January 2007 Laughing Gull Newsletters St. Lucie Audubon Society

8/9/2019 January 2007 Laughing Gull Newsletters St. Lucie Audubon Society

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Calendar of EventsJanuary Meeting:

Thursday, January 4th at 7 p.m.

Whooping Cranes presented by Marty Folk with FloridaFish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

January Field Trip:

Saturday, January 6th

Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, Titusville (see backpage for details).

Laughing GullThe Newsletter of the St. Lucie Audubon Society

VVlP.VoVO. Box 12474, Fort Pierce FL 34979 P.O. Box 12474, Fort Pierce FL 34979 P.O. Box 12474, Fort Pierce

FL 34979Volume 31 Issue #4 P.O. Box 12474, Fort Pierce, FL 34979 January 2007

Vernon-Anna

Gerke

Sandra Gilfillan

Jaci Minton

Nicholas

Sabetto

Frank Sheldon

Welcome to new

members! Presidents MessageBy Al ParmentierHappy New Year to one and all! Once again,welcome back to our returning members.

Our December general meeting was verywell attended. I dont know if it was the subjectmatter or returning members, but I suspect theformer. Who doesnt like a good travelogue?

Many thanks to Mary and Jack Dodge for anexcellent presentation on their trip to Ecuador.

Here is an interesting tidbit to pass on toyour children or grandchildren interested indinosaurs. Dinosaurs are not extinct! They arethriving all over the world. Most paleontologiststoday agree that dinosaurs still roam the Earth inthe form of birds. All the 10,000 species of birdsliving today are descended from a small meat-eating dinosaur that lived millions of years ago.

I have seen two films recently that I feelcompelled to share. The first was Al GoresAn

Inconvenient Truth, the second Too Hot Not toHandle. Both deal with global warming. Galeand I learned of the reality of the effects of globalwarming on our trip this past summer. Themassive Columbia Glacier in Alberta is melting atan alarming rate and Glacier National Park willhave no glaciers in 25 years or less. Gettingcloser to home, Mr. Gore tells us in his film thatFlorida from Lake Okeechobee south will beunder water in less than fifty years if the meltingof the ice of the Artic and Greenland continues atthe present rate. Check out ww.globalwarming.net

for information on the latest issues and ideas forindividual actions to aid this vital situation.There are many small things every

American can do to slow and even reverse thisphenomenon. Have you begun switching to thenew fluorescent light bulbs? When using your airconditioner, raise the thermostat one degree.Lower it one degree when heating. Thinkglobally, act locally.

Al Parmentier

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net to sign up.

Other events of interestWake Up Call Lecture Series

Saturday, January 6th;11 am @ Oxbow Eco-Center:

Cruisin on Alternative FuelImagine the next time you fill up your car,pulling into a fast food joint or Chinese res-taurant to get your fuel. More and more peo-ple are doing just that by converting their

vehicles to run on biofuel. Learn how oneman has declared his petroleum independ-ence in a presentation.

Brian Quant, an organic vegetable farmerfrom Vero Beach, recently got started in hisown type of fuel production by convertingused French fry oil into diesel, and currentlyruns three vehicles off of it.

In his presentation, Quant will explain whatpeople can do to get started in this alternativefuel, including needed vehicle modifications.Hell even have at least one veggie oil vehi-

cle on hand so people can see first hand howit works.

Meeting Place Location:Oxbow Eco-Center

5400 NE St. James Dr.Port St. Lucie, FL 34983

(772) 785-5833

1.7 miles south of Midway Rd. and 1.8 miles northof Airoso Blvd on St. James Dr. (S. 25th St.)


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Page 2 Volume 31 Issue #4Conservation CornerBy Harold Phillips

A Letter to our Commissioner

Dear County Commissioner:

As County Commissioner you voted out the Florida

Power and Light proposal to build a coal burningpower station in St. Lucie County earlier this year.We thank you for that action.

Many of us thought that the contamination of ourwaters and harm to our health had been averted,but not so. F P & L have now decided to build abigger and better dirty coal power plant on theshores of Lake Okeechobee near Moore Haven.

Applications will be reviewed on a newly legislatedfast track approval method. That means fewerchecks and balances and less regard for pollution

concerns and our health.

It does not auger well for the Everglades, LakeOkeechobee or our estuaries...or the 10.2 billiondollar clean up. All these areas including the IndianRiver Lagoon and the St. Lucie River will be im-

pacted depending upon the prevailing winds of theday. The F P & L plant will shed tons of mercuryacross our area. It will burn hundreds of tons of

coal 24 hours a day for 365 days a year for the

next 40 or more years.

