Category: Water

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SFWMD Land Assessment Draft Recommendations Ready for Review

As you know, most of the CREW lands are owned by the South Florida Water Management District. The District is currently conducting a Lands Assessment of all the lands they hold within the 16-county region they govern. The assessment is to determine if there are some parcels that could be surplused.

Back in May, we told you about the opportunity to provide public comment on the Lands Assessment. You all did a fabulous job of submitting comments. You can see them here. You can also download additional documents from here.

Today (July 30), the District is holding another public hearing for comment on the DRAFT staff recommendations which resulted from your earlier public comment. The meeting will be held at the SFWMD West Coast Service Center Office on McGregor Blvd. in Ft. Myers at 10 AM this morning (July 30). If you cannot make the meeting, additional public comment will be accepted online between now and August 12th.

Thank you all for your participation in this important process and for submitting your thoughts about CREW. It takes everyone’s participation to make sure sound decisions are made.

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Deb Hanson in News-Press video on Rainfall

Deb Hanson in water (Photo by Andrew West/News-Press)
Deb Hanson in water (Photo by Andrew West/News-Press)

The CREW Land & Water Trust’s environmental education specialist, Deb Hanson, went for a rainy season walk through the White loop at the CREW Cypress Dome Trails last week with news-Press reporter Chad Gillis and photographer Andrew West. Today, the News-Press published the article about rainfall in southwest Florida, and Deb is featured on the front page of the print paper and on a video here on the News-Press website. Nice to see CREW in the newspaper. Thanks to Chad and Andrew for both the fun walk and the great spread in the paper!

 

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CREW Water Levels Rising Fast

The Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) encompasses approximately 60,000 acres, running from Corkscrew Road in Lee County south beyond Immokalee Road in Collier County. You can see a map of the whole watershed here. When it rains enough for the ground to get saturated, water levels rise and then the water “sheet flows” downhill across the surface of the land.

In CREW, it takes about a week for the water to flow from the north part of the watershed to the south part. With the summer rains we’ve been lucky to get this year, we are seeing that sheet flow in action. CREW volunteer George Luther installed a few water level posts at Bird Rookery Swamp last year. He’s been recording measurements regularly and recently reported the change in water levels at the parking lot pond there. Take a look at the chart below showing the rise since July 1st.

Water Level Rise at Bird Rookery Swamp July 1 - 15, 2013
Water Level Rise at Bird Rookery Swamp July 1 – 15, 2013

We haven’t seen water levels like this during the early summer months here at CREW for a long time. This is great for water recharge and our drinking water supply. And the woods are teeming with wetland critters. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes occur as levels continue to rise as the summer goes on… What’s the highest water level you’ve experienced at CREW?

Water over Shady Hollow Blvd.
Water over Shady Hollow Blvd. at the entrance to Bird Rookery Swamp parking lot – July 15, 2013 (Photo by George Luther)
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