District Will Make Final Decision On October 10th
The Issue:
The St. John's River Water Management District (District) recently met and decided to delay the final vote on a proposal to tap into waters from Blue Spring -- a critical warm water refuge for endangered manatees -- to support increasing development and demands for water from surrounding counties.
The District has postponed their decision until October 10th in order to re-run their model using the most recent winter season manatee counts, which is expected to force them to revise the rule proposal. Their current model is erroneous and underestimates manatee use of the spring in the winter.
The District has made the right decision to delay the final vote on the proposal. They have seen first hand that their model doesn’t work before the rule was even adopted. We need to keep the heat on so manatees are not left out in the cold come October!
What You Can Do:
Please help us protect Blue Spring and all the manatees who winter there by 1) attending the District Governing Board meeting on October 10th, and 2) sending the following e-mail to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille, and District Chairman David G. Graham. Thank you for your help!
Get info on the October 10th meeting and read comment letters on this issue from Save the Manatee Club, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
See a slide show on the Blue Spring issue.
(PowerPoint presentation -- get a free viewer)
Subject: I Oppose Blue Spring Flow Proposal
Dear Governor Bush, Secretary Castille, and Chairman Graham:
I am opposed to the St. Johns River Water Management District’s proposal that allows any additional reduction in Blue Spring’s flow.
I would like to thank the District for their recent decision to delay the final vote on the proposal so the model could be revised using the most recent winter season manatee counts. The current model is erroneous and greatly underestimates manatee use. As you know, this past winter season, substantially more manatees showed up to use the spring than the District model predicted. A minimum of 190 manatees were documented at Blue Spring during the 2005/2006 season, while the current model would not provide warm water for that many manatees until 2009.
Blue Spring is a state park purchased specifically to provide manatees with a critical warm water refuge, and winter is fast approaching. Therefore, I urge the District to revise the current rule proposal and set the minimum flow at no less than the current average annual flow level (157.7 cfs) in order to protect manatees from the cold.
Thank you for your consideration.
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