Taylor Creek - Blog #3

The 2000 Florida Legislature established the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program (LOPP), which is designed to address the issues of water quality, hydrology and exotic plant management. An integrated watershed and lake management strategy is being used to improve the condition of Lake Okeechobee. This strategy uses land management practices to reduce phosphorus levels in streams draining land parcels of several hundred acres or less, regional phosphorus control technologies that impact areas ranging in size from several hundred acres to several hundred square miles and in-lake remediation projects. 

Another Taylor Creek Pic!

Taylor Creek - Blog #2

Another beautiful Pic of Taylor Creek!  That dragonfly loves to have his picture taken!

 

And here's a little background:

 

Lake Okeechobee functions as the central part of a large interconnected aquatic ecosystem beginning with the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and ending at Florida Bay south of the Everglades. It also is the major surface water body of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project. The lake provides a number of values to society and nature including water supply for agriculture, urban areas and the environment, flood protection, a multi-million dollar sport and commercial fishery, and habitat for wading birds, migratory waterfowl, and the federally endangered Everglades Snail Kite. These values of the lake have been threatened in recent decades by excessive phosphorus loading, harmful high and low water levels, and rapid expansion of exotic plants. 

Tour of Taylor Creek and Lakeside Ranch STAs - A Blog Series...

Last week I took a tour of the Taylor Creek and Lakeside Ranch STAs.  Fascinating projects!  They are both excellent examples of STAs!  Overall, it was a very enlightening, rewarding and positive experience! 

 

This week, most of my blogs will be dedicated to the Taylor Creek and Lakeside Ranch STAs, utilizing pictures from the trip, commentary and background info.  This beautiful picture is of Taylor Creek!

Water Management District unanimously approves Everglades projects

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Everglades National Park (Pic by Rodney Cammauf, National Park Service; via army.mil)

The governing board of the South Florida Water Management District yesterday voted unanimously to move forward with eight public/private partnership projects to store water in the Northern Everglades.

The projects, which are known as dispersed water management, involve enlisting private landowners in solutions to help restore the Everglades and its tributaries. The district describes (.pdf) it simply as “shallow water distributed across parcel landscapes using relatively simple structures.”

Several state conservation groups have been vocal advocates of the projects, which they say could provide benefits to both water storage and water quality. Audubon of Florida proposed asimilar project (.pdf) in 2010, saying that retrofitting canals and ditches with relatively small water control structures would allow for increased water retention for miles upstream.

The structures are also more cost effective than stormwater treatment areas or reservoirs, which can take over a decade to build and can cost as much as $76 million. Dispersed water management projects, on the other hand, can be completed in a couple years for less than half the cost.

One of the ancillary benefits of the projects is phosphorus reduction in Lake Okeechobee, which flows into the larger Caloosahatchee River. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen often lead to large-scale algal blooms that choke off oxygen to other marine species, causing fish and mammal kills and doing a number on local economies.

Water storage on Florida ranches may be beneficial to both state ranchers and the environment, but it hasn’t been without controversy. Last month, water management board member Joe Collins got caught in the crosshairs of a decision to store 34,000 acre-feet of water on Lykes Brothers ranch in Glades County. (Collins is vice president of Lykes’ ranching division.) Though Collins did not vote on the deal, which would span 10 years, many alleged a conflict of interest. The district later announced it would stick with the deal, and Collins himself said he would not resign because of it.

“These projects are cost efficient, can be implemented quickly, and build relationships with landowners,” said Audubon Everglades Policy Associate Jane Graham in response to the vote. “This is a bold step toward progress in the northern Everglades.”

South Florida Water Managers Take Steps to Increase Water Storage Dispersed water projects provide a cost-effective method of keeping water on the landscape

October 14, 2011  
CONTACT:  
Randy Smith  
South Florida Water Management District  
Office: (561) 682-2800 or Cellular: (561) 389-3386  


 

South Florida Water Managers Take Steps to Increase Water Storage
Dispersed water projects provide a cost-effective method of keeping water on the landscape

(Top) In early 2009, the Nine Gems property sat mostly dry. (Bottom) The District, in cooperation with Martin County, has since restored the land’s hydrology to add 2,000 acre-feet of regional water storage. 

