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Bad news plagues cranes' migration

The birds are led to Florida every year by ultralight. But this year they've had a nine-day layover in Indiana, and one was found dead Thursday.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
Published November 11, 2005

CRYSTAL RIVER - Grounded by shifting and strong winds, the annual ultralight-led migration of whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Central Florida has been stalled for the past week in Morgan County in Indiana.

Despite complications that such a long stay in one stop can bring for the experimental flock, there was far worse news for those working with the young birds.

They found one of the 20 cranes dead in its pen early Thursday morning, according to reports by Joe Duff on the Operation Migration Web site. The crane, designated No. 526, had an injury around its eye but no other outward signs that aggression among the other birds caused its death.

The bird was the youngest of this year's flock, at 159 days. The veterinarian on site could not determine how it died. The crane will be sent off for a necropsy. The group also got the bad news that a third-year crane, designated No. 304, was recently found dead at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin. That is where the young birds are trained to fly after the ultralights and where each migration has begun for the past five years.

The cause of that bird's death also will be determined by necropsy. The deaths put the number of adult whooping cranes in the migration project at 41 and the number of chicks in this year's group at 19.

The cranes were set to be moved around a bit on Thursday and given a pumpkin to play with to try to stave off boredom, which can lead to aggression among the territorial birds.

Duff also voiced concern in his daily Web site entry about the long delay in Morgan County. If the birds don't fly this morning, it will mark the longest stop in one place during the migrations since they began. The stay would be nine days today, 10 counting the day they arrived.

Already the stay marks the longest that the birds have gone without seeing the ultralight aircraft in the entire history of the project.

"When they are sedentary in the pen for this long, they get reluctant to leave and we can expect our next flight, whenever it happens, to be challenging," Duff reported.

So far, the group has traveled less than 400 miles toward its eventual goal of 1,200. While each previous year, the final destination for the birds has been the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, no decision has been made on that location for this year. Because of problems last year with the interactions between the chicks and the adults from previous years that still fly to the same location, trainers have been talking about an alternative site this year for the chicks.

The older birds can be aggressive toward the young birds as they come into the pens at Chassahowitzka. The adults also eat the food set out for the chicks rather than foraging as they should. There has been concern that the aggressive behavior could drive young birds out of the safe pen area and into a spot where they can be vulnerable to predators. Several birds over the years have been lost to bobcats.

Migration organizers are considering landing the "Class of 2005" in the Halpata Tastanaki Preserve, which is in Marion County. The 8,110-acre property, managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, includes wetland areas along the Withlacoochee River with oak scrub and floodplain swamp and upland areas of longleaf pine and turkey oak sandhills.

The reserve is named for Seminole leader Halpata Tastanaki or Chief Alligator, one of 1,000 warriors who took part in the largest battle of the Second Seminole War in 1836, according to Swiftmud descriptions of the site.

If the chicks are sent to the Marion preserve, the traditional flyover, which draws hundreds of people to the Crystal River Mall each year, might instead be planned for the Dunnellon Airport.

The birds might be held at the preserve until the adult cranes figure out that they won't be getting a free meal in Chassahowitzka and move to other locations, said Jim Kraus, manager of the Chassahowitzka refuge for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After the adults leave, the ultralights might be used to move the birds the 26 miles to Chassahowitzka, and a Crystal River Mall flyover might still happen.

"That's why they call this an experimental population," Kraus said. "Everything about it is experimental."

He said the success in leading the birds on their first migration has caused the problem. When they make the flight on their own the next year, they come right back to the same location. As territorial animals, that causes conflict.

"Most wildlife reintroductions are full of surprises," Kraus said.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 11, 2005, 01:18:21]

Offshore drilling plan ditched

Republican leaders in the U.S. House dump a proposal to allow oil and gas drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coast because it jeopardized a budget bill.

By WES ALLISON and GRAHAM BRINK
Published November 10, 2005

A controversial plan to allow oil and gas drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coast was scrapped late Wednesday night by Republican leaders in the U.S. House.

After months of negotiations that caused a rare rift among Florida Republicans in the House, Republican leaders decided a plan that would have allowed drilling in vast swaths of the eastern Gulf of Mexico jeopardized a larger budget bill.

Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, worked with House leaders late into Wednesday night to strip the drilling provision from the bill.

Shaw said he and several other Florida members of the House convinced the leadership that more time and study were needed before the state could accept such a momentous change to the current ban on drilling off the state's shores.

"We need to take another look at this. We need to take a long look," Shaw said shortly after the decision was made, about 10 p.m. "We need protection from offshore drilling, and we need to talk."

The proposal is likely to resurface.

Shaw said hearings should be conducted throughout Florida to make residents aware of the plan.

The plan, which Gov. Jeb Bush had helped negotiate with Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Committee, was uniformly opposed by Rep. Jim Davis and other Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, including Shaw and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack.

The drilling measure threatened to sink a massive budget bill that House leaders have pledged to pass this week.

"The fact the vote is close certainly gave us a leg up," Shaw said. "There is a need to protect us from offshore drilling, but this just isn't the bill. I think we can do better."

The governor has said that he wants a long-term drilling ban to replace current piecemeal restrictions on individual parcels of gulf bottom that can be lifted by presidential or congressional decrees.

He also wants to secure a permanent ban on drilling in the Florida Straits on the east coast and in the Atlantic Ocean.

The deal that Bush and several Florida Republicans endorsed would allow oil rigs 125 miles off the Gulf Coast, beyond sight, and would permit energy companies to negotiate directly with the state Legislature to put drilling operations closer.

The current patchwork of deals prohibits drilling within 200 miles of Tampa Bay, which has preserved an area off the Pinellas County coast called Lease Sale Area 181, a region that energy experts believe is rich in oil reserves.

As recently as 2001, Bush staunchly opposed drilling in Area 181.

Advocates of the compromise, including Bush, argue that the force of the national energy debate has changed in recent years, making the all-out ban on Florida's coastline an unrealistic goal.

And recent hurricanes in the gulf have shown how vulnerable the nation's energy network is for having oil rigs concentrated along the coasts of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Bush's position puts him at odds not only with Democrats, but with some Republicans in the state's congressional delegation, including Sen. Mel Martinez.

Some opponents of offshore drilling have criticized Bush for flip-flopping on the issue. They also argue that it's meaningless for Bush to advocate a drilling ban off the Atlantic Coast because the oil industry has never expressed interest in that area.

The first of several federal bans on drilling in the eastern gulf expires in 2007, with the rest expiring in 2012.

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:20:16]

Eben Fodor's Twelve Big Myths About Growth
 
 
by Donella H. Meadows
 
"We need to bring in business to bring down taxes. This development will give us jobs. Environmental protection will hurt the economy. Growth is good for us."
 
If we've heard those arguments once, we've heard them a thousand times, stated with utmost certainty and without slightest evidence. That's because there is no evidence. Or rather, there is plenty of evidence, most of which disproves deeply held pro-growth beliefs.
 
Here is a short summary of some of the evidence. For more, see Eben Fodor's new book Better, Not Bigger which lists and debunks the following Twelve Big Myths of Growth.
 
Myth 1: Growth provides needed tax revenues. Check out the tax rates of cities larger than yours. There are a few exceptions but the general rule is: the larger the city, the higher the taxes. That's because development requires water, sewage treatment, road maintenance, police and fire protection, garbage pickup-a host of public services. Almost never do the new taxes cover the new costs. Fodor says: "The bottom line on urban growth is that it rarely pays its own way."
 
Myth 2: We have to grow to provide jobs. But there's no guarantee that new jobs will go to local folks. In fact they rarely do. If you compare the 25 fastest growing cities in the U.S. to the 25 slowest growing, you find no significant difference in unemployment rates. Says Fodor: "Creating more local jobs ends up attracting more people, who require more jobs." And services.
 
