Broward County's plans to revamp Everglades Holiday Park

Michael Mayo | News Columnist

Everglades Holiday Park is a funky place, and I mean that as a compliment.

There's alligator wrestling and airboat rides for tourists, unrestricted 24 /7 boat ramps for local anglers and hunters, a general store and a bait shop that seem closer to Mayberry than Weston.

That's the way it should be. At the western end of Griffin Road past U.S. 27, it's old-time Florida, the Everglades in all its unspoiled and swampy glory.

Broward County originally wanted nothing to do with the place. After being given the land by a farmer in the 1960s, the county leased the land to the state. The state has sublet the park to various concessionaires. Since 1982, the Bridges family of Fort Lauderdale has run it. Their lease expires in 2012.

This is one case where privatization seems to work. The public gets free access to bass fishing, frog and duck hunting, and tourists pay the freight with $21 airboat rides. The Bridges turn a profit and give an annual cut to the state. The state's share ranges from $100,000 to $400,000, according to Chuck Collins, the south regional director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

There's just one problem.

It's the county's land, but Broward doesn't get a cent.

I suppose another way of looking at it is the county doesn't have to spend a cent, either.

"If they have a problem with not getting a cut, I told them we'd work with them," Clint Bridges said Wednesday. "If they just gave us a lease extension, I'd pay for all the improvements they want. They wouldn't have to get their hands wet or do a damn thing, other than go to the mailbox and pick up their check."

But Broward has something more involved in mind.

The county has explored getting the park back from the state. It has hired consultants and held public workshops. There's talk of expensive refurbishments, new boat ramps and docks. There's also talk of a $10 million Everglades museum and replica 1880's village, seeded by developer Ron Bergeron and run by a nonprofit organization.

"A public-private venture," Bergeron said Wednesday. "Obviously we'd need a certain amount of participation from the county."

I hear talk like this, and I get a little clammy.

Especially when you consider the planning firm working on this is URS Corp., the same people who've done such a bang-up job with the airport expansion.

Especially when you consider Bergeron sits on the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which might have to approve the county takeover.

"I probably would recuse myself [from voting]," Bergeron said.

Especially when you consider the county is dealing with $100 million in budget cuts and may close other parks one day a week.

Is this really the time to get ambitious?

"That's why everybody's been screaming, 'It ain't broke, so don't fix it,'" said Paul Schmitz, of Pembroke Pines, a frequent duck hunter. "It's just an unencumbered, ideal place for hunting and fishing. It sounds like they want to turn this from a money-maker into a money loser."

On Wednesday, the county unveiled the revamp plan at a public forum. Among the recommendations: getting rid of on-site camping, doubling the parking from 150 to 300 spots, and building the museum to educate locals and visitors about the Everglades' history.

"We want to make it a showplace," Bob Harbin, the county's director of parks and recreation, told me earlier in the day. "The theme would be the same, but the facilities need to be brought up from 1930. What we'd build would still have a rustic appearance."

Harbin said the park would remain open round-the-clock, the No. 1 priority for local hunters and anglers who came to workshops.

"We're skeptical about that," said Rick Persson, a bass fisherman and vice-president of the South Florida Anglers for Everglades Restoration. He cited a park in Loxahatchee run by Palm Beach County that now closes at dusk. "We'd like to see improvements, but if it's going to lead to people getting shut out of the park, then what's the point?"

Michael Mayo's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Read him online weekdays at Sun-Sentinel.com/mayoblog. Reach him at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.

Broward County's plans to revamp Everglades Holiday Park

Michael Mayo | News Columnist

Everglades Holiday Park is a funky place, and I mean that as a compliment.

There's alligator wrestling and airboat rides for tourists, unrestricted 24 /7 boat ramps for local anglers and hunters, a general store and a bait shop that seem closer to Mayberry than Weston.

That's the way it should be. At the western end of Griffin Road past U.S. 27, it's old-time Florida, the Everglades in all its unspoiled and swampy glory.

Broward County originally wanted nothing to do with the place. After being given the land by a farmer in the 1960s, the county leased the land to the state. The state has sublet the park to various concessionaires. Since 1982, the Bridges family of Fort Lauderdale has run it. Their lease expires in 2012.

This is one case where privatization seems to work. The public gets free access to bass fishing, frog and duck hunting, and tourists pay the freight with $21 airboat rides. The Bridges turn a profit and give an annual cut to the state. The state's share ranges from $100,000 to $400,000, according to Chuck Collins, the south regional director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

There's just one problem.

It's the county's land, but Broward doesn't get a cent.

I suppose another way of looking at it is the county doesn't have to spend a cent, either.

"If they have a problem with not getting a cut, I told them we'd work with them," Clint Bridges said Wednesday. "If they just gave us a lease extension, I'd pay for all the improvements they want. They wouldn't have to get their hands wet or do a damn thing, other than go to the mailbox and pick up their check."

But Broward has something more involved in mind.

The county has explored getting the park back from the state. It has hired consultants and held public workshops. There's talk of expensive refurbishments, new boat ramps and docks. There's also talk of a $10 million Everglades museum and replica 1880's village, seeded by developer Ron Bergeron and run by a nonprofit organization.

"A public-private venture," Bergeron said Wednesday. "Obviously we'd need a certain amount of participation from the county."

