Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 11-21-08

Biologist Matt Aresco of the Nokuse Plantation in Northwest Florida holds an alligator snapping turtle. (Photo: Jim Ash, Tallahassee Democrat).

FEATURED STORIES

Crist Wants Ban On Harvesting Of Freshwater Turtles
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Related Press Relase: FWC hears impassioned pleas about turtle harvest
Gov. Charlie Crist told Florida wildlife officials on Thursday that he wants to ban the harvesting of wild freshwater turtles, which are served as delicacies in Asia.

Transportation board votes in favor of Lake Jackson wildlife barrier
Generally speaking, Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency meetings aren't a big draw for the under-16 crowd.
By John Crawford
Tallahassee Democrat

Biomass debate in Tallahassee coming to a boil
Erwin Jackson, who owns about 50 homes off Jackson Bluff Road that he rents to college students, said he's going to be out of business if a proposed biomass gas electric plant is built in the area.
Related:Leon County Commissioner Proctor schedules meeting on biomass plant
By Bruce Ritchie
Tallahassee Democrat

County Planning Board Approves Bid To Build City Of Parkland
A fight is brewing in Miami-Dade County over plans to build a new city called Parkland in a location outside the urban development boundary.
Local 10 South Florida News


Ag company's $588 million offer for U.S. Sugar could snarl Everglades plans
By Susan Salisbury and Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
A Tennessee-based farming company today announced a proposal to buy out U.S. Sugar Corp., potentially throwing an enormous wrench into the state's plans to purchase the sugar giant's farming empire to save the Everglades.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Governors pledge to fight global warming together
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his counterparts in 12 states and regional leaders from four other countries signed a declaration Wednesday pledging to work together to combat global warming, a move Schwarzenegger said will help push heads of state to curb their nations' greenhouse gas emissions.
By Samantha Young
Associated Press

Miami-Dade board backs plan for Everglades suburb
Miami-Dade County's Planning Advisory Board voted 7-3 to recommend that commissioners move the Urban Development Boundary in western Miami-Dade for a new 19,000-person suburb called Parkland.
Miami Herald

Citing apathy, Kendall group takes no stance on controversial project
The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations has decided not to take a position on the controversial Parkland community that could bring up to 18,000 people to the edge of the Everglades after only 25 people showed up Monday to discuss the development.
By Yudy Pineiro
Miami Herald

Adviser tells state land in U.S. Sugar deal worth less than Florida offered
By Craig Pittman
St. Pete Times
An independent financial adviser hired by the state says the land U.S. Sugar wants to sell for Everglades restoration is worth $930-million — not the $1.3-billion the state announced last week it is willing to pay.

U.S. Sugar sees the future in plant waste: ethanol
Egrets, herons and other birds circle as a sugar harvester rolls slowly through a cane field, slicing the stalks at the base, loading them into transport trucks, and then blowing the thrash back on the ground.
By Jane Bussey
Miami Herald

U.S. Sugar deal could dissolve into duel over division of land
Even before the state's $1.34 billion land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. is done, the jockeying has begun over how to divide 181,000 acres between farming and Everglades restoration.
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Land deal could lift U.S. Sugar's sagging fortunes
Is it a buyout or a bailout? Either way, a pending deal to sell land to the state for Everglades restoration could reverse Big Sugar's flagging finances.
By Jane Bussey and Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald

Is solar the right fit
In Germany - now the world leader in solar energy production - the solar revolution started with simple legislation drafted in a city about three times the size of Gainesville.
By Megan Rolland
Gainesville Sun

Expect FPL savings, then a jolt
After pressure from consumer groups, Florida Power & Light announced Monday that it wants customers to save a couple of bucks a month starting in January -- but will ask for a basic rate hike of 6 to 9 percent in 2010.
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald

A baby step toward drilling
A Bush administration nudge toward opening waters off Virginia for oil and gas leasing is rankling environmentalists, who have begun lobbying President-elect Barack Obama to reinstate an offshore drilling ban lifted by President George W. Bush last summer.
By Kirsten B. Mitchell
Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Thousands of Florida softshell turtles end up on dinner plates in Asia
Hauled from canals and marshes around Lake Okeechobee, turtles arrive in the late afternoon at Jones Fish House, a corrugated metal structure on the Palm Beach County side of the lake.
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

St. Johns River activists battle DeLand
The debate over taking water from the St. Johns River has spread to another venue, with environmental activists faulting withdrawal plans by DeLand.
By Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union

Gov. Crist: “hold the line” on urban sprawl
Environment Florida
Fall 2008 Report
This summer, Environment Florida teamed up with Progress Florida to deliver a sixty-foot long scroll of petition signatures to Gov. Charlie Crist at the state capitol.


