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Saving Special Places
Save Our Swamp
What's Going On?
A few decades ago, shallow, seasonal wetlands
dominated the southwest Florida landscape, providing rich
habitat and foraging grounds for endangered wood storks in
the nation’s largest nesting rookery at Corkscrew Swamp
Sanctuary. Today precious few natural areas remain, and these
are threatened by developers, including Mirasol, which is
seeking to build 799 houses and two golf courses on 1,700
acres, 1,400 of which are wetlands in Cocohatchee Slough,
adjacent to the Sanctuary.
On Thursday, September 13, 2007, The South
Florida Water Management District (District) Governing Board
granted a permit to allow the Mirasol residential golf course
project to move forward and destroy more than 600 acres of
these wetlands. The Swamp’s best hope is that the Army
Corps of Engineers and EPA reject the wetlands permit required
by the developers to drain the swamp. Audubon and its allies,
the Florida and National Wildlife Federations and the Conservancy
of Southwest Florida, are determined to fight this horrible
destruction of wetlands.
Audubon of Florida, and its partners in
the Cocohatchee Slough Coalition, are employing every tool
available to protect what wetlands remain in southwest Florida
because they are vital to the reproductive success of federally
listed endangered wood storks, as well as to our own quality
of life.
Please don’t let Corkscrew Swamp
and the Cocohatchee Slough fall victim to the needless destruction
of valuable wetlands for another unnecessary golf course development.
Please help us and sign
the petition urging the federal government to Save Our
Swamp!
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| © RJ Wiley |
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