1 PUBLIC WORKSHOP Florida Bay Florida Keys Feasibility Study/ Florida Keys Tidal Restoration SPEAKERS: CORPS: Shelley Trulock Debbie Peterson Mike Dupes SFWMD: DEWEY WORTH CECELIA WEAVER Marthon Government Center Second Floor Meeting Room MM 45 Marathon, FL 33050 Tuesday, October 29, 2002 7:00 p.m. - 8:35 p.m. MONROE COUNTY COURT REPORTERS (305) 852-7344 2 1 (Powerpoint presentations were made by Shelley 2 Trulock, Debbie Peterson, Mike Dupes, Dewey Worth, and 3 Cecelia Weaver) 4 (Public Comment). 5 CECELIA WEAVER: All right. Let's get 6 started with public comment. We have a number of 7 people who wish to speak tonight. So Pete 8 Worthington, Marathon City Councilman. If you 9 would like to come to a microphone then the TV 10 audience will be able to hear you clearly. 11 PETE WORTHINGTON: Good evening. My name is 12 Pete Worthington. I am a city councilman from 13 Marathon and I would like to make a comment on the 14 culverts that you're looking to put in. My 15 recommendation would be to go with either the 16 number 2 or number 4, being that on the ocean side 17 of the number 2 culvert there's a lot of area back 18 on the west side of Valhala that would be very 19 beneficial towards, I think, between Valhala and 20 Coco Plum. There's a lot of shallows back in 21 there that would get a lot of benefits from 22 putting the culvert in that area. 23 The second choice I would recommend would be 24 the number 4 for also the same reason. On the 25 south side -- on the south side of Grassy Key, the 3 1 east side of Valhala there's also a large benthic 2 community that would benefit from it greatly. So 3 I would recommend those two spots as a priority. 4 That's my opinion. 5 On the Everglades water flow. I've been a 6 commercial fisherman for 27 years. What happens 7 in the Everglades and the way the water is 8 regulated has a lot to do with the species that we 9 catch and if there's a large amount of fresh water 10 that's dumped after hurricanes or after storms it 11 has a tendency of flushing the animals out of the 12 Everglades. Approximately 70 percent of the fish 13 that live on the reefs spend their juvenile stages 14 in the Everglades. So it's very critical to the 15 fish stocks that are on the reef that we have 16 healthy estuaries. 17 But one recommendation that I would like to 18 make, and I'm sure you guys have heard about it, 19 is to try and regulate the flow of a more steady 20 flow rather than seeing fluctuations in the 21 salinities. Summertime you get a lot of 22 evaporation. You have salinity levels that go up 23 to 38, to 40, 42 sometimes in the middle of the 24 Everglades around Taylor Slough. And then when 25 you have some storms in September, October, those 4 1 salinity levels are all of a sudden dropping to 2 14, 16. So there's a major fluctuation of 3 salinity levels and if there's some way that you 4 can regulate after a storm. I know you also have, 5 a big concern of your department is to provide 6 flood protection, but the big effect that it's 7 having on us is the big swings of salinity levels 8 in the Florida Bay and affecting both our juvenile 9 stocks and the adult stocks that are up there 10 which gives them a flushing effect which basically 11 will send them out in one big push and then we 12 won't see them for the rest of the season. So the 13 amount of water that comes out of the Everglades 14 has a great effect on the fisheries down here. 15 And back in 1987 when you guys first started 16 looking at the amount of water going in the 17 Florida Bay, you started putting a little bit more 18 water on a regular basis into the bay, the shrimp 19 harvest went from 2.3 million pounds a year up to 20 almost pre-1970 levels of almost 11 or 12 million 21 pounds a year, just in a matter of two years. The 22 lobster harvest did the same thing. We had some 23 great harvests around '88, '89. We had a 7 24 million pound record harvest season. So it has a 25 great impact on the fisheries. 5 1 But that's the comments I would like to 2 make. If you could somehow regulate the amount of 3 water that comes in there. And I have been 4 monitoring the salinity levels in Florida Bay 5 through the University of Miami's website for 6 approximately eight years now since 1995 when they 7 started that and I've watched the fluctuations 8 take place on a month to month basis and it's 9 pretty significant. So that's the recommendations 10 I'd make. Thank you. 11 CECELIA WEAVER: Thank you. Commissioner 12 Dixie Spehar, please. 13 DIXIE SPEHAR: Thank you. I was not 14 prepared to speak tonight. So may I read a little 15 piece of constituents that I had in the Big 16 Coppitt area. They are called Save Our Bays. I 17 think that this project was kind of overlooked, 18 misunderstood as to what it really is and it is a 19 tidal restoration problem. This group represents 20 over 200 citizens in Big Coppitt, Shark Key and 21 Geiger Key area. They reside between mile marker 22 10 and 11. The area of concern is Similar Sound 23 which is a major body of water that connects the 24 Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. This water 25 thru-way has been severely compromised from 6 1 highway construction over the past years. Our 2 committee has assembled a group of individuals to 3 explore the feasibility of restoring the bay and 4 its tidal flows to its preconstruction condition. 