Myth 3: We must stimulate and subsidize business growth to have good jobs. A "good business climate" is one with little regulation, low business taxes, and various public subsidies to business. A study of areas with good and bad business climates (as ranked by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the business press) showed that states with the best business ratings actually have lower growth in per capita incomes than those with the worst. Fodor: "This surprising outcome may be due to the emphasis placed by good-business-climate states on investing resources in businesses rather than directly in people."
 
Myth 4: If we try to limit growth, housing prices will shoot up. Sounds logical, but it isn't so. A 1992 study of 14 California cities, half with strong growth controls, half with none, showed no difference in average housing prices. Some of the cities with strong growth controls had the most affordable housing, because they had active low-cost housing programs. Fodor says the important factor in housing affordability is not so much house cost as income level, so development that provides mainly low-paying retail jobs makes housing unaffordable.
 
Myth 5: Environmental protection hurts the economy. According to a Bank of America study the economies of states with high environmental standards grew consistently faster than those with weak regulations. The Institute of Southern Studies ranked all states according to 20 indicators of economic prosperity (gold) and environmental health (green) and found that they rise and fall together. Vermont ranked 3rd on the gold scale and first on the green; Louisiana ranked 50th on both.
 
Myth 6: Growth is inevitable. There are constitutional limits to the ability of any community to put walls around itself. But dozens of municipalities have capped their population size or rate of growth by legal regulations based on real environmental limits and the real costs of growth to the community.
 
Myth 7: If you don't like growth, you're a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) or an ANTI (against everything) or a gangplank-puller (right after you get aboard). These accusations are meant more to shut people up than to examine their real motives. Says Fodor: "A NIMBY is more likely to be someone who cares enough about the future of his or her community to get out and protect it."
 
Myth 8: Most people don't support environmental protection. Polls and surveys have disproved this belief for decades; Fodor cites examples from Oregon, Los Angeles, Colorado, and the U.S. as a whole. The fraction of respondents who say environmental quality is more important than further economic growth almost always tops 70 percent.
 
Myth 9: We have to grow or die. This statement is tossed around lightly and often, but if you hold it still and look at it, you wonder what it means. Fodor points out, quoting several economic studies, that many kinds of growth cost more than the benefits they bring. So the more growth, the poorer we get. That kind of growth will kill us.
 
Myth 10: Vacant land is just going to waste. Studies from all over show that open land pays far more - often twice as much - in property taxes than it costs in services. Cows don't put their kids in school; trees don't put potholes in the roads. Open land absorbs floods, recharges aquifers, cleans the air, harbors wildlife, and measurably increases the value of property nearby. We should value and pay for it to be there.
 
Myth 11: Beauty is no basis for policy. One of the saddest things about municipal meetings is their tendency to trivialize people who complain that a proposed development will be ugly. Dollars are not necessarily more real or important than beauty. In fact beauty can translate directly into dollars. For starters, undeveloped surroundings can add $100,000 to the price of a home.
 
Myth 12: Environmentalists are just another special interest. A developer who will directly profit from a project is a special interest. A citizen with no financial stake is fighting for the public interest, the long term, the good of the whole community.
 
Maybe one reason these myths are proclaimed so often and loudly is that they are so obviously doubtful. The only reason to keep repeating something over and over is to keep others from thinking about it. You don't have to keep telling people that the sun rises in the east.
 
 
Donella H. Meadows was Director of the Sustainability Institute and professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.
 
From Population Press, March/April 1999, pp. 12-13.
 

Around the state

State delays buying 74,000-acre wilderness

By wire services
Published November 9, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday delayed for at least two weeks final approval of a deal to buy an enormous southwest Florida ranch for environmental preservation.

The $350-million plan to buy the 74,000-acre swath of prime wilderness, known as the Babcock Ranch, is contingent on a chain of other agreements involving sellers, a developer, and Lee and Charlotte counties. It would be the largest purchase for environmental conservation in state history.

The expanse of forest and wetlands is home to Florida panthers, bobcats, deer, black bears, reptiles and numerous bird species. The state envisions keeping it undeveloped to create a wilderness stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico West Palm Beach developer Syd Kitson is buying the 91,000-acre working ranch from the Babcock family, with plans to resell the 74,000 acres to the state. Kitson would develop the remainder into a town.

Bush and the Cabinet balked at full approval Tuesday, partly because of unresolved concerns over allotment of rights to water pumped from the land

Schools

Report: Housing costs could undermine quest for teachers

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published November 9, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Many new teachers can't afford to buy a home in Florida and that will make it harder for school districts to hire enough teachers to comply with the class size amendment, a new state report concludes.

The report was given to legislators Tuesday by the Council for Education Policy, Research and Improvement, an agency eliminated by the Legislature last spring.

The study, ordered by the 2004 Legislature, amplifies arguments that Gov. Jeb Bush and some Republican lawmakers have been making since voters approved the amendment in 2002. The report says the amendment could actually lower student achievement by forcing districts to hire thousands of inexperienced teachers.

"All available data indicates that implementation of the Florida Class Size Amendment will not improve the quality of education in Florida," the report states. "Indeed, the plethora of unintended consequences of (the amendment) will likely adversely impact the quality of education."

The class size amendment imposes caps on the number of students in classes on a district level starting in 2006. To meet those rigid targets, the state estimates that another 32,000 teachers will have to be hired by next fall.

But the lack of affordable housing, a result of soaring home prices and the damage caused by a series of hurricanes, is a major new obstacle to meeting the class size amendment. So is the skyrocketing cost of construction materials, the document concludes.

Democrats say the presumed lack of housing for teachers underscores their longstanding complaint that teacher salaries are too low. Florida's average teacher salary of $41,313 last year was $5,500 below the national average, according to the National Education Association, a teacher union.

Meanwhile, the median price of an existing single-family home in Florida has doubled in the past five years to $252,300, the report says.

The report's litany of problems with the class size amendment brought nods of agreement from Republican lawmakers and criticism from Democrats.

"You can't do both," said Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka. "You can't both provide high-quality instruction at the same time you are implementing" the amendment. Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said that without the amendment in Florida's Constitution, classes in Florida would be out of control.

"My colleagues need to stop bellyaching and whining and they need to trust the voters," he said.

The report also shows state aid to public education has remained flat since Bush was re-elected in 2002 and that the proportion of local property taxes needed to run schools has risen substantially.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:38:07]

10/8/2005 3:03:12 PM
Formula for Growth
by Darrell Smith


When Doug Martin returned to his family’s Mt. Pulaski, Ill., farm after graduating from college in 1998, his father Jeff and uncle Tom both agreed they needed to grow their operation. Thanks to their landlord-friendly practices, the Martins have nearly doubled the size of their farm in the past seven years.

There is no sure-fire recipe for adding acres, the Martins say, but they can share what they didn’t do: they never approached a landowner unless the landowner contacted them first or a tenant announced his retirement.

As to what they did do, building sound relationships with landlords, being good stewards and participating in their community all appear to have played a role. The family members pool resources, but rent land individually.

“We just did what we’ve always done,” says Jeff, adding that the most important factor in their growth probably was simply providing good service to the landlords they already had. “We spend a lot of time visiting with landlords, building relationships, talking about marketing [with cropshare landlords] and taking them and their kids hunting or fishing,” says Jeff. “There aren’t many days in the fall when we don’t have someone riding in the combine with us.”

Land scouts. Over the years, several of the Martins’ landowners, including Joan Wolf of Decatur, Ill., have purchased additional land for the Martins to farm. Often, the Martins have helped landlords find land to buy.

“I used to think I wanted the flattest land,” says Wolf. “But Jeff taught me a little bit of roll is better, so water won’t stand on it.” Wolf believes her tenants have done well by doing good for the environment and the community. “The Martins were among the first producers here to no-till, and then strip-till,” she says. “I admire their concern for conserving the soil, and for protecting wildlife—not mowing roadsides until August, when pheasants are finished nesting, for example.”

“Landowners have contacted us after watching us farm for awhile,” says Jeff. That suggests others besides Wolf are impressed by soil and wildlife stewardship.