I hear talk like this, and I get a little clammy.

Especially when you consider the planning firm working on this is URS Corp., the same people who've done such a bang-up job with the airport expansion.

Especially when you consider Bergeron sits on the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which might have to approve the county takeover.

"I probably would recuse myself [from voting]," Bergeron said.

Especially when you consider the county is dealing with $100 million in budget cuts and may close other parks one day a week.

Is this really the time to get ambitious?

"That's why everybody's been screaming, 'It ain't broke, so don't fix it,'" said Paul Schmitz, of Pembroke Pines, a frequent duck hunter. "It's just an unencumbered, ideal place for hunting and fishing. It sounds like they want to turn this from a money-maker into a money loser."

On Wednesday, the county unveiled the revamp plan at a public forum. Among the recommendations: getting rid of on-site camping, doubling the parking from 150 to 300 spots, and building the museum to educate locals and visitors about the Everglades' history.

"We want to make it a showplace," Bob Harbin, the county's director of parks and recreation, told me earlier in the day. "The theme would be the same, but the facilities need to be brought up from 1930. What we'd build would still have a rustic appearance."

Harbin said the park would remain open round-the-clock, the No. 1 priority for local hunters and anglers who came to workshops.

"We're skeptical about that," said Rick Persson, a bass fisherman and vice-president of the South Florida Anglers for Everglades Restoration. He cited a park in Loxahatchee run by Palm Beach County that now closes at dusk. "We'd like to see improvements, but if it's going to lead to people getting shut out of the park, then what's the point?"

Michael Mayo's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Read him online weekdays at Sun-Sentinel.com/mayoblog. Reach him at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.

Lake Okeechobee Hoover Dike Repair

Staff report Palm Beach Post

— The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded $28.9 million to Bauer Foundation Corp. of Clearwater for rehabilitation work on portions of the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee in Martin and Palm Beach counties.

According to a Corps news release, the construction near the Sand Cut community in northwesternmost Palm Beach County includes a 3.5-mile wall extending from the dike crest and through the foundation to a depth of about 70 feet. The wall is intended to stop "piping," or internal erosion in the dike.

In all, a 22-mile wall is being built from Port Mayaca in Martin County to Belle Glade in Palm Beach County, a stretch considered the most vulnerable of the 143-mile dike. It's expected the Corps will award more job orders in June and August.

Once awarded a job, the contractor must build a 500-foot demonstration panel to prove the technique and finished panel meets rigorous engineering standards. Engineers test the panel prior to, during and after construction.

In 2007, the Corps named the Okeechobee dike among the six dams in the country most in need of repair.

"I'm very happy with the progress we are making with the rehabilitation of Herbert Hoover Dike," Col. Paul Grosskruger, commander of the Corp's Jacksonville district, said in a prepared statement. "Each phase of rehabilitation is a step forward in providing Lake Okeechobee residents with more protection than they had before."

For information about the dike, go to www.saj.usace.army.mil or call (904) 232-1953.

Lake Okeechobee Hoover Dike Repair

Staff report Palm Beach Post

— The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded $28.9 million to Bauer Foundation Corp. of Clearwater for rehabilitation work on portions of the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee in Martin and Palm Beach counties.

According to a Corps news release, the construction near the Sand Cut community in northwesternmost Palm Beach County includes a 3.5-mile wall extending from the dike crest and through the foundation to a depth of about 70 feet. The wall is intended to stop "piping," or internal erosion in the dike.

In all, a 22-mile wall is being built from Port Mayaca in Martin County to Belle Glade in Palm Beach County, a stretch considered the most vulnerable of the 143-mile dike. It's expected the Corps will award more job orders in June and August.

Once awarded a job, the contractor must build a 500-foot demonstration panel to prove the technique and finished panel meets rigorous engineering standards. Engineers test the panel prior to, during and after construction.

In 2007, the Corps named the Okeechobee dike among the six dams in the country most in need of repair.

"I'm very happy with the progress we are making with the rehabilitation of Herbert Hoover Dike," Col. Paul Grosskruger, commander of the Corp's Jacksonville district, said in a prepared statement. "Each phase of rehabilitation is a step forward in providing Lake Okeechobee residents with more protection than they had before."

For information about the dike, go to www.saj.usace.army.mil or call (904) 232-1953.

Winter Springs man gets to cast for $1 million


Jeffrey Abbott of Winter Springs, Florida won a contest to attempt to reel in a tagged bass that is worth $1 million.

Abbott, 51, a avid Florida bass angler was selected randomly out of thousands of contestants and will compete at Tennessee's J. Percy Priest Lake on May 31. Kevin Wirth, one of the world's top-ranked anglers, will be Abbott's fishing partner for the day.

They will try to reel in 25 tagged bass connected to great prizes, including the bass worth $1 million. All prizes will go to Abbott.

From Staff and Wire Reports
BassOnline.com

Winter Springs man gets to cast for $1 million


Jeffrey Abbott of Winter Springs, Florida won a contest to attempt to reel in a tagged bass that is worth $1 million.

Abbott, 51, a avid Florida bass angler was selected randomly out of thousands of contestants and will compete at Tennessee's J. Percy Priest Lake on May 31. Kevin Wirth, one of the world's top-ranked anglers, will be Abbott's fishing partner for the day.

