Showing posts with label habitat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label habitat. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Urban Eagle's Nest
This nest is in Fort Myers, in a pine tree near a very busy road. These pine trees have value as habitat, even in isolation.
Sarasota County's contention that these pines are not valuable unless they are part of a clustered system is inconsistent with bird nesting behavior.
This eagle nest is no doubt close to a fishing source so mom and dad can feed their eaglets.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Pine Flatwoods Hearing Monday, Jan. 12, 9 am
Pine Flatwood Protection About To Be Repealed
- Public Hearing Monday, January 12, 9 am,
- Sarasota County Commission
- Anderson Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice
On Monday morning, January 12, shortly after 9 am, in south County, the Sarasota County Commission will hold a public hearing and vote to adopt an ordinance that repeals an important protection for pine flatwoods.
The meeting was originally scheduled for November 5 but was postponed. Now the proposed ordinance is even worse than before, as it will give the County Commission the authority to waive even the very scant pine flatwood protections being retained. Someone in or for the development interests obviously got to County staff and got that added.
The developers' control of our County Commission is about to lead to repeal of another key environmental protection. Currently, in meeting any open space requirement, a developer must preserve all pine flatwoods until the required open space is met (often 30% of the site), after certain other valuable habitats are protected.
The ordinance would narrow that very severely, to preserve only those pine flatwoods that (1) are within a required buffer for a watercourse or wetland or (2) are within a wildlife corridor or (3) increase the ecological value and management abilities of preserved or publicly owned environmentally sensitive lands.
The first category is effectively protected anyway, by the buffer regulations. And now, in this latest draft, the County Commission may adopt any "alternative open space plan" proposed by a developer instead of the very limited protection offered by the other two categories. It just gets worse and worse.
The first category is effectively protected anyway, by the buffer regulations. And now, in this latest draft, the County Commission may adopt any "alternative open space plan" proposed by a developer instead of the very limited protection offered by the other two categories. It just gets worse and worse.
Other pine flatwoods would be totally up to the developer whether or not to preserve, to mow down, or to keep in part if the developer wants to do so to “achieve site design goals” including but not limited to ”social, recreational and civic values and other market-based factors.”
County staff comments in a memo that they will "encourage" developers to preserve pine flatwoods and other naturally vegetated areas that they will no longer will be required to preserve. Wow, big deal.
The weakened requirement would apply throughout the entire Urban Service Area and in a part of south County designated the Future Urban Service Area. Large swaths of pine flatwoods will be left without current protections, particularly in the south County, such as the bottom half of the Fox Creek habitat north of Laurel Road, east along Jacaranda Boulevard between Venice Avenue and Center Road, and very largely, in the Englewood area including on the Thomas Ranch. Destruction of pine flatwoods will also be newly allowed in portions of the north County, including the area west of US 41 north of Sarasota Square Mall, near Pelican Cove. Some of the pine flatwoods that will no longer have protection provide important amenities to neighborhoods, such as Desoto Acres and The Groves.
County staff comments in a memo that they will "encourage" developers to preserve pine flatwoods and other naturally vegetated areas that they will no longer will be required to preserve. Wow, big deal.
The weakened requirement would apply throughout the entire Urban Service Area and in a part of south County designated the Future Urban Service Area. Large swaths of pine flatwoods will be left without current protections, particularly in the south County, such as the bottom half of the Fox Creek habitat north of Laurel Road, east along Jacaranda Boulevard between Venice Avenue and Center Road, and very largely, in the Englewood area including on the Thomas Ranch. Destruction of pine flatwoods will also be newly allowed in portions of the north County, including the area west of US 41 north of Sarasota Square Mall, near Pelican Cove. Some of the pine flatwoods that will no longer have protection provide important amenities to neighborhoods, such as Desoto Acres and The Groves.
This is the culmination of a long-time push by big developers to remove pine flatwoods from the protected habitat they must preserve when meeting the County's open space requirements. Developers want this because pine flatwoods are by far the protected habitat that developers most frequently encounter in their developments, and as such is the one they most frequently want to destroy to make way for other development features, such as the lawns and other "pervious surfaces" that can count as open space.
This would do great harm, as pine flatwoods provide important habitat for many wildlife species. Even in urban areas where they do that to a lesser extent, they provide all of the aesthetic and functional benefits that trees have for the human environment.
County staff says that removing present pine flatwood protections is now a good idea because of "the overall success of conserving the habitat in the county". That's like saying a community that has had success in combating crime should legalize crime.