Green pays. The Martins have enrolled about 200 acres of their own land, and about 275 acres of their landlords’ property, in various conservation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Wetlands Reserve Program. They have received local- and state-level recognition for their conservation efforts.

At least one other landowner was just as impressed as Wolf. “After reading about our work with wildlife habitat, she sent us a letter, asking us to farm 40 acres of land,” says Jeff.

Utilizing conservation programs is another way to serve the best interest of landlords, Jeff notes. Enrolling less-productive land in conservation programs pays better than farming ground that floods every few years.

“With the payment based on the rental rate for similar soil types, and incentive bonuses available for some programs, a landowner can net as much from that land as from his best corn and soybean ground,” Jeff explains. “We give the landlord most of the income from the programs, and we make more money most years by not trying to farm the wet spots. We used to replant some wet areas as many as four times.”

Besides simplifying operations and giving the Martins a recreational haven to take landlords hunting, conservation programs helped the family diversify by launching a modest fee-based hunting enterprise.

It also alerted them to an opportunity to do custom grass- and tree-planting for other landowners. They bought a tree planter, and they rent a grass drill from their soil and water conservation district.

For a young farmer in particular, those services offer an easier expansion route than adding more acres. “That business has provided a third of my income for the past three years,” says Doug.

Most tree and grass planting can be completed prior to corn and soybean planting. “Since we don’t do any tillage, we have time available in March,” says Jeff. “Last year, we stayed busy every single day for the entire month.” If there’s a conflict between conservation and crop planting, they hire a tractor driver (a landlord and retired farmer) to do the conservation planting.

The extra enterprises were especially valuable when Tom and Jeff were making a place for Doug (who still supplements his farming with seed sales and a part-time job).

“But diversification remains important now in case a farm we rent should ever be sold,” says Jeff.

Civic duties. Another Martin trait that resonates with Wolf is their community spirit. “I think part of the reason they are successful is that they never hesitate to give of their time, talent and treasure,” says Wolf. “Those who give a great deal often receive a great deal in return.” A few of the activities in which Tom, Jeff or Doug have participated include their soil and water conservation district board, a conservation tillage club, youth sports programs, their high-school booster club, church and nursing home boards, and state-level farm organizations.

Results of civic involvement are impossible to measure in terms of the farm business, says Jeff. In fact, some contacts don’t work out. The Martins helped two investors locate land to buy, only to have them rent it to other operators.

But it doesn’t matter if the results are nebulous, as far as growing their farm, because it’s the family’s nature to be civically involved, anyway. Besides, getting to know people in the community—and farther away through groups such as the Chicago Farmers (Windy City residents interested in agriculture)—is always a good thing, they say.

“You never know what might happen in the future,” says Jeff. “We have picked up land that resulted from contacts we made 12 or 15 years ago.”

Rent relief. The increase in cash rental arrangements, and the surge in absentee landowners living in distant cities, make it harder to forge the kind of relationships that mean so much to the Martins, Doug notes. But even though the number of cash rental arrangements now predominate in Illinois, the Martins have been able to avoid paying what they consider excessively high rates by emphasizing natural resource stewardship while maximizing yield from each farm.

Half of the Martins’ landlords, including Wolf, still find crop share leases more appealing, because those arrangements imply better stewardship. “The farmer who pays too much cash rent isn’t concerned about the future of the soil,” says Wolf. “Like me, the Martins want to preserve the soil for the next generation.”





© 2005 AgWeb.com. All Rights Reserved.

Offshore drilling compromise may have election ramifications

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- Most Florida politicians still say they're opposed to offshore drilling, but they are divided on proposed federal legislation that would allow oil and natural gas rigs 125 miles from the state's beaches.

It's an issue that could have ramifications at the ballot box.

Democrats and environmentalists have been quick to oppose the 125-mile compromise. It has been endorsed by some Florida Republicans, including Gov. Jeb Bush. Other Republicans are opposed or are still struggling with the issue.

"Potentially, it could be quite dangerous for some Florida Republicans" to support the compromise, said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett. "Every study that I've seen shows that the majority of Floridians don't like the idea of drilling off our coast."

Protecting Florida's beaches and the tourism they support from potential drilling pollution is an issue that crosses party lines, said Jewett, an independent.

"Independents don't like it, Republicans don't like it and Democrats don't like it," he said.

Darryl Paulson, a University of South Florida professor of government with Republican leanings, said environmental issues seldom, if ever, have been decisive in Florida. But offshore drilling has a higher profile and is unique because it also affects tourism, Florida's leading industry.

Jewett said even if opponents lose they still can claim they were "on the side of the angels."

Bush, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election, has touted the compromise as a way to give Florida long-term protection against drilling by putting the 125-mile buffer into federal law even if that means allowing it much closer in many cases than permitted by presidential and congressional moratoriums.

Those moratoriums are scheduled to expire in 2007 and 2012. Bush is worried they won't be renewed because of growing national sentiment for more domestic energy production in reaction to fuel shortages and price increases after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"What you are going to see is symbolic politics and political posturing," Paulson said. "Every time the gas prices go up I think there's going to be more pressure on Congress to find American sources of oil and gas."

The offshore compromise is part of a wider energy measure that also would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, or ANWR, to drilling.

The House Budget Committee last week added the energy legislation offered House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., to a budget reconciliation bill that the full chamber is due to take up possibly as early as this week.

The Senate is not considering an offshore proposal, so a conference committee would decide whether to keep the compromise, if approved by the House, in the final version of the bill.

The offshore proposal also would permit energy companies to trade existing leases within 125 miles of Florida's beaches for ones farther out and extend the buffer to areas not covered by the moratoriums. However, the 125-mile limit is getting most of the attention.

Opponents such as U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and state Sen. Rod Smith of Gainesville, both running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, argue drilling off Florida will do little or nothing to reduce fuel prices. They prefer to renew the more restrictive moratoriums.

"We do that by uniting as Floridians and standing up to protect our beaches as a treasure to the state and the nation," Davis said, but he acknowledged the job will be tougher because that unity has been fractured by the compromise.

Smith said Congress should promote alternative energy sources and encourage conservation instead of risking Florida's beaches.

"It's a scheme that could backfire," he said. "It is a Band-Aid on serious problem."

Bush has accused environmental groups that criticized the compromise of playing "partisan politics," yet its opponents include such Florida Republicans as U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Attorney General Charlie Crist, a candidate for governor.

"I'm opposed to offshore oil drilling," Crist said in a telephone interview. "That looks like offshore oil drilling. ... I'm a Gulf Coast guy and I'm against it."

Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, Crist's opponent for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, is leaning the governor's way, said Gallagher spokesman Albert Martinez.

"If push comes to shove and the only way to secure our coastline from future oil drilling is the governor's proposal, then he would not be opposed to that," Martinez said. "He's not advocating one or the other."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is another outspoken opponent of the Pombo measure. Nelson is being challenged for re-election next year by U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Sarasota.

Harris has not taken a public position on the proposal, but her spokeswoman, Kara Borie, said she is trying to get it removed from the massive budget bill because she believes the issue should be decided on its own merits.

Republican U.S. Reps. Connie Mack, IV, of Fort Myers and Mark Foley of West Palm Beach also have been outspoken opponents of the compromise. It's supporters include Reps. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, whose Panhandle district is closest to the most likely drilling sites, Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, Michael Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, and John Mica, R-Winter Park, a longtime drilling supporter.

Those who are undecided will soon have to make a choice with the approaching House vote.

"Ironically, in most congressional races probably the majority of Republicans that might vote for this are reasonably safe," Central Florida's Jewett said.

The issue is one of few on which Mel Martinez has disagreed with Bush.

"He's more free to advocate a more radical position than somebody like Martinez," South Florida's Paulson said. He said Martinez is "a first-term senator who's already made a number of missteps and probably doesn't want to make another."

