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Bait and Switch
Developers continue to call the shots in the western Everglades, where the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act are routinely flouted. Meanwhile, wetlands that protect against floods, provide the public with drinking water, and sustain all kinds of wildlife are being destroyed by federal sleight of hand.
Audubon Mar./Apr. 2008
In south Florida wood storks used to nest in late fall, when September’s heavy rainwater had receded into shallow pools, trapping the fish and crayfish on which nestlings depend. But as more and more wetlands in the wood stork’s core foraging area get filled and paved, the land sheds water faster. Now most storks nest in January and February, some even in March. The later they nest, the less successful they are. That’s because if weather or predators destroy a clutch, they don’t have time to renest.
From Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary’s 2.25-mile-long boardwalk Jason Lauritsen and Brad Cornell showed me once-great wood stork nesting habitat, now degraded by distant, off-site wetlands destruction. We walked over and through lakes, sloughs, saw-grass marshes, pine flatwoods, wet prairies, and the continent’s largest stand of bald cypress trees, some of which were mature before Columbus was born. I saw no melaleuca. Virtually all of it had been removed with a little hard work and by non-developers.
“Getting storks to nest in November and December again will be key to their recovery,” declared Cornell. “And to do that we need to preserve and restore their foraging opportunities. The Mirasol, Parklands, and Saturnia Falls sites all represent shallow wetlands that provide food for storks in November. Losing this habitat will further force them into late nesting.”
Grade-schoolers pushed past us, stopping to watch dragonflies and butterflies or listen to their volunteer guides, teachers, and cell phones.
I had towed my own children down this same boardwalk many times when wood storks, loaded down with fish caught miles away, glided over our heads on white, black-trimmed wings, long beaks protruding almost as far from bald necks as long legs from stubby tails. It’s a scene I hope to show my grandchildren.
But it looks like I need to hurry. Despite the ongoing nesting disaster in south Florida, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to downlist the species to threatened.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
In its campaign to reform federal wetlands management in the western Everglades, Audubon needs funds and voices. Urge others to join. For more information on our work and challenges, click here.
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