Critically endangered Florida Panther.



Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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Take action: Crist asked to stop turtle harvest

Crist asked to stop turtle harvest
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
November 20, 2008

Biologists Wednesday urged Gov. Charlie Crist to impose an immediate ban on the commercial harvesting of wild turtles before a skyrocketing demand in Asia dooms them.

Although little research has been done on the size of Florida's turtle population, an emergency rule that limits the catch to 20 soft shell turtles per day isn't working, the scientists say.

"The rate of capture is still too high and the data that we have suggests that this is unsustainable," said Matt Aresco, director of the 50,000-acre Nokuse Plantation preserve in Walton County.

Soft shell turtles can take up to 10 years to mature sexually and only one in 100 eggs survives because of natural predation, Aresco said.

"Everything eats them," he said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission adopted the 20-per-day limit in September at the urging of the scientists. Their studies show that only about 10 percent of Florida's exported turtles come from the wild. The rest come from turtle farms, according to state regulators. Environmentalists dispute the figures.

Commissioners are scheduled to discuss permanent regulations at a workshop in Tallahassee today.

The threat emerged about two years ago as Chinese and Asian fresh-water turtle populations collapsed and the industry turned to U.S. suppliers in the South to meet demand.

The turtles are prized for their meat as well as their shells and other body parts, which are ground into potions for folk remedies.

Commercial harvesters argue that they have access to only a tiny percentage of Florida's 7,000 freshwater lakes and that turtles are teeming in private water bodies where they can't go. Environmentalists dispute the claim.

"Seventy-five percent of soft shell turtle habitat is actually accessible to harvesters," Aresco said.

A group of 35 scientists sent a letter Monday to Gov. Charlie Crist pleading with him to intervene.

"He's still studying it," said his spokesman, Sterling Ivey.

The emergency rule was originally put in place for a year while regulators study the issue. The commission has since moved up the deadline for proposing a final rule to April with a vote in July.


Concern over freshwater turtle harvest reverberates with the FWC
Press Release
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comission
November 18, 2008

Hearing “loud and clear” the concerns raised by turtle scientists about freshwater turtles, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has fast-tracked its process for managing the freshwater turtle harvest in Florida and welcomes all input.

“The concern shown for the freshwater turtles in Florida has registered with us loud and clear,” said Ken Haddad, executive director of the FWC. “As a result, we have accelerated our process to develop the best possible strategies for turtles. We will take a few months to gather the facts; then we can build on consensus.”

Haddad said the FWC certainly appreciates all the input received from turtle scientists, fishermen and others on freshwater turtle harvest, and the agency will continue to welcome their insight as it moves rapidly toward developing a management strategy.

“This cooperative attitude will ensure that we develop the very best policy for freshwater turtles,” Haddad said.

The FWC passed a new rule in September that limits the harvest of wild Florida freshwater turtles to five per day per person. Each fisherman with a commercial license is allowed to harvest an additional 15 Florida softshell turtles per day, for a total of 20. The FWC will monitor and enforce the current rule to ensure the turtles are being adequately protected.

“The recently passed rule provides an interim period to give us time to understand the issue and verify information,” Haddad said. “We have moved up our schedule and are working rapidly to pass a new management strategy that will ensure appropriate regulations by June.”

FWC’s rule-making requires specific steps to provide proper public due process. The FWC will seek input over the next few months. Staff will present the proposed management strategy at the Commission’s April meeting. Commissioners will vote on the final plan and regulations at June’s meeting.

The best months (September and October) for harvesting freshwater turtles has passed in Florida. During cooler weather, turtles move at a much slower pace and eat less food, making them difficult to harvest. In addition, May 1 begins the closed season for harvest of the Florida softshell turtle which goes until July 31.

“By the time the closed season ends, we will have made our decision on the harvest of freshwater turtles,” Haddad said. “We don’t see the situation as an emergency, especially in light of the seasonal slow down and closed season.”

On Thursday, Nov. 20, the FWC will meet with turtle experts, including scientists and fishermen, and with concerned residents regarding a long-term plan for the harvest of freshwater turtles. The meeting will be 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Tampa Port Authority Board Room, 1101 Channelside Dr. in Tampa.