Ground shifts below the feet of drilling opponents

By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published November 3, 2005

Here is how, until now, Florida has handled the question of more oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico:

We have been against it. Period.

Republicans. Democrats. Governors. Senators. I bet if anybody had asked Mickey and Goofy, they were against it too. Mermaids. Manatees. Everybody.

Until now.

For a long time now, Florida has always been able to find a way to block new drilling. We pulled our strings in Congress.

We used our clout with presidents who were desperate for Florida's votes. We nagged the Interior Department.

I am pretty sure that at one point, a certain member of Congress sold his soul to the devil to stop oil drilling. (As Beelzebulb found out to his regret, members of Congress cannot be bought, only rented.)

The point being, until now, taking a stand on oil drilling as a Florida politician has been safe and simple, and we have been able to get our way up in Washington.

But events might be turning against us.

Gasoline, you might have noticed, is expensive. Hurricane Katrina showed how vulnerable America's fuel supply is. The nation is in a grumpy mood.

Other states, like Louisiana, think Florida is being kind of selfish. They are grumbling that Florida is acting high and mighty for being one of the nation's biggest users of energy.

There is a push in Congress to open up more drilling. There's a big-shot guy in Congress from California who, when he is not busy gutting the Endangered Species Act, seems to be aiming for us.

As the existing patchwork of protections expires, from 2007 to 2010, we might not be able to get our way anymore.

So, Florida has a choice. Florida can continue to oppose all new drilling, period. We can say, drill over our dead body. That is a pure stand, for sure.

Or we could make a deal. Allow some drilling. Keep some protection.

For the first time, Florida's politicians are seriously divided. Some, like Gov. Jeb Bush, say the deal is worth considering. Others, Republican and Democrat alike, remain in the over-my-dead-body crowd.

Here is the deal. We would stay fully protected until 2012. After that, the existing protection around Florida, which now is roughly 200 to 285 miles offshore, would drop down to 125 miles at most.

You might ask: Is 125 miles enough? Heck, no. Not for a disaster. But neither is 200 miles, or 285. The stuff travels. In Florida's case, the science folks say, it probably would end up tarring the Keys and following the currents even over to our east coast. They think.

On the other hand, 125 miles is better than nothing. It keeps the things out of sight, at least, and gives us that much more breathing room.

Here is another scary thing about the deal: The Florida Legislature first has to ask for that 125 miles. It could even decide to ask for less.

I do not trust the Florida Legislature for doodly squat. The Florida Legislature would stuff nuclear waste into school lunches if you gave a big enough campaign contribution. Oil guys got money.

Some people who are opposed to drilling say that it is too early to make a deal.

After all, there's always another election coming around. Hillary or Condi or whoever is running for president in 2008 might be plenty willing to cater to Florida. Why do you think all those politicians like to suck up to corn farmers in Iowa?

Maybe we could use the old methods a little while longer. C.W. Bill Young, the wily and powerful member of Congress from Indian Shores, isn't retired just yet. Mel Martinez, who won a seat in the U.S. Senate for the Republicans, is against more drilling.

But if we lose, well, enjoy the view.

This is a grim choice. I do not think the governor and others who support the deal are flip-flopping, as the critics say. The governor is being realistic. A little testy, too. The other day, when somebody asked him why Florida shouldn't keep fighting for no new drilling whatsoever, he replied: "I'll talk to the fairy godmother about it."

While he's at it, he should ask her to fix it so we Floridians don't like gas-guzzling SUVs or air conditioning anymore, either. That might help our case a little.

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 01:05:05]

Early estimate puts Wilma's citrus damage at $180 million

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Florida grapefruit may be scarce in stores, and the price of orange juice may inch up slightly for consumers this winter, commodities analysts said Monday after a growers group estimated Hurricane Wilma had knocked 17 percent of the citrus crop off trees.

Last week's Category 3 storm will cause the loss of $180 million worth of Florida citrus, or about 35.7 million boxes of fruit, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Florida Citrus Mutual. The estimates are limited to crop damage and don't take into account the loss of infrastructure, such as packing houses and equipment.

The early estimates predict a loss of 24.4 million boxes of oranges, or 13 percent of the state's crop, and 11.3 million boxes of grapefruit, or almost half of the state's crop. In years past, Florida has been the world leader of grapefruit production.

Almost all of the Florida's oranges are processed into juice, accounting for 80 percent of the U.S. orange juice supply and more than a third of the world's supply. Brazil is the world's largest producer of orange juice.

Commodities analysts Boyd Cruel of Alaron Trading and Kevin Sharpe of Basic Commodities predicted that orange juice prices for U.S. consumers likely would increase over the next several months by 5 percent to 10 percent, much as prices did last year after three hurricanes hit Florida's citrus-producing areas. A fourth hurricane landed last year in the Panhandle, where no citrus is grown.

"You have a crop that just got diminished right as harvest was coming around here," Sharpe said of Wilma. "You have quite a bit of fruit that was supposed to be harvested on the ground."

Since striking the state Oct. 24, Wilma has caused frozen orange juice futures to trade at their highest prices since 1998, in the range of $1.19 a pound on the New York Board of Trade, and the Florida Citrus Mutual estimate has given the price "some underlying support," Cruel said.

Last month, before Hurricane Wilma swept ashore in southwest Florida, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had predicted that 190 million boxes of oranges, and 24 million boxes of grapefruit, would be produced in the upcoming 2005-2006 growing season.

Last year, Florida growers produced 149.6 million boxes of oranges, the smallest crop in 13 years, and 12.8 million boxes of grapefruit, the smallest since the 1935-1936 season.

The expected size of this year's grapefruit crop after Wilma may make fresh grapefruit scarce in U.S. grocery stores for another consecutive year. Fresh Florida grapefruit also is a popular export, especially to Japan.

"This past year, a lot of stores around me didn't have grapefruit," said Sharpe, who is based in the Orlando area.

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who toured a grapefruit grove outside Stuart Monday, said he would try to expand an agricultural recovery bill which he had initiated after South Florida growers suffered losses from Hurricane Katrina in August. The relief, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, should include Florida's citrus and vegetable growers hurt by Wilma, he said.

"The damage to Florida's agriculture beyond citrus is tremendous," Martinez said. "This is on the order of what Katrina and New Orleans have looked at, what is being done for them ... Florida should be no less."

Andy LaVigne, Florida Citrus Mutual's executive vice president, warned that his group's estimates were preliminary and that the damage could increase from further fruit dropping off trees and citrus diseases.

Last year's hurricanes fanned the spread of citrus canker, a bacteria that can weaken citrus trees. The disease almost was eradicated last year, but the spread to crucial citrus-producing areas of Florida, forcing state agriculture officials to remove or plan to remove 70,000 acres of citrus.

"Horrible," Gov. Jeb Bush said about growers' problems. "Canker, the disease and another year of crop loss is a serious, serious problem. Along with that, the nurseries got hit again, commercial fishing, sugar, fresh vegetables - this is a horrible year for Florida agriculture."

Florida's $9 billion citrus industry also is contending with citrus greening, a deadly tree disease spread by insects whose discovery in the United States was first confirmed in early September in South Florida.

State agriculture officials on Monday announced that a latest find of citrus greening was made in Sarasota County before Hurricane Wilma struck. The disease has been found in seven other Florida counties and can't be spread by hurricanes, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture.

The real Florida in a unique island

Cayo Costa, off Fort Myers' coast, offers secluded nature with ospreys and snakes.

By Associated Press
Published October 30, 2005

BOCA GRANDE - Cayo Costa, an early 20th century pioneer fishing village where boats flocked to the docks and talk of the day's catch filled the air, is now an ecological treasure devoid of concrete.

Shorebirds now chase the surf, and travelers can hear the rustle of sea oats while sugar-white sand tickles their toes.

The 2,416-acre state park is a popular destination for day-trippers and weekend campers because of its secluded, back-to-nature atmosphere. Cayo Costa has seven miles of trails, powder beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, mangrove forests, pine upland habitats and cabins and campgrounds. The park is also full of native animals, including ospreys, snakes, gopher tortoises and bobcats.

