Chronology

2004 began with a victory of sorts as the South Florida Water Management District agreed to reduce discharges into the St. Lucie River from Lake Okeechobee. Indian Riverkeeper victories brought because of the Lake Toho drawdown suit worked to bring improved water quality. The amount of water discharged to our estuary is no longer set in ratio to how much water goes to the other coast (which needs water at times when we don’t) The District used private storage for 49,000 acre feet excess water in order to reduce impact on the Indian River Lagoon system. While we didn’t get the injunction to stop the Lake Toho drawdown we did lessen the impact to our estuaries by as much as 2 weeks of the massive discharges that damage our waters so severely.

Governor Jeb Bush appointed our Riverkeeper, Kevin Stinnette to the Committee for a Sustainable Treasure Coast. The committee of 37 business, civic, education and industry leaders provides a forum to represent the concerns of the rivers and to push for planning that will include impacts to the rivers as a consideration for future development. Senator Ken Pruitt requested that the committee compile a list of recommendations for the legislature in response to the hurricanes but we will get back to our work in drafting recommendations for a spring 2006 report.

Indian Riverkeeper joined all of the Treasure Coast in lobbying for the passage of the Indian River Lagoon Plan by Congress.

The spring was a time of hope as dry weather brought clear water. But the illusion of health was soon dispelled when the algae and cyanobacteria found abundant sunlight and an overload of nutrients. Lyngbya and grassilaria bloomed into mats that had people calling to report sewage in the water.

The blooms continued into the summer and coated the beaches along the west shore where the rotting mass stunk to high heaven. Indian Riverkeeper documented the impacts on our website and moved to institute our River & Reef Sewage Survival Project to pilot algae removal, lobby for legislation to prevent the introduction of exotic algae and to challenge dumping of nutrients into our waters.

August brought a change in the wind pattern and what had been drying in the sun drifter east to the mangrove beds along our mosquito impoundments.

With no beach where the rotting seaweed mix could dry out, the masses putrefied in the shallow waters and released the accumulated nutrients in the concentrated area north of the St. Lucie power plant. This concentration of nutrients was drawn from the water in many parts of the lagoon but blown by the wind to that northeastern shore. There the Nitrogen was released as it rotted to fuel a dinoflagellate bloom. Takayama pulchella (formerly Gymnodinium pulchellum) has been identified from Australia, Florida, and Japan. It is a coastal/estuarine toxic species associated with fish kills, human respiratory irritation, and ichthyotoxins (fish poison) within the cell.

The bloom became toxic when mosquito Control turned on the pumps to flood the mosquito impoundments. Thousands of baby snook and other species died in the shallow water. Tests showed that low oxygen wasn’t the cause and exasperated officials reported suspicions of a chemical spill or some other poison.

Indian Riverkeeper did a full examination of the process and posted it on the website as a resource in educating the public about the hazards of nutrient overload.

Reddish-brown areas of water drifted through the lagoon from Jensen Beach to Ft. Pierce and then prayers for deliverance were answered.

We must be careful what we pray for.

The relief came in the form of a storm called Francis, then the remnants of Ivan and Jeanne. The algae blooms were forgotten and the reddish brown water turned black with sediment, sewage, runoff, diesel and gas from hundreds of sunken boats.

The impact of a record year for tropical systems left our water with swimming and fishing alerts and uninhabitable for many species. Our members and supporters worked to cope with lost homes, lost wages, leaky roofs and a myriad of other challenges left in the wake of Francis and Jeanne.

Sediment has washed into our waters by the ton. Wrecked boats bled diesel, oil and gas into the water. Sewers bubbled up and flowed into storm drains, leaving us with high levels of fecal coliform in our rivers. Runoff from residential and agricultural areas brought thousands of unknown substances from wind wrecked medicine cabinets, sheds and garages. Our storm drains clogged, our shorelines were stripped of vegetation, ready to cave in during the slightest rain.

We had been sharing our successes with local residents and property owners in order to bring new contributors and sustain the program but the economic impact of the hurricanes brought the flow of funds to a stop while everyone dealt with their own losses.

Compounding the problem was the loss of venues for fund raising events. We had to cancel our Italian Night, Party in the Park, the Fishing Expo and participation in the October Ox-Bow Eco-Center Event on Halloween weekend.

Indian Riverkeeper struggled to examine the impact of the hurricanes and the opportunities for making recovery an opportunity to see needed improvements come out of a bad situation.

We analyzed the impacts of the washouts of parts of the shoreline and even sections of road along the lagoon’s western shore and worked with the Marine Resources Council to develop a plan for shoreline restoration that would stabilize the bank and restore the scenic and environmental richness that had been jeopardized by decades of poor management practices and the spread of invasive species.

Indian Riverkeeper went to St. Lucie County to present the plan we were told that the county, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration had already formulated a road stabilization plan that involved concrete rip rap along over 13 miles of the county’s coast. There had been no community involvement, no hearings, no environmental studies and not even a request that the contracts include adherence to the county’s comprehensive plan.

The plan was approved by the commission with the promise that they would save as many of the trees as possible, that they would leave stretches where the bank was not close to the road and that they would attempt to use coquina rock similar to what is found naturally along the shore.

Indian Riverkeeper has determined that the project puts the river at risk for major and permanent water quality impacts. We are challenging the funding that was provided with an arbitrary and capricious determination that federal requirements for environmental studies were not required.

Meanwhile the shoreline is being stripped of vegetation that has kept it stable for thousands of years (please visit our website for pictures).

On top of our difficulties comes the loss of our office space on Sewalls Point. We have been fortunate to have been provided wonderful office accommodations for more than a year by Elouise B Debenian through Florida Commercial Ent, L.L.C. and Tom Aydelotte. We had use of the office for much longer than they had initially offered and we are very grateful for their having provided it.

We ended the year with our desks, files and computers in storage until we can find another office.

The biggest source of concern that we hear from our members involves the return of our riverkeeper to full time employment with St. Lucie County Schools. Some members have been reluctant to contribute to an organization that has no office, no full time staff and has experienced such a shortfall in funding the program.

We are not out of the picture yet.

We finished 2004 excited over the launch of a new program for river cleanup events. We had scheduled our first river clean up for September 18^th but were thwarted by the Hurricanes’ river mess up.

Cargill Custom Dressings, LLC, of Port St. Lucie, Florida has funded us to the tune of $3,000 to conduct river clean ups in 2005. The first one will be held on February 12^th.Lee Hedrick, founder of One Wild World will coordinate the event for us and we are excited at the prospect of working with Lee in pursuit of our common goals. Lee has organized many wonderfully successful beach clean-ups, has organized local scuba enthusiasts to clean up under water and brings even better relations with local educational and scientific institutions.

The river clean ups will provide opportunities for involvement for members who have wanted to have more volunteer opportunities.

We are also pleased to share a new arrangement that will get the Indian Riverkeeper boat out on the water more often. Local fishing guides Captain Joe Massarro, Captain Squeaky Kelly, Captain Greg Gentile, Captain Robert Shaughnessy will each spend time on patrol looking for permit violations and pollution sources.

Two years of work building the program has also taught us that we must have a professional grant writer to present our projects to grant providers effectively. We have decided that we will devote funds to that end as soon as funds are available for it.

2005 is a new year and will certainly prove to be pivotal in whether we can save our rivers from the onslaught of pollution, overdevelopment and destructive projects. We hope that our members will stay with us in the fight and that Indian Riverkeeper will emerge as strong as its potential.

Kevin Stinnette