We may find that we are adding pollution at a

faster rate than we can clean it up. As has beenaptly stated by the Sierra Club, Just as there areno clean cigarettes, there is no clean coal. Coal isa dirty power source that is unwelcome in most

communities, and Lake Okeechobee is no different it is unwelcome there and in the Treasure Coast,too.

Will you, as our leaders for St. Lucie County, pleasetake whatever steps are available to you to preventthe siting of this coal burning operation on the

shores of Lake Okeechobee and our backyard.Please help us to keep our citizens healthy and our

air and water clean.

Sincerely.

Harold PhillipsConservation OfficerSt. Lucie Audubon Society

Just a NoteBy Harold PhillipsSupporters of a massive water resources bill that would haveprovided $1.2 billion for restoration and cleansing of the IndianRiver Lagoon was declared "officially dead" last week.

Supporters from many organizations both conservation,County, and business related, have been lobbying and steadilyworking away for the past six years. Again the bill has lapsed

as the final legislative session ran out with a failure of theHouse and the Senate to agree on their different versions of thebill.

April Gromnicki, a lobbyist for Audubon of Florida who backsthe legislation as does our Chapter, said "Another two yearswasted."

This is another prime example of taxpayers money beingwasted on hundreds if not thousands of hours of meetings andlobbying all to end up in the hands of our DO-NOTHINGCONGRESS.

Month Searches Est. Amt. Raised

June 20 $0.20

July 1216 $12.16

August 2878 $28.78

September 3787 $37.87

October 10390 $103.90

November 8362 $83.62

December 4596 $45.96

Total 31249 $312.49

Operation Migration is a non profit conservation organizationdevoted to saving the endangered Whooping Cranes in Americaand especially in helping them to learn the passage for their firstever migration to Florida. Each year they raise fledgling Whoop-ing Cranes, teach them how to fly and how to follow a microlightaircraft that guides them to their winter feeding habitat in Flor-ida. Each year the number of birds increases by ten or so juvenileWhooping Cranes. At one time they became so close to extinc-tion that only about 14 birds remained alive.

Please help to raise funds by using the search enginecalled "Goodsearch.com". It is so simple to help raise funds forOperation Migration every time you use Goodsearch.com.

www.goodsearch.com

* Totals as of 12/20/06


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Save the oceans,or else paradise is lost

By Nathaniel P. ReedPalm Beach Post CommentarySunday, December 03, 2006

For the first Earth Day, cartoonist Walt Kelly drew a posterfeaturing his most well-known character. It showed Pogo, apossum who lived in the Okefenokee Swamp, standing infront of a trash-filled forested wetland. Above him in largeblock letters was what was to become a decidedly memora-ble phrase: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Three decades later, Mr. Kelly's words still resonate, espe-cially here in Florida. The millions of Floridians who love toswim, surf, fish, kayak, scuba dive or just soak up the sunalong our coasts need to be on the alert: We're ruining para-dise.

We've all noticed the alarming changes over the years, the

plummeting fish catches, the algae blooms, the dead marinelife washed ashore and the mounting number of beach clos-ings.

The culprits, as Mr. Kelly observed, are us: unwise coastaldevelopment, pollution, overfishing, global warming andineffective government management.

There's a lot at stake. No state is more dependent on itscoastal and ocean resources than ours. And it's not only ourenvironment that is threatened; it's also our livelihoods andour economy.

Florida is one of the most popular travel destinations in the

world, and in 2005 alone, tourism generated more than $60billion and created more than 944,000 jobs. Recreationalfishing expenditures alone that year exceeded $8 billion.

Fortunately, there is hope. More and more residents are alltoo aware of the threat to our coasts, and more and more ofthem are poised to do something about it. A new report fromthe National Resources Defense Council, "Florida's Coastaland Ocean Future, A Blueprint for Economic and Environ-mental Leadership," documents the challenges we face andlays out a comprehens3ive blueprint for action. Issued inSeptember by 20 national, state and local conservation, civicand recreation groups, the report features a six-step recoveryprogram to bring our coasts and ocean back to health.

First, the report calls for tighter controls on coastal develop-ment. It's been 20 years since our state Legislature intro-duced our current coastal-protection policies, and many ofthem are outdated. We've learned a lot over the past twodecades about environmentally friendly development, andthat doesn't include rebuilding in sensitive coastal areas thatwill be washed away again by the next hurricane.

Next, we have to drastically cut the pollution that degrades

our waters, and maintain, if not improve, water quality stan-dards. Pollution is killing our reefs and sea grass beds and foul-ing once-clear springs. Florida law and rules currently treatagriculture with velvet gloves and allow major industries dec-ades to remedy chronic water quality violations. As develop-ment in our coastal areas intensifies, our pollution control poli-cies need to get stronger, not weaker.

