Some Australian Pines Marked for Removal City's Suit
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The islands' *.*r- <;•.';. 7 newspaper of record Try the Taste! Week of May 13-19, 2004 SANIBEL & CAPTIVA, FLORIDA VOLUME 31, NUMBER 20, 24 PAGES 75 CENTS Some Australian pines marked for removal By Donna T. Schuman public safety overrides lo>e for pine Staff Writer trees." Castle said. \ Australian Pines are among the three In an effort to ensure the safety of worst invasive exotic trees in Florida, island residents and visitors, the City of according to a report from Sanibel's Sanibel plans to remove 300 potentially Natural Resources Department. As a hazardous Australian pine trees result of the damage they cause to native throughout the island. \egelation and wildlife habitats, it is Prompted by a rash of incidents in prohibited to sell or plant the tree any- which both residents and visitors suf- where in Florida. The report also states fered injuries and endured property that because the pines are shallow-root- damage due to falling trees, the city ed and brittle, they have great potential sought out funding for pine removal. to cause property damage, personal However, the city does not plan to injury and road blockage, especially in remove all Australian pines on the tropical storms and hurricanes. island — only the ones that have been in the last year, several instances inspected and deemed potentially dan- have occurred where falling pines have gerous by the city. resulted in human injury and property Over the last few months, park super- damage leaving the city liable. visors have been inspecting trees and Last June, a woman visiting Sanibel marking them for removal. The areas from Ohio was struck on the head and selected for tree removal include shoulder by a failing tree limb. Bowman's Beach, Lighthouse Beach. Although the woman suffered no major Roadside City Park. Tarpon Bay Park injuries, she did experience dizziness and the Boat Ramp Park. and had to see a doctor. Australian pines, despite their classi- A week later, on June 17, another tree fication as exotics, have traditionally branch landed on a rental car at prompted debate by residents when it Lighthouse Beach. Just three days after comes to removal. However, Sanibel's that, two more vehicles were damaged Public Works Director Gates Castle by falling branches at Bowman's Beach. Photo by Amy Fleming anticipates public understanding of the See TREES potential damage these trees can cause. These Australian pines at Bowman's Beach have been marked for removal as posing a "Hopefully, they will understand that potential danger. page 2 City's suit dismissed by judge Rescued green sea By Donna T. Schuman ject, as it is inconsistent with its Land Use Plan. turtle goes home Staff Writer "Sanibel does not own span A," Seals said. "The city has no responsibility for operation, maintenance With the increase in the number of people vacationing The City of Sanibel will have to re-evaluate its legal or upkeep of span A ... the court is completely unaware and moving to Southwest Florida, comes an increase in strategy against Lee County following a judge's order of what harm this inconsistency will cause the City of the number of wildlife patients at the Clinic for the to dismiss all but one count of the lawsuit filed over Sanibel." Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) on Sanibel, including plans to replace the Sanibel drawbridge. The Sanibel City Council has not yet decided how sea turtles. Lee County Circuit Court Judge James Seals ruled it will proceed. However, City Attorney Ken Cuyler Shortly after releasing their 110-pound loggerhead sea last week that, as its owner, Lee County has the right said the council will hold a meeting Friday to discuss turtle ("Belle"') in March, 2004, CROW received another to replace the drawbridge. the current status of the case. endangered sea turtle, but this time it was a Green Sea "Although the causeway bears Sanibel's name, it is Four other counts in the suit, focusing on the inter- Turtle and just over five pounds. The juvenile green sea solely owned, operated and maintained by Lee local agreement between Sanibel and Lee County, and turtle had been seen floating around a collier county mari- County," Seals said in his ruling. the monetary losses endured by the city due to the na weak and unable to dive. The turtle came to CROW The county was not surprised by the judge's ruling. aUescd breach of that agreement, were also dismissed because of their reputation of successfully rehabilitate all "We -agree with the judge and expected the opinion by Seals. species of native and migratory wildlife, including sea we got," said Lee County Attorney Bob Gray. Monday, May 17. Lee