Rather than admitting that they are removing existing pine flatwood protections, County staff says that their proposed amendment "would strategically conserve pine flatwoods rather than use a one-size fits all approach." In fact, what the amendment would do is remove the present comprehensive requirement that developers preserve pine flatwoods first (together with other protected habitat) in fulfilling the County's open space requirements, and allow its destruction except in those very limited instances in which the proposed ordinance says it must be preserved.
The Bible teaches us that while mankind has been given dominion over the earth, we must be good stewards of the natural environment which has been placed under our control.
It is just good stewardship to require that native habitat be preserved first by a developer when meeting the County's open space requirement -- not just habitat rarely encountered but also the habitat that can be expected to be actually found on a site, such as pine flatwoods.
The public should be made aware of this bad proposal and if nothing else make it uncomfortable for the politicians who would do the bidding of their developer patrons at the expense of the environment and other public interest concerns.
Dan Lobeck
President, Control Growth Now
This would do great harm, as pine flatwoods provide important habitat for many wildlife species. Even in urban areas where they do that to a lesser extent, they provide all of the aesthetic and functional benefits that trees have for the human environment.
County staff says that removing present pine flatwood protections is now a good idea because of "the overall success of conserving the habitat in the county". That's like saying a community that has had success in combating crime should legalize crime.
Rather than admitting that they are removing existing pine flatwood protections, County staff says that their proposed amendment "would strategically conserve pine flatwoods rather than use a one-size fits all approach." In fact, what the amendment would do is remove the present comprehensive requirement that developers preserve pine flatwoods first (together with other protected habitat) in fulfilling the County's open space requirements, and allow its destruction except in those very limited instances in which the proposed ordinance says it must be preserved.
The Bible teaches us that while mankind has been given dominion over the earth, we must be good stewards of the natural environment which has been placed under our control.
It is just good stewardship to require that native habitat be preserved first by a developer when meeting the County's open space requirement -- not just habitat rarely encountered but also the habitat that can be expected to be actually found on a site, such as pine flatwoods.
The public should be made aware of this bad proposal and if nothing else make it uncomfortable for the politicians who would do the bidding of their developer patrons at the expense of the environment and other public interest concerns.
Dan Lobeck
President, Control Growth Now
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
What is the cost of deteriorated wildlife habitats?
Reposted from the Herald Tribune -
NEW: Wildlife numbers cut in half, group says
Canada lynx
FILE - In this April 19, 2005 file photo, a Canada lynx heads into the Rio Grande National Forest after being released near Creede, Colo. Canada lynx gained federal protections in New Mexico on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, but U.S. wildlife officials again declined to designate critical habitat for the elusive wild cats in the Southern Rockies, parts of New England and other areas not considered essential to their survival. The two-part finding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service means the forest-dwlling lynx will be protected as threatened throughout the lower 48 states. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at 5:49 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at 5:49 a.m.
GENEVA - Populations of about 3,000 species of wildlife around the world have plummeted far worse than previously thought, according to a new study by one of the world's biggest environmental groups.
The study Tuesday from the Swiss-based WWF largely blamed human threats to nature for a 52-percent decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2010.
It says improved methods of measuring populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles explain the huge difference from the 28-percent decline between 1970 and 2008 that the group reported in 2012.
Most of the new losses were found in tropical regions, particularly Latin America.
WWF describes the study it has carried out every two years since 1998 as a barometer of the state of the planet.
"There is no room for complacency," said WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini, calling for a greater focus on sustainable solutions to the impacts that people are inflicting on nature, particularly through the release of greenhouse gases.
The latest "Living Planet" study analyzed data from about 10,000 populations of 3,038 vertebrate species from a database maintained by the Zoological Society of London. It is meant to provide a representative sampling of the overall wildlife population in the world, said WWF's Richard McLellan, editor-in-chief of the study.
It reflects populations since 1970, the first year the London-based society had comprehensive data. Each study is based on data from at least four years earlier.
Much of the world's wildlife has disappeared in what have been called five mass extinctions, which were often associated with giant meteor strikes. About 90 percent of the world's species were wiped out around 252 million years ago. One such extinction about 66 million years ago killed off the dinosaurs and three out of four species on Earth.
In the new WWF study, hunting and fishing along with continued losses and deterioration of natural habitats are identified as the chief threats to wildlife populations around the world. Other primary factors are global warming, invasive species, pollution and disease.
"This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live," said Ken Norris, science director at the London society. "There is still hope. Protecting nature needs focused conservation action, political will and support from industry."
See also: rewilding
See also: rewilding
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