They will try to reel in 25 tagged bass connected to great prizes, including the bass worth $1 million. All prizes will go to Abbott.

From Staff and Wire Reports
BassOnline.com

Fish for Florida Peacock bass with New Fly Tactics

Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine

We were fortunate once again, that the folks at Florida Sportsman Magazine and outdoor writer Brett Fitzgerald were able to share once again, another new technique with there readers. Anytime you can get on the water to catch Peacock bass, especially with our friend Brett Fitzgerald you know it’s going to be a great day of fishing.

Our goal in mind was to test this new fly combination on Florida Peacock bass, we did just that!

As always, the article was written very well for your enjoyment. Stop by and pickup this months (May 2008) Florida Sportsman Magazine and learn about the new flies for Fly fishing for Florida Peacock bass!

Tight Lines,
Capt Brett (954) 445-4516
(888) 629-BASS
www.bassonline.com
www.flpeacockbass.com
www.hawghunter.net
www.basson-line.com
www.bassauthority.com

Fish for Florida Peacock bass with New Fly Tactics

Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine Florida Sportsman Magazine

We were fortunate once again, that the folks at Florida Sportsman Magazine and outdoor writer Brett Fitzgerald were able to share once again, another new technique with there readers. Anytime you can get on the water to catch Peacock bass, especially with our friend Brett Fitzgerald you know it’s going to be a great day of fishing.

Our goal in mind was to test this new fly combination on Florida Peacock bass, we did just that!

As always, the article was written very well for your enjoyment. Stop by and pickup this months (May 2008) Florida Sportsman Magazine and learn about the new flies for Fly fishing for Florida Peacock bass!

Tight Lines,
Capt Brett (954) 445-4516
(888) 629-BASS
www.bassonline.com
www.flpeacockbass.com
www.hawghunter.net
www.basson-line.com
www.bassauthority.com

Tearing down the Rodman Reservoir....Help!

Tearing down the Rodman Reservoir is at the center of the river water removal debate

EUREKA - Here, deep in the heart of Florida and miles away from anything, the Ocklawaha River meets an abandoned dam.

There's a history lesson, but the history is ebbing from memory. And the lesson couldn't be more relevant.

The Ocklawaha used to be one of Florida's biggest tourist attractions, and then one of its most ambitious economic projects, and then, some say, one of its most disgraceful environmental tragedies.

Now, this tributary of the St. Johns River has become a flash point in the debate over Central Florida's plans to withdraw river water to accommodate population growth.

You may have never seen the Ocklawaha River, or pronounced its name, or even heard of it.

But if you're concerned about the St. Johns River, you can't look away. The Ocklawaha (pronounced OCK-la-WA-ha) makes up a major portion of the St. Johns' flow - as much as a third, some say.

Water managers have identified both rivers as potential sources of drinking water for Central Florida, where development is outstripping the supply of water from underground aquifers. Upstream counties could siphon as much as 107 million gallons per day from the Ocklawaha and 155 million gallons per day from the St. Johns.

As the plans have taken shape, the St. Johns River Water Management District has taken heavy criticism from environmentalists who say the withdrawals could seriously harm the St. Johns, especially downstream in Northeast Florida. With the Ocklawaha flowing through a less populated area, it has almost seemed like an afterthought.

But Robin Lewis, a wetlands scientist and one of the directors of the Putnam County Environmental Council, said you can't talk about the issue without looking at the St. Johns River ecosystem as a whole.

"They're trying to pretend like the Ocklawaha isn't part of the St. Johns," he said of the district, which oversees water use in north and central Florida.

Officials responded to the concern that erupted in Northeast Florida with a new impact study to research further the effects, this time factoring in potential withdrawals in the Ocklawaha, among other issues.

"We might determine that ... there is not one iota of water to take," the district's Hal Wilkening said. But "if you ask us what our gut feeling is, we think there's some water that is available."

The most recent district studies - from the 1990s - say the Ocklawaha south of the Rodman Reservoir could yield as much as 100 million gallons per day of drinking water, which some utilities have proposed piping over 100 miles away to Central Florida. The district says that number will likely change after a minimum flows and levels study is complete in 2009.

The idea that the Ocklawaha has any water to spare is absurd, say advocates with the Putnam County Environmental Council, the group leading the fight to tear down the Kirkpatrick Dam, drain the Rodman and restore the river to its natural state.

They point to drying wetlands that surround the river, and degradation of the lands around the river caused by the dam.

"We ought to be in recovery mode for the Ocklawaha," Lewis said.

A split in time

Few people live on the middle Ocklawaha, because the government owns much of the land around it.

To the south, development and muck farms along the chain of lakes that make up its headwaters have kept water from the river and dumped pollutants into it and the Silver River, which contributes much of the Ocklawaha's flow.

To the north, for a 16-mile stretch from Eureka to Palatka, the Ocklawaha is dammed for a failed federal project that became the rallying cry for a national environmental movement and poster child for critics of government waste.

The Rodman and the dam were part of the final incarnation of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal, conceived as a way to link Jacksonville to the Gulf of Mexico and ports in the Midwest by cutting a path through the state. Plans for the "Ditch of Dreams," as University of Florida history professor Steven Noll describes it in an upcoming book, began as early as the 1800s.

