HomeMy WebLinkAboutMan-Made Wetlands-1990 / I
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By Mary Beth Regan - �}
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NTINEL STAFF ,. ;,by . �e�;
OF THE SE � �``2#
wetlands pro- ;k '
Once a leader in program is in 'x � ' '"
Florida's prog �''
disarray developers ignore
disarray as ��' _
rules and officials nof pe permits to �5.'
ber'Stamp hundreds BOBBY COKEF%SENTINEL
destroy marshlands. slimy look of this man made
Springs. Wa
The chaser gFlorida's t s been re- wetlands don't have the
protection p year. his keep prom-
ises
several studies this yoffi Natures hecking on how develop A_6.
in of and in the Mount Greencood subdivision in WiOter p
But in th dozens P ecialists are
But interviews rate t t the pTO- ter district sP man made marshes for nature's. S ry
vials and those that little has to swap "evolution." He
gram demonstrate were shortcomings on program is
problems es that the prOect the
been done since p shortcomings m to insp
unless deve-
first exposed in January- because wetlands destruction too Short staffed but he has
opers can offset environmental
hat h to ees.
Wetlands are important ow building swamps projects it permits,they act they a filter as catch p wetlands by protecting never asked for more bu has has
off the land into wa- wetlands or p But Twachtmann,
tgr u running a breeding and elsewhere. secretary of WETLANDS, p►-6
ter; they serve and birds and Dale Twachtmann,
ground for fish, wading Please see
they act as a the Department of Environmental other wildlife; and Regulation, blames the program's sp°nge to controflooding.rohibits `�_---
The state's program ---—
9a /b 0 )
"They thought in 1984 that we
passed this great law that was go-
" Hamann
;ng to save wetlandss squadron of
DER passes Said "But then this of in there
lawyers and lobbyists g
e m s to make sure the rules weren't too
pro restrictive." employees say the
Many DER anything but restric-
on to others rules seem anyti bogged down
tive.Workers are so bogg have no
that they
with paperwork an eye on marshes.
WETI.AN�S from A-� time to keep said m he sh expects.
Twachtep an rove. The
been aid he dos environmental the c
the enforcement to imp
agency pcem nt ask
fists,said k the p as is is it ede a ns for 21 more employ-
lack in of that,"employees tune next Y
"I think the public is tired of Florida office,
ees to do the job. Fl
"We o that," 'i`wacht can nth he In DER's environmental
"We do the best we can Barbara Bess, has three
people we have." manager Be wetlands, permits
employees for process etland 250 Perm
The problems include:est wetlands employees are
• Of the nearly destroyed last a year. Two other emp Y permits,
it year, DE permitted to 12 per- a year.supposed to enforce the e
yen• to DER required only but they spend most the
their time
replaced with man- ut they spend
the most of their
cent to be rep In Tallahassee,ith t Janet Llewellyn,
made wetlands. requires Bureau of Wetland
• Even when DER re t chief of DER' Jane Lle has a
it
builders few follow-up l lost inspections. Resource Management,Her staff of d 12
it does fnc ays it has s pe mitt Resource citua ern a
The agency says it has permitted
employees evaluates between a
about 800 man-made wetlands.8 and 400 construction u ei b permits assigned to
year. One person is per
About DER have been inapt "paper One person is as igned to
were in compliance. to fine developers sub-
/ DER has the authority to make sure that develop
developers who violate
has nit paperwork on DER'" sole wet
regulations, but the agency ears Ann Redmond, has the job
done so only twice in six y , eat pro
That is despite several studies by Wet-
lands-creation oFlo expert,largest is
agencies that of policing Single-handedly.
federal and state ag jests — a report for lawmakers,single-handedly. IS
have pointed out defective man preparing Without the aid of
made wetlands. in Central due in January,computer system. .
• In a pilot program assistants or a computer, but it is
DER has a computer,compile the
Florida,o DER r teagime duties over t has po eomp
its state repo management district. not programmed, they
to the water manag es that those information officials say
estate report charges an even need to information the rules. For y
stance, DER employees say
than
employees are doing swamps other than searching they
poorer job protecting have no way, of knowing
than does DER. " said through paper files, wetlands
lIt's not a pretty picture, how many man-made Gloria C. Rains, chairwoman of have been permittebeen held ac-
lands ManaSota-88, an environmental developers have
group in southwest going to see our "I
countable for wetland failures.et to
think we're going to mi our wet- countable for closest e e
lands continue to diminish at a the big picture, the big Pic-
very rapid rate." the But biologists say Richard Hamann, assistant r - spells disassay:the has
Govern- ture sP its wetlands.
mctor of the Center for the Uni- lost more than hair other state.
mental of Florida oy e of Law, lost m more than any
vaysitF of Florida Collet Scientists say the destruction has
says Florida residents too the en caused a ory birds 1 a drop number
the
ize what has hapP ro am of wading-bird population and a
tionallv acclaimed p gr Wading areas of
shortfall of rain in some
the state.
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'k
Ivl%. BOBBY COKERiSENTINEL
promises with a monthly flight over the area.
Denton keeps an eye on developers' prom marshes
De to create
try t dismal
Developers nature mostly di
finds man's attempts to imitate n
Official fin wetland — trees such as wax
myrtles,ash trees such
permits issued in the 1980s were years they may have;a
of
By Mary Beth Regan loosely written, providing "In 20 y but I
non-compliance,
forested wetland there,holes allowing doubt it," she said. years
OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Denton said. permits writ-
"For some of the p I hate to ■ The trash wetland.
