From the Sierra Club:
From now until July 31st, the National Park Service is accepting public comments on a new management plan for Everglades National Park. This decision will determine the park’s management policy for the next 15 to 20 years. Please take a few minutes to read the Sierra Club’s position on this important issue and then send your comments in at the National Park Service’s website provided below.
See the Everglades newsletter & description, and the comment form to submit your thoughts.
The Sierra Club supports Alternative D. If you’d like to read the entire email sent from the Sierra Club, including their recommendations, follow the link below.
The Sierra Club supports Management Alternative D – the one management plan which puts the protection of the plants and animals of one of America’s most unique and threatened national parks up front and center. It will also provide for the enjoyment and usage of the entire park by a variety of visitors – both motorized and non-motorized – while still adhering to the official mission of the National Park Service as stated in the Organic Act of 1916 –
…to promote and regulate the use of the…national parks…which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
-National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.1.
The main points of Alternative D that you may want to include in your comments are summarized below – Florida Bay, the Gulf Coast and the Ten Thousand Islands – Alternative D provides access to shallow and vulnerable areas (3 foot depth or less – the average depth of Florida Bay) by paddling (canoes or kayaks), or by poling or electric trolling motors on larger boats. Use of gasoline power engines in designated and pre-existing deep water channels will continue to provide access to most of the bay and Gulf coast. (These channels were unfortunately omitted from the map and description provided in the newsletter and gave some the impression that almost the entire bay would be closed to power boat usage under Alternative D. We have consulted with the park administration on this point and this is definitely not the case.)
Gasoline powered boats can switch to alternative power – poling and electric trolling – while over identified shallow and sensitive areas where seagrass damage is known to have occurred. While we understand this may be seen as a sacrifice to some, this practice if enforced will greatly help protect the vulnerable seagrasses from damage by boat hulls, boat groundings, and propellers and also allow for much needed recovery. Studies have shown that this management practice can reduce damage to seagrass by up to 90 percent (see below).
The seagrasses are the source of virtually all life in Florida Bay and much of the Gulf Coast within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Nearly every fish, bird, mammal, crustacean, insect, or micro-organism which inhabits this area depends upon seagrass as a source of food, shelter, a nursery for its young, or for prey. The narrow mangrove channels of the Gulf Coast and the Ten Thousand Islands are also a significant habitat for manatees – still on the Endangered Species List. They will also receive significant benefits from no gas motor access in one of their most important remaining habitats in south Florida.
The Wilderness Waterway – Alternative D provides for a non-motorized paddling route adjacent to the motorized one from Flamingo to Everglades City. This is a challenging 99 mile route for canoeists and kayakers which for many is a once in a lifetime experience of south Florida. The ability to be in contact with true wilderness away from the sounds, wakes and exhaust fumes of motor boats is an integral part of this important and historical section of Everglades National Park and should be provided for.
The East Everglades Expansion Area – Alternative D calls for the eventual phasing out of small private airboats (no permits other than by owners of record as of 1989 – no new permitting), the buyout by the National Park Service of three commercial airboat operations which run tours within the boundaries of Everglades National Park, and the creation of a new 106,000 acre wilderness area just west of Krome Avenue and south of Tamiami Trail – less than an hour from downtown Miami! Access and camping opportunities are to be provided for paddlers.
As this area is in the heart of Shark River Slough, the main source of water for most of the park, airboat trails are not to conflict with the terms of the Everglades Expansion and Protection Act which calls for the restoration of "the natural hydrological conditions within the park." The elimination of airboats from this area will greatly facilitate a return of the natural vegetation and hydrological flows, decrease stress on animal life (commercial airboats are enormous and loud twin engine ‘buses’) and provide visitors with a tranquil experience of the natural ecosystem that is very accessible to the dense urban populations on the east coast of Florida. Fishing opportunities south of Tamiami trail should improve as well as a result of this decision.
East Everglades is a great representation of the ‘classic everglades’ sawgrass and alligator marsh habitat and ridge and slough topology (low wet areas interspersed with higher tree hammocks). New visitor access in terms of canoe and kayak rental concessions, walking trails and boardwalks will be constructed to allow for non-damaging usages of the area by tourists and residents alike.
The buyout of the airboat concessions will also make it easier for the eventual construction of the Tamiami Trail Skyway. This eleven mile elevated roadway has been identified by the Army Corps of Engineers as the optimal method for restoring sheetflow into the main body of Everglades National Park. It is very much supported by the Sierra Club.