“These lands are a treasure trove of biodiversity,” said Matthew Schwartz, Executive Director of the South Florida Wildlands Association,
noting that the animals at risk include many of Florida’s most iconic species, such as the critically endangered Florida panther
(with an estimated 120 remaining in the wild), Cape Sable seaside sparrow, wood stork, red-cockaded woodpecker,
Everglades snail kite, eastern indigo snake and the American crocodile. “They are owned by and are a part of the natural
heritage of all Americans. The National Park Service is prioritizing motorized recreation over the protection of an
irreplaceable resource here, contrary to both law and its mission.”
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the suit charges the National Park Service (NPS),
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior with violating the Wilderness Act,
Endangered Species Act, the Park Service Organic Act and the National Environmental Policy Act,
among other authorities. Plaintiffs, the Sierra Club, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER),
South Florida Wildlands Association, Florida Biodiversity Project and Wilderness Watch, are represented by the
Washington, DC public interest law firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.
In its own analysis of the “key impacts,” the NPS admits that its decision will likely have adverse
impacts on the Addition Lands’ hydrology, soils, vegetation, and several listed species.
It will also facilitate the spread of invasive and exotic plant species throughout the Addition Lands
by disturbing native plants and soils and dispersing seeds. The visitor experience for the current
non-motorized users will deteriorate through negative impacts to the natural soundscapes and landscapes.
After announcing in their 2009 Draft General Management Plan for the Addition that approximately 109,000 acres were
“wilderness eligible,” the NPS subsequently conducted a “re-assessment” completely outside of public view which
suddenly concluded that only 71,000 acres were eligible and recommended just 47,000 acres be proposed to
Congress as future wilderness. The effect of this quick re-assessment would allow much of the Addition to be
fragmented by a network of off-road vehicle trails.
“This suit is necessary because the Park Service improperly rewrote wilderness mapping to produce a result which
had been decided behind closed doors,” said Jeff Ruch of PEER. “We expected better of the Park Service under
this administration and, thus far, we have been sorely disappointed.”
“This decision is politically, legally and environmentally unsustainable,” said Sierra Club representative Bradley Stark,
pointing out that the overwhelming majority of the public comments received on the project urged the Obama
administration to minimize resource degradation and instead preserve the historical and non-damaging recreational
uses enjoyed by the public. “It needlessly alienates a large number of Floridians who seek to enjoy the Addition
Lands for bird watching, hiking, and other purposes consistent with the Park Service’s mandate to protect the
treasured resources of the Addition Lands. This is one of the last pieces of South Florida a parent could show
to their child and say ‘This is what our home looked like before settlers arrived over a hundred years ago.’ ”
-Sierra Club, South Florida Wildlands Association, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
See PEER coverage on this on PEER News Releases
FWS
ON THE AFTERNOON OF JULY 11, 2011, yet another Florida panther was discovered lying on a lonely stretch of Immokalee Road,
an east-west corridor that cuts through cattle and farm country in rural Florida.
The year-old male was the 7th big cat killed by a vehicle this year and the 19th killed overall,
a rate that is set to outpace the 23 deaths in 2010 and 25 in 2009.
That late-night collision continued another unsettling trend. For the past decade, cars have been the leading cause of
known panther deaths, surpassing panther-on-panther aggression. The increasing human traffic within panther territory is taking its toll.
Only weeks before the accident, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had declared the Eastern cougar—which hadn't been seen
in decades—extinct. That leaves the Florida panther, itself on the threshold of extinction, as the eastern seaboard's sole surviving big cat.
-from an article by Tristan Korten writing for Sierra Magazine.
The Hendry County Commission on May 24, 2011
unanimously voted to rezone 3,127 acres near the
Big Cypress Seminole Reservation from general
agricultural to utility uses, allowing Florida Power and Light
to build a natural gas and solar energy power center capable
of generating more than 3,750 megawatts of electricity.
The Sierra Club, the Seminole Tribe, the Conservancy
of Southwest Florida and the South Florida Wildlands
Association spoke out in opposition to the power plant,
which would be built on habitat for the endangered Florida
panther, crested caracara, eastern indigo snake and wood
stork. The groups also raised concerns about the impacts
of the power plant on air quality and water consumption.
According to FPL’s 10-Year Power Plant Site Plan for
2011-2020, the natural gas plant would use up to 7.5 million
gallons of water per day to cool each of the three units.
The Seminole Tribe and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida also
objected to the Hendry County Commission’s decision to
rezone prematurely, without sufficient information. They
pointed out that the completion of the power plant would be
contingent on the outcome of a lawsuit over ownership of
other land needed for the project.
