1. Habitat Conservation Plan
A letter went to USFW opposing the 25 year extension
Volusia County is seeking for its Habitat Conservation Plan. Reasons: The
plan allows protected sea turtles to be killed by automobiles and mislead
by lights, with impunity, if a plan for their protection is in place. The
EC objects to the lengthy extension because of the changes in beach conditions
which have occurred in the County and which are expected to continue. Sea
level rise was 1 foot for the 20th century. This translates into 20-100
feet of beach loss in Volusia depending on the slope and sand characteristics.
The greatest loss was in the center of the County’s 30 mile beach. This
century sea level is anticipated to rise 4-5 feet due to the expected increase
in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. At present rate of growth, our population
will be well over a half billion by then! The results of this rise combined
with poor beach management practices has resulted in the loss of foredunes
in front of sea walls. On unprotected property surrounded by armored areas
the main dune has been breached. Beach driving and parking, walls and high-rise
construction are interfering with the air flow necessary for natural dune
recovery.
The situation is worsened by the County practice
of removing sand which accumulates at beach ramps, affecting nearly a half
mile of beach. Furthermore, the seawalls in the County are nothing but
sand retaining walls. They lack the rigidity, back bracing, toe scour protection
and height to remain intact after a major storm. The current erosion is
affecting turtle nesting. Many nests are reached by waves at high tide.
Only the lack of storms has allowed successful hatching. There are no State,
County or City plans covering the consequences of erosion, nor recovery
in the event of a major storm. Since the historical record averages a tropical
disturbance within 50 nautical miles of Daytona Beach each 45 months, and
as many as three in a month, any adequate Habitat Conservation Plan must
include such provisions. It also must be limited to a reasonable time period
to allow adjustment to account for continued slow erosion and also that
caused by major storm events.
2. DOT Riverfront Property in Daytona Beach
The land is still owned by DOT. The state Public
Lands Administration is about to make a decision on what uses for the property
it will allow when it is turned over to Daytona Beach. Public comments
may influence that decision. Attorneys for the City have proposed language
for the deed to include a "lively arts center". The HIRTF and the EC have
recommended the land, instead, become a stormwater treatment park. A series
of catch basins would hold rain enroute to the river so it percolates close
to where it falls. Perforated pipes would filter it before it enters. Four
foot conduits now empty untreated stormwater directly into the river. The
shoreline would be planted with littoral vegetation to absorb pollutants
from surface stormwater that does run into the river. Interpretive signs
would describe the process to heighten public awareness. The EC opposes
converting the land for development of any kind.
The proposal for a lively arts center and its impervious
surfaces, pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides will further pollute the
river and does not belong on a potentially magnificent downtown park. Daytona
Beach has made little effort to retrofit stormwater outfalls. Every year
as population increases the pollution load of the river increases. We urged
the Public Lands Administration to require the City to save this land for
its highest and best use – cleaning up and restoring the health of the
Halifax River.
3. Halifax Indian River Task Force
HIRTF composed a rough draft of 19 steps needed
to clean up the river. This vision of what the Task Force recommends will
be presented to the County Council, who will set the policy for restoration
to proceed. The Task Force hopes to achieve inclusion of the Halifax River
in the National Estuary Program. It will open up federal grant money for
the formidable job ahead.
4. Fish Kill in New Smyrna Beach
Scientist have found toxins from algal blooms of
both Trichodesmium erythraeum, which kills fish when it decays and uses
up oxygen, and red tide which releases a powerful airborn neurotoxin, called
brevetoxin, which kills fish by paralyzing their nervous system. Brevetoxin
also causes breathing problems and eye irritation in people, which occurred
in New Smyrna Beach when thousands of small fish, crabs, and related organisms
washed up along a two mile stretch. Matsof a algae were seen floating offshore.
Harmless saltwater and freshwater algae common to Florida have suddenly
and alarmingly begun to produce toxins. Scientists
say there is evidence nutrient and fertilizer runoff, wastewater discharge
and other types of pollution can induce the toxins’ release. Volusia County
should investigate the nature and location of sewage discharges in the
New Smyrna area. In addition, rain rushes off the impervious surfaces of
oceanfront development carrying pollution to the sea. Swales once existed
between dunes, before developers filled them in. They collected rain and
created a surficial aquifer. Beachside wells long ago pumped them dry.
Algae once laid under the sand from this old aquifer and fed shoreline
critters. The County should put back the swales or require rain to be collected
in stormwater ponds to recharge this ancient aquifer so necessary to the
coastal ecosystem and the ocean’s health.
5. Cisterns
Lee Bidgood has been touting the conservation benefits
of cisterns for household rainwater collection and storage. Unfortunately,
cisterns are not likely to be promoted by the County or cities because
the 50% profit local governments count on from selling water to households
would dry up if they became common. St. Johns’ alternative source study
doesn’t even mention cisterns.
6. Aquifer Storage and Recovery
The EC opposes ASR because pumping water, treated
or untreated, into the aquifer is dangerous due to the unpredictability
of the structure of the aquifer and the nature of the confining layer.
Some parts preclude movement of the water; some merely retard it. There
is no certainty that the injected water won’t mix with aquifer water. The
County needs to find out if aquifer injections of treated sewage is a cause
of toxic algal blooms.
7. St. Johns River
Summit January 13-14, 2003 at the Prime Osborn Convention
Center Jacksonville, leaders and citizens from north and central Florida
are invited to a strategic planning event to develop a comprehensive agenda
for the entire St. Johns River from its headwaters in Indian River County
to its mouth in Jacksonville. Registration deadline is December 15th. (904)
630-1770.
8. Mitigation Sites
Consolidated Tomoka now wants to build a road and
develop land along the Tomoka River that it chosen as a gopher tortoise
mitigation site for habitat it destroyed in LPGA. The EC believes that
mitigation, a concession to developers, should be based on contractual
law and therefore binding. Gopher Tortoises don’t fare will when moved.
Relocation instigates the instinct of territoriality and spread of disease
which kill many. The EC adopts the position that a mitigation site is a
contract and should be treated as a Conservation Easement into perpetuity.
If you look at www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes and 373.4136, the heading for
water resources, it appears that a mitigation plan is permanent. There
is no provision for taking it back.. Allowing Con Tom to renege on its
promised gopher tortoise habitat will result in a corridor of intense development
through what is now a vital recharge area and Tomoka River buffer.
9. Good Work
The EC thanks the County Council for the following
actions: refusing to amend the comp plan to add the Tomoka Farms Road extension
to the thoroughfare map, unanimously approving the acquisition of up to
$10 million in bonds for purchase of environmentally sensitive land, moving
quickly to purchase the 15,500 acres of Plum Creek Timberlands Company,
adding the Stanaki/Zdarsky and Ocklawaha Nurseries property to the Doris
Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve, and seeking a countywide conservation plan
from USFW to protect Scrub Jays.