We need to keep coastal drilling away from our economicallyvaluable beaches. Offshore drilling is a dirty business, and itwould pose an unacceptable threat not only to our state's"beachonomics," but to our sea grasses, wetlands, bays, reefs,beaches and sand dunes - and the wildlife that depend uponthem. Congress must establish permanent drilling restrictionsthat protect the Florida coast.

Overfishing has to stop, and we must do a better job protectingour marine and coastal ecosystems. Once-abundant fish in theSouth Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, including red snapper and avariety of groupers, are now classified as overfished, or se-verely depleted. Meanwhile, coastal development, dredging to

"renourish" beaches, and agricultural runoff also threaten thereefs, sea grasses and mangroves that provide key habitat forfish.

Florida already is bearing the brunt of global warming. Forexample, during the past 70 years, the average sea level inSouth Florida has risen about 9 inches, contributing to coastalerosion and the degradation of wetlands and mangroves. Andscientists recently have found strong evidence that rising seatemperatures increase the intensity of hurricanes. Our stateshould be on the forefront of combating global warming pollu-tion by dramatically cutting its dependence on coal and oil,promoting cleaner transportation options, and developing safe,clean renewable energy, especially solar energy. After all, oursis the Sunshine State.

Finally, the report found that our state government lacks theorganizational focus to meet the challenges we face. Ourcoastal and marine programs are scattered across multiple de-partments, commissions, water management districts, planningcouncils, and municipal and county governments, and too oftenthe left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Weneed one coordinating office working for the governor to pro-vide unified leadership.

It's been more than 30 years since Walt Kelly prodded us withthat provocative message. It's not too late to take heed, but thehour is getting late. Fortunately we have the know-how andtechnology today to clean up our coasts and protect the nextgeneration. But we need the final ingredient: political will.

Before he leaves office, Gov. Bush has a historic opportunity toset Florida on a course to truly protect its coasts by initiatingthis six-step program. Then, Charlie Crist should make fullimplementation of this coastal and oceans recovery program atop priority of his administration.

Nathaniel P. Reed, a conservationist and businessman, is alongtime Florida resident.

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Environmentalist @ Homeby Gale Parmentier

Recycled coffee logs for your fireplace,

all natural renewable energy!

Java-Log, the worlds only coffee firelog,was invented in 1998 by Canadian Rod Sprules, whenone evening at his home, he conducted an experimentusing dried coffee grounds from his coffee maker fil-ter, combined it with candle wax, and then com-pressed it with a pen into an old cigar tube. It burnedso well that he made prototypes in a loaf pan andgave it to friends to try the rest is history! Coffeegrounds have 25% more energy capacity than wood.Java-Logs are now made with recycled coffeegrounds mixed with soybean oil and produce lessresidue, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, andcreosote than burning wood. The packaging is 100%recycled material. Each log burns for three hours andproduces no chemical odor.

You will find a great read about the inventionand manufacturing at www.java-log.com. This prod-uct can be purchased locally at Publix, Albertsons,and Walgreens.

Membership RenewalsChapter memberships extend from October through

May. Chapter members may use the coupon below to

renew membership for 2007.

Please mark RENEW on your check.SLAS is now offering a Chapter-only annual mem-

bership option for those who want to financially sup-

port their local chapter. The annual cost is only $15

per year, which includes a monthly subscription to

our Laughing Gull newsletter. Please make checkspayable and send to:

St. Lucie Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 12474, Ft. Pierce, FL 34979Name___________________________________________Address__________________________________________City_____________________________________________State__________ Zip_______________________________Phone___________________________________________Email___________________________________________

President Al [email protected]

489-6176

Vice President Liz [email protected]

489-9050

RecordingSecretaryEducation Chair

Terri [email protected]

unlisted

CorrespondingSecretary

Gale [email protected]

489-6176

Treasurer Richard [email protected]

466-1733

Publicity ChairBird EducationClasses

Misty [email protected]

MembershipChair

Dotty [email protected]

340-2226

Field Trip Chair Hank [email protected]

340-2226

Program Chairs Grace StockLiz Dunleavy

871-2882489-9050

ConservationChair

Harold [email protected]

879-2669

NewsletterDistributor

Nettie Brolman 461-3658

Directors at large Bob CareyMary Lou HughesHank Hull

879-7488464-2489340-2226

NewsletterEditors

Veronica BerronesDaniela Zarate

785-5833

2006-2007 Chapter Officers & Committee Chairs

Mark Your CalendarsJanuary 20th

Party in the ParkFebruary 11th

Birding Breakfast at the Adam's Ranch8 am$20 per personReservations 340-2226

February 24th

Painted & Indigo Bunting Trip$5 per person - Reservations 340-2226

Volume 31 Issue #4


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Feathered Friendsby Dotty & Hank HullGrasshopper SparrowJanuary 13 Special Event Field TripThe Grasshopper Sparrow,Ammodramus sa-vannarum ranges from the Atlantic coast toCalifornia and from southern Canada to south-ern Florida, Arizona and Mexico. It is one ofour most obscure birds. It usually keeps wellhidden in the depths of the grass, and when pur-sued it flies only when nearly trampled. TheFlorida race of the Grasshopper sparrow,A. s.floridanusresides at Kissimmee Prairie State

Preserve. Its courtship, nest building, and rear-ing of young are carried on in a grass-world ofits own, well hidden from human eyes. Its songso closely resembles the sounds of the grass-hopper that many do not recognize it as a birdsong.