Hurricane Charley, which devastated some southwest Florida areas, actually uncovered more of the island's natural glory.

"Cayo Costa is one of the most unique barrier islands left in Florida because it is really unpopulated and you get the feel of the real Florida the way it used to be before condos and construction," said Ken Troisi, 30, assistant park manager. "You can stop and hear the ocean, and that is the feeling that people want when they come out here that they are alone. I think the fact that you have to get on a boat to get here and it is an island makes it special, too."

The state park was established in 1976. The state of Florida owns 95 percent of the island.

There are a number of private residences on the island, and many can't be seen because the majority are on the southernmost end of Cayo Costa. The island also has no utilities.

The island is a popular winter destination, and weekend reservations for the cabins and campsites fill up months in advance. Troisi said spots should be reserved as early as possible.

"That isn't to say you won't find an open date here and there, but the weekends book up pretty solid beginning in late October," he said.

The Juranek family from Orlando discovered Cayo Costa a few years ago, and they now make it a regular family vacation destination.

"We get to escape the mouse (Disney World)," said Kyle Juranek, 43, smiling. "It's getting away from the ordinary, and you don't have to worry about crowds.

"It is real quiet, no TVs or phones, well, almost," he added, smiling at his daughter, Megan, 9, and son, Matthew, 12. "Someone brought a Game Boy, and I hope the batteries die real soon, and then life will be good."

The park's campgrounds and cabins took a hard hit from Charley. While the storm hurt the camping, Troisi said it did wonders for the native foliage.

The canopy of Australian pines that shaded the camping area and littered the ground with pine needles is no longer there, but Troisi said there is now a spectacular view of the gulf, and campers can see the native plants thriving.

"Before, the sea grapes couldn't outcompete the pine; now they are doing great," Troisi said. "This was the area most impacted by Charley due to the loss of the canopy, but it is better this way in the long run for the park.

"A lot of campers comment about not having the trees here anymore, and I ask them if that will alter their mind about coming here, and the answer is always, "No way,' and the other half are glad the pines are gone. Most (visitors) are really educated in the native ecology and know the park is better off without all the exotics."

But as many Cayo Costa visitors come to the island for the beaches and environmental immersion, they soon learn the historical value of Cayo Costa. Besides being a hub for Cuban fishermen in the 1800s, it was home to about 20 fishing families in the early 1900s, with a school, post office and grocery store. It also served as a port for international ships entering local waters.

Two trails, Cemetery Trail and Quarantine Docks Trail, tell the story of two marks Cayo Costa made in local history.

Troisi thinks the Quarantine Docks Trail is the prettiest out of the five trails because a native tree canopy shades the lush walkway. He said Quarantine took the hardest hit of all the trails from Hurricane Charley. It also took the longest to clear. The trail opens on the waters of Pine Island Sound with a picnic table perfect for a lunch stop.

"In the early 1800s, when a ship came in from overseas, they had to dock here and wait for the doctor to come aboard and make sure everyone was healthy and not bringing any diseases to the area," Troisi said. "The docks don't exist, and if there ever was a house or structure that held the people waiting for quarantine, it doesn't exist either."

Cemetery Trail cuts through the heart of Cayo Costa State Park. Along the trail is a small, marked cemetery where members of the Coleman family and Capt. Peter Nelson are buried. Troisi said there also are a number of unmarked graves throughout the island.

It seems visitors come to Cayo Costa to revel in nature's glory and get a history lesson as an added bonus, but whatever may draw visitors to Cayo Costa, rangers such as Troisi and Greg Martinson, 47, know it's about escape.

"Ahhhh, I'm on a low-stress diet," Martinson said. "I am out here, not sitting in traffic in Bonita (Springs), and any day I don't have to sit in traffic is a good day."

[Last modified October 30, 2005, 01:12:10]

Greening is newest threat to state's citrus crops

The disease, detected in Florida last month, attacks trees' vascular systems and makes their fruit bitter and unusable.

By Associated Press
Published October 30, 2005

MIAMI - The tiny, disease-ridden insect lands on a bright green leaf of a healthy grapefruit tree, sucks out some nutrients and flutters away to the next plant.

In that instant, the once-productive tree begins its slow death, its veins and stems gradually choked by a bacterium that causes citrus greening, a worldwide threat to citrus plants that - along with citrus canker - menaces Florida's $9-billion industry.

The first U.S. discovery of the disease was reported last month. Since then, the U.S. Agriculture Department, state scientists, university researchers and citrus growers have begun grappling with the newest foe to Florida's famous and economically vital oranges, grapefruits and tangerines.

"It's devastating. It's just hard to comprehend," said Scott Hurley, vice president of the Becker Indian River Fruit Co. "We've been battling the canker issue for a number of years, and to have this thrown on top of it, it makes canker looks like child's play."

Unlike canker, which creates unsightly lesions on fruit, the citrus greening disease is deadly to crops. It already has infected and killed trees in Southeast Asia and Africa and had started attacking crops in Brazil, the world's largest producer of oranges, before being detected in Florida in September.

The average productive life span of trees in areas affected by citrus greening has dropped from 50 or more years to 15 or less. There is no known cure for the disease, which does not harm humans.

"The major thing is that it affects the productivity of the tree and the quality of the fruit," said Ronald Brlansky, a professor of plant pathology at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.

Experts are still debating what is the most effective way to combat citrus greening. Some say the disease cannot be eradicated and that efforts should be directed at keeping it from spreading to uninfected regions. Others say it's too soon to determine the best solution.

The state has relied on eradication to deal with citrus canker. An aggressive strategy requires the destruction of citrus trees within 1,900 feet of one infected with canker. More than 9-million trees have been cut down. The disease itself doesn't kill the tree.

Canker surfaced in Florida more than 10 years ago and is moved by wind-blown rain. Greening, however, is spread by a tiny insect called a psyllid. Experts said the disease probably arrived in Florida from infected Asian plant material.

The Asian psyllid has been present in Florida since 1998, but psyllids can also be found in Texas. The disease affects the vascular system of the trees, eventually killing them. The fruit becomes lopsided and tastes bitter, rendering it unusable.

A sick tree will not show symptoms for a couple of years. Even when signs of the disease are present, samples must be tested because the telltale mottling and yellow discoloration can be evidence of other problems, such as nutrient deficiencies.

Officials are concerned that the disease has spread throughout the state and perhaps traveled outside Florida on infected psyllids that hitch rides on ornamental host plants that are shipped to retailers. A quarantine is in effect for certain ornamentals in Miami-Dade.

It's such a concern that the African and Asian strains are on the Agriculture Department's list of possible threats to plant and animal life that are regulated under the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act.

Since the discovery of the disease in two pummelo trees in Homestead, the federal and state governments charted its spread.

It has moved from Miami-Dade north to Broward, then to Palm Beach, Hendry and Martin counties, said Richard Miranda, a spokesman for the state Division of Plant Industry. Officials are awaiting test results to confirm suspicions it has spread to St. Lucie and Monroe counties.

"We have responded very quickly," Miranda said. "We have already done as much as humanly possible to deal with this thing."

No eradication or control strategy has been devised yet because of several unanswered questions, such as how far has the disease spread; would widespread fumigation work; and how greening information should be distributed to homeowners.

"Nobody has given us any type of procedures to follow. Nobody has come up with any kind of guidelines. It's just a guessing game right now," said Hurley of Becker Indian River Fruit.

At an Oct. 14 meeting of state, federal and university citrus experts in Lake Alfred, some of the discussion centered on whether efforts should focus on eradication or merely controlling and managing the disease.

"It's a hard call to make," Brlansky said. "Any disease that's systemic - that you can have infection but you can't detect it - it's difficult to know how far it's spread. Eradication has not been successful in other areas of the world."

Scientists have found greening in Callery Grove in Loxahatchee in Palm Beach County. General manager Nat Roberts said greening was found in two tangerine trees along the border of a grove.

