Defenders of Wildlife Blog

©Pauline I. Stacey

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

Last month, we celebrated the First Annual Everglades Day, designated by the Florida legislature in recognition of America’s unique and intriguingly diverse Everglades ecoregion. The date, April 7th, was also the birthday of the late Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, an iconic heroine and newspaper reporter who spent many years writing about and advocating for Everglades protection.

The Everglades region is recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. The area encompasses three national parks, and a dozen national wildlife refuges and marine preserves, as well as a host of state, regional and local parks, forests and wildlife management areas. Extensive private land holdings in the region are also an integral component of valuable wildlife habitat ranging from 100,000-acre ranches to thousands of one-acre lots.

Biodiversity here is among the highest in the nation, with many species found nowhere else in the U.S. Many of Defenders’ key species are in the region, including Florida panthers, manatees, sea turtles, gopher tortoises and other listed species such as the Everglade kite, wood stork, Big Cypress fox squirrel, American crocodile and Key deer.

The Everglades are truly a national treasure and deserve the utmost protection and management. Without adequate funding, we’d be unable to acquire the habitat and linkages that species like panthers and bears need, protect water quality or work to protect natural systems from degradation and invasive species.

Throughout the month of April, we took action to protect south Florida’s Greater Everglades region. Defenders’ Florida Representative Elizabeth Fleming, our lobbyist Travis Moore and I, as well as other Everglades Coalition members, met with volunteers from around the state in Tallahassee to speak with our state senators and representatives who were in the midst of the Florida legislative session. Our message: The state budget needs to provide adequate funding for Everglades protection and restoration projects that protect our water and wildlife. One third of all Floridians rely on clean water from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and more than 120 federal and state endangered and threatened species depend on the region’s varied wetland, upland and marine habitats. The health of the Everglades brings economic health to the region. Quite simply, what’s good for the Everglades is good for southern Florida and beyond, because its visitors and migratory wildlife come from around the globe.

Staff and volunteers on the steps of the Florida Capitol.(©Pauline I. Stacey)

This was the first trip to the state capital for Will Johnson, a Defenders volunteer who made the nearly 7-hour drive to Tallahassee from Naples, who said, “Everglades Action Day is a great opportunity to engage with legislators and a wonderful group of activists to help preserve and protect the beauty and wildlife of Florida.”

Another volunteer, Magdalena Braker, took the long ride by joining others on a chartered bus that the Everglades Coalition reserved for the event, starting in Miami and picking up activists along way. Magdalena urged legislators to provide funding and support for the Everglades with this message: “La riqueza natural y servicios ambientales de los Everglades se están marchitando debajo presiones urbanas y venimos para emfátizar la importancia de los Everglades tanto para las especies silvestre como para los ciudadanos del sur de la Florida.” Which means:

“The natural resources and ecosystem services of the Everglades are withering under the pressures of urbanization, and we come here to emphasize the importance of the Everglades, not only for the native wildlife, but for South Floridians.”

The nearly 60 volunteers who made the trip from around the state to Tallahassee attended more than 30 meetings with their elected officials, asking them to make funding for the Everglades a priority. And it made an important contribution to Everglades protection! Just last week, as the 2013 legislative session concluded, the Florida Legislature designated $70M for Everglades restoration projects. Thanks for all who participated in our action day! If you’re in Florida, join us next year for lobby days at the state capital! And no matter where you live, get to know your state representative and senator back in your district. It always makes a big difference when elected officials hear directly from their constituents.

Fl. Representative Powell meets with volunteers and activists (©Pauline I. Stacey)

An oiled pelican on the Gulf Coast (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

This Saturday, April 20th, will mark the third anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. By Earth Day 2010, we had learned the terrible news that 11 men had died in an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and we hoped an environmental crisis was not going to follow.

But follow it did. Over 200 million gallons of oil spewed from a failed drilling operation nearly a mile below the ocean surface: hot, highly pressurized petroleum hydrocarbons that had been stewing for millions of years. In the days that turned into months of frantic work to seal the well, the oil and attempts to contain it caused direct and long term damage to wildlife and their habitat, including an unknown number of deaths.