Our October speaker, Paul Miller, invited oursociety to visit the Kissimmee Preserve onJanuary 13 when the staff will be bandingGrasshopper Sparrows by flushing the birds into

mist nets. We will carpool to the preserve fromthe Fort Pierce Home Depot parking lot on

Okeechobee Road and Jenkins Road. Meet atHome Depot at 7:30am. It is about 50 miles tothe preserve and driving time is about 1 hourand 15 minutes. Please make your reservationsfor the trip as soon as possible by calling DottyHull @ 340-2226

BirdwatchingRiver CruiseEvery Wednesday - 4 pm

$20 inc. tax

Cruise the North Fork of the St. Lucie Riveron this narrated sunset cruise. Focus on

birds and other wildlife. A portion of proceedsgoes to support St. Lucie Audubon Society.

Reservations required, 772-489-8344.

BIRDING CLASSESFebruary 20th, Feb 27th and March 8th.

Tuesday evening sessions from 7 - 9 pm.

Field trips Saturdays following theclass by St. Lucie Audubon.

Cost is only $30.

Classes will be held atOxbow Eco-Center5400 St. James Drive, Port St. Lucie, Fl 34983

For more details, call the Oxbow @ 785-5833.

The Best BeakLet's get 'em while they're young! Audubon's booth atOxbow's Enchanted Trail Eco-Holiday Celebration onDecember 9 was a winner! Children played a game tolearn how birds' beaks are adapted to the foods they eat.In the game, The Best Beak, children used different toolsrepresenting birds' beaks to try to "eat" different foods.They discovered that a net-like beak, such as a pelican's,worked best for scooping up fish (rubber balls in a tub ofwater). A hummingbird's straw-like beak was the besttool for sipping nectar (colored water in a vase). And an

insect-eating bird's small pointy beak is well adapted forplucking up small insects (rice tucked in the bark of alog). It was gratifying to see that some children couldidentify some of the birds pictured on our display board.We probably met some of Audubon's future members!The game was constructed by Education Chair, TerriBrown, and was adapted from a Project Wild/FlyingWild activity. Members and volunteers who worked theevent were: Terri Brown, Gale Parmentier, LizDunleavey, Kristin Brown, and Mark Freel.

Bud Adams Birding Breakfast

Bud Adams Ranch Breakfast will be held onSunday, February 11, 2007. We will meet at Ft.Pierce Home Depot at 7:30 a.m. and caravan to

the ranch. Cost is $20 per person includes awholesome breakfast and a bus tour of the ranch.

Call Dotty Hull at 340-2226 for reservations.Limited seats available.

Volume 31 Issue #4Page 5


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January 4th MeetingWhooping Cranes presented by Marty Folk with Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation

Commission

January 6th Field Trip

Hart and Jewel Rufe will lead our January 6 field trip to Merritt Island NationalWildlife Refuge in Titusville. January is the best month to visit Black Point Drive

since there are many duck and wading bird species present at this time. Most of theouting will be driving around Black Point drive, with a couple of short walks throughwooded areas. It takes one hour and forty-five minutes to get to the refuge so theouting will last until early afternoon.

Meet at 7:30 a.m. in the NE corner of the Home Depot parking lot in Fort Pierce. Thisis just off Jenkins Road and far away from the store. We will carpool from there. If youride with someone else, please contribute to the drivers gas expense.

Presidents Message

Calendar of EventsNew Members

Page 1

ConservationCorner

Page 2

Officers

Membership RenewalEnvironmentalist @Home

Page 4

Feathered Friends

Page 5

Laughing GullSt. Lucie Audubon

P.O. Box 12474

Fort Pierce, FL 34979

Please Remember to Recycle!

Non-profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Fort Pierce, FL.Permit No. 442

Bud Adams Birding BreakfastBud Adams Ranch Breakfast will be held on Sunday, February 11, 2007. We will meet at

Ft Pierce Home Depot at 7:30 a.m. and caravan to the ranch. Cost is $20 per person includesa wholesome breakfast and a bus tour of the ranch. Call Dotty Hull at 340-226 for

reservation. Limited seats available.

January 2007 Laughing Gull Newsletters St. Lucie Audubon Society

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