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The government doesn’t know how many acres of Florida wetlands have been destroyed in the past 15 years. No state or federal agency has kept track, not even the Army Corps of Engineers, which has the final say on protecting wetlands.
Another federal agency, the National Wetlands Inventory, is supposed to track losses nationwide. The tiny agency, based in St. Petersburg, mapped Florida’s wetlands 20 years ago, but hasn’t updated its maps except for two of Florida’s 67 counties.
So the St. Petersburg Times examined satellite images of Florida to determine the loss of wetlands. Satellite images taken in the late 1980s were compared with those taken in 2003. Those were combined with data from the National Wetlands Inventory and the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
In all, statewide, approximately 84,000 acres of wetlands were replaced by urbanized areas - homes, stores, strip malls, parking lots, churches, apartments and condos. Those changes are not seasonal, aren’t subject to tides and are permanent.
In-depth methodology of the St. Petersburg Times investigation
The Times’ investigation found:
* The corps approves more permits to destroy wetlands in Florida than any other state, and allows a higher percentage of destruction in Florida than nationally. Between 1999 and 2003, it approved more than 12,000 wetland permits and rejected one.
* The federal Clean Water Act and the no net loss policy say wetlands should be protected. But the corps trains its Florida staff to presume that every proposal to destroy wetlands is "in the public interest" and tells them to help developers get permits.
* To make up for the destruction, the corps requires developers to create man-made wetlands that are usually expensive failures. Developers also can preserve wetlands under a formula that counts existing acres as if they were new. But the corps doesn’t track whether most developers follow through on their permit requirements.
* Building in wetlands costs the taxpayers. The government sometimes buys and tears down flooded houses, pays to clean up pollution and tries to replace lost sources of drinking water. In Collier County, $30-million in tax money is buying neighborhoods that flooded because of wetlands development.
May 23, 2005
Pressure for permission - When getting a wetlands permit takes too long, call your congressman. Republican. Democrat. Makes no difference. St. Petersburg Times
Mitigation: a solution or just absolution? - PENSACOLA BEACH - The neighbors opposed it. So did three federal agencies. Yet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowed an influential Pensacola family to wipe out rare beach wetlands to build five 21-story luxury condominiums. The new wetlands the developer built to mitigate the damage were as poor a substitute as experts predicted. St. Petersburg Times
May 22, 2005
Agency shrinks as grip on wetlands data slips - ...The aerial photos vividly show the loss of wetlands, even though new wetlands were supposed to be created to offset the losses. Man-made wetlands rarely compensate, staffers say. St. Petersburg Times
To save a wetland, two women beat Wal-Mart - They not only stopped a supercenter, but got the Army Corps of Engineers to study the impact of its decisions. ...the corps failed to study the cumulative impact of its nationwide permits in Florida. St. Petersburg Times
They won’t say no - Despite a presidential policy of "no net loss," Florida has lost at least 84,000 acres of wetlands in the past 15 years. ...."We’re not protecting the environment," said Vic Anderson, who recently retired after 30 years with the corps. "It’s a make-believe program." St. Petersburg Times
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