5 Through their research they discovered that 6 originally Similar Sound flowed freely from the 7 Gulf of Mexico through Hawks Channel. This natural 8 tidal flow was compromised by the construction of 9 US Highway 1. 10 The highway construction between Shark Key 11 and Big Coppitt Key is a rampart system that 12 Mr. Flagler used when he was constructing the 13 railroad connection from the mainland to Key West. 14 Basically it's a method of piling up dredged fill 15 from the ocean bed and placing a railroad or 16 highway on top of the berm. This impedes and 17 redirects the natural tidal flow. Mr. Flagler 18 abandoned this method of construction because of 19 the natural resistance to these tidal movements 20 and the destruction to the bulk heads that it 21 caused. His solution was a span bridge system 22 that provided little resistance to tidal flow. 23 Ironically it has had a major preservation effect 24 on the surround basin water quality of the Florida 25 Keys. We're currently subjected to a negative 7 1 impact of this rampart construction here in Big 2 Coppitt and we would like to do something about 3 it. 4 The project -- I had tidal flows to show, we 5 had several natural tidal flows. One of them I 6 wouldn't even begin to argue with because it's 7 military and it's actually runway 3. We won't ask 8 them to change that. 9 The one that we are discussing major, is the 10 one that is in Similar Sound which is between Big 11 Coppitt and Shark Key. Originally this was the 12 rampart and then Mr. Flagler went above Shark Key 13 to -- and created Shark Key Bridge. At that time 14 the flows could still go through the bridge, come 15 under Shark Key and wrap around Big Coppitt during 16 the 50s and 60s when it was legal to do fill, 17 Shark Key had fill placed so that they have a 18 solid ground from the highway to Shark Key to 19 develop it. That created a block which prevents 20 the tidal flow from coming around Shark Key and 21 going, wrapping around Big Coppitt. It now must 22 go all the way around Shark Key and bypasses Big 23 Coppitt. 24 Because of this natural canals have filled 25 with sediment to the point that they are 8 1 approximately two feet deep where we still have 2 some people, in fact one is sitting here tonight 3 that remembers when it was seven and eight foot 4 deep. This has created a real severe problem for 5 Big Coppitt because when we have tidal flows 6 there's a backup because there is cap rock. When 7 we have a major storm event we hold water. 8 But I spoke today to a gentleman that is 9 with Consulting Engineers. He said that there is 10 a boat ramp right across from Shark Key that has 11 just been repaired. When he was out checking the 12 conditions of the road he found there was a 13 considerable erosion in that area due to the last 14 major storm event that we had. And he actually 15 was very concerned should we have another one we 16 might lose that section of the highway. That's a 17 horrible thought. I would hope that you would 18 consider this in your projects. If not this time 19 around please put this on the top of the list, 20 come out and look at this causeway to see the 21 erosion. Look at the Big Coppitt area during the 22 high tide flows. 23 I had color charts here where you can see 24 the actual flow of what was and what is and what 25 we would like to see happen to put us back to our 9 1 natural flow. If you would like this I would be 2 more than happy to give you one. 3 CECELIA WEAVER: Thank you. Deevon Quirolo. 4 DEEVON QUIROLO: Thank you. My name for the 5 record is Deevon Quirolo and I am the executive 6 director of Reef Relief. 7 CECELIA WEAVER: Sorry. 8 DEEVON QUIROLO: That's fine. Reef Relief is 9 a non-profit membership group designated to 10 preserving and protecting coral reefs. So our 11 comments today here are directed at the commission 12 so that this plan can truly protect the entire 13 coral reef ecosystem because as you know our 14 fragile and endangered coral reefs are downstream 15 of the tidal passes and the Florida Bay areas 16 included in the study plan. So our concerns are 17 directed with a view toward looking at what the 18 downstream impacts will be and I guess you would 19 call this our campaign, we all live downstream 20 because we depend on these waters for economy, our 21 way of life, our wilderness experience and they 22 are already very threatened. So it's important 23 that we do everything we can to ensure that clean 24 clear water be delivered through these tidal 25 passes. And if there is any increase in the water 10 1 flows that this water be as clean as it can 2 possibly be. 3 And the overriding concern we have is that 4 the plan has included phosphorus but has not 5 included nitrogen. I would like to refer to the 6 rigorous science that was delivered by the Florida 7 Bay Research Programs and their relation to the 8 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan report 9 that was recently released by what we call the 10 CROGEE Commission which really means, for those of 11 you who aren't familiar with it, the Committee on 12 the Restoration of the Greater Everglades 13 Ecosystem; Water Science and Technology Board; 14 Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology; 15 Division of Earth and Life Sciences for the -- 16 National Research Council. 