildlife Refuges the ability to collect and keep funds for damages from oil spills;
• Provide $1.2 billion to fund a "Gulf Coast Restoration Program" and create a Gulf Restoration Task Force to bring together Gulf Coast Governors and representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies to develop a restoration plan with large-scale restoration projects for the Mississippi River Delta for Congressional approval.

A companion bill, S. 3663, was introduced in the Senate but time ran out before the August recess.  It is expected that they will return to the bill when they return the week of September 13th.  Within the Senate bill are also provisions to dramatically increase funding for LWCF as well as the National Wildlife Refuge System Resource Protection Act of 2010, which would allow the Refuge System, through the Department of the Interior, to sue for damages resulting from the loss of a Refuge System resource. 

Everglades National Park Returns to List of World Heritage in Danger 

At the request of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Senator Bill Nelson, the World Heritage Committee inscribed Everglades National Park for the second time on the List of World Heritage in Danger.  The park had been removed from the list in 2007 in recognition of efforts to restore the Everglades ecosystem.  However, the degradation has continued, with water inflows reduced by up to 60 percent and increasing nutrient pollution.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/638 

Palm Beach County Commission Gives Final Approval to 1-Year Ban on Rock Mining in EAA 

On August 26 the Palm Beach County Commission gave final approval to a year-long moratorium on rock mining in the Everglades Agricultural Area, the former marshland-turned-agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee.  

SFWMD Votes to Buy 27,000 Acres of U.S. Sugar Corp. Land for Everglades Restoration 

On August 12, the South Florida Water Management District voted unanimously to pay U.S. Sugar $197 million for 27,000 acres of land to help restore the Everglades and comply with two court orders.  Environmentalists praised the downsized deal as critical to Everglades restoration.

Read the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel articles after the vote...
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/197-million-u-s-sugar-land-deal-for-855637.html 
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-everglades-land-deal-vote-20100812,0,1798276.story 

Here are several opinion pieces on the vote...

...from the 2010 summer interns for the Marshall Foundation:  Angelique Giraud, Ed Pritchard, Dylan Scott, Adrienne Smith and Jim Wally... 
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/letters/return-on-saving-everglades-90-billion-883668.html 

...from Eric Buermann, chairman of the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board... 
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-facts-dont-change-everglades-needs-land-873372.html 

...and from the Palm Beach Post editorial board... 
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/everglades-needs-sugar-land-without-it-restoration-stalls-854540.html 

And here are some background articles on the downsizing of the original and earlier deals, with reaction from environmentalists and others... 
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/everglades-restoration-buy-of-u-s-sugar-land-841808.html
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-everglades-sugar-deal-trimmed-20100804,0,6351228.story

Competing Reservoir Project in EAA South of Lake Okeechobee may be abandoned 

The South Florida Water Management District might be allowed to abandon a $700 million reservoir project in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee, after a court-appointed special master on Tuesday said the Everglades would benefit more from the district's purchase of 27,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corp. than from completing the reservoir.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-08-31/news/fl-everglades-reservoir-recommendatio20100831_1_everglades-reservoir-everglades-restoration-land-deal
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/special-masters-recommendation-buoys-supporters-of-everglades-land-889838.html?printArticle=y

Wetlands North of Lake Okeechobee to be Restored 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wetlands Reserve Program is buying easements to restore wetlands north of Lake Okeechobee.  Restoring land near the creek will turn the drained land into a floodplain, to capture water during rainy season and release it slowly into the lake. Pollutants that endanger the lake - and eventually the Everglades - will be removed as the water meanders. The project also will restore habitat of the Florida black bear and Florida panther. 

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-07-18/news/os-everglades-protection-usda-20100718_1_fisheating-creek-nature-conservancy-everglades-ecosystem 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/more-everglades-momentum-dont-let-partisan-fight-in-844172.html

Thank You from the Marshall Foundation 

Thanks to the many friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, they were able to raise $25,000 towards a matching grant from the Batchelor Foundation.  These funds will allow the Foundation to better meet the increasing demand for its popular and well-regarded Everglades education programs, which reached more than 8,000 students in 2009.  The additional funds from the Challenge Grant will provide needed support for the school-based and community outreach initiatives developed and delivered by the Marshall Foundation.  

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Elinor

Elinor Williams
Friends of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com