How can there be restitution for such an assault on the precious and extensive resources of the Gulf? How can the environmental losses be restored and the related economic losses be compensated? Sea turtles, whales and dolphins surfacing to breathe and sea birds resting or diving into the ocean were covered with oil. Seahorses and juvenile sea turtles living in the floating sargassum seaweed mats were killed when the mats were showered with dispersants and burned. Below the surface, deep sea coral colonies and shallow seagrass beds died due to the toxic combination of dispersants and oil. And on the beach, shorebird nests and chicks were trampled and scraped away by uninformed workers during cleanup operations, while heavy equipment and lights disturbed and harmed wildlife. Every part of the Gulf was affected by the spill, from its shores to the sea floor. People dependent upon marine resources, from shrimpers to hotel and restaurant owners, lost significant livelihood, and some of those living along the affected areas suffer ongoing illnesses.

Oil floats in the water off the coast of Louisiana. (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

A complex combination of legislation and lawsuits is causing the responsible parties, British Petroleum (BP) and others, to pay significant costs and fines. Penalties under the RESTORE Act passed by Congress on June 29, 2012 will make $4 billion available for restoration and improvement of the Gulf and for the people that suffered losses due to the spill. The RESTORE Act ensures that 80 percent of Deepwater Horizon civil and administrative penalties under the Clean Water Act will go to Gulf Coast restoration, and sets up a framework that can ensure coordination between the Gulf States and the Federal government.

Defenders’ Florida Representative Elizabeth Fleming and I recently attended a public meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, which is evaluating which projects are most important to fund. The meeting was held to listen to information from the public about what actions we believed would be of the greatest benefit to the Gulf.

On behalf of Defenders, I presented a report that we produced with the National Wildlife Refuge Association that describes tracts of conservation land along the Gulf Coast and connections inland that should be acquired and added to the refuge system. This will protect wildlife habitat and help wildlife adapt to the impacts we are experiencing as a result of climate change and sea level rise. Examples include expanding the Gulf Islands National Seashore to protect sea turtle nesting beaches as well as people’s access to the coastline, and adding to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to complete the ocean-to-inland connection that wildlife will need to rely on as they adapt to climate change.

Shorebirds like this rely on the beaches affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

I pointed out three principles that I think should guide the decisions on how to spend the restoration funds. First, all projects, including those not focused on the environment (boat ramps and the like) must result in ecosystem benefits. Second, all projects should also take climate change and sea level rise into consideration. And lastly, the most important action we can take is to acquire valuable conservation areas that add to our system of natural resource lands and wildlife habitat.

Author Carl Safina in his book “A Sea in Flames,” closes with an observation on northern gannets — large, shining white seabirds that migrate from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. Gannets dive for their prey and so they are directly affected by oil adhering to their bodies and by eating contaminated fish. Safina remarks that the first oiled bird whose image was in the news during the Gulf oil disaster was a gannet, and that seabird biologists speculated that up to a third of the population would be affected. The gannet already faces a host of threats near its breeding grounds, and is now suffering the impacts of the oil spill even 2,000 miles away, where it spends the off-season.

It is clear that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will continue to affect wildlife and habitat for years to come. Our job now is to help our damaged Gulf regain its health with carefully planned, enduring restoration work.

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

Wood Stork (c)Terry Foote

The American wood stork has made a notable comeback in the nearly 20 years since it was put on the endangered species list. Historic nesting colonies in the Greater Everglades continue to need concerted conservation action and habitat restoration for a full recovery — the largest wood stork rookery in the nation at Corkscrew Swamp has had no nesting in five of the last six years. But there is still cause to celebrate: today there are between 7,000 and 9,500 breeding pairs in the wild, well above the 6,000 pair marker needed to upgrade the bird’s overall status from endangered to threatened, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed doing in December.  It’s an important species here in Florida, and the recent news of its progress was a fitting end-of-the-year announcement for all who care about our nation’s wildlife.  It’s also a fitting reminder of the importance of the Endangered Species Act, as it enters its fortieth year.