17 Their recommendations echos some of the 18 things that we've been bringing up and some of the 19 comments that we made at your earlier meeting in 20 August. The report indicates that an important 21 assumption often made by scientists and managers 22 associated with the CERP, and by the public, is 23 that the increased flows of water deemed necessary 24 to restore habitats in the Everglades also will 25 contribute to the restoration and enhancement of 11 1 Florida Bay. This is because increasing 2 frequency, severity and duration of hypersaline 3 conditions in parts of the bay, and decrease in 4 the spatial and temporal extent of estuarine 5 conditions, are thought by some scientists to have 6 been major factors leading to a dramatic die-off 7 of turtle grass around 1987. As indicated by your 8 slides slowing the salinity. 9 For a number of reasons these assumptions 10 may not be correct. First, the evidence linking 11 the turtle grass die-off to hypersalinity is 12 equivocal and there is little agreement within the 13 Florida Bay research community that this was the 14 causative factor of the die-off. 15 Second, direct fresh surface water flow into 16 northern Florida Bay via Taylor Slough and 17 Craighead Basin is predicted to be about the same 18 in 2050 relative to the current condition whether 19 the CERP was implemented or not and your slides 20 show that as well. If this is the case then there 21 will be little effect on salinities in central 22 Florida Bay and no relief to any associated 23 ecological problems that may exist. 24 On the other hand, recent research suggests 25 that some percentage of the proposed significant 12 1 increase in fresh water flows through Shark River 2 Slough will ultimately reach the central Bay by 3 passing through the western boundary of the Bay 4 mixing with shelf water. 5 It is not clear how this will affect Florida 6 Bay. In addition to the uncertainties concerning 7 the amount of fresh water and ground water that 8 may enter Florida Bay because of the CERP it is 9 also possible that an increase in water will also 10 bring an increase in nutrient inputs. Florida Bay 11 phytoplankton blooms appear to develop where 12 nutrient-enriched water from the eastern Bay and 13 from land drainage mixes with relatively 14 phosphorus-rich water of the western and central 15 Bay. 16 For these reasons we echo the 17 recommendations of the CROGEE commission and I'll 18 state them briefly to save time. One, they 19 recommend that the total loads of nitrogen and 20 phosphorus from fresh water sources be estimated 21 as accurately as possible. Quantifying the 22 magnitude of nutrient loadings by source; organic 23 oxidized, urban and agricultural runoff as well as 24 regional and atmospheric deposition will also 25 become relevant if steps to reduce nutrient 13 1 loading become necessary. They recommend that a 2 historical characterization of bay waters be done. 3 They state that there is currently no good Florida 4 Bay circulation models suitable for research and 5 management processes and purposes. And at the 6 last meeting we recommended that a three 7 dimensional model be explored so that you can 8 accurately look at what sediment resuspension and 9 transport will do if implemented as planned. We 10 have grave concerns about the downstream impact 11 that the tidal flows project would have because of 12 the resuspension of contaminated sediment. 13 Finally, there must be a linkage of the 14 output of the South Florida Management model which 15 has a southern boundary on the mangrove zone and 16 input to Bay models. So the planning has to 17 include Florida Bay. There are models under 18 development that can be used and we encourage you 19 very strongly to add the Bay and the models that 20 incorporate the Bay's hydrological patterns to 21 your studies and encourage you to do further and 22 better studies. 23 All of these recommendations are common 24 sense things. We know we've had nutrient 25 algal-blooms, we know that if we transport them 14 1 further down to the reefs that we'll have greater 2 problems. 