Just three years after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded the Rodman for the first time, work on the canal ground to a halt in 1971.

The Rodman, with its shallow waters and otherworldly clusters of tree stumps, has become exceedingly popular with bass fishermen. Recreation and the area's economy became its champion, so a handful of powerful state lawmakers from Ocala to Jacksonville have blocked efforts to tear down the dam.

The parallels - scientific, political, economic - to today's fight over the dam and the rivers are inevitable, Noll said.

And as in the past, he said, both sides use science to their advantage.

Both the Ocklawaha and the St. Johns flow through small but politically influential Putnam County, which is itself in the delicate position of seeking to drink out of the Ocklawaha but fighting to protect the St. Johns, which is seen as the key to the economic revival of Palatka.

Perhaps that's why the county is so divided over the Rodman. Some see the Rodman as an accidental but valuable asset; for others, it's a lingering affront to a unique and important ecosystem.

Ed Taylor, president of Save Rodman Reservoir and a Putnam County commissioner, is among the former. "What they done was wrong, but it's turned into a good system for the citizens, [so] leave it alone."

Karen Ahlers, president of the Putnam Environmental Council, said that's a fallacy. "Every environmental study that's been done has recommended removal of Rodman dam."

There are some benefits to the pool, supporters say. The largemouth bass fishing is second to none, Taylor said.

But migratory fish species - such as mullet and catfish - have all but disappeared from the river, despite its booming bass population, Ahlers said. Biologists with the U.S. Forest Service believe the fishing there will decline over the years.

Supporters point to the question of how much Rodman filters pollution that would otherwise contaminate the St. Johns River. If you ask state officials, it's the chief issue keeping the Rodman intact. Scientists with the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are worried that tearing down the dam would permanently send more damaging nutrients into the St. Johns River, which has restrictions on such toxins.

But no one is sure of the precise impact. And the DEP may be forced to figure that out, because lawsuits are forcing it to pursue a long-dormant permit to remove the dam.

One of the lawsuits deals with manatees, one of many species that suffered because of the Rodman dam. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supports removing the dam, said Dave Hankla, field supervisor in the Jacksonville office, because that would reopen wintering sites, such as Silver Springs, to manatees.

But the most incendiary debate is over the dam's impact on the availability of water to take from the river.

How much water is there?

Taylor claims that keeping the pool could provide drinking water to Putnam without adverse effects - he said district staff told him up to 150 million gallons per day. A district spokeswoman denies that and says the figure is scientifically unsupportable.

Ahlers compared the Rodman to a backyard birdbath - as the shallow water heats up, it evaporates - and said her group's science committee has estimated the pool could lose 30 million gallons per day, more than what would be lost when water evaporates through river-side wetlands.

Mark Brown, director of the Wetlands Center at the University of Florida, said it's likely that some amount of water is lost in the Rodman vs. a restored river.

The question is how much, Brown said.

No one's sure, because the water management district hasn't studied that issue.

Wilkening, of the water management district, said he believes that removing the dam and restoring the river wouldn't affect how much water is available from the Ocklawaha. If it was pumped, it would happen south, or upstream, of the reservoir.

What isn't in dispute is that the Ocklawaha's flow into the St. Johns has already faltered. The amount of fresh water it puts into the slightly salty St. Johns has declined by more than 40 percent over the past six decades.

Again, no one agrees on why. A district analysis of the loss conducted in March says two-thirds of the loss can be explained by drought.

Lewis said even if that figure is correct, it still leaves a third unexplained. He pointed to another of the district's studies, completed in 2004, that attributed a reduced flow to declining groundwater levels caused by development, and flood control structures in Central Florida that kept lakes artificially high to the detriment of the river.

A fight to the end

Both sides have pledged to fight - or fight for - the dam and the water withdrawals until the end of the road.

What's yet to be determined is whether the recent skirmishes over the health of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha are unfolding as final chapters or merely cycles in the centuries-long sweep of the Ocklawaha's history.

Noll pointed out that the canal was halted twice - in the 1930s and the 1960s - at the precipice of environmental catastrophe. Had it not been, a vast swath of Florida could have been a wasteland.

"In the '30s, what stops the ship canal is South and Central Florida citrus growers, who assume it's going to cut into the aquifer [and contaminate it with salt water]. Scientists from the corps and the state geological survey say no, but they've got a vested interest," Noll said.

"Now, they say taking water from the river won't hurt it. I think there are definitely lessons from history."

deirdre.conner@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4504

Tearing down the Rodman Reservoir....Help!

Tearing down the Rodman Reservoir is at the center of the river water removal debate

EUREKA - Here, deep in the heart of Florida and miles away from anything, the Ocklawaha River meets an abandoned dam.

There's a history lesson, but the history is ebbing from memory. And the lesson couldn't be more relevant.

The Ocklawaha used to be one of Florida's biggest tourist attractions, and then one of its most ambitious economic projects, and then, some say, one of its most disgraceful environmental tragedies.

Now, this tributary of the St. Johns River has become a flash point in the debate over Central Florida's plans to withdraw river water to accommodate population growth.

You may have never seen the Ocklawaha River, or pronounced its name, or even heard of it.

