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Lee County Manatees Need Your Help!
Proposed Marina Threatens Nearly 500 Manatees

The Issue:

Florida’s Governor and Cabinet recently approved a state-owned submerged lands lease application by Leeward, LLC to develop a 128-slip marina on the Orange River in Lee County, Florida.

The Leeward, LLC property is just downstream from the Florida Power and Light (FPL) plant’s warm water discharge, which has attracted nearly 500 manatees to its warm waters during the coldest winter days. Leeward is trying to turn a dilapidated and predominantly unusable boating facility into a bustling marina. This basin is not just a travel corridor but a critically important manatee habitat component. In fact, hundreds of manatees on a single day have been counted resting in the passive warm-water basin that would become the marina. (See photos)

The Marine Mammal Commission recently wrote a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stating that the Service's Biological Opinion of this project does not adequately consider:

The project’s impact upon manatees recovering from cold stress.
The increased potential for boat-related harassment, injury, and deaths of manatees.
That this project would be located in the middle of the most important warm water refuge for manatees on Florida’s west coast.

Read the Marine Mammal Commission letter (pdf)

The marina would be sited in the state’s deadliest river system, within the deadliest county for manatees. Its proposed location downstream from a major winter manatee refuge further illustrates that this development must be stopped!

What You Can Do:
By adding your information below, you will be sending an email to Sam Hamilton, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region, and Col. Paul L. Grosskruger of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Please also consider making a donation. Legal action may be necessary in this case, and we will need funds to make sure manatees are protected.

Thank you for your help and support!

May 24, 2013

Subject:
Reinitiate Sec. 7 Consultations on Leeward Project

Dear Mr. Hamilton and Colonel Grosskruger:

The Leeward project will place endangered manatees in Southwest Florida at an unacceptable risk for boat-related harassment, injury, and death. The proposed project would be situated on the Orange River, just downstream from the primary warm water discharge of Florida Power and Light Company's plant, which can attract nearly 500 manatees to its warm waters on a single cold day.  The basin that will house Leeward, LLC is used by manatees year-round and has experienced minimal boat traffic for decades because a majority of the existing facilities are unsafe and unusable. Now, Leeward plans to turn this dilapidated boating facility into a bustling marina.  

You can see photos of the large numbers of manatees using the refuge at http://www.savethemanatee.org/ta_leeward_photos.html.

I am asking that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) evaluate the criteria utilized to evaluate development projects for the Army Corps of Engineers under the section 7 consultation process of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The permitting of the Leeward, LLC development indicates that the current review criteria are flawed, because this project poses serious threats to manatees.  The Service failed to thoroughly assess the available information on manatee habitat use, vessel traffic, and the potential impact on manatees and their habitat, despite the recommendations of the Marine Mammal Commission.  

To improve the consultation process, the Service should reevaluate the manatee’s designated critical habitat, and define constituent elements of that habitat.  Despite the importance of the Orange River for manatees, it is not even designated as critical habitat.  No constituent elements, such as warm water, fresh water, or food sources are designated for any manatee critical habitat, which seriously compromises the effectiveness of the critical habitat designation.  The ESA requires review of federal projects to ensure that they don’t jeopardize critical habitat, but this review is only effective if sufficient and appropriate critical habitat has been designated.  The Service acknowledged in the 2001 Florida Manatee Recovery Plan that reassessment of critical habitat was warranted for the species, based on the availability of new information, but no reassessment was ever undertaken.

It is time to update the manatee’s designated critical habitat and define constituent elements within that habitat.  Perhaps a critical habitat designation for the Orange River would have prevented the Leeward project from being permitted, by fully recognizing the site as a source of shelter, and as a travel corridor.  The permitting of the Leeward facility provides proof that the quality of the section 7 consultation process must be improved.  Proper critical habitat designation and consideration would be an important step in improving this process.
  
Thank you for your consideration.

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