3 And another one of the problems that they 4 are recommending is that the human factors, such 5 as population growth and economic activity and 6 environmental events whose drivers are distant 7 from Florida Bay and unrelated to CERP activities 8 such as hurricanes, flooding from the Mississippi, 9 atmospheric deposition to Florida Bay and it's 10 water shed and sea level rise may also affect 11 conditions in Florida Bay. Research is needed to 12 better define these potential impacts and to 13 integrate these results into the redictive 14 ecosystems models. And so we echo and we support 15 the findings of the CROGEE commission which 16 concluded if you don't do these things there will 17 be some very unhappy people with the results of 18 these studies and this effort to help improve 19 water quality. 20 So I hope that you will take this seriously. 21 We appreciate the opportunity to provide these 22 comments to you. Reef Relief feels that this 23 rigorous science is indeed pointing the way to a 24 better end result and we hope that you will take 25 our recommendations to heart. Thank you very 15 1 much. 2 CECELIA WEAVER: Thank you. Richard Wrathel. 3 RICHARD WRATHEL: Richard Wrathel 4 representing the Marathon Guides Association. 5 Like Pete Worthington had stated the Florida Bay 6 in our fishing is vital also. And just Florida 7 Bay has been studied, and the Everglades has been 8 studied studied studied. We have been at 9 workshops and hearings for what now, over 10 years 10 and it's time to get moving folks because the 11 canary is dying in the cage which has been stated 12 many, many times. Let's get moving. Like a 13 statement was put out just several months ago, 14 let's roll, let's roll folks, let's get it done. 15 And also I would like to state that Marathon 16 Guides would like to see on the culvert situation 17 up on Grassy Key we call for the site number 4 and 18 we still feel that that's the best place for the 19 water to be going through. And also we would like 20 you to look at Big Pine Key. They have got the 21 overpasses there now for the key deer. This would 22 be a terrific place to have water flow going from 23 the Spanish Harbor area there into Coupon Bite 24 which would be a great tidal flow and would help 25 the inner section of Coupon Bite area also. And 16 1 that could be tagged on very easily. And that's 2 about it. Thank you. 3 CECELIA WEAVER: Thank you. H.T. Pontin 4 H.T. PONTIN: For the record my name is H.T. 5 Pontin. I've been a master mariner for 60 years I 6 am still licensed to go. I understand tides and 7 currents and the rest of it which apparently a lot 8 of people do not understand. So let's start. Ten 9 years ago we approached this same problem and we 10 got out of it the Botch Report which you can't 11 find now and the Botch Report says the bay is 12 filling in. We have higher salinity and higher 13 temperatures. Not one dime has been spent to cure 14 this in 10 years. We now have that problem again. 15 From Flagler's time to the 1978, 1980 when they 16 started this stop dredging and save the seagrass 17 Florida Bay was in pretty good condition. 18 Now we have everything filling in. Now what 19 a lot of people don't understand is we have a two 20 and a half foot tide range down here and if any of 21 that is taken away we have a problem. And that is 22 what has been taken away. And one figure you are 23 likely to remember is that one foot of silt in one 24 square mile fills in or dirt or anything else, it 25 replaces 2 billion 700 million gallons of water, 17 1 that would flush that area four times a day. 2 Now I'm sure that these tunnels and 3 everything else you're going to put in are going 4 to help. There is no question about that. 5 Because they will allow more water and a lot of it 6 will be within the tide rage. Anything out of the 7 tide range doesn't make any difference at all. So 8 I'm for whatever you can do to decrease the 9 problem but I don't see anything really happening. 10 All it will do is change the timing of where the 11 high tides or the low tides will be in the back 12 country which is different from where they are in 13 the front county now. But people don't understand 14 this. The guides understand it but they don't 15 know why, you know. 16 So this is what we got to do is you got to 17 spend more money which will create maybe one 18 percent cure or two percent cure and going to keep 19 a lot of jobs going. So that's all I can say. 20 Thank you. 21 CECELIA WEAVER: Thank you. Okay our last 22 comment is by Bicycle Joannie Nelson. If anyone 23 else wishes to speak you can go ahead and give a 24 card to Amanta and we have time for additional 25 speakers if you would like. 18 1 JOANNIE NELSON: Bicycle Joannie Nelson, 2 perennial candidate, jail bird and 32 -- I'm out 3 on bail man. 32 year resident of Monroe County. 