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Glades "restoration" bump in the road.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... -news-palm
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
November 16, 2006
Three barn owl chicks found nesting in an abandoned shed stand in the way of a key part of the multibillion-dollar project to restore the Everglades.
State water managers, facing a December deadline to clean up polluted water, now plan to spend $200,000 to build around the federally protected owls.
"This is one of those little hiccups," said Tommy Strowd, an assistant deputy executive director for the South Florida Water Management District. "This is all part of building things in the swamps of South Florida."
The owls are nesting in an old maintenance shed on former sugarcane fields in Hendry County where work crews are building a "flow way," a canal that is part of an $18 million project intended to clean water that otherwise would carry pollutants into the Everglades.
It seems a little "silly" to alter a construction project aimed at helping the entire ecosystem just for the benefit of a few birds, but that is what the law requires, said district board member Mike Collins.
Working around the habitat of other protected birds as well as Florida panthers also has slowed construction of projects that are part of the more than $10 billion effort to restore the natural flow of water to the Everglades.
"The big picture stuff helps all these things," Collins said. "Some of us are getting a little frustrated. ... Across the board we are running into these issues."
But after years of draining land and destroying wildlife habitat to make room for South Florida farms and neighborhoods, environmentalists say it makes sense to save as many animals as possible.
"It all boils down to a little time and money. That's it," said Rosa Durando, conservation chairwoman of the Audubon Society of the Everglades. "What's the hurry? My God, they have destroyed the Everglades for 100 years."
The shed housing the owls stands in the path of a levee needed for a flow way that will carry water to the treatment areas -- manmade wetlands that use plants to filter phosphorus and other pollutants.
Plans call for a temporary levee to protect the building where the owls are nesting. Once the chicks grow enough to fly away, water managers plan to tear down the shed and build the permanent levee, Strowd said.
A new structure would be built next to the permanent levee so the owls have a place to nest if they return, he said.
Federal law prohibits workers from removing the nesting birds, but water managers also are working to meet a deadline imposed by a federal court to clean up runoff water.
A court order requires the flow way and expanded water treatment areas to be operational by the end of December, Strowd said.
The owl chicks could be ready to leave the nest in about a month, but that would be cutting too close to the deadline, Strowd said.
"It is getting down to the wire," Strowd said.
The judge's order came after a coalition of environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe argued that the district and other agencies had not moved fast enough to reduce the phosphorus draining off sugarcane fields.
Barn owls are found throughout Florida. They typically breed from March through July,according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Development of wooded areas and aging farms claimed much of the places barn owls used to call home, Durando said. "They have been hit hard in the last 50 years," she said.
Environmentalists say that slow-moving state agencies did more to delay Everglades cleanups than the owls or other animals they are charged to protect.
"The great priority is to do the least amount of damage to the environment," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club's Loxahatchee Group. "It makes sense to protect the owls."
Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5504.
Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... -news-palm
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
November 16, 2006
Three barn owl chicks found nesting in an abandoned shed stand in the way of a key part of the multibillion-dollar project to restore the Everglades.
State water managers, facing a December deadline to clean up polluted water, now plan to spend $200,000 to build around the federally protected owls.
"This is one of those little hiccups," said Tommy Strowd, an assistant deputy executive director for the South Florida Water Management District. "This is all part of building things in the swamps of South Florida."
The owls are nesting in an old maintenance shed on former sugarcane fields in Hendry County where work crews are building a "flow way," a canal that is part of an $18 million project intended to clean water that otherwise would carry pollutants into the Everglades.
It seems a little "silly" to alter a construction project aimed at helping the entire ecosystem just for the benefit of a few birds, but that is what the law requires, said district board member Mike Collins.
Working around the habitat of other protected birds as well as Florida panthers also has slowed construction of projects that are part of the more than $10 billion effort to restore the natural flow of water to the Everglades.
"The big picture stuff helps all these things," Collins said. "Some of us are getting a little frustrated. ... Across the board we are running into these issues."
But after years of draining land and destroying wildlife habitat to make room for South Florida farms and neighborhoods, environmentalists say it makes sense to save as many animals as possible.
"It all boils down to a little time and money. That's it," said Rosa Durando, conservation chairwoman of the Audubon Society of the Everglades. "What's the hurry? My God, they have destroyed the Everglades for 100 years."
The shed housing the owls stands in the path of a levee needed for a flow way that will carry water to the treatment areas -- manmade wetlands that use plants to filter phosphorus and other pollutants.
Plans call for a temporary levee to protect the building where the owls are nesting. Once the chicks grow enough to fly away, water managers plan to tear down the shed and build the permanent levee, Strowd said.
A new structure would be built next to the permanent levee so the owls have a place to nest if they return, he said.
Federal law prohibits workers from removing the nesting birds, but water managers also are working to meet a deadline imposed by a federal court to clean up runoff water.
A court order requires the flow way and expanded water treatment areas to be operational by the end of December, Strowd said.
The owl chicks could be ready to leave the nest in about a month, but that would be cutting too close to the deadline, Strowd said.
"It is getting down to the wire," Strowd said.
The judge's order came after a coalition of environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe argued that the district and other agencies had not moved fast enough to reduce the phosphorus draining off sugarcane fields.
Barn owls are found throughout Florida. They typically breed from March through July,according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Development of wooded areas and aging farms claimed much of the places barn owls used to call home, Durando said. "They have been hit hard in the last 50 years," she said.
Environmentalists say that slow-moving state agencies did more to delay Everglades cleanups than the owls or other animals they are charged to protect.
"The great priority is to do the least amount of damage to the environment," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club's Loxahatchee Group. "It makes sense to protect the owls."
Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5504.
Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