Cheryl Denton, a water i district ears ago, o Florida he Residential e Mears
is one ten five or six years Denton said. ag began slding
environmental specialist, it's too late,
ion's "But there might not be much nity
eml-
of the few people in Central Flor- say subdivision in
ida looking to see if are working. we can do." getting Greenwood Gree woody. erasion in
the i-
But we seem to be g The develop ermis
man-made marshes
the Orlando d Execu- Denton said. The per- Johns water airs as f through a
Each month, better," tougher, she and
Cen- mits now are much toug Sion to build a sweet gum�
plane from the check th- wet forest build bay,
region's Airport to fly les of In return,gum they
Here are some examples maple trees.
tral Florida counties to check the sai promised to build a turn,birds.the marshy
region's stressed wetlands.f'indsa man- what Central Florida is trading
fish and
She wetland that for its swamps. Five promised
for to build slimy pond
The weeds wetland. for Today which
—
made wetland that plants growing years ago Leesburg stagnates in green,forest,
the air, it looks like bread mold wipe out trees stag will be cleared for
over a film to of green w water.plants growing permission to wip
over shallow water. In return the homes. I 's one of the worst
n she finds dis- along Lake Harris to build an eventually
But most often airport runway• man-made wetlands Thep
is to r create gwet- city plant trees.
mal attemp wet- city was to p patch of have seen• vice president for
Today a two-acre p against of Brian Green, ment Corp.,
Weeds take over, turning cattails butts up
lands into fields of cattails. Or brown
developers ignore their cre
wither is a failure. owner of Mount about the
trees that border the lake, The Ameridfirst Development ations, which eventually s pr"The Denton planted some wax would and die. "They had P �°But some- project.
myrtles," she said. I guess
The St. Johns River Water
mowed them down. g
Management District, body grass at an
took over the Department job of to someone mowing g
Regulation's j
airport, a wetland doesn't look � b /�
permitting Reg anp rtferent.
permitting construction projects different."
s force a solution to Denton says the project was
tCentral Florida's marshes, supposed to include a forested
cannot always construction supp
the problems.Many
• No man's wetland. Several
years ago LeCesse Corp. of Flor-
ida, developers of Greenbriar
planted b in and Seminole
aple trees County,
to
planted bay
make amends for wiping out an
acre of marsh.unsuspecting family
•x An
"� � �`� ��- �. ' bought the lot containing the
+ tá2. !` l i R .. ' man-made wetland. Worried
t � •�; about the mushy area in its back
"""^ ' - yard, the family carpeted it with
3 � �° Y
sod.
'- The St. Johns water district
.. 5 notified LeCessee about made
problem, and the company
"" up for the mistake by planting
\ �7 trees around another pond.
Not long afterward, a worlr
commenced his job of maintain-
ing the pond."I was told he took
a weed-eater" to the saplings,
Denton said.
e• . s �' 1 LeCesse then voluntarily
• ,i'',`4.,, ',"` planted more trees and wetlands
t ' 74''
t. a x x plants in the pond. But, Denton
BOBBY COKER.SENTINEL said someone later apparently
problem keeping sprayed chemicals on the plants,
Greenbriar subdivision in Seminole County had pit had planted. killing them. "
maintenance personnel from destroying sap g
90ioal. a
Despite those losses and DER's been shifted from laboratory jobs or money will solve the crisis, be-
failure, Twachtmann still calls to compliance positions. cause the entire concept is wrong.
Florida's program one of the best But Gordon Romeis, who over- Parks chaired the Environmental
in the nation. sees the water management divi- Regulation Commission in 1987,
The program was built on the sion in DER's Fort Myers office, when it drafted the wetlands
assumption that development can- said those employees still spend rules.He opposed it then.
not be stopped, but it can be con- at least half their time in the labo- "It can't work," he said. "It's
trolled. But critics say DER has ratory. starting out with the premise that
used it as an invitation to bulldoze Cheryl Denton, an environmen- what you're doing is wrong. Once
swamps rather than save them. tal specialist with the water dis- you tear-down the wetland, you
"They're using it as an overall trict, says she spends one day a can't do anything to bring it back
excuse to issue [building] per- week reviewing wetlands projects. up."
mits," said Charles Lee, senior But she said that still isn't enough The program, he said, was
vice president of the Florida Au- time to police six counties. passed to appease developers who
bubon Society. Although DER and the water did not want to be restricted from
Twachtmann said the problems district have increased Central building on wet,marshy land.
with the program, begun in 1984, Florida inspections recently, nei- Twachtmann defended the pro-
can be attributed to the program's ther has fined a developer for in- gram as Florida's best attempt;to
"evolution." correctly following the rules. balance economic growth and the
"We're just beginning to look at "We usually don't like to take environment.
these permits," he said. "We're that approach unless the develop- Jon Kusler,executive director of
evolving from a permitting pro- er is real ornery," said Glenn the national Association of Wet-
gram where we had somewhat Lowe,who oversees the water dis- land Managers in New York, said
less emphasis on enforcement or trict's program in Central Florida. Florida's swamp-protection plan
compliance." Langley Adair, compliance and seemed so innovative when it v■ras
DER and St. Johns River Water enforcement coordinator for adopted in 1984 that other states
Management District officials say DER's water division, said the planned to copy it. But because.of
they have asked their inspectors agency needs at least the 21 peo- the lack of enforcement and prob-
to spend more time looking at ple that Twachtmann will request. lems with the man-made wet-
man-made wetlands. And Twacht- But Robert Parks, a Miami law- lands, other states have shunned
mann said 10 employees have yer, says no number of employees Florida's idea.
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