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SORT ROO 3395"? ORT DECEMBER 9,1999 SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, FLORIDA VOLUME 26, WEEK 50 NUMBER 51, 32 PAGES 75 CENTS Time for Commission Seats Mr. Mayor, again City Council re-appointed Steve Greenstein and change? John Veenschoten to the Sanibel Planning Commission. Other com- Move afoot to remove mittee seats were also National Wildlife Refuges filled. from USF&WS and — See page 3 create a separate agency Full Cit ••Concerns over sp By Scott Martell events at the Sanibel Executive Editor Community Association. A grassroots effort — from some •City-owned house to go Sanibel residents to the National up for auction. Audubon Society — is making a •Check-up on Sanibcl's strong push to take national wildlife beach erosion. refuges out of the U.S. Fish & •Discussion on changing Wildlife Service (USF&WS). and city employees' retirement create a separate National Wildlife plan. Refuge Agency. — See page 3 A bill to create a separate agency has just been drafted and supporters aic currently looking for Congressional support. "It really started 30 years ago Scott Martell with many people asking why The Police Bent has a refuges have such an impossible set of rules to meet a administrative structure — it has community standard iK'ver worked," said Molly Krival, here on Sanibel and who has been a longtime a support- Captiva. See if you Mivhurl I'wlvllu in of the J.N. "Ding" Darling agree. National Wildlife Refuge. A former " Sanibel City Coiintsil.selected the-. year's leadership, rea Bob president of the Ding Darling Janes to ffcfe position of mayor„ ,.. .wit. ? taili^fefe^illjBKllbii^^jKebiflndtjteceiviiig WiJdliFe Society, she is currently a Don't miss Letters the post ofVice Mayor, Janes jEujdep.ted the^pppjntment sajying • * X, appreciate the "mentor," who (ravels to other honor, and I really do believe if'ss aji -Jfonbr."" Janes 'waV nominated by refuges lo teach them how toutstup & Oh Brotherton Hillebrandt, with Councilmember Nbl#vT^ej^ seconding the nomination. ISfo local support groups, . • . • Cartoon other nominations were offered. Theiss was named by Councilmember* and for- From her experiences at jhany —See page 17 mer Vice Mayor Andrew Reding for the Vice mayor position, losing to Hillebrandt refuges, she said she has stain the by a 3-2 vote. The brief appointment process was overseen by City Attorney Bob frustration local managers can have. Pritt, who concluded the elections by passing the ceremonial gavel to Janes (in She attended a meeting at the end BUSINESS above photograph). —Amy Fleming. t> See Refuges, page 2 Mixed Luminary Results t—Seepage 11 Dredging given OK State would approve permits & Deeds limited Blind Pass page 12 dredging from the bridge to the Gulf of Mexico ARTS By Scott Martell Executive Editor Director's Note: The state :of Florida appears The jSfaples Dinner willing tq allow a limited dredging Theatre opens with of Blind Pass, and is not complete- Forever• Plaid. ly closing the door on full dredg- —-See page 21. ing out towards Pine Island Sound. Stepping Out: "It may be a complete waste ot ; money, [a limited dredging—if the Here's\yhatVshowing • passes quickly reecloses], but if it :. in the area. .. • •'•••;/ ;;i-' •; • keeps -the pass open for awhile, it - —T See page.21 • may help the water quality in the : channel and.. estuaries to some degree," said Rob Loflin, the City of Sanibel's Natural Resource Director, who supports a complete INDEX dredging project. After a meeting with a technical advisory committee last week that .•Environmental.....page 7 included several local and state •Looking; Back.. ..page 8: agencies, the Captiva Erosion •Business..., ..page 10 •Commentary..... ..,pagel2 Prevention District (CEPD) has Michael Pistella : *Sp«rts/0ufeioors....,....page 15 decided to move forward in "split- •Island Life..........page 17 ting" its dredging permit into two The area in front of the Blind Pass Bridge would have sand removed and some tidal •TV listings.,.,.;,...pagf 20 flushing should occur under the limited dredging plan now being considered. •Classifieds........ ..pagi 24 t> See Pass, page 2 2 • DECEMBER 9,1999 Q ISLAND REPORTER Refuges From page 1 of November which created a national non- refuges a direct link to Washington, D.C. expect them to support this idea. The ten- eventually happen is that Congress will tar- profit group, Citizens for a National instead of through a multi-layered bureau- sion now at (USF&WS) is tremendous." get the other individual divisions to do Wildlife Refuge Agency. cracy. It would be set up similar to the Refuge Manager Lou Hinds was out-of- something with them. What will happen is "There is no one in Washington to repre- National Park Service. town as this story went to press and unable the Endangered Species and Ecological sent the refuges — at the regional level, the This new effort is only a few weeks old, to comment. Services will end up going to EPA where Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for but it has been discussed among various However, in the minutes of a recent they will get buried somewhere. The Law so many programs, and the refuges are only groups for years. Conservation Council meeting, he admitted Enforcement Branch — these are the people one of them," Krival said. Four years ago, a group of non-govern- this proposal is "creating huge tidal waves who dedicate themselves solely to wildlife For instance, USF&WS is responsible mental agencies in Washington, D'.C. tried rushing through our agency. There is a law enforcement — will in all likelihood go for the Endangered Species Act, Ecological to help — encouraging the crealion of tremendous amount of elevated feelings and to the Department of Justice or Treasury and Services, fish hatcheries, migratory biid "friends" groups. people are feeling betrayed, particularly the they will get buried and as the agents retire treaties and other piograms. All the divi- "But it became clearer and clearer that middle and upper echelons who were they won't be replaced. They will just dis- sions have to deal with these major issues this was not enough," Krival said. caught oil guard by this action..." appear... not only for refuges, but for the National Just a year ago, 130 refuge managers Hinds also stated he he did not necessar- "As I've said, I'm not worried"about the Park Service, U S. Forest Service, Bureau signed a "campfirc note" urging the ily agree with taking refuges away from the National Wildlife Refuge systems, because of Land Management and others. USF&WS take refuges out of the "entan- USF&WS. Audubon is taking caic of us. None of the The bureaucracy makes it difficult for gled bureaucracy," but still stay under the "I have to look at what is going to hap- other Divisions have partners taking care of local land manageis (at refuges) to get immediate direction of the service. pen to the rest of the divisions in the (ser- them and they will get lost, swallowed up in things done as easily as they should be "The reaction was quite severe," Krival vice). In all likelihood, if you take what I other organizations.... done, Krival said. said. "The director's office made it very call the flagship, the National Wildlife A new separate agency would give clear they would not tolerate this. You can't Refuge System, out of the service, what will Pass From page 1 parts: the first to be removal of a "sand resources. to be a collection of data first to support (a However, he leans more to a restoration plug" from the Gulf of Mexico to the Blind "I think most people are supportive of reason for dredging)... I think everyone viewpoint. Pass Bridge, and the second the long-term the smaller dredging, and the improvement agreeds on the need of information on "With the rock, bridge and sand comprehensive dredging of Blind Pass. in water quality," said Alison Hagerup, water quality — and I'm surprised there [renourishment], this is a heavily manipu- Removing the "sand plug" would CEPD administrator. "It helps avoid get- has not been a stronger attempt to [gather lated area," Loflin said. It is to the benefit require approval by the state's Department ting the pass named a 'closed pass.' The it]. of the environment for humans, at this of Environmental Protection/Division of next step is to continue to work with the The long-term dredging project is cur- point, to restore it to a working system — Beaches and Coastal Systems. DEP's Department of Aquatic Preserves on rently designed to extend in two channels with the pass open. "We feel it would not be contrary to the the comprehensive long-term dredging. We under the bridge. A channel along the end "I know the pass very well; I've public interest and would be permittable," may need to modify that permit, and do of Captiva would extend 1200 feel from snorkled and fished there for 20 years," he said Keith Mille, an environmental special- water sampling." the bridge and be five-feet in depth. A said. "I'd go at night when it was running. ist in Tallahassee with the Division of Mille believes the water sampling is channel along the Sanibel side would be It was one of the most extraordinarily pro- Beaches and Coastal Systems. critical. 900 feet past the bridge and be three-feet in ductive areas anywhere. Every type of fish Removal of sand from the bridge to the "Florida statutes highly discourage new depth. So far, a design for how much sand were there. Spoonbills fed along the chan- gulf would likely not make the pass navi- dredging in aquatic preserves," he said.

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