The public is invited to attend and provide information and engage in an open discussion of the pertinent information regarding freshwater turtle harvest in Florida. Experts with a variety of perspectives are expected to present information and answer questions.


HOW YOU CAN HELP
FWC will collect information from turtle experts, fishermen, and concerned residents regarding a long-term plan for the harvest of freshwater turtles at a meeting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, November 20 at the Tampa Port Authority Board Room, 1101 Channelside Dr. in Tampa. If you have information about freshwater turtle harvests in Florida, please share your observations with FWC at this meeting, or by email to bill.turner@myfwc.com. You are also encouraged to email Gov. Charlie Crist at Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com urging him to ban Florida’s freshwater turtle harvest altogether.

RELATED NEWS STORIES
Thousands of Florida softshell turtles end up on dinner plates in Asia
Hauled from canals and marshes around Lake Okeechobee, turtles arrive in the late afternoon at Jones Fish House, a corrugated metal structure on the Palm Beach County side of the lake.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
November 19, 2008
China gobbling up Florida turtles
A rising demand in China for turtles for food and medicine has led to the round-up of thousands of turtles from Florida's lakes, ponds and canals.
St. Petersburg Times
October 6, 2008

MORE INFO AND WAYS TO HELP
Support the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust and click here to read their September 29th press release.
Support The Lake Jackson Ecopassage.
Support The Gopher Tortoise Council.
Check out the Center for Biological Diversity report: Unsustainable Commercial Harvest of Southern Freshwater Turtles.

 
 
 Wildwood Preservation Society is part of the Florida Endangered Species Network.



Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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Action Alert: Major Wildlife Decision In Leon County Monday, November 17th

11/18/08 UPDATE: It passed! The Lake Jackson Ecopassage will finally be funded! Read the Tallahassee Democrat article here.

Road mortality for turtles is higher on Highway US 27 in Tallahassee than anywhere else in the world. Your email today in support of the Lake Jackson Ecopassage could make the difference. Please read the important message below from Dr. Matt Aresco, President of the Lake Jackson Ecopassage Alliance:

On Monday, November 17th, the Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA) will vote on whether or not to prioritize the construction of the Lake Jackson Ecopassage project for FDOT's Transportation Enhancement funds. These are Federal funds that are allocated to each State for projects such as wildlife crossings.

This project will be the first wildlife crossing project built in Northwest Florida and will consist of a wall and multi-culvert system to allow for safe passage of wildlife.

Please contact the members of the CRTPA to ask them to vote in favor of this project at: crtpa@lakejacksonturtles.org.

If you live in the Leon County, Florida area, please attend the meeting at 1 pm in the Tallahassee City Commission Chambers and express your support of the funding for this project using the Transportation Enhancement funds.



BACKGROUND:
The Lake Jackson State Aquatic Preserve near Tallahassee, Florida is bisected by 4-lane U.S. Highway 27, which is a virtually impassable barrier to turtles and other wildlife with 25,000 vehicles traveling on it per day. Road mortality and attempted crossings of turtles is higher on U.S. 27 than has ever been documented anywhere in the world - over 9,000 turtles in 7 years on a one mile stretch of highway!

More than 12,000 reptiles and amphibians of 45 different species have been saved from death
on the highway by temporary silt fences that were installed by the Lake Jackson Ecopassage
Alliance. Yet over 2,000 animals of 60 different species have still been road-killed.

For more information please see
http://www.lakejacksonturtles.org/crtpameeting.htm

Thank you for your help.

Matt Aresco
President
Lake Jackson Ecopassage Alliance, Inc.
P.O. Box 180891
Tallahassee, FL 32318



Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 11-14-08

FEATURED STORIES

Contaminated sugar fields could add millions to Everglades cleanup costs
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
More than half the land the state is poised to acquire from sugar growers has levels of pollution that could harm wildlife and cost tens of millions of dollars to clean up.

West Kendall Community Council approves controversial development
By Xavier A. Martinez
Miami Herald
In a 5-1 vote, the West Kendall Community Council passed a motion Monday recommending approval of the controversial Lennar led Parkland 2018 development, a 6,841 residential unit community estimated to eventually be the home for 18,000 people in Southwest Miami-Dade.

Climate change threatens Florida's drinking water supply
By Asjylyn Loder
St. Pete Times
If climatologists are right, Florida's future could be a thirsty one: Climate change, blamed for eating away at Florida's coastline, is also quietly encroaching on the state's drinking water.