West Palm Beach, FL — The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board this week approved eight cost-effective projects to increase water storage on ranches north of Lake Okeechobee while improving water quality for the Everglades as well as for the lake and coastal estuaries.

“The future of water storage north of Lake Okeechobee relies on innovative public-private partnerships and marks a milestone in our collective efforts to preserve both the Northern Everglades and our working landscapes for future generations,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam. “This program is a progressive way of achieving our shared goals of environmental restoration and a healthy and sustainable agricultural economy.”

With a $7 million investment over 10 years, the eight contracts will provide 4,800 acre-feet of water retention in the Northern Everglades to assist with meeting the storage and water quality improvement goals for the watershed. Within six months, all of the projects will be fully operational and demonstrating these cost-effective water retention services.
 
“It is imperative that we work to get the water right in South Florida, which includes both ensuring an adequate water supply and improving water quality,” said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. “The projects approved by the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board will allow the district to collaborate with property owners to retain excess water on public, private and tribal lands to ensure a more reliable water supply for Florida’s future generations.”

The projects in Okeechobee, Highlands and Polk counties, along with the amount of water able to be retained, include:

  • Alderman-Deloney Ranch: 147 acre-feet
  • Buck Island Ranch: 1,573 acre-feet
  • Dixie Ranch: 856 acre-feet
  • Dixie West: 315 acre-feet
  • Lightsey Cattle Company: 887 acre-feet
  • Lost Oak Ranch: 374 acre-feet
  • Triple A Ranch: 397 acre-feet
  • Willaway Cattle & Sod: 229 acre-feet

Dispersed Water Management Program
Since the start of its Dispersed Water Management Program in 2005, the District has collaborated with a coalition of agencies, environmental organizations, ranchers and researchers to enhance opportunities for storing excess surface water on private, public and tribal lands. In addition to utilizing regional public projects, the program encourages property owners to retain water on their land rather than drain it and to accept and detain regional runoff.

“Storing large volumes of water north and south of Lake Okeechobee is one of the most significant water management challenges facing South Florida,” said SFWMD Executive Director Melissa Meeker. “Assembling a collection of shallow, on-site retention projects — that work in conjunction with planned regional reservoirs — sustains local economies and helps to meet the State’s Everglades restoration goals.”

To expand the effort following the pilot Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project (FRESP), the District issued a solicitation in January 2011 aimed at ranch owners in the Northern Everglades region. A total of 14 proposals were evaluated and ranked in response to the competitive solicitation. The eight approved projects were determined through a Governing Board-approved negotiation process.

The selected ranchers will receive financial assistance in making the best use of existing infrastructure and/or developing new, simple infrastructure that will increase water and nutrient retention capabilities. All projects will be monitored under an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund to document that the contracts, known as Payment for Environmental Services (PES), are meeting the water retention goals.
“The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida, a supporter and contributor to the Northern Everglades – Payment for Environmental Services (NE-PES) initiative from the beginning, is excited and proud to be a part of one of the nation’s largest market-based payment for environmental services programs,” said Carlos Suarez, state conservationist for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “We anticipate that the NE-PES program will contribute toward sustaining cattle ranching as an important industry throughout the region, maintaining important wildlife habitats, improving wetlands and keeping working lands working.”

The Dispersed Water Management Program Northern Everglades – Payment for Environmental Services is being implemented in coordination with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the NRCS, World Wildlife Fund and UF/IFAS.

For more information:

·         Florida Ranchlands Environmental Services Project 

# # #

About the South Florida Water Management District
The South Florida Water Management District is a regional, governmental agency that oversees the water resources in the southern half of the state – 16 counties from Orlando to the Keys. It is the oldest and largest of the state’s five water management districts. The agency mission is to manage and protect water resources of the region by balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply. A key initiative is cleanup and restoration of the Everglades.


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Sloan Barnett: The Stinky Facts About Smelling Good

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list of your favorite fragrance? I guarantee you cannot pronounce most of the words. That can't be good. And did you also know that the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found 14 secret ingredients not even listed on the label -- they call them trade secrets. I call them synthetic chemicals. To make matters really worse, it's totally legal to omit those ingredients from the label.

It's unusual to find a household or personal-care product made without synthetic fragrances. You practically can't escape it. Recently I was putting on lipstick and I noticed it was perfumed. Why would I possibly want my lipstick to smell good? I call this "involuntary aromatherapy," and we're all exposed to it every day.