4 There is numerous things that I want to say. 5 Number one, I would like to you listen to H.T. 6 Pontin. You know, he's been talking about all 7 this stuff for such a long time. We don't need to 8 pay him a bunch of money for all these studies, 9 the Army Corps of Engineer and everything. The 10 guy makes sense. Everybody kind of knows that 11 Flagler messed up the situation when he stopped 12 the tidal flow or impeded the tidal flow between 13 the Atlantic and the gulf sites. What I wanted to 14 ask you people, because I'm sorry I was late, you 15 know you had four different sites, the one site I 16 was always thinking of is Gene Smith's property in 17 the middle of Marathon because it's very narrow 18 there to go to Boot Key Harbor but I don't think 19 you guys have that on. And it goes -- but a lot 20 of people say, and maybe Pete Worthington can talk 21 about this more because Boot Key Harbor is so 22 polluted now or whatever, that if we flush it out 23 on to the Gulf side it might be more of a mess on 24 the Gulf side. But it's so narrow right there 25 that if we could just open that up -- and I don't 19 1 even know about culverts -- but just open it up 2 right there in the middle of Marathon and let the 3 tide go back and forth, it might take a long time 4 to clean it out but to me -- I don't know. 5 Nobody's proposed this particular place? Well, 6 it's very narrow right there and it seems to me a 7 perfect place. 8 The other thing that I just would like to 9 emphasis is people like H.T. Pontin he's, you 10 know, one of the wise men of the Keys and you need 11 to pay attention to this guy. He doesn't cost any 12 money on top of it. No big studies. That's it. 13 CECELIA WEAVER: One more. It looks like 14 Linus Johnson. 15 LINDA JOHNSON: Actually that's Linda 16 Johnson. I'm here representing Port and Katherine 17 Draper who own 20 acres on the west end of Grassy 18 Key. Mr. Draper has done some extensive analogy 19 of all four of these sites and he figures that 20 number 4 is the least desirable site. The 21 causeway is 2400 feet long. The creek is almost 22 no depth and massive sediment content on both the 23 ocean and the bay sides. On the bay side the 24 creek between Grassy Key and Crawl Key north of 25 the causeway is less than 200 feet wide and has a 20 1 rock bottom only three feet deep. The large pond 2 between this constriction and the causeway is 3 completely filled with organic sediment and is 4 less than six inches deep. Little flow can be 5 established here without a massive displacement of 6 sediment. On the ocean side the creek is 7 similarly filled with organic sediment. The 8 opening into the ocean is cut off by a sandbar 9 that is out of the water at low tide. If anyone 10 is interested in some of the other studies that he 11 has done I have some copies with me. Thank you. 12 CECELIA WEAVER: It looks like we don't have 13 any additional speakers or comments but Shelley 14 Trulock would like to address a couple of you who 15 have indicated additional sites for passes under 16 the Florida Keys restoration project. 17 SHELLEY TRULOCK: In listening to your public 18 comments tonight one thing seemed to be pretty 19 standard from several of the speakers and that was 20 the fact that there could be some other potential 21 sites that would be very good opportunities to 22 restore the tidal flow. Based on the CERP plan, 23 the yellow book, we were directed to evaluate the 24 four sites that I outlined on the presentation 25 earlier. What we can do, and we discussed this at 21 1 last night's public meeting as well, is that these 2 other sites that you have indicated to us tonight, 3 we can take those and evaluate those as part of 4 the feasibility study. So although they may not 5 show up as our recommended site under the tidal 6 restoration, that does not mean that they couldn't 7 be a viable option under the feasibility study and 8 something that could be investigated further 9 there. 10 So as you think of these different things, 11 if you'll pass those sites along to us we can take 12 those into account and possibly be able to 13 evaluate those as part of the other study. So I 14 just wanted to make sure that you understood that 15 and make sure you had a comfort level and that 16 when you provide this information for us we can 17 use that, even though we can't maybe look at them 18 for the tidal restoration project, there are 19 potential uses for that information. So I just 20 did want to clear that up so you continue to 21 provide us this information because it's great 22 information to have. That's why we look to the 23 public to bring this to our attention. Thank you. 24 CECELIA WEAVER: Thanks Shelley. We don't 25 have anymore comments. The workshop is concluded. 22 1 If you would like to address specific issues with 2 any of us we'll be around after the workshop. 3 Thank you. 4 (Public workshop concluded at 8:25 p.m.) 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 23 CERTIFICATE I, KATHLEEN A. FEGERS, Registered Professional Reporter, do hereby certify that I was authorized to and did stenographically report the foregoing proceedings and that the transcript is a true record. Dated this 6th day of November, 2002. _____________________________ KATHLEEN A. FEGERS, RPR Court Reporter MONROE COUNTY COURT REPORTERS (305) 852-7344