Mangrove trees in Manatee County have an advocate. Many advocates.
“In Manatee County we’ve got all this land we could be preserving and protecting, but our local officials have their heads in the sand,” said environmental activist Terri Wonder.
Wonder, who lost her bid for a Manatee County commission seat in 2014, has become a spokeswoman on behalf of local environmentalists in a campaign to protect mangroves.
Environmental groups ManaSota-88, Mantatee-Sarasota Sierra Club and Suncoast WaterKeeper stood with Wonder Jan. 16 in a protest at the Palma Sola Bay Club, 3410 77th St. W., Bradenton.
The developer obtained a permit to trim mangroves on its property, but Wonder and her supporters assert the trimming overstepped the scope of the permit.
The protest at Palma Sola Bay Club is only the beginning, as Wonder and the three environmental groups plan to protest mangrove trimming and destruction across the county. Next on the agenda is a protest in February at the proposed Harbor Sound development on Perico Island.
Harbor Sound, owned through a land trust by developer Pat Neal, already has seen its share of legal protests.
Former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage in Cortez filed petitions in August 2014 with the Florida Department of Administrative Hearings challenging a permit issued to Neal by the Southwest Water Management District to develop the area.
A hearing to review the permit was granted to McClash and FISH, whose challenges were consolidated.
The hearing is set for Feb. 17 at the administrative hearings office in Tampa. The protest led by Wonder is in anticipation of the hearing.
“There’s going to be some serious destruction. No one should be building in a coastal high-hazard area. It’s most of the same problems with Long Bar Pointe, and it’s really disconcerting to me,” Wonder said.
Neal’s land is 40 acres of waterfront property near the Minto project on Perico, Harbour Isles. Neal plans to build four homes on 4 acres.
Opponents contend the permit allows for insufficiently mitigated destruction of wetlands.
FISH board member Jane von Hahmann, also a former county commissioner, said at FISH’s Jan. 5 meeting that members are prepared to carpool to Tampa for the hearing.
Von Hahmann said a request to move the hearing to Manatee or Sarasota County was denied.
An expert witness is expected to testify on behalf of the challengers and von Hahmann said she and FISH member John Stevely, former agent for the Florida Sea Grant Extension Service, may also testify.
“It’s been really interesting to say the absolute least,” she said of the process to request a review by Swiftmud.
Wonder said she expects the number of attendees at the Harbor Sound protest to be double that of the Palma Sola Bay Club protest. According to Wonder, about 40 people protested Jan. 16.
Mangrove crusaders have been reaching out to Wonder via Facebook on her Justice for Mangroves fan page. Wonder encourages reporting of unlawful mangrove trimming and destruction “to be the voice for the voiceless mangroves.”
Holmes Beach resident Richard Motzer did just that, sending Wonder photos of a Holmes Beach construction site’s yard debris, which she posted to the fan page Jan. 19.
Wonder and Motzer allege a crew from Gagne Construction removed mangroves along with Brazilian peppers, a nuisance tree, from a project at 305 Clark Drive, Holmes Beach.
Wonder, who then visited the site, said it appeared the mangrove had been “chopped” and the Brazilian pepper placed over the mangrove trimmings. She said the white patina of the mangrove was clearly visible in the pile.
She contacted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Jan. 20 to file a complaint.
Holmes Beach code enforcement officer David Forbes said he received a call about the possible illegal mangrove trimming and visited the site. Forbes said he identified only Brazilian pepper.
“We’re very cautious on the island. When we do trim mangroves, we get a licensed trimmer. We’re not willing to touch them,” said Dan Gagne, an Anna Maria builder.
Gagne said if people have questions about the project he is more than happy to speak with them and that his contact information is posted at the site.
Wonder said another site, Warner’s Bayou, 5800 Riverview Blvd., Bradenton, was reported to her recently.
“We’re going to do them all over the county,” she said of the protests.
A date for the Harbor Sound protest has not been chosen, but Wonder said the site is “superiorly important.” The protesters will gather at the northeast corner of the Manatee Avenue bridge on Perico Island.
“Our interest is shaming these developers. They get these DEP permits and then they don’t follow the law. That law was meant to be a compromise and a voice for protected species that can’t speak for themselves,” said Wonder.
Mangroves are protected by the state 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. The act contains limits on removal and trimming and requires property owners to obtain a permit through DEP before any action is taken.
So right you are. When will the officials and developers realize that once our precious environment is tampered with and/or destroyed, it may never come back. There are too many reasons why we need to keep nature clean, and not enough to warrant any kind of destroying. Mankind does enough of that already!
It’s all about the money. In my 72 years as a Floridian, I’ve seen the “Sunshine State” slowly but surely become the paved over mess it is today. Do you really think the developers give two hoots about the mangroves?
I join the voice of the conservancy groups in their effort to bring attention to the necessity to preserve and to save the precious few mangroves that are remaining on Florida’s coast and wetland areas. We have a state law in place that should be enforced by our local government,who choose to turn a blind eye to their rampant destruction by developers and uninformed home owners. I assume that ,neither, understand their enormous value and critical importance to our coastal bird life and to the fish population who use their roots as a nursery for their young. The birds use them for nesting and nocturnal roosting. The laws are not enforced and mangroves are some of the last “wild ” habitat remaining for our varied wildlife that make them their home. The tourists come to Florida’s coasts to enjoy the beauty of the nature not to see seawalls of condos and houses.