Suwannee-St. Johns Group Periodicals Suwannee-St. Johns Group Sierra Club U.S. POSTAGE NEWSLETTER PAID P.O. Box 13951 Gainesville FL 32608 Gainesville FL 32604 Sierra Club Newsletter Published monthly except June and August from Gainesville, Florida VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 4 • April 2006 Pence worked described as “rare”, “local and with Jaret Daniels uncommon”, and even and Stephanie “endangered” by a limited C Sanchez at the number of authors over the last McGuire Center for 60 years. Lepidoptera and Pence’s research encompassed five years Biodiversity of the of field trips to find colonies and observe Florida Museum of the hairstreak’s behavior, and raising sever- Natural History rais- al generations in captivity to learn the ing thousands of details of its life history and to determine Miami Blues for the precise niche requirements of the but- release in establishing terfly. new colonies. Though the species is not currently a Explore, enjoy and protect the planet The title of candidate for the endangered species his presenta- list, as rampant development, short- tion is: sighted management practices, and sea “Habitat level rise threaten habitat, the fate of Requirements CSweadner’s Hairstreak and myriad APRIL 2006 CALENDAR OF EVENTS Sweadner’s Hairstreak for Sweadner’s cedar-associated species rests in the hands APRIL 6: SSJ Sierra Club general meeting, 7:30 p.m. See page 1 for details. KEEPING FLORIDA NATURAL Hairstreak, a Florida of the informed. APRIL 12: Deadline for May SSJ newsletter submissions. Endemic Lycaenid Butterfly” GENERAL MEETING APRIL 13: Executive Committee meeting at Santa Fe Community College Downtown BY COLIN WHITWORTH Thursday, April 6, 7:30 PM Gainesville campus, 7 p.m. Board meeting room. His presentation promises to be inter- esting. So much of the SSJ Sierra Club Entomology/Nematology Building on the UF campus kers Pence, the state coor- (Just east of the Performing Arts Center. Turn south off APRIL 21: SSJ Sierra Club newsletter folding party, 7:30 p.m., at the home of Scott Group’s work involves the slow grim grind Camil and Sherry Steiner. Call 375-2563 for info and directions. dinator of the Florida Hull Road on to Natural Areas Road.) of us vs. them environmental politics in HAIRSTREAKS AND APRIL 22: Earth Day celebration, all day, at the Harn Museum on the UF campus. Butterfly Monitoring which clear-cut victories are rare and hold- Free. Music, speakers, kids’ activities. Event is outside if weather is good, inside the A CEDAR TREES: ing the line against sprawl. museum if its raining. Network, will explain his disserta- KEEPING FLORIDA tion research at the April 6 gener- The squandering of natural Florida, and the loss of biodiversity, requires constant NATURAL al meeting of the SSJ Sierra Club. vigilance and painful compromise. Pence’s J. AKERS PENCE GAINESVILLE’S NONFRANCHISED ICE CREAM SHOP COORDINATOR FLORIDA BUTTERFLY Pence earned his Ph.D. in ento- presentation is a near allegory of this MONITORING NETWORK mology at UF, specializing in conser- struggle; it is the story of his disserta- Your choice for vation of endangered butterflies. tion research on the conservation biol- locally owned He has done field surveys of the Cogy of a beautiful little green butterfly N homemade ice federally endangered Schaus’ that lives in native cedar trees. Swallowtail, and baseline population stud- Sweadner’s Hairstreak was named in cream ies of the state endangered Miami Blue but- 1944 and for several decades was consid- terfly at its last known natural colony on ered a coastal species known from only a Bahia Honda Key. few widely-separated colonies. It has been Always serving the freshest Mike and Lisa Manfredi C.A.R.E. ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY . 2 ice creams 3437 W University Ave., Gainesville, FL 32607 GRU’S PROPOSED COAL PLANT MORE COSTLY THAN ADVERTISED . 4 and sorbets 352-378-0532 SALES TAX BAD CHOICE FOR SCHOOLS . 6 2 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club April 2006 April 2006 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club 7 carefully avoided. Nevertheless, I found it NEWS & NOTES, from page 3 But the current Bush administration just how “gentle” oil drilling operations astounding that there was evidence of poor wants a radical change to that policy. could be if allowed on the Arctic Refuge’s CARE About Your Town maintenance; on the top deck, there was a time ties to the SSJ Sierra Club. In February, the federal Mineral fragile Coastal Plain. BY ROB BRINKMAN Women for Wise Growth also unanimous- large pipe containing sensor wires for the Mastrodicasa handily Management Service released a new Five- On March 2, a BP oil operator discov- When Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., spoke at ly supported this effort. boiler below, it had corroded to the point defeated former City Year Leasing Plan that would open vast ered signs of an oil spill