But if you're concerned about the St. Johns River, you can't look away. The Ocklawaha (pronounced OCK-la-WA-ha) makes up a major portion of the St. Johns' flow - as much as a third, some say.

Water managers have identified both rivers as potential sources of drinking water for Central Florida, where development is outstripping the supply of water from underground aquifers. Upstream counties could siphon as much as 107 million gallons per day from the Ocklawaha and 155 million gallons per day from the St. Johns.

As the plans have taken shape, the St. Johns River Water Management District has taken heavy criticism from environmentalists who say the withdrawals could seriously harm the St. Johns, especially downstream in Northeast Florida. With the Ocklawaha flowing through a less populated area, it has almost seemed like an afterthought.

But Robin Lewis, a wetlands scientist and one of the directors of the Putnam County Environmental Council, said you can't talk about the issue without looking at the St. Johns River ecosystem as a whole.

"They're trying to pretend like the Ocklawaha isn't part of the St. Johns," he said of the district, which oversees water use in north and central Florida.

Officials responded to the concern that erupted in Northeast Florida with a new impact study to research further the effects, this time factoring in potential withdrawals in the Ocklawaha, among other issues.

"We might determine that ... there is not one iota of water to take," the district's Hal Wilkening said. But "if you ask us what our gut feeling is, we think there's some water that is available."

The most recent district studies - from the 1990s - say the Ocklawaha south of the Rodman Reservoir could yield as much as 100 million gallons per day of drinking water, which some utilities have proposed piping over 100 miles away to Central Florida. The district says that number will likely change after a minimum flows and levels study is complete in 2009.

The idea that the Ocklawaha has any water to spare is absurd, say advocates with the Putnam County Environmental Council, the group leading the fight to tear down the Kirkpatrick Dam, drain the Rodman and restore the river to its natural state.

They point to drying wetlands that surround the river, and degradation of the lands around the river caused by the dam.

"We ought to be in recovery mode for the Ocklawaha," Lewis said.

A split in time

Few people live on the middle Ocklawaha, because the government owns much of the land around it.

To the south, development and muck farms along the chain of lakes that make up its headwaters have kept water from the river and dumped pollutants into it and the Silver River, which contributes much of the Ocklawaha's flow.

To the north, for a 16-mile stretch from Eureka to Palatka, the Ocklawaha is dammed for a failed federal project that became the rallying cry for a national environmental movement and poster child for critics of government waste.

The Rodman and the dam were part of the final incarnation of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal, conceived as a way to link Jacksonville to the Gulf of Mexico and ports in the Midwest by cutting a path through the state. Plans for the "Ditch of Dreams," as University of Florida history professor Steven Noll describes it in an upcoming book, began as early as the 1800s.

Just three years after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded the Rodman for the first time, work on the canal ground to a halt in 1971.

The Rodman, with its shallow waters and otherworldly clusters of tree stumps, has become exceedingly popular with bass fishermen. Recreation and the area's economy became its champion, so a handful of powerful state lawmakers from Ocala to Jacksonville have blocked efforts to tear down the dam.

The parallels - scientific, political, economic - to today's fight over the dam and the rivers are inevitable, Noll said.

And as in the past, he said, both sides use science to their advantage.

Both the Ocklawaha and the St. Johns flow through small but politically influential Putnam County, which is itself in the delicate position of seeking to drink out of the Ocklawaha but fighting to protect the St. Johns, which is seen as the key to the economic revival of Palatka.

Perhaps that's why the county is so divided over the Rodman. Some see the Rodman as an accidental but valuable asset; for others, it's a lingering affront to a unique and important ecosystem.

Ed Taylor, president of Save Rodman Reservoir and a Putnam County commissioner, is among the former. "What they done was wrong, but it's turned into a good system for the citizens, [so] leave it alone."

Karen Ahlers, president of the Putnam Environmental Council, said that's a fallacy. "Every environmental study that's been done has recommended removal of Rodman dam."

There are some benefits to the pool, supporters say. The largemouth bass fishing is second to none, Taylor said.

But migratory fish species - such as mullet and catfish - have all but disappeared from the river, despite its booming bass population, Ahlers said. Biologists with the U.S. Forest Service believe the fishing there will decline over the years.

Supporters point to the question of how much Rodman filters pollution that would otherwise contaminate the St. Johns River. If you ask state officials, it's the chief issue keeping the Rodman intact. Scientists with the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are worried that tearing down the dam would permanently send more damaging nutrients into the St. Johns River, which has restrictions on such toxins.

But no one is sure of the precise impact. And the DEP may be forced to figure that out, because lawsuits are forcing it to pursue a long-dormant permit to remove the dam.

One of the lawsuits deals with manatees, one of many species that suffered because of the Rodman dam. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supports removing the dam, said Dave Hankla, field supervisor in the Jacksonville office, because that would reopen wintering sites, such as Silver Springs, to manatees.

But the most incendiary debate is over the dam's impact on the availability of water to take from the river.

How much water is there?

Taylor claims that keeping the pool could provide drinking water to Putnam without adverse effects - he said district staff told him up to 150 million gallons per day. A district spokeswoman denies that and says the figure is scientifically unsupportable.

Ahlers compared the Rodman to a backyard birdbath - as the shallow water heats up, it evaporates - and said her group's science committee has estimated the pool could lose 30 million gallons per day, more than what would be lost when water evaporates through river-side wetlands.