County faces the second law- turtles. After approximately six weeks in rehab at CROW, However, Seals did grant the city 20 days to prove suit filed over the proposed replacement of the Sanibel the young turtle regained strength, diving and capturing how replacing the drawbridge would harm the city. drawbridge. its meals with ease. Staff veterinarian. PJ Deitschel, deter- In the suit, the City of Sanibel claims that by replac- Save Our Bay, Inc., a group of island residents, is mined it was time for release, back to where the turtle ing the 40-year-okl drawbridge with a 70-foot fixed- also suing the county in hopes of rehabilitating the belonged. span bridge, the county is in turn violating its own drawbridge. Save Our Bay's suit also deals with the Before releasing the turtle, the staff slowly dropped the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. toll revenue collected over the years on the Causeway. water temperature in the tank to match the temperature in In its Land Use Plan, the county gives no mention In its suit, S.O.B. is asking for reimbursement of the area where they planned.the release. It is the policy of of a "fixed span bridge" when referring to span A of excess tolls paid by bridge users after the original cost CROW to release patients where they were found, or as the Sanibel Causeway. It does however, reference the bridge was paid off. close as possible. repair of the bridge. Sanibel is asking the court to On May 4, the green sea turtle patient was successful- order Lee County to retrain from the replacement pro- See SUIT ly released in the 10,000 islands. page 0 Jesse Waite, a CROW student fellow, with a degree in wildlife management from Northern California, along with long-time CROW volunteer, Tony Contino, traveled to Everglades City, where CROW found Captain Max, FCJfs IRE w ¥m mm willing to volunteer his time and boat to assist in the release. "The captain was very knowledgeable of the area, • PERMITS & DEEDS...page 5 Lee County A new look at Great show at and we felt it was important to scout several locations, as • LETTERS page 6 scores improved diets the Playhouse the captain had seen a number of sea turtles in the area" said Jesse. "As we weie beginning to release our patient, • SPORTS page 9 a very large green sea turtle, more than five times the size Test results have shown A new school of thought • DATELINE page 10 Karen Nelson reviews an of ours, popped its head out of the water next to the boat, improvement this year. emerges based on your unusual show about a so we knew we had picked the right spot." • REAL ESTATE page 12 blood type. remarkable actor. Ann Moran. president of CROW's board of directors • TV LISTINGS page 15 was thrilled to learn of the turtle's release. "This is what • OBITUARIES page 16 — See page 22 • LOOKING BACK page 18 -Sec page 13 — Sec page23 Sf'i: TI:RTLE • CLASSIFIEDS page 20 page 2 2 • Week of May 13-19, 2004 • ISLAND REPORTER apply for emergency funding, Castle said. Sanibel also applied for an additional $150,000 for pine removal as well as funds for replacement, but those requests were TURTLE PINES denied. Instead, the city plans to replace the pines From page 1 through fees collected from beach parking. Castle said From page 1 the city does not know what the pines will be replaced with, but may work with the Sanibel-Captiva The city hopes to remove the trees for an estimated Conservation Foundation native plant nursery on that cost of $150,000. Those funds, provided by the Tourist decision. Development Council through its Beach and Shoreline Onoe the city receives estimates from contractors, Capital Improvements Project fund, were approved they will proceed with the removal. The city does not Tuesday by the Lee County Board of County plan to remove all 300 trees at once. Those selected Commissioners. will be placed into groups of 20 for removal, one "Some trees are larger than others and will be more group at a time, Castle said. The project should last expensive to remove," Castle said. If the city cannot through the summer with a projected completion date remove all 300 trees for ihe amount granted, it plans to in September. Photo by Tony Contino t .«• " Capt. Max and CROW student fellow, Jesse Waite, pre- pare to release the turtle to join others in the area. CROW is all about" says Ann. "We have people and orga- nizations in this area dedicated to the vital work of pre- serving natural habitats, and at CROW we are working to help preserve the species that live within those habitats ." 1 --\<-\- "Ifs always exciting to be part of a patient release" -. ••. -f/S* - said volunteer, Tony Contino. "Knowing that our patients are back where they belong and pleased to know that CROW could help make that happen" said Tony.