Fragrances may seem benign, but they can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Many of the individual chemicals in perfumes and other fragrances can also potentially cause damage to the liver, kidney, immune and reproductive systems.

And virtually all fragrances are stabilized with phthalates -- yes, we've heard about them before. They're plasticizers and fragrance carriers that are banned in children's toys, but still used in a wide array of consumer products, especially those containing PVC (polyvinyl chloride).
They're in nail polishes, where they keep polishes flexible; in hair sprays, where they keep your hair from stiffening too much; and -- more importantly -- in the vast majority of fragrances, where they help to stabilize, or "fix" perfumes in products to make fragrances last longer.

Phthalates are especially dangerous to children. The Washington Toxic Coalition explains in no uncertain terms that a developing baby is extremely vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals. They develop at a breakneck pace in the womb, and that development is easily derailed by toxic chemicals. Unlike adults, babies also have a very limited ability to detoxify foreign chemicals.

Just last month, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that higher prenatal exposures to phthalates significantly increased the odds of motor and behavioral developmental delay during the preschool years. The Center for Health Environment and Justice summarizes the mounting evidence against phthalates in "This is Your Brain on PVC." The facts on trends in learning disabilities are startling:

• The incidence of learning and developmental disabilities appears to be rising, affecting about one in six children in the U.S.

• The number of children in special education programs classified with learning disabilities increased 191 percent from 1977 to 1994.

• Since the early 1990s, reported cases of autism spectrum disorder have increased tenfold. One in a hundred American children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorder in the United States. Recent evidence suggests the prevalence may be as high as 17 percent for all school children.

• The U.S. has seen a six-fold increase in ADHD between the years 1985 (0.7 million cases) and 2000 (4-5 million cases).

Many naysayers believe that these numbers are exaggerated -- that we are perhaps just better today at identifying these problems in children. I say that may be true in part, but the numbers speak for themselves and are way too staggering to dismiss.

But there is a silver lining to this dark cloud: Phthalates don't build up in our bodies. When the source of exposure is removed, levels decrease quickly.

You can begin making a difference for you and your family right now by skipping PVC plastic (vinyl) in products like shower curtains, food wrap and flooring, and checking ingredient lists to avoid "fragrance" and phthalates. You can find detailed information on thousands of products in the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.

On a personal note, I stopped wearing perfume when I gave birth to my first child 11 years ago. It just didn't feel right when my infant smelled like Chanel No. 5. I may no longer smell like jasmine or spice, but I'm a lot safer.

Follow Sloan Barnett on Twitter and join Sloan on her Facebook Fan Page.

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Follow Sloan Barnett on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sloanbarnett

via huffingtonpost.com

follow my sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Florida's Everglades strategy pushes back 2016 deadline, environmental groups worry | The Florida Current

Some environmental groups on Friday said Gov. Rick Scott's new Everglades restoration strategy attempts to push back restoration seven years or more.

The governor met Thursday with top Obama administration officials to outline a restoration strategy that calls for meeting a 10 parts per billion phosphorus limit by 2025 by creating new and expanded filter marshes.

Environmental groups said Friday the strategy would delay a 2016 deadline in state law for Everglades restoration. 

"What Florida needs is Everglades restoration, not sugar industry profitability restoration; that's what this is," said David Guest, managing partner with the Earthjustice law firm in Tallahassee.

But a DEP spokeswoman said the plan is consistent with state law and court-imposed deadlines.

Other groups offered at least some praise for the governor and the federal agencies.

Audubon of Florida said in a statement that Florida and the federal agencies are working together on a strategy that can achieve restoration.

Everglades Foundation CEO Kirk Fordham said Scott appears to be focusing more on Everglades restoration. But he said shifting the cost burden from sugar farms to taxpayers is a nonstarter.

Fordham also said the initial presentation on the strategy is lacking data or details. And he expressed concerns that the plan would delay restoration beyond which the group believes is necessary.

"We're realistic enough know it is unlikely we will meet the 2016 deadline," Fordham said. "That is not to say these timelines need to be stretched out in a fashion that is unnecessary if the governor is willing to commit resources" towards restoration.