The Endangered Species Act was signed into law by Richard Nixon in December of 1973 and since its inception, less than one percent of species on the list have been removed due to extinction. The act is an enduring piece of legislation, and for good reason: it works.

With 60 Florida animal species currently on the federal endangered species list, the Endangered Species Act has had particular impact in this state.  Wood storks aren’t the only species here that are moving away from the brink of extinction: many others, such as the Florida panther, Key deer, brown pelican and manatee, have benefited significantly from the conservation efforts of the Endangered Species Act.

But wildlife conservation in Florida doesn’t just help species.  It also contributes to our local economies: manatee watching in Florida state parks and snorkeling at protected coral reefs in the Florida Keys attracts thousands of visitors and generates millions of dollars in revenue per year.  Our wildlife refuges, known across the United States for the wide range of species and habitats they protect, also provide jobs and revenue to nearby communities.

A gopher tortoise – another endangered species living in Florida (c)NASA

Despite this success, the Endangered Species Act faces countless attacks from the oil industry and corporate agriculture interests, to say nothing of relentless attacks from extreme anti-conservation Members of Congress. It’s a shame they don’t value and appreciate what the loss of protection for Florida imperiled wildlife would mean for both our economy and the many delicate ecosystems in our state.  And that’s not all: protected habitat serves a vital role in buffering human communities from natural disasters.  As we look back on the disastrous weather events of 2012-record drought, forest fires, and a devastating hurricane- we must also look to the year ahead and beyond, and recognize that preserving endangered species and their habitat contributes to our own health, safety and prosperity.

The Endangered Species Act is a cornerstone of our nation’s conservation laws, like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. It acknowledges the beauty of the diverse wildlife and natural landscapes across our country and is a demonstration of the commitment we made decades ago to preserve our natural heritage.   In the words of Richard Nixon, in its wildlife and wild places the United States has “a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike.” The continued recovery of the wood stork under the Endangered Species Act is but the latest progress we’ve had in preserving that treasure for future generations.

I relish the opportunity to get out and experience firsthand the places—and wildlife—that we at Defenders work so hard to protect. To spend a day exploring the habitat of panthers and bears, butterflies and salamanders, pines, palms and orchids, is truly a delight, and I know that not everyone is so lucky to have a job that combines their passion and their profession.

This month my work allowed me to join environmental photojournalist Carlton Ward Jr, bear biologist Joe Guthrie, filmmaker Elam Stoltzfuz, and refuge complex superintendent Kevin Godsea for a hike through the uplands and swamps of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The 11 miles we trekked were just a small part of the 100-day, 1000-mile journey the men are taking through some of the state’s most wild places on what they call the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition.

The expedition is an effort to increase public awareness and generate support for establishing a Florida wildlife corridor that would protect and restore connected landscapes throughout the Florida Peninsula in order to create a viable link from the Everglades to Georgia. Such a corridor is critical for Florida wildlife like black bears and panthers, which need lots of room to roam. Unfortunately, that amount of land is no short order in an ever-developing Sunshine State, and the challenges involved are many. The good news is that many landowners are interested in maintaining their ranches in ways that also provide valuable wildlife habitat; the expedition hopes to increase awareness and support of ways to do so.

A migration corridor is critical for Florida's wide-ranging black bears.

The expedition began on January 17 in Everglades National Park, and will take the travelers north through the state of Florida, ending in Georgia, just across the Florida border, at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Defenders supports this bold adventure as it inspires citizens and visitors to join all of us who are working to save the state’s native wildlife and the network of habitat they and we depend upon. Check out my footage from my incredible day on the trail and learn more about how you can follow the crew along their journey!

Learn more:

Visit the expedition website to learn more and follow the crew throughout their journey.

In March, Laurie and the rest Defenders’ Florida staff will welcome the crew of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition to the annual Florida Black Bear Festival in Umatilla. Stay tuned for details about the festival and the opportunity to hear from the trekkers themselves!