Community Action Plan:
Billy’s Creek, Fort Myers
Executive Summary
The Billy’s Creek Community Action Plan (BC-CAP) serves as a call to action for restoring a local tributary, Billy’s Creek. From its early history to the present day, memories and life experiences intersect and continue to affirm the significant role Billy’s Creek holds in the greater Fort Myers community. Throughout the process of writing the Billy’s Creek Community Action Plan (BC-CAP), oral histories were collected in an effort to understand the place Billy’s Creek holds in the hearts of the people who live here. Shared with us were stories of learning to swim in the once white, sandy-bottom creek; teaching youth about the local environment with school trips to the creek; and, most popularly, fishing alongside family and friends.
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Additional Billy's Creek Resources
- Fort Myers Pollutant Reduction Plan
- Letter to FDEP, Re: Fort Myers FIB Consent Order
- City of Fort Myers & FDEP Consent Order
- John Cassani Addresses Inaccuracies in Billy's Creek Workshop
- The History of Billy's Creek and City of Fort Myers' Maintenance, Evaluation & Financial Investment
- PR: Fort Myers City Council to Discuss Bacterial Contamination of Billy’s Creek
- Consent Order by FDEP against City of Fort Myers for Releasing Effluent into Billy's Creek
- Billy's Creek Bacteria Results since Hurricane Irma
- Billy's Creek One-page Issues Paper
- Billy's Creek Contamination Letter to City of Fort Myers Mayor and Lee County BOCC
Billy’s Creek Oral History Project
Our stories are what connect us to each other and our environment. Therefore, Calusa Waterkeeper is collecting oral histories from community members to amplify the historical, cultural, and recreational significance that Billy’s Creek has had in our lives.
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Related News Stories
Fecal Bacteria
Swimmers ignore warnings of fecal bacteria from the Florida Department of Health at area beaches
Eleven Southwest Florida beaches got poor marks after tests showed high fecal bacteria counts. At popular Bonita Beach, the Florida Department of Health is advising people to stay out of the water completely until it clears.
Proposed Law Would Warn of Poop-polluted Waters Where People Boat, Wade and Fish
A new bill championed by the nonprofit Calusa Waterkeeper introduced this week in the Florida Senate would close that gap in the nearly million acres of estuaries and 9,000 miles of streams and rivers the state has verified are polluted with fecal indicator bacteria.
Florida Legislators Introduce Safe Waterways Act
State Senator Lori Berman and State Representative Yvonne Hayes Hinson recently filed SB 604 and HB 393, termed the “Safe Waterways Act.” The legislation will require county health departments to post and maintain warning signs at additional public bathing places that have been verified impaired for enterococci bacteria by the Florida Department of Health.
Report Shines Spotlight on Southwest Florida’s Water Issues
A state report shows trouble in Southwest Florida’s water. Scientists warn that areas of our water are polluted with nutrients and bacteria. While the findings are no surprise to those who sample and study our waterways, the unwanted attention could be a much-needed wake-up call.
Pollution Verified in Most of Southwest Florida Area’s Prized Water Bodies
What’s been long suspected now is official: Southwest Florida’s most cherished waters are in trouble. From Charlotte Harbor south to San Carlos Bay, a draft state report shows widespread pollution from the fertilizer nitrogen and the algae byproduct, chlorophyll. Many of them also contain unhealthy levels of fecal bacteria.
Floridians Have the Right to Know if Public Waters they Recreate in are Safe from Contamination
The current Florida Department of Health (FDOH) policy at the county level is inconsistent. The only waters routinely monitored are the coastal beaches. It’s rare when signage warning of fecal bacteria is implemented, often at the discretion of local politicians who have no training in public health.
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Priority Issues
Harmful Algal Blooms
Cyanobacteria & Red Tide
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and Karenia brevis (red tide) have been making major impacts on Southwest Florida.
Lake Okeechobee Discharges
Revise System Operating Manual
The Caloosahatchee River often suffers from too much freshwater in the wet season, and not enough freshwater in the dry season.
Cape Coral Spreader Canals
Nutrient & Sediment Loading
The City of Cape Coral is working to remove large storm-water barriers to make recreational boating more convenient.
Bacteria Monitoring
Fecal Bacteria
Calusa Waterkeeper has been at the forefront of monitoring this Fort Myers tributary for fecal bacteria indicators.