The Commission vote was only the first of many approvals required for
this project from state, local and federal agencies. A much
smaller 75-megawatt solar energy plant in Lee and Charlotte
counties on Babcock Ranch property has been in the works
since spring 2009, but that project is still awaiting a final
commitment by FPL to build it.
Sierra Club will continue to fight this proposed power
plant and any other urban or industrial project in the vicinity
that would threaten the Florida panther's remaining habitat
so critically needed for its survival.
— Marti Daltry,
organizer, Sierra Club Ft. Myers Office
In February 2010, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity,
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Council of Civic Associations, filed a lawsuit
challenging the Service's denial of their petitions to designate critical habitat for the panther.
This designation would give the panther the greatest protection available under the federal Endangered Species Act
and promote its recovery from the brink of extinction. At present, about 120 Florida Panthers
survive in the wild – clinging to less than five percent of their historic range.
On April 6, 2011 a federal district judge dismissed the groups’ lawsuit. The judge's order recognized the
panther's gravely imperiled status, citing to prior cases which called the panther "one of the rarest
large mammals in the United States" and "one of the most endangered large mammals in the world."
Nevertheless the judge found that, because the panther was listed as endangered before the critical
habitat provisions were added to the Endangered Species Act, the Service’s action was entirely discretionary
and therefore not subject to judicial review.
Andrew McElwaine, President of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, pointed out that
"in effect, the Judge said the Service does not have to designate critical habitat for the panther because
the panther has been endangered for too long. We trust the 11th Circuit will reverse."
Frank Jackalone, Florida Staff Director for the Sierra Club, said the ruling was especially disappointing
in light of the heavy mortality to the panther population last year and so far in 2011. According to Jackalone,
23 panthers were killed last year, and 11 more have already died in 2011, mostly due to collisions with cars.
The 2011 figures may be understated, as some recent panther deaths have not been publicly posted because they are
still under official investigation.
"You can't protect endangered species without protecting the places they live and that’s what needs to happen to
give the Florida panther any shot at survival," said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.
"We’re confident that the appellate court will recognize that the Interior Department has the authority and the
urgent responsibility to protect critical habitat for the panther, which is disappearing as gated subdivisions
and strip malls replace forests and wetlands in South Florida."
"Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has an extinction strategy rather than a recovery
strategy for the Florida panther," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, who also notes that the
Service’s science has been manipulated to mask the truly dire plight of the panther.
Ann Hauck, of the Council of Civic Associations, states: "The Service has not issued a single jeopardy
Biological Opinion for the entire Southeastern United States since 1993, even as unchecked development
has caused increasing panther deaths. The Florida panther is going to disappear forever unless the
federal government undertakes protective measures that work."
For further information on Florida Panther mortality rates, please go to:
www.floridapanthernet.org/index.php/pulse
Andrew McElwaine, President, Conservancy of Southwest Florida
Frank Jackalone, Florida Staff Director, Sierra Club
Michael Robinson, Conservation Advocate, Center for Biological Diversity
Jeff Ruch, Exec. Director, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Ann Hauck, President, Council of Civic Associations
About the same time that state agencies were signing off
on the documents needed to open the new Charles H. Bronson State Forest to the public,
a pair of state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission employees inspecting a new boundary
fence came across animal tracks so perfectly imprinted they knew immediately what had made them.
Read the rest of the story in the Orland Sentinel
Another enviornmental tragedy has occurred in southwest Florida that we can't overlook.
Three panthers were killed on one stretch of U.S. 41 in Collier County this weekend.
Note that one of the panthers killed had two 8-week old cubs.
Wildlife officials rate their chance of survival at "zero" unless they are found.
Please read this key excerpt in Craig Pittman's article in the St. Pete Times:
State transportation officials had planned to put in a special wildlife crossing on U.S. 41 to help panthers
avoid cars on that stretch, but ran into opposition from hunters and backed off.
The overall estimated cost of building the underpass would have been $8 million.
Construction would include 2 miles of fencing to make sure the panthers used the underpass instead of
crossing the pavement.
At public hearings on the plan in the fall, hunters and anglers who drive off-road vehicles to their
wilderness camps via U.S. 41 objected to the fences because they would block easy access to the
Big Cypress National Preserve.
Read the complete article at
St. Petersburg TImes
Washington, D.C. – Citing the federal government’s failure to conserve and protect the Florida panther and its habitat, as required under by the Endangered Species Act, the Sierra Club and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida sent a notice letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Department of Interior of their intent to file a legal challenge. The notice gives the federal agencies sixty days to respond.
