Because 10 endangered snail kites are nesting in the Kissimmee River floodplain, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has ordered a halt to the vital storage of 1.4 feet of river water north of Lake Okeechobee.
What does that mean?
It means the Endangered Species Act has kicked in.
It means water must stay in the Kissimmee, where it will move ever steadily, ever more dangerously, into Lake Okeechobee.
It means 10 kite nests take precedence over the hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and public safety concerns in a region already under the governor's state-of-emergency declaration.
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) claims it has no choice. Yet, following FWS's stop-storage order means the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be forced to flush 20 billion more gallons of water -- that's BILLION with a "b" -- from the lake into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
Good for the kites, maybe, but very bad for the long-suffering residents of Lee, Martin, and St. Lucie counties.
Shock and anger continues to grow over algae blooms that plague counties to the east and west of the big lake. The algae blooms that grow lightning-fast when the lake water is released are clogging waterways, keeping boats and swimmers out of the water, and killing businesses and fish. In Martin County, commissioners last week discussed the algae problem before more than 300 people crowded into the commission chambers. Commissioners called on the Army Corps to close the lock between the lake and the St. Lucie River. And the Corps agreed to do it over a very short term. But at this moment, Lake O’s water level is at 15 feet, which is high. The Corps has said its first concern is protecting the structural integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dike, which keeps the lake under control.
"This is crazy," claims SFWMD spokesman Randy Smith. "Fish and Wildlife is failing to acknowledge the real health and human safety issues here. When they threaten regulatory action because of actions we're taking to protect the safety of humans, it clearly shows the need for an objective and common-sense review of the Endangered Species Act."
According to biologists Steve Schubert and Marla Hamilton at FWS's South Florida Ecological Services Field Office in Vero Beach, the water is so low in the river, predators are getting to the nests (kites nest on the ground or in a bush), and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes (KCOL) is too high for the birds' welfare.
Bob Progulske, Everglades program supervisor for FWS in Vero Beach, emailed the order to the District Wednesday.
"The purpose of this email is for the Service to inform the SFWMD that there are 10 active snail kite nests on the Kissimmee River flood plain as of 6/27/16," Progulske wrote. "There appears to have been a rapid recession of approximately 1.4 feet in this area since the UF crew last surveyed (6/27/2016), which may result in unauthorized take of kite nests. The District does not have incidental take coverage for any snail kites or kite nests within the KCOL or the Kissimmee River. It is the Service’s recommendation that the District return water levels back to June 27, 2016 conditions and coordinate with us regarding options on how to avoid or minimize take of snail kites in the KCOL and on the Kissimmee River."
The word Progulske uses is recommendation. But this is the federal government talking -- it's more an edict than a recommendation.
FWS's Schubert said the Service has to stand by the Endangered Species Act.
Schubert said there's no reason for the river water to flow to the lake anyway. "There's a water control structure on the river --S-65C. The Water Management District can control and hold more water on the floodplain, upstream of that structure."
SFWMD's Smith says no, water is being held in Lake Toho and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes now. There's no room at the inn. The only place for water to go in a more swollen river is Lake Okeechobee.
The Everglade snail kite is listed as an endangered species in Florida. Research has demonstrated that water-level control in the Everglades has depleted the population of the golf-ball-sized native apple snail, once the bird's sole diet. But here's the rub: With the introduction of a baseball-sized apple snail from South America, the Everglade kite is staging a robust comeback.
There were just 800 snail kites in Florida in 2008. Then their numbers grew to about 1,200 birds in 2013, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Now, the federal Wildlife Service's Hamilton says the population is about 1,700 and holding.
That's more than good news in my estimation. It should be a conversation starter on reviewing the Endangered Species Act, and establishing circumstances for when the Act can be relaxed, at least temporarily, where there is truly an emergency. It's not as if the SFWMD wants to replace the nests with a shopping mall.
I tried to reach Florida Audubon's chief executive, Eric Draper; my phone calls to the Miami office Thursday were not returned.
I think the District's Smith has it right.
Understand, my husband and I have been birders all our adult lives. We are still members of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and during the early 1970s until we moved to the States our family's two-week vacation invariably was volunteering at Peter Scott's Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. In Florida we spent a lot of time with binoculars and cameras in a canoe. I say this so you know I certainly don't take endangered species lightly.
But 10 snail kite nests vs. 20 billion gallons of water released into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries? Here is a classic example of U.S. Fish and Wildlife focusing narrowly on an "endangered" bird population -- which is actually on the rise, not the decline. Meanwhile, it's disregarding the emergency conditions caused by algae blooms, sometimes toxic -- growing as if they were on steroids.
The Water Management District, like the federal FWS, like the Army Corps, has a job to do: It's trying to provide relief in a crisis by holding water in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes; to keep it from reaching Lake Okeechobee and making matters worse when the east-west floodgates open.
Coastal residents affected by Lake O need a break.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
