Suwannee-St. Johns Group Sierra ClubNewsletter Published monthly except June and August from Gainesville, Florida VOLUME 39 • NUMBER 1 • January 2009 Water quality in the The 6-week harvest will be conducted three lakes and Paynes under a permit from the Florida Fish and Prairie is degraded be- Wildlife Conservation Commission. cause of excessive nu- trient runoff from sur- Erich Marzolf, Ph.D., is Technical Program rounding lands. Manager and Jian Di is Environmental Sci- Once in a lake, excess entist for the District’s Orange Creek Basin nitrogen and phosphorus SWIM program. A limnologist with 17 years enhance growth of mi- of professional experience, Erich has lived in croscopic algae that turn Gainesville for 14 years. A biological scientist lake water murky green, and modeler with 12 years of professional ex- shading out underwater perience, Jian has lived in Gainesville for 16 plants. years. Gizzard shad and oth- er bottom-feeding fish thrive and often come GENERAL MEETING to dominate nutrient- Thursday, Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m. Preserving Entomology/Nematology Building on the UF campus, enriched lakes, recycling ** room 3118 ** nutrients from the lake (Just east of the Performing Arts Center. Turn south off Water Quality bottom, thereby exacer- Hull Road on to Natural Areas Road.) bating poor conditions. RESTORING WATER Removal of large num- BY CAROL LIPPINCOTT bers of rough fish, or fish not prized for eat- QUALITY IN he St. Johns River Wa- ing, is a restoration tool used around the NEWNANS, ter Management District’s world. ORANGE AND Surface Water Improve- Water quality in Lakes Apopka and Grif- LOCHLOOSE LAKES fin in central Florida improved during Tment and Management (SWIM) DR. ERICH MARZOLF AND JIAN DI rough fish harvests. ST. JOHNS RIVER program in the Orange Creek Ba- Mass-harvest of shad can reduce recycling MANAGEMENT DISTRICT sin focuses on monitoring water of nutrients from the surface of the lake quality, diagnosing pollution prob- bottom. lems, and working to restore water Harvested shad are used as bait in crab quality and habitats in lakes and traps and as food for farmed crayfish. The District plans to conduct a three-year wetlands. experimental shad harvest from Newnans This watershed includes Newnans, Or- Lake starting in March of 2009 to see if ange, and Lochloosa lakes, as well as Paynes reducing the shad abundance helps to im- Natural Area Drive Prairie. prove lake water quality. ENERGY FOR A NEW YEAR ......................................................2 EVERGLADES ProvIDENCE .....................................................3 DAIry DISTRESS ............................................................... 4 2 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club January 2009 Feeling Energized BY ROB BRINKMAN spected Australian pediatrician, challenged In Florida, transportation is responsible y trip to Miami for the En- his belief that nuclear power was necessary for 36 % of GHG emissions statewide, Mergy Summit was most in- and insisted he research the matter. making efforts to reduce automobile emis- formative and encouraging. The Dr. Makhijani’s book Carbon Free and sion imperative. Nuclear Free; A Roadmap for US Energy On December 2nd the Florida Environ- highlight of the Friday session was Policy (http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/ for mental Regulation Commission voted 6-1 Harvey Wasserman’s presentation a free download) demonstrates that a car- to adopt the Florida Clean Car Rule which about the No Nukes movement 30 bon free and nuclear free economy is incorporates the Pavley standards years ago. possible by 2050; which is fortunate CHAIR’S from the California Clean Car because NASA climatologist James Rule. This was the culmination I also had the chance to meet and net- Hansen now believes that we must re- of a two week campaign by the work with people from other organizations. duce the carbon dioxide concentration Florida Sierra Club in support of It was great to meet other people commit- in our atmosphere down to 350 parts Florida joining the 13 other states ted to safe and sustainable energy and the per million (ppm). to adopt the Pavley standards. rejection of nuclear power as a solution to Currently the level is 387 and rising CORNER It is hoped that if the Florida the climate crisis. at about 2-3 ppm every year. The previ- Legislature ratifies this rule, a Friday night’s keynote speaker was Dr. ous target thought to be necessary for cli- tipping point will be reached forcing auto Arjun Makhijani, executive director of mate stabilization was 450 ppm. makers to make all cars sold in the US com- the Institute for Energy and Environmen- In order to get to 450 ppm an 80 % re- pliant with these standards, the first to regu- tal Research (IEER). Interestingly he had duction in GHG emission below 1990 lev- late automobile GHG emissions. been among those who thought that nu- els was needed; to reduce to 350 ppm we The Sierra Club, in coordination with clear power was