Mark Brown, director of the Wetlands Center at the University of Florida, said it's likely that some amount of water is lost in the Rodman vs. a restored river.

The question is how much, Brown said.

No one's sure, because the water management district hasn't studied that issue.

Wilkening, of the water management district, said he believes that removing the dam and restoring the river wouldn't affect how much water is available from the Ocklawaha. If it was pumped, it would happen south, or upstream, of the reservoir.

What isn't in dispute is that the Ocklawaha's flow into the St. Johns has already faltered. The amount of fresh water it puts into the slightly salty St. Johns has declined by more than 40 percent over the past six decades.

Again, no one agrees on why. A district analysis of the loss conducted in March says two-thirds of the loss can be explained by drought.

Lewis said even if that figure is correct, it still leaves a third unexplained. He pointed to another of the district's studies, completed in 2004, that attributed a reduced flow to declining groundwater levels caused by development, and flood control structures in Central Florida that kept lakes artificially high to the detriment of the river.

A fight to the end

Both sides have pledged to fight - or fight for - the dam and the water withdrawals until the end of the road.

What's yet to be determined is whether the recent skirmishes over the health of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha are unfolding as final chapters or merely cycles in the centuries-long sweep of the Ocklawaha's history.

Noll pointed out that the canal was halted twice - in the 1930s and the 1960s - at the precipice of environmental catastrophe. Had it not been, a vast swath of Florida could have been a wasteland.

"In the '30s, what stops the ship canal is South and Central Florida citrus growers, who assume it's going to cut into the aquifer [and contaminate it with salt water]. Scientists from the corps and the state geological survey say no, but they've got a vested interest," Noll said.

"Now, they say taking water from the river won't hurt it. I think there are definitely lessons from history."

deirdre.conner@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4504

Everglades Holiday Park meeting for Broward County

The Broward County Parks and Recreation Division has a public participation forum on the future of Everglades Holiday Park from 7-9 p.m. May 28 at the Long Key Natural Area, 3501 SW 130th Ave., Davie. Among the issues is Broward County's desire to make Everglades Holiday Park a county park. Call Sheryl Dickey @ 954-467-6822 or e-mail sdickey@dickeyinc.com for additional information.

If you are a Angler, Hunter, Airboater or South Florida resident and would like to voice your concerns please participate in this meeting.

See you all there,
Todd

Everglades Holiday Park meeting for Broward County

The Broward County Parks and Recreation Division has a public participation forum on the future of Everglades Holiday Park from 7-9 p.m. May 28 at the Long Key Natural Area, 3501 SW 130th Ave., Davie. Among the issues is Broward County's desire to make Everglades Holiday Park a county park. Call Sheryl Dickey @ 954-467-6822 or e-mail sdickey@dickeyinc.com for additional information.

If you are a Angler, Hunter, Airboater or South Florida resident and would like to voice your concerns please participate in this meeting.

See you all there,
Todd

Reservoir Planned to help Everglades?

Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer
Around South Florida's vast sugar cane fields, where turtles grow to the size of basketballs and alligators own the marsh, the silence of the swamp is broken by the sound of rumbling trucks and explosions.

The earth-moving equipment and high explosives are laying the foundation for a mammoth construction project: a reservoir bigger than Manhattan designed to revive the ecosystem of the once-famed River of Grass.

More than a century after the first homes and farms took shape in the Everglades, decades of flood-control projects have left the region parched and near ecological collapse. Now crews are building what will be the world's largest aboveground manmade reservoir to restore some natural water flow to the wetlands.

Engineers "built this thing beautifully," said Terrence Salt of the U.S. Interior Department, referring to the flood-control systems that practically drained the swamp to make way for development decades ago. "But as we look back at it through the lens of our current 21st-century values and understanding, you get a different take on it, which leads to our restoration efforts now."

The wetlands once covered more than 6,250 square miles, but they have shrunk by half, replaced with homes and farms and a 2,000-mile grid of drainage canals. In the process, the Everglades has lost 90 percent of its wading birds. Other creatures are at risk, too, including 68 species that are considered threatened or endangered.

The reservoir, estimated to cost up to $800 million, is the largest and most expensive part of a sweeping state and federal restoration effort.

Most man-made reservoirs are built in canyons or valleys and use a natural water source such as a river to fill in behind a dam. This one will stand on its own, contained within earth-and-concrete walls much like an aboveground swimming pool larger than many cities. Planners hope to eventually double its size.

Thomas Van Lent, a senior scientist with the Everglades Foundation, said the reservoir "is absolutely essential" to restoration efforts. But he acknowledges it will never return the region to its historical grandeur.

"There are parts you can restore completely, but you can't restore it all," he said. "It's probably unrealistic to expect Miami to move."

The Army Corps of Engineers, which is working with the state on restoration, recognizes the same limits.

"We're certainly never going to return it to the way it was 150 years ago," said the Corps' Stuart Appelbaum. "But we can do our best."

Water once flowed practically unhindered from the Everglades headwaters south of Orlando all the way into Florida Bay at the state's southern tip. But now when a hard rain falls, canals direct the overflow into the ocean to keep from inundating 5 million people who have settled in the area.

