Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Politics of Wetlands Restoration from a Municipal Perspective by Rodney Romano

Snook Islands By Rodney Romano, Esq. (Former Mayor of >Lake Worth and Theodore O. Meiggs, Ph.D., (Director of the Worth Environmental Institute)

A poster presentation at the Lake Worth Lagoon Symposium, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida, May 16, 2007Background - Two problems, one solution

Problems at Peanut Island

Peanut Island is an 80-acre man-made island located in Lake Worth, Florida near the Palm Beach Inlet. Its history started in 1918 as a disposal site for dredge materials from the Inlet, the Port of Palm Beach and the Intercoastal Waterway. The northern half of the Island is currently owned by the Florida Inland Navigation District, who continues to use it as a depository for dredged materials. By 2003, the dredge materials storage area had reached capacity, and the sandy dredge materials needed to by moved to a new location.

Problems at the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course

The Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course was built in the 1920’s in part by taking dredge materials from Lake Worth Lagoon and using it as fill. Over time, wave action against the shoreline along with gravity caused much of the sandy soils along the bank to slide back into the Lagoon (Figure 1). In addition, the deep holes that were created by dredging from the Lagoon had filled in with many feet of very fine grained sediment or muck. Much of this muck was carried into the Lagoon by drainage from the C-51 canal. This fine grained muck had covered the Lagoon bottom near the golf course. It smothered most aquatic life and clouded the water so that sunlight could not penetrate into the deep holes for plant growth. These conditions combined to produce a relatively lifeless and undesirable aquatic environment.

The Proposed Solution

Palm Beach County in partner with other interested parties came up with a possible solution and presented it to the Lake Worth City Commissioners in 2001. The County proposed to take excess dredge materials from Peanut Island and use it to fill in the deep holes along the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course. They concluded that the fill areas along with stone levies would stabilize the bank erosion, and plantings of mangroves and sea grasses would turn the area into a desirable and productive wetland and natural estuary area. They proposed to call this restored wetland area the Snook Islands Natural Area. Once the excess dredge materials were removed from Peanut Island, it also could be redeveloped for environmental educational and recreational purposes, and it could once again receive dredge materials from the Palm Beach Inlet and the Lake Worth Lagoon.

The details of this project have been reported elsewhere. This document describes the efforts made to obtain public support and approval by the City of Lake Worth.

The proposal seemed like a win-win solution for Palm Beach County, the City of Lake Worth and a number of other interested parties. Its adoption seemed assured. It was a no-brainer, a win-win solution. However, when it was presented to the Lake Worth City Council a few local residences stepped forward and raised a number of “concerns.” The perfect solution was in trouble.

Public Concerns

The concerns were all related to perceptions of how the project might affect those residents who lived along the west side of the golf course (a distance of about three football fields away from the Lagoon shoreline). These concerns included 1) blocking their view of the lagoon, 2) blocking of breezes off the water, 3) making a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which might carry the West Nile Virus, 4) odors, 5) public access, 6) litter, and 7) decreased property values.

These issues were discussed at that time, but some of the local citizens were still dissatisfied. To calm these concerns, the Lake Worth City Council decided to “negotiate” a middle ground. This negotiation resulted in reducing the amount of mangrove planted areas from 22 acres to 11 acres, and dropping the plan to construct a public boardwalk for viewing of the Natural Area. Still some concerned citizens were not satisfied, but they were mollified enough for the City Council to get the revised plan approved. The concerned citizens decided to wait for a change in administration and planned to kill the entire plan at a later time.

With approval of the revised plan, the County and its partners made their adjustments and began to move forward with implementing them. Meanwhile, the concerned citizens began to move forward with their plans to muster support for killing the plan. They decided that a door-to-door campaign would do the trick. The City Council decided that a better understanding of the issues and their consequences were in order.

At the request of Mayor Romano, the University of Miami prepared at detailed study at no cost to evaluate the issues and their consequences.