DEP Press Secretary Jennifer Diaz said the Everglades Forever Act set a 2016 deadline for initial implementation, consistent with the 10-year implementation strategy proposed by Florida consistent with court deadlines.

"All have the same goals of achieving water quality standards in the Everglades," Diaz said. She also said the cost and details of the plan still are being worked out.

Fordham also said environmental groups had concerns early about Scott but he is now paying close personal attention to the Everglades issue.

"I think it is still early enough in his term," Fordham said, "that this governor has the ability to build a legacy on Everglades issues that might surprise folks."

via thefloridacurrent.com

Gov. Scott unveils his version of Everglades restoration; reaction mixed

By Christine Stapleton

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 8:00 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, 2011

Posted: 7:56 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, 2011

Gov. Rick Scott took Everglades restoration into his own hands this week, traveling to Washington and unveiling plans to build reservoirs, unblock flow ways, control seepage and expand man-made wetlands by 2022.

Scott made his plan public after meeting Thursday with Ken Salazar, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and top officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The proposal calls for:

  • Building two reservoirs to store water 32 billion gallons of water for maintaining healthy water levels in stormwater treatment areas - the man-made wetlands that use plants to clean nutrient laden water.
  • Preventing clean water from seeping out of Everglades National Park through layers of porous underground rock and water conservation areas.
  • Restoring the natural flow of water by removing dams and structures that restrict the natural flow of water.

"A strong Florida partnership will help usher in the next generation of projects that will improve water quality in South Florida, while still protecting jobs and the state's economy," Scott said in a prepared statement Thursday night.

The plan -- partly a response to an EPA demand for fast action -- would, however, require extending the deadline for restoration to 2022 -- two years beyond the EPA's most recent deadline. The original deadline, under a federal court settlement in 1992, called for restoration to be complete by 2006.

But the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District said the governor has been pushing hard to advance the plan. "I have been amazed the last couple of months at the work that has been done," said Executive Director Melissa Meeker, whose agency is responsible for the cleanup.

Meeker said she recently met with the governor and laid out an overall plan and what she thought it might cost over the next 10 years. She told him between $45 million and $50 million a year.

"He looked at me and said, 'That's not a problem,'" Meeker said.

Meeker, who accompanied Scott to Washington, said Salazar and Jackson seemed pleased after the 90 minute meeting, which Scott led.

Environmentalists spent Friday trying to decipher the motive, timing and science behind Scott's plan.

"Until we see details, we can't embrace the plan," said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. "If the governor wants to expend some political capital on this issue and move this thing forward, we're willing to make him an Everglades champion, but we're only in the first year of his term."

Noticeably absent are any immediate plans for nearly 27,000 acres the water management district bought from U.S. Sugar for $197 million. At the time, in 2010, water managers assured taxpayers that the land was necessary for the clean-up.

Also missing from the plan are tougher rules on the use of phosphorus-laden fertilizers by farmers.

"I'm concerned that this entire effort is on treatment rather than on trying to get phosphorus out of the water before it leaves the land," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida.

Audubon and other environmental groups have argued that taxpayers get stuck with the tab for cleaning phosphorus from water polluted by growers. "If you put the entire focus on treatment, you put the entire burden on the public pocketbook, rather than the landowners' pocketbook."

However, water managers say they intend to revamp rules on fertilizer use and management practices. As for the land purchased from U.S. Sugar, it will be used for restoration, said Ernie Barnett, the district's Everglades Policy Director. Barnett stressed that the governor's plan is "conceptual" and does not contain every project.

"This is the first time I've ever thought we would achieve water quality standards in the Everglades," said Barnett, who has worked on restoration for more than 20 years.

Another veteran of the restoration process was not impressed.

"This looks more like a plan to increase the profitability of the sugar industry than a plan to restore the Everglades," said David Guest, managing attorney for the Tallahassee office of Earthjustice, a public interest law firm that has been involved in Everglades litigation several decades. Guest said he is concerned that the reservoirs called for in the governor's plan will wind up being used by growers, to irrigate their fields. "This takes public money and provides them with water storage."

Still unknown is how much Scott will involve environmental groups in restoration plans. Draper said it wasn't until Wednesday that he received a call from Herschel Vinyard, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, informing him about Scott's trip to Washington. Fordham said he also received a call the day before, and after the meeting.

via palmbeachpost.com

it's a start let's see the details!