"It was one of about the worst days I've ever had when they called," Roberts said.

Roberts said the two infected trees have not been cut down because scientists want to study them further. But if he is asked to destroy trees in order to deal with greening, Roberts said he would likely comply.

Researchers are studying the outbreaks in Southeast Asia and Africa for clues on how to effectively combat the disease.

Miranda said efforts to stop the spread of the disease in Florida have dealt with not only commercial growers, but also homeowners. The state has sent representatives to inform homeowners that they have greening in their backyard citrus trees and ask them for permission to cut them down.

"We hope the public will learn that we are serious when we say this is a serious disease," he said.

[Last modified October 30, 2005, 01:12:10]

Reporter Ray Reyes can be contacted at (352) 544-5283.

Cranes flap ever closer to Florida

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 28, 2005

Thursday, Day 14 of this year's guided whooping crane migration from Wisconsin to Florida, the ultralight pilots led 19 of the 20 birds 56 miles into Kankakee County, Ill.

By the end of Thursday's flight, the whooping crane flock had traveled 245 of the 1,200 miles of their trip, according to the daily field journal entry on the Operation Migration Web site. One bird, which bears the No. 516, has been placed in a crate and driven from landing site to landing site since it was injured just more than a week ago. Officials with the migration program plan to have the bird examined to see whether it can soon join the other cranes in their daily flights. The ultralight guided migration, which is in its fifth year, is trying to establish a migratory whooping crane flock that learns the route in its first year, then follows it on its own in each succeeding year. For information, go to http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html

[Last modified October 28, 2005, 01:35:22]

Judge approves Stauffer cleanup plan

The EPA's plan calls for contaminated soil to be treated rather than hauled away, as many residents wanted.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published October 25, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - The decadelong battle over the Stauffer Chemical Superfund site near Tarpon Springs came to an end with little fanfare last week when a federal judge signed off on the Environmental Protection Agency's hotly contested cleanup plan.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday made it official: The contaminated soil and waste will be treated and capped on the 130 acres along the Anclote River, rather than hauled away, as many residents had advocated.

And while the resolution is not particularly surprising and differs little from the plan the EPA proposed in 1999, last week's action sets an estimated price tag for the cleanup.

"It's important because it finalizes the legal obligation that Stauffer faces under the consent decree," said Randy Bryan, the EPA's remedial project manager.

The consent degree that Merryday approved requires Stauffer to put up $20-million in a bond or another form of security for the first stage of the cleanup and to reimburse the EPA for future monitoring costs.

That will come on top of $3.2-million that the company has already paid. According to court documents, the estimated cost for the cleanup - the first of two stages - is nearly $9.36-million.

After the consent decree is in place, Stauffer is permitted to petition the EPA to reduce the company's liability if it can show that the cost for the work is less than $20-million.

By comparison, the agency estimated that hauling the contaminated soil away would cost a minimum of $200-million, according to court documents. It also was projected that this option would require trucks to make 15,000 trips a year for an unspecified number of years to remove the hazardous materials, a process that the agency said carried significant risks of airborne release and increased health risks to the community.

But Hugh B. Kaufman, a longtime critic of the plan, said the EPA is pursuing the least expensive option before doing comprehensive tests.

"It's a low cost remedy," said Kaufman, an EPA senior policy analyst. "Why are they locking in a low cost remedy when we haven't decided the amount of contamination that has occurred?"

As chief investigator with the agency's ombudsman office, Kaufman was part of a team that reviewed public concerns in 1999. He remained convinced that a shortage of Superfund money forced the government into a consent decree prematurely.

Hazardous materials, including arsenic, lead and radium-226, were left at the site by a phosphorus processing plant that operated there from 1947 until it closed in 1981.

The EPA added the property to its Superfund list in 1994 and five years later settled on a cleanup plan with Stauffer Management. In 2000, EPA officials withdrew the plan after strong public opposition and calls for more extensive testing.

Last year, after four years of additional tests, the agency submitted a plan that was virtually the same as the original.

Under the plan, a cement mixture will be added to the tainted soil to solidify and stabilize it. Then a watertight cap will be placed over the top of it to prevent water from washing chemicals into the groundwater below.

Opponents to the plan, including Kaufman, also argued that the EPA should authorize the community to hire independent consultant to help coordinate the cleanup.

"Due to the widespread distrust of the EPA and Stauffer Management Company, having a third party oversee the remedial process is absolutely necessary," U.S. Rep. Michael Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, wrote in July to Justice Department officials who were reviewing the proposed consent decree.

Three other letters during the comment period on the consent decree made the same request.

Instead, the EPA hired Black & Veatch Corp., a private engineering, consulting and construction company in Overland Park, Kan., to monitor the project, according to court documents.

Bryant said the company has had "quite a lot of experience overseeing Superfund projects or working directly on our behalf."

The agency declined to disclose how much the company was being paid to oversee the Stauffer site cleanup, but Bryant said during the past five years, Black & Veatch has worked on approximately 80 Superfund projects for the EPA's Southeast regional office.

After meeting with representatives of the company in his Washington office last week, Bilirakis said, he is still concerned.

"I can't tell you I'm completely convinced, but the proof is in the pudding," he said Friday.

[Last modified October 25, 2005, 03:00:29]

Publix stops selling Ag-Mart tomatoes

The Florida company was ordered to pay $111,200 in fines for pesticide misuse.

By Associated Press
Published October 23, 2005

PALM BEACH - Publix Super Markets will not sell grape tomatoes grown by Ag-Mart Inc. the Florida company facing pesticide violations in two states.

Customers have not complained in any of Publix's 866 stores in five states, but company officials said they were pulling the Santa Sweets brand of grape tomatoes as a preventive measure.

"In light of the seriousness of this situation, we wanted to be able to take a step back and do a more thorough investigation," said Publix spokeswoman Anne Hendricks.

Publix may decide to sell the tomatoes after its own investigation, Hendricks said.

David Sheon, a spokesman for Ag-Mart said no other grocery chains have stopped selling the product.

"Not only has there never been a doubt about the safety of the food, but the overwhelming evidence is that the company has been extremely responsible," Sheon said.

Ag-Mart was ordered to pay $111,200 in fines in Florida for pesticide misuse by the state Agriculture Department. The 88 citations included violations of regulations designed to ensure consumer and worker safety.

The violations were uncovered during an investigation into the births several months ago of three malformed babies to Mexican farmworkers in Immokalee. The babies' parents worked in Ag-Mart tomato fields in Florida and North Carolina and lived near each other during a critical time.

The state Health Department has said it found no definitive link between the agricultural chemicals and the birth defects.

Agriculture officials in North Carolina have cited Ag-Mart for 369 pesticide violations allegedly committed on two farms in that state.

[Last modified October 23, 2005, 01:20:23]

Guest column

Proposal threatens manatees, protects docks

By PATRICK ROSE
Published October 24, 2005

As if the passage of a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., virtually gutting the federal Endangered Species Act wasn't bad enough, it also included a poorly drafted and hastily written amendment spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, to exclude the endangered manatee from protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Conservationists are alarmed, as the last-minute amendment provided no opportunity for public testimony. They say the amendment was evidently designed to strip manatees of critical protections that were vital to the recent adoption of federal sanctuaries and refuges in areas of historically high manatee mortality and injury.

Under Putnam's amendment, if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service performs an ESA consultation with a federal permitting agency on dock building projects that could affect manatees, the consultation will be considered the equivalent of an incidental take authorization and will allow projects that would likely hurt or kill manatees to move forward.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act extends additional protections beyond the ESA to endangered marine mammals to assist in their recovery to sustainable populations.

Specifically, Putnam's amendment means that any individual dock permit can only be denied if that particular dock would jeopardize the entire population of manatees, even though the dock's construction and subsequent use by boats would likely lead to more manatees being killed or injured by boat collisions.

