City provides updates on post-hurricane recovery efforts

By TIFFANY REPECKI trepecki@breezenewspapers com

The city of Sanibel shared the following dur ing its Facebook Live update on Feb 21:

∫ City Manager Dana Souza reported that the Feb. 20 deadline to place hurricane generated debris on the rights-of-way for collection by the city's debris management contractor ha been extended Residents and businesses now h until today, March 1 The contractor's last pickup day is March 29

∫ The Sanibel Community Park would reopen on Feb 27

∫ Gulfside City Park and Bowman's Beach will reopen on March 6, along with the Sanibel Boat Ramp for parking only There are no reopening dates as of yet

Lighthouse Park and Turner Beach

Milbrandt reiterated that the city's Codes still ly when conducting post-storm restoration work. When in doubt, contact the department at 239472-3700

For site work and landscape restoration, she highlighted the following:

Vegetation permits: Required for work with mangroves in the beach dune, on vacant parcels and other activities

Landscaping: 75 percent native required; know your developed areas and sod limits

Beachfront properties and activities seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line: Sea turtle lighting; window/glass tint; dune restoration

Be Fire Wise

For questions, call the Natural Resources Department at 239-472-3700

In addition, the city will be announcing detailed guidance and upcoming workshops.

∫ The Building and Planning Departments are still located at 6200 Whiskey Creek in Fort Myers

∫ Mayor Holly Smith encouraged the community to reach out to the city with any questions She explained that a lot of the information it provides in the updates stems from those questions

SCCf: EAA Reservoir groundbreaking a huge step forward

O n F e b 2 3 , S a n i b e l - C a p t i v a C o n s e r v a t i o n

Foundation Chief Executive Officer James Evans and Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis attended the initial groundbreaking of the Everglades Agricultural A r ea ( EA A ) R es er v o ir , a majo r co mp o n en t o f th e d e c a d e s - l o n g , m u l t i - b i l l i o n d o l l a r C o m p r e h e n s i v e Everglades Restoration Plan

“SCCF was very excited to participate in the groundbreaking of this vital reservoir,” Evans said. “The South Florida Water Management District and U S Army Corps have been working hard for years to move this

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA EAGLE CAM

M15 spreads his wings to protect his eaglets from a female who has been intruding on the nest off of Bayshore Road in North fort Myers The female, who has an injured talon, has been stealing food brought to the nest by M15 for the two eaglets, who may be the last brood of M15 and missing mate Harriett

Eagle dad, eaglets dealing with intruders

By CHUCK BALLARO news@breezenewspapers com

Since Southwest Florida’s most famous eagle matriarch Harriet disappeared nearly four weeks ago, many viewers of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam have wondered whether mate M15 would rebound and find himself another mate while protecting his eaglets at the same time

M15 may not be looking but it seems as if there are eagles eager to find him, and the now-single parent is trying to cope

According to those running the eagle cam, there were at least three eagles vying for M15’s attention as of last week, which could have a negative impact on the two eaglets he is now trying to raise on his own.

“We don’t really know their true intentions, what we see on the cameras seems to be either a hungry eagle looking for an easy meal or another female trying to take over the territory,” Ginny Pritchett-McSpadden, founder of the eagle cam, said “He has acted differently toward each one in different situations, kind of on a watch-andsee basis ”

She said there were three eagle “intruders ” One roosts with M15 at night and has been playing it cool, with M15 doing the same This eagle may have been knocked off the tree on the night of Feb 19 by owls This intruder appeared unhurt, but stunned by the attack.

There has been one female in particular that has been

See INTRUDERS, page 3

SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION

T h e g r o u n d b r e a k i n g f o r t h e E v e r g l a d e s Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir took place on feb 23

foundational project forward ”

The SCCF reported that once the EAA Reservoir is complete, along with its associated stormwater treatment areas, the SFWMD will have the added capacity to store and treat water from Lake Okeechobee before ultimately sending it south to the Everglades

“This 240,000 acre-foot reservoir will take significant pressure off of the Caloosahatchee,” DePaolis said “By diverting polluted water from the lake, we will be able to reduce the number of damaging discharges we receive ”

The SCCF reported that the EAA Reservoir Project has had a long history filled with uncertainty and mired in litigation and politics It was not until 2018 when the coastal communities of the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie estuaries were devastated by harmful algal blooms, including blue-green algae and red tide, that the state made the project a top priority

The SCCF added that there have been several challenges since In September, it joined six partner organizations in signing an amicus brief filed by the Everglades Law Center to keep the sugar industry from succeeding with a lawsuit that threatened the project.

“The EAA Reservoir will mean less nutrient pollution in our river, cleaner water in our estuaries, and a lowered risk of devastating algal blooms,” DePaolis said

Weather station at Marine Lab to fill data gaps

O r i g i n a l l y d e p l o y e d i n 2 0 1 2 , thanks to funding from the West C o a s t I n l a n d N a v i g a t i o n D i s t r i c t through a grant from Lee County, the S a n i b e l - C a p t i v a C o n s e r v a t i o n F o u n d a t i o n ' s R i v e r , E s t u a r y , a n d C o a s t a l O b s e r v i n g N e t w o r k (RECON) weather stations became the first weather stations in the region located directly over the water.

“Designed to give researchers and boaters near real-time information on the current over-water weather conditions, they quickly became the go to weather source for the local boating c o m m u n i t y , ” M a r i n e L a b o r a t o r y Manager A J Martignette said

The SCCF reported that all three of the RECON stations were lost during Hurricane Ian Two of them, Red Fish Pass and Fort Myers, were located on wood piling channel markers, which were destroyed in the storm and have been replaced with temporary navigation buoys The third in the Gulf of Mexico was located on a steel pilling channel marker While the piling sur-

SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION vived the storm, the storm surge and 20-plus-foot waves ripped off all the station components

Last week, the U S Coast Guard was working in the area to replace lost channel marker pilings, and the Fort Myers and Red Fish pilings should soon be replaced The SCCF reported that it will still be some time, however, before staff are able to get the stations online due to the loss of the equipment

In the meantime, a project that was in the works before Ian to upgrade a station located on the Marine Lab building to a RECON weather station has been completed Located at the lab on Tarpon Bay, the new station will help fill the gap until the SCCF is able to get the other stations back online

“We are currently exploring funding opportunities to replace the lost equipment and get the other stations back online as soon as possible,” Martignette said “Until then, we hope the community finds the new station useful ”

To view the RECON data, visit https://recon sccf org/weather