That's where the massive reservoir just south of Lake Okeechobee comes in. It will store up to 62 billion gallons of water that would normally be channeled out to sea and instead divert it into the Everglades at various times to mimic a more natural flow.

"We've developed about half of the Everglades, so we've got this very efficiently designed flood-protection system," Appelbaum said. Now engineers want to store that water so they "can put it back into the natural system to replicate what we lost when we did all the drainage."

Bulldozers and dump trucks are removing 30 million tons of dirt and muck from the reservoir site, which will then be surrounded by a 26-foot high, 21-mile levee of crushed rock and compacted soil. The levee will also have a 2-foot-thick concrete wall built into it to reduce seepage and add stability.

Major construction began in 2007. When the reservoir is compete in 2010, the shorelines will be so far apart — 6 miles at the widest — an onlooker won't be able to see from one side to the other.

The lake will be filled to an average depth of about 12.5 feet by diverting a nearby canal and adding pumps to push water into it. Officials also are considering allowing boating and fishing. The reservoir is almost sure to have alligators, too, since they are common throughout the Everglades.

No one disagrees that storing runoff water is key to reviving the Everglades, but the restoration effort has for years pitted environmentalists against the government.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has sued over the reservoir, claiming the state has not legally committed itself to using the water primarily for Everglades restoration.

The state insists 80 percent of the water will be for environmental purposes, but critics fear that without a legally binding agreement, the water could be sent elsewhere for agriculture or development.

"The Everglades and everyone deserves better than that," said council attorney Brad Sewell.

Other bodies of water planned throughout the Glades will serve in a similar way, but none will be as large as the 25-square-mile reservoir now being built.

The overall Everglades project, including the reservoir, is the largest such wetlands-restoration effort in the world. Much of its cost was supposed to be split 50-50 by the federal government and the state. But because Congress hasn't allocated its share, many aspects of the work have been delayed.

In 2000, the key parts of the restoration were estimated to cost $7.8 billion and take 30 years to finish. The price tag has now ballooned by billions of dollars because of rising construction and real estate costs. It's unknown when all the work will be complete, if ever.

While the restoration efforts have been slow-going, there are signs of success.

In the north, dozens of wading birds have returned to the Kissimmee River basin, the Everglades headwaters. In the south, a pair of newborn panther cubs were discovered last year near the Big Cypress National Preserve.

The big cats once roamed by the thousands throughout the southeastern U.S., but development has crowded out their only remaining habitat in southwest Florida. Scientists estimate there are no more than 100 panthers remaining in the state.

Carol Wehle, director of the South Florida Water Management District, said the birth of the panthers "can be directly attributed to restoration efforts."

"As we do these things, we're seeing how quickly Mother Nature actually heals herself," Wehle said.

Tight Lines,
Capt Todd
www.bassonline.com

Reservoir Planned to help Everglades?

Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer
Around South Florida's vast sugar cane fields, where turtles grow to the size of basketballs and alligators own the marsh, the silence of the swamp is broken by the sound of rumbling trucks and explosions.

The earth-moving equipment and high explosives are laying the foundation for a mammoth construction project: a reservoir bigger than Manhattan designed to revive the ecosystem of the once-famed River of Grass.

More than a century after the first homes and farms took shape in the Everglades, decades of flood-control projects have left the region parched and near ecological collapse. Now crews are building what will be the world's largest aboveground manmade reservoir to restore some natural water flow to the wetlands.

Engineers "built this thing beautifully," said Terrence Salt of the U.S. Interior Department, referring to the flood-control systems that practically drained the swamp to make way for development decades ago. "But as we look back at it through the lens of our current 21st-century values and understanding, you get a different take on it, which leads to our restoration efforts now."

The wetlands once covered more than 6,250 square miles, but they have shrunk by half, replaced with homes and farms and a 2,000-mile grid of drainage canals. In the process, the Everglades has lost 90 percent of its wading birds. Other creatures are at risk, too, including 68 species that are considered threatened or endangered.

The reservoir, estimated to cost up to $800 million, is the largest and most expensive part of a sweeping state and federal restoration effort.

Most man-made reservoirs are built in canyons or valleys and use a natural water source such as a river to fill in behind a dam. This one will stand on its own, contained within earth-and-concrete walls much like an aboveground swimming pool larger than many cities. Planners hope to eventually double its size.

Thomas Van Lent, a senior scientist with the Everglades Foundation, said the reservoir "is absolutely essential" to restoration efforts. But he acknowledges it will never return the region to its historical grandeur.

"There are parts you can restore completely, but you can't restore it all," he said. "It's probably unrealistic to expect Miami to move."

The Army Corps of Engineers, which is working with the state on restoration, recognizes the same limits.

"We're certainly never going to return it to the way it was 150 years ago," said the Corps' Stuart Appelbaum. "But we can do our best."

Water once flowed practically unhindered from the Everglades headwaters south of Orlando all the way into Florida Bay at the state's southern tip. But now when a hard rain falls, canals direct the overflow into the ocean to keep from inundating 5 million people who have settled in the area.

That's where the massive reservoir just south of Lake Okeechobee comes in. It will store up to 62 billion gallons of water that would normally be channeled out to sea and instead divert it into the Everglades at various times to mimic a more natural flow.