The letter from the two organizations states that “The Florida panther was listed as endangered in 1967, in large part due to habitat loss. Forty-two years later, the panther still does not have protected critical habitat, even as development continues to accelerate in south Florida. To fulfill its conservation mandate under the ESA [Endangered Species Act], and to avoid violating the basic strictures of the APA [Administrative Procedure Act], FWS must finally designate sufficient critical habitat for the panther.”
On January 21, 2009, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida petitioned FWS with a formal request that it designate three important regions in south Florida as critical habitat. These regions known as the “Primary”, “Secondary”, and “Dispersal” Zones, embrace the core of panther habitat in the region. They extend from the Everglades through the Big Cypress National Preserve to the Caloosahatchee River, including vital migration corridors to South Central Florida, relatively undisturbed core habitat, and areas with important habitat restoration activities and opportunities. A broad coalition of citizen’s groups including the Sierra Club joined the Conservancy in a second petition on July 23, 2009, which reiterated the need to protect the habitat described in the Conservancy petition. FWS has not acted upon the petitions.
“Unfortunately, despite the pressing conservation needs outlined in the petitions,” the Sierra Club and Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in its letter, “FWS has not acted to designate critical habitat and has not responded in the manner and within the time period required by the ESA and the APA. Instead, it has allowed the petitions – and the panther – to continue to languish, even as habitat destruction and other threats to the panther’s survival intensify.”
Only 90-120 Florida panthers remain, but 20 have been killed so far in 2009, including 12 run over by cars.
In January, 2009, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida filed a legal petition with the US Dept of the Interior to designate critical habitat for the Florida Panther. The habitat proposed would cover more than 3 million acres in Hendry County, eastern Collier County and Lee County. This area coincides with areas the US Fish and Wildlife Service defined in a 2006 panther recovery plan as primary and secondary panther habitat zones and a panther dispersal zone designed to give panthers a route to expanding their range north of the Caloosahatchee River.
There are fewer and fewer panthers in Florida each year, as their habitat becomes asphalt and strip malls. "If we do not get critical habitat designated for the panther with strong federal protection, I doubt seriously the panther will survive in the next 20 years", says Frank Jackalone, Staff Director for the Sierra Club in Florida.
The Sierra Club's petition takes the conservancy's petition a step further by taking into account the effects global warming will have on panther habitat. "We have based our petition on climate change impacts. Yes, the conservancy is right, we need to protect primary and secondary habitat. But as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service considers that petition, they also need to look at climate change impact,” says Jackalone. "Climate change will force the panther to move north."
Migration will take the panther north of the Caloosahatchee River and the Sierra Club is requesting the protection of habitat in Duette Park, Avon Park, Babcock-Webb and Fisheating Creek areas. The Florida panther was listed as an endangered species in 1967 but critical habitat has never been set aside for the species. The Sierra Club petition also requests that the federal government decline to issue any new incidental take permits or do any habitat conservation planning without first designating critical habitat for the panther.
Supplemental Petition
Download this doc now Click Here
Protecting the Florida Panther from Climate Change
The Sierra Club, acting in partnership with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, has petitioned the Department of the Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service to take action to ensure the Florida panther and its habitat will survive global warming. The Sierra Club petition builds upon a petition filed in January 2009 by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which the Department and the Service have not yet acted upon. The new petition:
- Recognizes that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service have both committed to safeguarding America’s wildlife and natural resources in the face of climate change.
- Documents overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming will cause stronger hurricanes, floods, droughts, and sea level rise in Florida that will put enormous pressure on the panther’s existing South Florida habitat.
- Relying upon the Service’s own scientific reports and other published papers, requests that this habitat be protected as ‘critical habitat,’ which will require government decisionmakers to carefully shape their actions to avoid degrading this vital region even as its ecosystems struggle to cope with climate-related disturbances.
- Citing new scientific reports, including papers prepared for the Service, for the first time requests that the government also protect vital panther habitat north of the Caloosahatchee River in the Duette Park, Avon Park, Babcock-Webb, and Fisheating Creek areas. This habitat will provide the panthers with room to migrate and adapt to climate change as its impacts intensify in South Florida. Without such habitat, in addition to protected lands in South Florida, the panther may well go extinct in the next century.
- Requests that the Department and the Service revise the panther recovery plan to make sure that climate change is taken into account in conservation efforts.
- Requests that the Department and the Service decline to issue any new incidental take permits, or undertake any habitat conservation planning, without first designating critical habitat, which will shape all other conservation efforts.
To get a copy of the Panther fact sheet (above) with pictures Download.
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