needed to address climate must eliminate fossil carbon emissions as other conservation organizations, elicited change before Dr. Helen Caldicott, a re- soon as possible. see CORNER, page 5 FOLDING PARTY Visit the National and Local Sierra Club Websites! Interested in hosting a newsletter folding National: http://www.sierraclub.org • Local: http://www.gatorsierra.org party? Contact Scott Camil at 375-2563 Suwannee-St. Johns Group Chairs & Executive Committee Suwannee-St. Johns Group Sierra Club Chair Rob Brinkman 225-3230 [email protected] Newsletter (UPS 317-370) is published 10 Conservation Chair and Program Co-Chair Paula Stahmer 373-3958 [email protected] months a year, except June and August, Education Chair Maryvonne Devensky 352-871-1606 [email protected] by the Suwannee-St. Johns Group Sierra Administrative and Program Co-Chair Dwight Adams 378-5129 [email protected] Club, 1024 NW 13th Ave, Gainesville, 32601. Non-member subscription rate Legislative Liason Steve Williams 386-397-2945 [email protected] is $5.00. Periodicals Postage Paid is paid Social Chair Brack Barker 352-528-3751 [email protected] at the Gainesville, FL 32608 post office. Treasurer and Publicity Roberta Gastmeyer 336-2404 [email protected] Postmaster: Send change of addresses to Membership Chair Whitey Markle 352-595-5131 [email protected] Suwannee- St. Johns Group Sierra Club Outings Chair Robert Fisher 514-7674 [email protected] Newsletter, c/o The Sierra Club, Mem- Events Coordinator Sherry Steiner 375-2563 [email protected] ber Services, P.O. Box 52968, Boulder, Newsletter Folding Scott Camil 375-2563 [email protected] CO 80328-2968. Send both your old Webmaster Louis Clark 373-5377 [email protected] and new addresses and a Sierra address Fundraising Chair Knox Bagwell 468-1790 [email protected] label, which contains your member- Newsletter Executive Editor Kathy Cantwell 395-7441 [email protected] ship number. PLEASE ADDRESS ALL Newsletter Design Colin Whitworth 372-2464 [email protected] GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE FOR Secretary Art Stockwell 339-6528 [email protected] THE SUWANNEE-ST. JOHNS GROUP Excomm member Karen Garren 371-0008 [email protected] OF THE SIERRA CLUB TO: P.O. BOX 13951, GAINESVILLE, FL 32604. January 2009 Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club 3 Everglades Providence BY HORACIO SIERRA science, and the place of women in this his- She was part of the original campaign in ore than ten years after the tory. Florida wasn’t simply following trends; the 1920s and 30s that led to the establish- Mdeath of Florida’s most fa- it was setting them. For me, learning about ment of Everglades National Park; with her mous and influential environmen- this fascinating Floridian was a bonus in 1947 book River of Grass she taught us that surveying this larger history. the Everglades were a vital place of amaz- talist, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, SIERRA: Why is the 20th century the ing biological diversity that is central to the the first definitive biography on her “American Environmental Century”? life and climate in south Florida; and when life and impact on the state and na- DAVIS: This is the century in which she became a full-time environmental activ- tion’s environmental history is be- Americans took unprecedented liberties in ist at age seventy-nine she began educating ing published. their relationship with the the public and policy makers natural world, exploiting it, about the interconnectedness University of Florida Associate Profes- committing offenses against of the Everglades system and sor of History Jack E. Davis’s An Everglades it, and controlling it in ways its link to urban Florida and Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and and at levels unequaled by all its inhabitants--us. As a pub- the American Environmental Century will be human activity preceding that lic figure she became synony- released on February 15. century. It is also the century mous with the Everglades, Davis took some time to answer some in which ecology matured as and while there were scores questions about his research on Douglas a field of science, one that of good people working on and the history of American environmen- gave us all a new awareness behalf of Everglades protec- talism for this issue of the Suwannee-St. of our environmental delin- tion, including many from Johns Sierra Club newsletter. quencies and provided the the Sierra Club, no one com- motives to take prodigious manded the public presence SIERRA: How did you first become in- steps to protect that which that she did and succeeded terested in researching the life of Douglas? we had not yet destroyed and so well at turning national at- DAVIS: Having grown up in Florida, I restore that which we had. Douglas’s cen- tention to the plight of the Everglades. was familiar with this redoubtable woman tury is the American environmental century SIERRA: How did her other efforts as a who seemed to live forever, and when I first on a number of levels.