"We've developed about half of the Everglades, so we've got this very efficiently designed flood-protection system," Appelbaum said. Now engineers want to store that water so they "can put it back into the natural system to replicate what we lost when we did all the drainage."

Bulldozers and dump trucks are removing 30 million tons of dirt and muck from the reservoir site, which will then be surrounded by a 26-foot high, 21-mile levee of crushed rock and compacted soil. The levee will also have a 2-foot-thick concrete wall built into it to reduce seepage and add stability.

Major construction began in 2007. When the reservoir is compete in 2010, the shorelines will be so far apart — 6 miles at the widest — an onlooker won't be able to see from one side to the other.

The lake will be filled to an average depth of about 12.5 feet by diverting a nearby canal and adding pumps to push water into it. Officials also are considering allowing boating and fishing. The reservoir is almost sure to have alligators, too, since they are common throughout the Everglades.

No one disagrees that storing runoff water is key to reviving the Everglades, but the restoration effort has for years pitted environmentalists against the government.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has sued over the reservoir, claiming the state has not legally committed itself to using the water primarily for Everglades restoration.

The state insists 80 percent of the water will be for environmental purposes, but critics fear that without a legally binding agreement, the water could be sent elsewhere for agriculture or development.

"The Everglades and everyone deserves better than that," said council attorney Brad Sewell.

Other bodies of water planned throughout the Glades will serve in a similar way, but none will be as large as the 25-square-mile reservoir now being built.

The overall Everglades project, including the reservoir, is the largest such wetlands-restoration effort in the world. Much of its cost was supposed to be split 50-50 by the federal government and the state. But because Congress hasn't allocated its share, many aspects of the work have been delayed.

In 2000, the key parts of the restoration were estimated to cost $7.8 billion and take 30 years to finish. The price tag has now ballooned by billions of dollars because of rising construction and real estate costs. It's unknown when all the work will be complete, if ever.

While the restoration efforts have been slow-going, there are signs of success.

In the north, dozens of wading birds have returned to the Kissimmee River basin, the Everglades headwaters. In the south, a pair of newborn panther cubs were discovered last year near the Big Cypress National Preserve.

The big cats once roamed by the thousands throughout the southeastern U.S., but development has crowded out their only remaining habitat in southwest Florida. Scientists estimate there are no more than 100 panthers remaining in the state.

Carol Wehle, director of the South Florida Water Management District, said the birth of the panthers "can be directly attributed to restoration efforts."

"As we do these things, we're seeing how quickly Mother Nature actually heals herself," Wehle said.

Tight Lines,
Capt Todd
www.bassonline.com

Fishing agreements for Lake Seminole and St. Mary’s River

Florida and Georgia recently canceled a longstanding agreement that allowed both states’ resident senior citizens to go freshwater fishing or hunting in either state without purchasing licenses. However, special regulations adopted by the two states for Lake Seminole in Jackson County and the St. Mary’s River in Nassau and Baker counties remain in effect.
The regulations spell out that fishermen under age 16, those legally licensed in either state, exempt anglers or those who have obtained a free permanent license can fish in either water body.
The waters of Lake Seminole where Florida anglers may fish are generally defined as all waters south to the Jim Woodruff Dam and east to the area known as the Booster Club, and extending northwest across the lake to the tip of land at the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. Georgia residents, without a non-resident Florida fishing license, can fish the waters of Lake Seminole to Florida State Road 271.
The agreement covers the St. Mary’s River, with the exception of its tributaries on the Georgia side.
Bag limits for freshwater fish on both water bodies are as follows: black bass – 10 (must be 12 inches or greater); bream – 50; crappie – 30; pickerel – 15; and stripers/white bass – Lake Seminole – 15 (only two 22 inches or larger); stripers/white bass – St. Mary’s River – 2 (both fish must be 22 inches or larger).
Provided by.. www.northfloridanewsdaily.com

Good Fishing,
Capt Todd Kersey

www.bassonline.com

Fishing agreements for Lake Seminole and St. Mary’s River

Florida and Georgia recently canceled a longstanding agreement that allowed both states’ resident senior citizens to go freshwater fishing or hunting in either state without purchasing licenses. However, special regulations adopted by the two states for Lake Seminole in Jackson County and the St. Mary’s River in Nassau and Baker counties remain in effect.
The regulations spell out that fishermen under age 16, those legally licensed in either state, exempt anglers or those who have obtained a free permanent license can fish in either water body.
The waters of Lake Seminole where Florida anglers may fish are generally defined as all waters south to the Jim Woodruff Dam and east to the area known as the Booster Club, and extending northwest across the lake to the tip of land at the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. Georgia residents, without a non-resident Florida fishing license, can fish the waters of Lake Seminole to Florida State Road 271.
The agreement covers the St. Mary’s River, with the exception of its tributaries on the Georgia side.
Bag limits for freshwater fish on both water bodies are as follows: black bass – 10 (must be 12 inches or greater); bream – 50; crappie – 30; pickerel – 15; and stripers/white bass – Lake Seminole – 15 (only two 22 inches or larger); stripers/white bass – St. Mary’s River – 2 (both fish must be 22 inches or larger).
Provided by.. www.northfloridanewsdaily.com

Good Fishing,
Capt Todd Kersey

www.bassonline.com