Bush makes last-minute environmental deregulation push
By Renee Schoof
McClatchy News Service
Miami Herald
In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia.


White Ibis in Everglades National Park.


MORE GREEN NEWS

Florida and U.S. Sugar Revamp Everglades Deal
By Damien Cave
New York Times
Gov. Charlie Crist and the United States Sugar Corporation are close to an agreement that would scale back the state’s ambitious purchase of the company to gain a wide swath of land for Everglades restoration, environmental groups close to the negotiations said Monday.

U.S. Sugar deal draws water managers' concern
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Related: Florida-Big Sugar deal boosts towns, firm
The governor may be sweet on the new Big Sugar deal, but the water managers he appointed still have plenty of reservations.

Is deal enough to save Glades?
By Kate spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
In front of the home where Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote the famous book that dubbed the Everglades a River of Grass, environmental advocates, water managers and sugar producers on Wednesday applauded Gov. Charlie Crist's latest, less costly plan to buy U.S. Sugar land and save the national treasure.

U.S. Sugar: Reduced $1.3B Everglades deal will save tax dollars, 1,700 jobs
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
From five months of intense negotiation amid a global economic quake, a deal emerged after all: Florida will buy nearly all of U.S. Sugar's farmland - a tract nearly the size of New York City - for $1.34 billion to restore the Everglades, the company announced today.

FWC undercover investigation nets multi-million-dollar marine-life theft ring
Press Release
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
A six-month undercover investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has led to the arrest of eight members of a Tampa Bay area crime ring, engaged in a multi-million-dollar scheme to illegally exploit and export the state’s marine resources.

FPL customers pay for others' mistakes
Editorial
Miami Herald
If a bad employee makes a costly error -- whether intentional or not -- there isn't much mystery about who will pay for the damage.

Progress Energy can hike rates 25%
Associated Press
Orlando Sentinel
Progress Energy, a key electricity provider in Central Florida, received approval to boost rates 25 percent, the largest in a series of approvals Wednesday

Officials say increase in sea turtle nests locally
By Valli Finney
Naples News
A dramatic increase in the number of loggerhead sea turtle nests locally is good news.

Ga. governor questions Fla. argument in water wars
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue looks at his state's pristine coastline and then at the development Florida allows on its shores and said he wonders how Florida officials can preach about the environment.

High court sides with Navy on sonar use
By Bo Petersen
Charleston Post and Courier
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Wednesday might have torpedoed environmental opposition to proposed Navy sonar ranges off the East Coast.

Florida hoteliers key in on green
By Cindy Swirko
Gainesville Sun
Not that you should do this at the next hotel you visit, but you could flush a potato down the toilet without fear of it stopping it up if the toilet is like the water-saving model on display at the first-ever Florida Green Lodging Conference in Gainesville.

Does $11.5M Econlockhatchee deal cross the line?
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
The Econlockhatchee River is an imperiled environmental treasure and a designated barrier east of Orlando that developers aren't supposed to cross.

Rarity of One Hawk Species Mysterious
By Tom Palmer
Lakeland Ledger
First time I saw a short-tailed hawk was 25 years ago at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.

2006 vandalism at FPL nuclear plant raises concern about worker screenings
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Information unveiled this week raises troubling questions about a 2006 act of vandalism at Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point nuclear power plant - vandalism that has already cost utility customers $6.2 million

Loggerhead sea turtles: Thriving or declining?
By Ludmilla Lelis
Orlando Sentinel
It was a better season in Florida for loggerhead sea turtles, with more nests dug at many beaches than last year.

Disease imperils iconic native palms
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A deadly bacteria that is killing imported, high-maintenance palms decorating Florida landscapes now threatens the ubiquitous sabal palm, emblazoned on the state seal.

New try at state birding
By Mark Lane
Daytona Beach News-Journal
In most places, using a state symbol as a civics teaching tool would be a simple, noncontroversial thing to do. But this is Florida. There are political traps one can't foresee.

Bald eagles at risk again in Florida
Opinion
Pensacola News-Journal
When I found a bird with a broken wing several years ago, I gently scooped it into a box and took it to the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida at its former location near Midway.


Bald Eagle in flight over Kennedy Space Center.



Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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Save Florida's Freshwater Turtles

From Audubon of Florida:
State Requests Public Input on Florida’s Freshwater Turtle Harvest

Turtle experts and conservationists are concerned about the status of Florida’s freshwater turtles, in light of recent reports of unusually large freshwater turtle harvests and a growing demand for wild-caught turtles as food and pets. Many of these turtles are slow-growing, slow to reach sexual maturity, and relatively easy to harvest. As a result, large harvests of adult turtles could have devastating, long-lasting population effects.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has implemented stopgap harvest limits while it develops a comprehensive management strategy for these turtles. Some turtle experts, however, have raised concerns that these restrictions will not be sufficient to protect Florida’s freshwater turtles from overharvest. Little data exists on the magnitude and geographic distribution of the current harvest. Accordingly, FWC is asking the public for reports or evidence of harvests across Florida.

At its Jacksonville meeting in September, the FWC limited the harvest of wild Florida freshwater turtles to five per day per person. Each fisherman with a commercial license will be allowed to harvest an additional 15 Florida softshell turtles per day, for a total of 20 per day.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
FWC will collect information from turtle experts, fishermen, and concerned residents regarding a long-term plan for the harvest of freshwater turtles at a meeting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, November 20 at the Tampa Port Authority Board Room, 1101 Channelside Dr. in Tampa. If you have information about freshwater turtle harvests in Florida, please share your observations with FWC at this meeting, or by email to bill.turner@myfwc.com.

RELATED NEWS STORIES
China gobbling up Florida turtles
A rising demand in China for turtles for food and medicine has led to the round-up of thousands of turtles from Florida's lakes, ponds and canals.
St. Petersburg Times
October 6, 2008
Florida Turtle Market
China’s insatiable demand for turtles is prompting hunters to trap tens of thousands in Florida and export them to Asian markets.
Associated Press
WMBB News Panama City
October 6, 2008
Turtle hunters face new limits
Those with a taste for turtles can only harvest five native Florida freshwater turtles per day. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission passed the new turtle harvest limit Wednesday during its regular meeting in Jacksonville.
Florida Today
September 18, 2008

MORE INFO AND WAYS TO HELP
Support the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust and click here to read their September 29th press release.
Support The Lake Jackson Ecopassage.
Support The Gopher Tortoise Council.
Check out the Center for Biological Diversity report: Unsustainable Commercial Harvest of Southern Freshwater Turtles.

 
 
 Wildwood Preservation Society is part of the Florida Endangered Species Network.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. View/subscribe to our blog here.

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Winter 2008-09 Updates

Endangered wood storks nesting in Fred George Basin Summer 2008.

Winter 2008-09 Update

Thanks to your support Wildwood Preservation Society has helped put the brakes on three potentially disastrous developments in just the past few months!

• Mahan Massacre: WPS assisted Progress Florida in generating over 1,000 online petition signatures from concerned Big Bend area residents opposing the Rockaway development, aka Mahan Massacre east of Tallahassee. Tallahassee City Commissioner Debbie Lightsey rightly called the Mahan Massacre “the poster child for urban sprawl.” This massive development would have been located outside the Urban Services Area, allowing more than 10 times the number of homes than current zoning laws provide. After submitting the petitions to Florida’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the DCA rejected the project citing many of the same concerns we expressed. As noted in this recent Tallahassee Democrat article, the developers have agreed to halt the project but intend to submit a revised proposal in the future.

• Everglades sprawl: WPS teamed up with our friends at Hold The Line and Progress Florida in rallying thousands of Floridians from around the state to sign a petition to Gov. Charlie Crist urging the DCA to reject two developments, including a Lowe's big box retail center that threatened the Everglades. On Friday July 18th DCA did exactly that. But our work isn't done. Lowe's, who still wants to cement urban sprawl to the edge of the Everglades, plans to fight this decision. "We feel confident that the decision will be overturned,'' declared a Lowe's attorney in response to the DCA's decision. There are 111 Lowe's stores in Florida but there's only one Everglades. It’s very easy to email Lowe’s and tell them to protect the Everglades, not pave it – simply click here. Let’s keep the pressure on Lowe’s.

• Thomasville industrial park: This summer WPS Founder Misty Penton helped a group of activists in Thomasville, Georgia prevent a land transfer that would have resulted in a pristine 200-acre forested area being converted into an industrial park. After numerous community members spoke in favor of preservation, the Thomas County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to spare the land, reversing a previous decision. This Thomaville Times-Enterprise story has the details.
  

