Your Monthly Calusa Waterkeeper Newsletter - November 2018

Congrats to the latest graduates of the CWK Ranger Academy. A very impressive group of volunteers intent on protecting our waters.
19 new Rangers, inducted on Nov 10

Sarah Fredrickson - John Cookman - Kathy Cookman - John Riegert - Kyle Boutin - Connie Langmann - Don Lees - Liz Taggart - Kaye Vaughn - Joe Vaughn - Chris Shinouskis - Ed Shinouskis - Jane Schlesinger - Bob Mignogna - Yolanda Olsen - Thomas Golembeski - Louise Kowitch - Holley Rauen - Robert Crum

CHIQUITA LOCK ALERT

THOUGH THE FEDERAL PERMIT FROM THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS HAS NOT YET BEEN APPROVED, THE CITY PERMIT TO REMOVE THE CHIQUITA LOCK HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE FDEP. THE CLOCK IS RUNNING ON THE 21-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.
From John Cassani: The Chiquita lock is required by court consent order to treat non-point stormwater runoff pollution and resultant freshwater canal discharge in Cape Coral. The original requirement of the lock has nothing to do with wastewater or septic tank pollution. The receiving water is the Caloosahatchee estuary which is already impaired for nutrient pollution. Because of the impaired status of the estuary receiving water, Cape Coral cannot take any action, such as removing the lock, that may cause or contribute to the further pollution of the estuary unless compensatory mitigation will create a net decrease in pollution. Other issues are relevant to the required federal permit
Suggested Reading: https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2018/11/10/chiquita-lock-removal-controversy-rises-cape-coral/1929634002/

Cyanobacteria has returned to the Caloosahatchee after fading in late September; and red tide has returned at moderate to high levels in southwest Florida coastal waters just as residents were thinking this ongoing nightmare was over. The tourist season is gearing up and the continuing effects of harmful algal blooms (HABs) will have a growing impact on businesses and the regional economy. The Florida Economic Water Summit held last month at the Broadway Palm Theatre and organized by Calusa Waterkeeper Executive Director, K.C. Schulberg was well attended with about 300 participating. The economic loss information and testimonials by business owners revealed serious and perhaps long-lasting regional economic damage. The predictable contagion of the 2018 HABs demonstrates that Florida has a long way to go to address the underlying cause of nutrient pollution after years of underfunding and lax compliance. These problems will require political courage as the costs for reversing the increasing trends of HABs outbreaks comes into clearer focus. One step in the right direction would be to re-instate the Florida Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force de-funded by the Florida legislature in 2001. All 12 Waterkeepers in Florida have joined in an effort to have the Task Force re-funded during the 2019 legislative session. In addition, Calusa Waterkeeper and our volunteer Rangers will continue advocating for policy reform relating to nutrient pollution.

- John Cassani, November 11, 2018

JOIN US DECEMBER 1OTH

And there is a direct connection between this movie and Calusa Waterkeeper, beyond it's environmental theme. Calusa Waterkeeper Executive Director, KC Schulberg, is the son of the film's Producer and the nephew of it's Oscar-winning Screenwriter. KC will share some inside family anecdotes from the production.

BUY TICKETS HERE:
https://broadwaypalm.com/shows/wind-across-the-everglades/

OR CALL THE BOX OFFICE - (239) 278-4422

Bring a group of friends and make it a party. By pledging a table of 8, your price (including dinner) comes down to $37.50 per person. Just reserve and have your friends call in to fill your table.
Call KC Schulberg to see how this works (239) 784-0880

What the critics say about the movie:

“Something of the wild natural beauty and the human barbarity that prevailed in the great swamps of Florida fifty years ago is caught in Stuart and Budd Schulberg's "Wind Across the Everglades…" NY TIMES

“The screenplay fictionalizes the struggle of the Audubon Society to end the slaughter of Florida’s plume birds, whose feathers were so highly prized around the turn of the century for women’s hats. The action revolves around the almost single-handed efforts of an agent (Christopher Plummer) to stop the mass killings, and in particular his battle with the leader of one band of bird-hunters (Burl Ives).” VARIETY

“A vibrant, often savage ode to beauty in the Florida Everglades.” NY HERALD TRIBUNE

“One of Nicholas Ray's most beautifully bizarre projects, merging Western conventions with ecological and philosophical concerns as, in Florida at the end of the 1890s, teacher-turned-game warden Plummer takes on a gang of unruly, primitive poachers led by the awesomely charismatic Burl Ives, who are killing off the local rare birds for their fashionable, valuable plumage. With an often poetic script by Budd Schulberg and Joseph Brun's glistening location photography (in ravishing Technicolor), it effortlessly combines artifice with realism, and besides offering a strong argument in favor of conservation, also develops into an oblique meditation on the relativity of good and evil. Ives may spit in the face of God to win his hard-earned money through killing and commerce, but Ray makes no bones about his being closer to nature than Plummer.” TIME OUT

Buy Tickets Here

Our Successful October 15 FLORIDA ECONOMIC WATER SUMMIT featured business leaders from Real Estate, Tourism & Hospitality and Charter Fishing. It also featured our "Voice of the People" series of citizen testimonial by those who have been harmed by Harmful Algae Blooms (Red Tide and Blue-Green Algae).

Citizen testimonials, Part 1 - about the economic damage to our region shown during the October 15 Florida Economic Water Summit (FEWS).

Citizen testimonials, Part 2 - about the economic damage to our region shown during the October 15 Florida Economic Water Summit (FEWS).

Calusa Waterkeeper wishes to thank Metro Blinds and the Skelton Family, who have generously donated a portion of their proceeds earned during the month of October.

And the Marine Trading Post for generously offering a free full-page ad which will run for three months in the publication Nautical Mile.

For those who wish a "Deep Dive" into the public health consequences of Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) and Karenia brevis (Red Tide) on our waterways, we recommend viewing the entire 55-minute Q&A following the film TOXIC PUZZLE, featuring esteemed panelists Dr James Metcalf, Senior Researcher at Brain Chemistry Labs, Dr Larry Brand, Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries, University of Miami, Dr Walter Bradley, Professor and Chairman Emeritus at Department of Neurology Miller School of Medicine University of Miami, and John Cassani, the Calusa Waterkeeper.

CALUSA WATERKEEPER is an entirely donation- and member-funded nonprofit.
Our project area covers more than 1,000 square miles, and our mission is to
Protect and Preserve the Caloosahatchee River from Lake Okeechobee
to the Coastal Waters.
Your support helps us continue critical testing & reporting, provide regulatory advisories, educational & community outreach and sustained public advocacy.

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CALUSA WATERKEEPER is a member of the international WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE, the largest and fastest growing nonprofit solely focused on clean water, with more than 300 Waterkeeper Organizations and Affiliates on the frontlines of the global water crisis, patrolling and protecting more than 2.5 million square miles of rivers, lakes and coastal waterways on six continents.

Copyright © 2018 CALUSA WATERKEEPER, INC. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Calusa Waterkeeper
P.O. Box 1165 Ft. Myers, FL 33902
or
P.O. Box 2199 LaBelle, FL 33975

Phone: (239) 444-8584
Pollution Hotline: (239) 444-8584
Email: [email protected]

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Calusa Waterkeeper · PO Box 1165 · Fort Myers, FL 33902-1165 · USA