MAY 12 - 25, 2015 Coral Gables Museum Shonoredou as ‘Bicycle-th Florida celebrates 100 Friendly Business’ Paul Lowenthal is very years of Audubon presinvolveden in communityce BY DAN JONES property to the society for use as offices and nature center. Located on Sunset Drive east of As 2015 unfolds, Tropical Audubon Society Red Road in the unincorporated High Pines (TAS) is marking the 100th anniversary of local, neighborhood, the property is in an especially organized Audubon activity in Miami-Dade convenient location, sandwiched as it is between County in many meaningful ways. the South Miami and south Gables business dis- From environmental advocacy to providing tricts, and within walking distance to Metrorail. ornithological education, TAS and its predeces- Shortly after Doc Thomas died on Dec. 31, 1975, sors have long been on the front lines of the local TAS received the property and set about restoring conservation movement. Indeed, TAS has come the house. While these efforts were underway, to be known as “South Florida’s Voice of TAS commissioned a memorial plaque in honor Conservation.” of Guy Bradley, installing it at the Flamingo Audubon activism here can be traced to the Visitors Center in Everglades National Park and birth of the Coconut Grove Audubon Society dedicating it in March 1976. (CGAS) on Apr. 16, 1915, 10 years after the infa- By 1977, the charming Doc Thomas House mous murder of Game Warden Guy Bradley by a began operations as TAS headquarters. plume hunter near Flamingo. A local and nation- Completed in 1932, it has enjoyed Miami-Dade al hero who was the first Audubon-funded game County Historic designation status since 1982, warden in the Everglades, Bradley is considered and in 2014 earned a coveted place on the the first martyr of the American environmental National Register of Historic Places for its movement. unique Rustic Style and Wood Frame vernacular His dramatic death compelled the Kerdykfledgling Family awards scholarshipsarchitecture. CGAS to lobby for more game wardens to Those not yet familiar with its cozy confines enforce Florida’s bird protection laws and hunt- should become acquainted with the historic Doc ing regulations. Recognizing the pressingto need two to talented student musiciansThomas House and grounds (now known as the protect plume birds in the Everglades, CGAS Steinberg Nature Center) in this centennial year also provided informational brochures and pre- of celebration. sentations to local schools, and supported the Arden Hayes “Doc” Thomas In the 21st Century, TAS has ratcheted up its newly designated Royal Palm State Park in the –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– environmental advocacy role. Defending Miami- Everglades. By the early 1930s, CGAS threw its Century, TAS became increasingly involved in Dade County’s Urban Development Boundary; weight behind making Royal Palm State Park the protecting the South Florida environment, partic- developing a more comprehensive public trans- nucleus of an eventual Everglades National Park. ularly the Everglades and Biscayne Bay ecosys- portation system; bridging Tamiami Trail to com- During the first half of the 20th Century, a few tems. Significant environmental victories were pletion; expanding the Biscayne Bay Coalition to other Audubon and ornithological organizations achieved during this period, including the cre- further benefit Biscayne Bay, and protecting formed in what was then called Dade County, but ation of Biscayne National Park (originally water resources, rare habitats and eventually became defunct. Even CGAS went Biscayne National Monument), which essentially endangered/threatened species are among the inactive during World War II. In its wake, a group blocked the proposed SeaDade and Islandia proj- current priorities. of conservation-minded men and women met on ects, and the establishment of Big Cypress By spreading its wings beyond ornithological Jan. 21, 1947, to establish a new Dade chapter of National Preserve, which laid the proposed programming to also encompass historic preser- Audubon, which was named Tropical Audubon Everglades Jetport to rest. TAS also became a vation and protection of the precious South Society. The last CGAS president transferred the founding member of the Everglades Coalition Florida environment on which all our lives group’s remaining funds and considerable library during this era. depend, TAS will continue to amplify its “Voice to the new chapter. The torch formally had been In the 1990s, when a plan was introduced to of Conservation” over the next 100 years. passed. convert Homestead Air Reserve Base, devastated Looking back, 1947 proved to be a seminal by Hurricane Andrew, into an airport for com- Dan Jones spent more than four decades as an year in the history of South Florida conservation. mercial aviation, TAS and other environmental educator in Miami-Dade County, retiring as a Along with Tropical Audubon Society’s found- groups organized to defeat the proposal. principal in 1998, and subsequently consulting ing, 1947 saw the publication of The Everglades: The environmental leadership role TAS had with the school district for the next dozen years. River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas assumed during this turbulent time was made The longtime High Pines resident has served and the long-awaited dedication of Everglades possible in part by a benefactor who looms large Tropical Audubon Society both as historian and National Park. These three milestones soon in local Audubon lore. advisor since 2013. Most recently, Jones tackled brought regional environmental struggles into In the mid-1970s, Arden Hayes “Doc” the formidable task of researching and docu- sharper focus. Thomas, a TAS member and prominent South menting the history of Audubon presence in South Throughout the second half of the 20th Miami pharmacist, deeded his unique house and Florida.