Meanwhile our commitment to protecting the remaining undeveloped portion of Fred George Basin is stronger than ever. The endangered wood storks completed a highly successful mating season and the Wildwood rookery now sits abandoned – until next spring. With South Florida colonies like the critically important Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on the decline, the conservation of fragile habitat in places like Fred George Basin is absolutely critical.

Flooded meadow in Fred George Basin following Tropical Storm Fay in August 2008.

After battling drought for the past couple years, the Big Bend region was inundated with intense flooding courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay in late August as evidenced by the photo above. With Fred George Sink acting as a tiny drainhole for the entire basin, some flooding is inevitable under extreme conditions. However, as noted in our blog post here, reckless development can greatly exacerbate the problem and is already blamed for flooding in some parts of the county.

WPS is expanding our web outreach. Check out our blog for all the latest Florida environmental and wildlife news. Join other environmental activists from around the state on MySpace at the Florida Environmental Leaders Network group. And Facebook users can now network with us at our newly created page here.

WPS is proud to have been awarded special recognition from A United Journey 4 Humanity for our continuing efforts to save Fred George Basin. WPS joins other outstanding difference-makers in receiving this honor.

Volunteers gather to clear debris from trail easement in southwest Tallahassee July 19th, 2008. Photo courtesy John Kalin.

WPS Founder Misty Penton led a group of volunteers, including members of the FSU Environmental Service Program, in clearing trash and debris from a city-owned trail easement that is slated to become an important addition to the local greenway system. Workers gathered bags of cans, bottles, plastic, bicycle frames, an old truck tire and assorted debris from an old homeless camp. Click here for more photos and information, and thanks to everyone who participated!

Finally, following her appointment earlier this year, WPS Founder Misty Penton has been elected to a full term on the Ochlockonee River Soil and Water Conservation District Board. The mission of the Ochlockonee River Soil and Water Conservation District Board is to annually assess the condition of the soils and waters, both above and below ground, in Leon County; to educate the public about the state of the soils and waters; to educate the public about conservation practices which will enhance the conditions of the soils and waters; and to promote and advocate conservation practices and policies which will benefit the soils and waters of the County.

Wildwood Preservation Society is an all-volunteer nonprofit effort. Thanks to all of our supporters, volunteers and coalition members. Did you miss our last update? Click here. Questions? Email us at wildwoodpreservation@gmail.com.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. View/subscribe to our blog here.

"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 11-7-08

FEATURED STORIES

Audubon of Florida Lauds Passage by Florida Voters of Amendment 4
Press Release
Audubon of Florida
Constitutional Amendment 4 will conserve Florida's water resources and wildlife habitats by providing tax incentives to private landowners who manage their land for conservation.

Battle looms on development push to the edge of the Everglades
By Matthew Haggman
Miami Herald
Related: West Kendall council moves along Parkland project
Fireworks are expected at the first hearing on a controversial proposal to move the Urban Development Boundary to build a town on West Miami-Dade farmland.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Florida Crystals looks to expand violation-plagued power plant
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Florida Crystals, already one of the nation's largest sugar producers, wants to play a bigger part in developing renewable energy by expanding the power plant it has used since 1995 to turn leftover sugar cane into electricity.

Co-op wants slice of land from U.S. Sugar buyout
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
The smallest of Florida's three major sugar companies wants a piece of the 187,000 acres the state is negotiating to purchase in its $1.75 billion buyout of U.S. Sugar Corp.

The Division of Florida
By Alan Farago
Counterpunch
The US presidential campaign has only addressed in generic terms the wreckage caused by Wall Street, the absence of financial regulation and the wages of greed, and not at all how that feeding tube connects locally: too many platted subdivisions in farmland and wetlands and condos barricading Florida's coasts.

FPL asks to raise rates by 7 percent
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida Power & Light Co. customers could see their monthly electric bills increase by more than 7 percent next year if the state approves the utility's environmental, fuel and energy conservation fees totaling almost $7.3 billion.

Early turtle roundup upbeat
By Michelle Spitzer
Florida Today
Despite Tropical Storm Fay and bouts of strong wind, sea turtle nesting season ended Friday with encouraging results.

Saving a vanishing species
By Georgia Tasker
Miami Herald
Exploring South Florida and the Caribbean with his notebook and camera in the early 20th century, the botanist John Kunkle Small, with the New York Botanical Garden, hiked through vast areas of botanical richness.




Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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