at a caribou migra- UF last month, his primary focus was pol- If enacted, the voters will be able decide where many small low voltage wires were Commissioner Tony areas off our coasts to oil and gas drilling. tion site on the snow-covered tundra of lution from coal-fired power plants. With if coal is worth the risk to our environmen- exposed to the elements. While there is no Domenech, 55 to 45 per- This plan would open up for the first time Alaska’s North Slope. Three days later, three sons struggling with asthma and mer- tal and economic health of our community safety risk, the lack of routine maintenance cent, for an At-Large seat. about two million acres known as Lease response workers finally uncovered the cury levels in his body twice that of safe lev- and the health of future generations. This is was disturbing, we were assured that cor- This is Domenech’s second Sale 181 in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico source of the spill—a breach in an oil tran- els, he well understands the danger of our an effort to empower the communi- rective measures were planned for consecutive unsuccessful Mastrodicasa and prepare for leasing areas off Virginia’s sit pipeline feeding into the larger trans- continued reliance on “cheap coal power.” ty to decide its energy future. CHAIR’S the next scheduled shutdown. campaign for a commission coast and in Alaska’s famous salmon fish- Alaska oil pipeline infrastructure stretch- He said the government has failed to pro- CARE needs both volunteers seat. She replaces Warren Neilsen, who ing grounds in Bristol Bay. For 25 years ing some 800 miles across the state. tect us because of the corrupting influence and contributions. Please help this SOLAR HOME TOUR was term-limited out. drilling in these areas has been banned by Clean-up crews have vacuumed up of business interests. grassroots effort. Contact CARE at Next month on Saturday April Henry beat Barbara Sharpe, a former both Congressional moratoria and more than 50,000 gallons of crude oil and Gainesville residents may have the [email protected] or write 8, I will take interested people to an Alachua County School Board member, in Presidential deferral orders. melted snow off the delicate tundra, but at opportunity to exercise the rights and CARE at P.O.Box 14544 off-grid home in Putnam County. a landslide, 67 to 33 percent. Henry The proposal is open least one report from an responsibilities of their ownership of GRU Gainesville, Fl. 32604-4544. Call CORNER Randy Cullom and Liz Seiberling replaces Charles Chestnut IV to represent to public comment, industry expert has indi- by voting on plans for an additional coal 352-337-1757 and leave a message. have built an energy-efficient house District 1. Like Neilsen, Chestnut had also though, and if citizens cated that up to 798,000 plant. The Gainesville Charter currently with many passive solar features. The served the maximum two consecutive express enough outrage, gallons could be unac- Last month, I mentioned that Citizens requires voter approval before the City house, near Interlachen, has a composting terms and could not run again. the agency may withdraw counted for, possibly for Affordable and Renewable Energy has Commission can sell GRU. Isn’t the deci- toilet (no septic tank) and 1,200 watts of The Hogtown Creek charter amend- its proposal. The com- making this the largest launched a ballot petition drive to amend sion to increase coal pollution just as photovoltaic power. It is situated on 60 ment passed easily, 58 to 42 percent. This ment period ends April crude oil spill in the his- Gainesville’s Charter; if passed, the amend- important? acres of mostly wooded land, adjacent to amendment revises a previous charter 10. Comments can be tory of the North Slope, two lakes. amendment to allow paving in city recre- submitted by mail to and second in Alaska only The property has been managed with ation areas for non-roadway, recreational Renee Orr, 5-Year to the 1989 Exxon Valdez this is an effort to empower the community prescribed burns to enhance habitat for uses, even if such development takes place Program Manager, oil spill. native wildlife. This could be the last in the Hogtown Creek watershed. Comments on Draft The accident is just to decide its energy future chance to visit this solar home, because The previous amendment, passed to Proposed 5-Year Program one in a long history of there is a sale pending. stop a proposed paved trail along the for 2007-2012, Minerals substantial spills seen on Please let me know if you would like to creek, prohibited any paving within the Management Service Alaska’s fragile North ment“ would require a referendum before Last month, SSJ Sierra Club Outings carpool to Interlachen to visit this super watershed, making it illegal to, say, add a Room 3120, 381 Elden Slope since development funds can be used for an additional coal Chair Karen Garren led a tour of the GRU green homestead.