Conservationists say the introduction and passage of Putnam's amendment is a blatant attack on manatees, especially since boat strikes continue to be the largest known cause of manatee deaths in Florida.

More docks are being built in Florida than at any time I can remember, and very few dock permits have been denied. Even so, Putnam has been working with the Florida Marine Contractor's Association to eliminate protections for manatees afforded them under the existing MMPA.

The contractors group filed a lawsuit last year against the service alleging that the MMPA did not apply to Florida's inland waters. They wanted to get their permits to build docks and marinas without having to worry about how many manatees their boating activities would kill, so long as each dock would not cause the manatee to become extinct.

Earlier this year, the judge in the case ruled that the MMPA did, indeed, apply to the inland waters of Florida. The conservation community expressed astonishment that President Bush's Department of the Interior argued the MMPA should protect manatees in Florida waters during the court case, but then did a complete about-face and supported Putnam's legislative amendment.

With development profits skyrocketing from waterfront property sales in recent years, the battle to protect the manatee versus developing what is left of Florida's coastline has heated up. In some cases, individual docks built over public lands have been sold or conveyed for more than $1-million. Developers and the marine industries are eager to ensure manatees do not get in the way of their modern-day gold rush.

The practical effect of the Putnam amendment is a legal sanction to injure or kill a manatee during dock building or associated boating activities.

With the House of Representatives' passage of the Pombo bill that repeals protections for endangered species' critical habitat, and the removal of manatees from the protections of the MMPA, the prospects for recovery of the manatee look grim.

Private property rights issues have largely driven the revision of the ESA. The great irony is that manatees are found over publicly owned submerged lands, the water bottoms of rivers, estuaries, and bays. These lands, like public parks, are managed by the state in trust for all the people, not just dock builders who seek to profit at the public's expense.

Almost everyone agrees that imperiled species should be protected when they inhabit public lands, but the manatee has been scapegoated. The Putnam amendment is really about sacrificing manatees for the huge profits of a few.

If this bill becomes law, it is certain to thoroughly undermine any gains that have been made under the ESA and MMPA during more than 30 years.

--Patrick Rose is the director of Government Relations for Save the Manatee Club. Guest columnists write their own views on subjects they choose, which do no necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

[Last modified October 24, 2005, 00:59:17]

Gov. Bush says state needs to diversify energy sources

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush said on Wednesday that Florida needs more nuclear power and clean coal energy and that state government should consider storing gasoline because of its vulnerability to hurricanes.

Bush said the series of hurricanes over the past 14 months highlight the state's vulnerability on property insurance and energy.

"It also means that we have to recognize that we have to conserve a lot more than we have been," Bush said in a Rotary Club speech. "And it means recognizing that all of the new capacity in a fast-growing state can't be natural gas."

Bush said if Florida does not take action to increase energy supplies and curb consumption, it will have a serious impact on economic development because new businesses won't want to locate here.

"My hope is that we will have a gasoline pipeline that would provide more security as it relates to getting gasoline," he said. "It may be that the state and local governments are going to have to get into the storage of diesel fuel so that we can guarantee supplies for first responders across the state."

Bush said a property insurance crisis is looming not only for Florida but for the whole country, noting it's time to begin discussion of a national catastrophic fund that could be tapped for massive losses from disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

"A fund that would allow for money to grow tax-free, providing a national pool for catastrophic losses," Bush said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at (352) 544-5286.

Will flock of whooping cranes stay in line?

The birds have a thing for flying in at their own pace, which may hinder the ultralight-led migration, scheduled to begin Friday.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
Published October 13, 2005

CRYSTAL RIVER - Weather and participants willing, the fifth annual ultralight-led migration of the whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida is scheduled to begin Friday.

Of course, the starting date - as well as many other details of the project to reintroduce a migratory flock of the rare whooping cranes - is subject to change without notice. That is something that the many people who participate in the migration operation have come to expect.

The birds are the boss, according to Liz Condie, chief operating officer and director of communications for Operation Migration.

And these whooping cranes can have minds of their own.

This year, that becomes an especially troubling issue because there are a record number of crane chicks trained for migration. Twenty young birds will be learning their migration route this year as they follow four ultralights.

"It's just like with children," Condie explained. "The more kids you have, the harder it is to keep track of them."

Keeping track of the cranes is the responsibility of a large team as the birds make their way down the 1,200-mile migration route from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge.

"The large number presents a whole separate set of issues," Condie said. "It is a little bit intimidating for our pilots to see that huge gaggle of large birds behind them."

In addition to the ultralight pilots who try to keep track of the cranes, another team flies high above in a Cessna watching the action to make sure none of the birds falls away from the group.

There are also team members on the ground to locate birds that may have decided to end their day's journey sooner than the rest of the group.

And all of these individuals must dress in whooping crane costumes whenever they are around the birds to keep the cranes from having any contact with humans. Since they hatched, crane puppets and crane costumes are all the birds have seen of people.

Another difference in this year's migration could be the location where the cranes will end their journey. The birds are ultimately bound for the swamplands of the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, but they may not go there directly this year, Condie said.

That's because, in the past few years of the migration, older birds - which leave later than the young chicks and which fly quicker into Florida - have taken over the pen site where the young birds are bound.

The cranes do not always accept strange birds in their midst, and that could put the younger birds at risk. Plus, the migration organizers don't want to see the older cranes mooching on the food provided for the youngsters.

One idea that organizers might try this year: Fly the young birds to an alternative spot to start, possibly public lands in the Dunnellon area. Then, after the older birds clear out at the Chassahowitzka pen site, the ultralights may try again to gather up the youngsters for that last short trip to Chassahowitzka.

If the birds rest in Dunnellon too long, Condie said, there is some danger they might become "couch potatoes" and not want to make that last flight. That might require them to be crated and delivered to Chassahowitzka, but Condie said she hopes that doesn't happen.

Regardless, there will still be some sort of welcome event for the public, possibly in Dunnellon. But a second event might also be held at the Crystal River Mall, where a flyover of the ultralights and whooping cranes has become an annual tradition.

In addition to the 20 birds following the ultralights, there are four other crane chicks that will be introduced to adult whooping cranes from past migrations. The hope is that they will get accustomed to one another and, when the older birds begin to make their own way back to Florida, the chicks will follow.

One young bird made just such a flight to Florida last year but died and never made it back to Wisconsin. Condie said this effort to supplement the ultralight-led group will probably continue over the next couple of years. About five years of data is needed to determine whether this method of training birds in the migration route will work.

With each young crane such a precious commodity, organizers don't want to put too many crane chicks at risk if the method doesn't work, she said.

The real hope is that someday soon, the whooping cranes, which have been making the migration on their own for the last several years, will pair up and produce chicks that they will lead to Florida without the need for ultralights.

Experts have set a goal of 125 individual animals and 25 breeding pairs as what would be needed for a sustainable whooping crane population. If all this year's chicks successfully make it to Florida and back to Wisconsin, the total population of cranes will have reached 62, nearly half what is needed to make goal.

"Won't that be wonderful," Condie said. "Every success just builds on a previous one."

Of course, there is an even greater goal down the road.

Someday there is hope that enough of the birds are breeding and living in the wild that they can be taken off the endangered species list.

The party for that event, Condie said, would be "the size of a continent."

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 13, 2005, 01:10:16]

© 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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Environmentalists praise EPA decision against Florida water rule

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The federal government's disapproval of a state rule on impaired waters won praise Friday from environmentalists who said the regulation had reduced protection for Florida's lakes, rivers and other water bodies.

A federal judge had ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to review the rule after an earlier 11th Circuit Court of Appeal decision also had gone against it.

Getting rid of the rule reinstates tougher water quality standards that comply with the federal Clean Water Act, said Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida.

"It's extremely important for Florida in terms of our water quality standard staying intact," Young said.

EPA regional administrator J.I. Palmer Jr. wrote in an Oct. 3 letter that the state rule constituted new or revised water quality standards, which are prohibited by the federal law. He added that the state's pre-rule standards, however, complied with the Clean Water Act.

