As you know, our Indian River Lagoon is dying. You can read about it every day in our Press Journal Newspaper. Last year 47,000 acres of seagrass vanished, though some are noticing it coming back in a few places. Manatees, pelicans, fish, and dolphins are still dying in record numbers. The only remaining healthy seagrass beds in the entire Lagoon run from just north of Oslo Road south to Fort Pierce. The seagrass and mangroves areas are where fish lay their eggs and the young thrive and grow.
Now, of all times, the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners again wants to dredge and enlarge the Oslo Road boat ramp for more and bigger boat access in this unique, highly vulnerable location. Yet, the St. Johns River Water Management District is willing to authorize this reckless expansion by issuing the County an environmental resource permit.
To prevent destruction of the endangered, critically important seagrasses and mangrove fish nurseries in the vicinity of the Oslo Road boat ramp, we and Pelican Island Audubon Society have filed a Petition for an Administrative Hearing seeking denial of this permit. This petition, filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District on August 30th by attorney Marcy LaHart, urges that the permit be denied because the proposed project will have adverse direct and secondary impacts on seagrass, juvenile fish habitat, manatees and water quality, and because destroying more than an acre of mangroves for a parking lot and a retention pond is not in the public interest.
The Environmental Protection Agency has formally stated the project will result in “substantial and unacceptable adverse impacts on Aquatic Resources of National Importance.” This expansion goes against the County’s own Manatee Protection Plan, and contradicts all recent, local and regional efforts to save our dying Lagoon. Fish expert, Dr. Grant Gilmore, whose studies of the Lagoon ecosystem span 40 years, wonders, “Why damage one of our last productive fishery nurseries and critical spawning sites? Only the fish and fishermen will suffer in the end.”
Anglers have used the existing Oslo Road site for generations and will continue to do so. Anglers don’t need an expanded, paved county road, enlarged parking lot and dredged channel that will destroy fish nurseries. Healthy mangroves, seagrasses, and fish nurseries surround the Oslo boat ramp. For years, County officials have also incorrectly stated that the unpaved road produces damaging runoff. Why, then, after over 70 years of road use, are the seagrasses, fish and birds still more abundant here than elsewhere in the Lagoon?
The county has more than twice the number of public boat ramp lanes needed to meet the Department of Environmental Protection’s recommended level of service, including large launch ramps at both MacWilliam and Riverside Parks, only six miles from Oslo Road. Close by on the east side of the Lagoon are ramps at Round Island Park. However, if the another boat ramp is needed on the west side of the Lagoon, there are better alternative sites at 45th Street (Gifford Dock Rd.), or at 69th Street (North Winter Beach Rd.). There is no need for an Oslo Road ramp expansion that will irreparably destroy the environment at Oslo!
While Pelican Island Audubon Society has so far borne the cost of this fight in time and money ($16,000 to date), we need your help. Can you, the anglers and your organizations, help support this effort please? Our lawyer estimates that we will need $30,000 additional funds for the Administrative Hearing, all going towards attorney and expert-witness expenses.
Would you be able to bring the anglers together to raise half of these monies needed? Please give as much as you can to help us protect our Lagoon by sending your check to Pelican Island Audubon, P.O. Box 1833, Vero Beach, FL 32961, and designate your donation for “Save the Lagoon Legal Fund.” Thank you! Let’s work together to keep our county beautiful and our Lagoon productive!
Richard Baker, President, Pelican Island Audubon Society
David Cox, Pelican Island Audubon Society Board Member