This study concluded the following:

1) View – residence’s views were already partially blocked by mangroves growing along the shoreline (Figure 2), other tall trees on the golf course (Figure 3), and by hundreds of non-native trees such as Australian Pines. These tall non-native trees were to be removed and replaced by lower growing mangroves for this project which would, if anything, improve the view. The study also pointed out that mangroves take 25 years to grow to a height where they could block the view, and even then, the plan placed the mangrove islands behind the mangroves already growing onshore so that the line of sight would remain the same;

2) Breezes - The study refuted this as wind patterns would not be blocked by mangroves more than 800 feet away from the nearest home;

3) Mosquitoes & West Nile Virus (WNV) - the study refuted this concern because mosquitoes cannot hatch when their larvae are continuously flooded with each tide and only fresh water mosquitoes carry the WNV;

4) Odors - The study refuted this to a point by agreeing that the detritus on the ground adjacent to the mangrove will smell when disturbed, but not when left alone and not from a distance of several hundred feet;

5) Public Access – Public access was almost eliminated from the area when the boardwalk was removed from the project (an unfortunate byproduct of compromise):

6) Litter – The proposed islands would collect debris that would normally wash ashore or be carried out with the tide. However, they would also make collection of this litter easier;

7) Reduced Property Values – The project should increase property values by having a more desirable environmental feature close by, but not too close.

This information was provided to the public through meetings and a door-to-door campaign. Public perceptions of the Snook Islands Natural Area were changed when the local land owners fully understood the consequences of the issues raised. Resistance to the project largely dissipated when these issues were fully addressed, although their remained a few individuals who did not want to see any changes to their surroundings.

Toward Final Approval

A possible fatal stumbling block for the project came to light at the last minute when the City management was advised that part of the golf course sprinkler system would be damaged by the initial construction and part of the system would have to be replaced. In order to assure that a multimillion dollar project was not scrapped over a few thousand dollars of sprinklers, the funds for this activity were approved at a regularly scheduled and noticed commission meeting without opposition, and the Snook Islands Nature Area construction was allowed to proceed without delay.

Snook Islands Nature Area today

The Nature Area has been constructed, non-native trees were removed, mangroves have been planted, sea grasses, oysters and fish have returned to a once relatively lifeless area. This progress should continue as the mangroves grow (Figure 3), and provide a protective environment for a wide variety of plant and animal life (Figure 4). Progress was evident recently when a 21 pound Snook was caught in the Nature Area.[1] The site has become a shining example of a successful environmental restoration project, and the project has won awards for its success.[2] Unfortunately, the public currently has only limited access to the area since the only access is from the Lagoon. A sign on the golf course identifies the area (Figure 5). However, the construction of a boardwalk through the mangroves islands is currently being discussed as part of the proposed upgrades at Bryant Park, which is located just south of the Nature Area.[3]

Lessons for Future Environmental Restoration Projects

In spite of all the accolades for the Snook Islands Nature Area today, it is important to note that the project was almost stopped dead in its tracks more than once due to local citizens “concerns.” Most environmental restoration projects produce multiple impacts to many people. It is critical to identify the issues and concerns early in the process and to address these concerns in a knowledgeable, professional manner so as to assure that public perceptions ultimately match public reality. In addition, sometimes giving away part of the project through negotiations may not always be desirable. In the case described above, by the time the concerned citizens were accepting of the proposed boardwalk and additional mangrove islands, the money for these items had already been allocated elsewhere. Lastly, close cooperation between the participating programs, Agencies and municipalities is essential for successful completion of these sometimes difficult, but very worthwhile, environmental projects.

Photos

1) Erosion of the shoreline along the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course.

2) Mangroves along golf course shoreline.

3) Tall trees on golf course impacting views of the Lake Worth Lagoon.

4) Snook Islands Natural Area showing mangrove islands.

5) Snook Islands Natural Area fishing opportunities.

6) Snook Islands Natural Area sign on golf course.



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Reproduced with the expressed permission of R. Romano.
To read Mr. Romano's opinion, read comment under Snook Islands article.

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