The letter was addressed to Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille. In response Friday, agency officials cited a letter Castille had sent to Palmer in July indicating the state would review the rule to determine whether revisions "are necessary or desirable."

Castille wrote that "extended debate over an administrative revision serves neither our environment nor our taxpayers" and that DEP's review "will allow us to forge ahead and implement the rule effectively." The review has not yet been completed.

DEP officials had contended when the rule was drafted six years ago that it would result in using better science to decide how to select impaired waters for protection against pollution from industry and other sources.

Environmentalists, however, argued that the rule would keep waters tainted by discharges from industry and other human activity off the protected list.

EPA officials had warned that the rule would be a problem.

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Sep 26, 8:11 PM EDT

Environmental groups ask judge to halt Scripps project

A battle left to a beetle

A UF entomologist is using a tiny South American insect to fight the soda apple, one of the most destructive invasive plants in Florida.

By DAN DeWITT, Times Staff Writer
Published September 27, 2005

RIDGE MANOR - Julio Medal and Vince Morris grew more excited with every step they took toward a patch of eerily vibrant shrubs growing among the pines in the Withlacoochee State Forest.

From a distance they could see a few of the bushes had turned a dull green; up closer they noticed "shot holes" gnawed in the leaves.

Closer still - and this really thrilled them - they saw a tiny green bug partly hidden by a clump on its back.

"Dung umbrella," Medal, a University of Florida entomologist, said with satisfaction.

"That's a great sign," said Morris, an ecologist with the state Division of Forestry. "That means they are being born here."

"They" are gratiana Boliviana , a South American insect for which Medal has come up with another, more descriptive name: tropical soda apple leaf beetle.

This bug with its own unusual defense - carrying a bundle of its dung in the larval stage to discourage predators - is the best long-term hope to breach the defenses of the soda apple, one of the most destructive of the legion of invasive plants in Florida.

Soda apples, originally from South America, first appeared in Florida in 1988, Medal said. Unchecked by natural enemies, the plant has advanced to over 1-million acres in Florida and into several other states in the Southeast.

The prickles covering the plant's leaves and stalks prevent the grazing that might otherwise help control it.

The fruit, unlike the leaves, is favored by a variety of animals, including birds, raccoons, coyotes and cows, which distribute the seeds in their manure as they wander over pastures.

So, more than any other invasive plant in the state, soda apple is not just an environmental threat, but an economic one, Morris said.

Beyond the loss of productivity as the plant consumes pastures is the expense of controlling soda apple with a repeated combination of mowing and spraying, which costs about $30 per acre.

Also, ranchers in Florida must frequently quarantine cattle before shipping them to other states.

"It's a suggested holding period to give those animals a chance to clear any seed from their digestive track," said Ed Jennings, the regional agricultural extension agent who specializes in livestock.

While biological control has become common in the fight against exotics, the targets usually threaten only the natural system.

In the battle against the soda apple, researchers are fighting to protect a major industry "It seems like when something hits a big economic interest, like the cattle industry, we find the resources to battle them," Morris said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Medal's research, which began with his identification of the leaf beetle in Brazil in 1994.

It was not until 2003 that he was able to release the first batch of 3,000 bugs; he expects to turn loose 100,000 this year in 18 counties - including Pasco, Sumter and Hillsborough - and 100,000 next year.

The long delay is due to the pains taken to avoid some of the previous disasters of biological control. In many cases, animals brought in to fight an exotic pest have become pests themselves, with examples including the grass carp in Florida.

The release of the leaf beetle is particularly tricky because insects that like to eat one plant are often tempted by its closest relatives, Medal said.

And the soda apple's family includes some of the most valuable crops in the world, including peppers, eggplants and tomatoes.

All had to be tested - meaning researchers had to give the beetle a chance to eat them and make sure they declined. Fortunately, Medal said, the leaf beetle turned out to be so picky it even turned away from another, nearly identical soda apple with red fruit rather than yellow.

Releasing the beetles is as low-tech as a grade-school science project.

On a recent morning, Medal and Morris drove to the first of two sites infested with soda apple in the Withlacoochee State Forest. The site was formerly the grazing grounds of another exotic - the state's herd of cracker cattle, descended from cows imported by Spanish conquistadors.

These cattle, presumably, ate hay contaminated with soda apple seeds and then deposited them under the pines, where the soda apple plants now grow as vigorously as azaleas in Augusta, Ga.

Morris opened one of two large, ventilated plastic jars that Medal had brought down from his Gainesville lab. Inside, about 100 beetles crawled over wilted soda apple leaves.

Morris draped the bugs over the tops of the plants and then unceremoniously dumped out the few insects that clung to the bottom of the container.

Much more dramatic is the damage 300 beetles have done since their release a month earlier.

Targeted plants showed some signs of distress - perforated, limp leaves as well as a few defoliated branches. The beetles, meanwhile, are thriving and regenerating, Medal said. That means Medal's project is on its way to success. He foresees releasing bugs throughout the state over the next few years. Eventually the beetle will occupy the same place in Florida's natural system that it does in South America - not eliminating the soda apple, but containing it. [Last modified September 27, 2005, 02:45:31]

4Illinois Pizza Farm Draws Tourists

By JIM SUHR
AP Business Writer

DOW, Ill. (AP) -- Walt Gregory found a way to make dough harvesting pizza. The retired insurance agent and his business partner have carved up quite a tourist draw near the Mississippi River town of Alton, educating people with a half-acre circular plot divided up like the slices of a huge pizza.

Each of the eight wedges represents something used on a pizza - from tomatoes to peppers to herbs including rosemary and sage. Three goats represent milk and Cleo the cow is symbolic of beef. Seven penned-in pigs illustrate pork.

The chickens pecking nearby? Eggs, of course.

"I enjoy it immensely, just to see the looks on people's faces and seeing some people make the connection," Gregory said from his 3-year-old "R" Pizza Farm. "A 62-year-old lady, standing with her husband, didn't know pepperoni came from pigs."

Only a handful of such farms are believed to exist in the United States. However, farmers increasingly are turning to inventive land use - cornfield mazes are another example - to supplement their bottom lines. Illinois, which is among the nation's leaders in pumpkin and horseradish production, is no exception.

The project seems to be working for Gregory and business partner Lynne Weis. They expect their organic pizza "demonstration" farm to draw 5,000 to 6,000 visitors this year, far more than the 1,500 visitors in 2004 or the 300 the year before that.

The two have a similar venture near Quincy, with plans for a third next spring near Peoria.

"Word's getting out," Gregory said as he walked through the wedges, plucking peppers and tomatoes along the way.

During tours offered from April through October, Gregory briefs guests about the ingredients, then walks them through each slice. Afterward, there's pizza and soda in a pizzeria inside a log cabin.

Most of the ingredients come from the farm and are organic, including the fennel herb commonly used to flavor Italian sausage. Gregory still hopes to find a source of organic cheese and is talking with an Amish slaughterhouse about supplying organic pepperoni.

Gregory hopes to educate guests about organic growing. He makes no bones about his opposition to corporations behind agricultural biotechnology or farmers who use herbicide-resistant products he considers dangerous.

"Someone's got to stand against them. That's what I try to accomplish with the pizza farm," said Gregory, who elsewhere on his spread grows asparagus, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, squash, pumpkins and corn.

Elizabeth Decker, a second-grade teacher in nearby Bethalto, can't seem to get her fill of the farm. She has taken her classes, which typically number 20 students and chaperoning parents, on the tour every year since the farm opened.

Decker said the place teaches kids firsthand what goes into a pizza, from harvest to hearth.

"I think parents learn just as much as the children," she said.

NATIONAL NEWS - Over the next 45 years, the world's population will balloon by 3 billion, bringing the total to somewhere near 9 billion souls.

Most will live in Third World cities, and we'll need a land mass greater than the size of Brazil to feed them all.