| 01 December 2008
A definite correlation exists between declining populations of juvenile snook and other inshore game and the rapidly disappearing tidal creeks, mangrove overhang and seagrass meadows. photo credit: Capt Peter Root
A Bokeelia resident is facing serious penalties for one of Florida's largest cases of illegal mangrove alteration in the past 10 years.
According to state records, 130,418 square feet - almost 3 acres - of mostly black mangroves "were pushed over and uprooted and the resultant debris left in the wetlands" on an 8-acre parcel on Cubles Drive, Bokeelia.
Property owner Michael Dreikorn disputes the size of the violation and how it was measured.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said square footage of the violation was calculated from aerial photos rather than a survey. Dreikorn hired a surveyor to determine the extent of the damage Wednesday.
He said the mangroves were destroyed without his knowledge.
"It happened three years ago: I was out of town on business and was having work performed at my home, a block away from that area," said Dreikorn, president of Michael J. Dreikorn & Associates expert witness services. "A 19-year-old kid with a backhoe was doing the work. I own the property on Cubles, and I asked him to move some dirt for me.
Snook, redfish, tarpon, seatrout and 280 species of other game and forage fish, depend on a finely balanced estuarine environment while they mature from larval through juvenile stages. Mangrove shoreline is the womb of the system.
"He took it upon himself to go in with the backhoe and make sure I have a waterfront view."
When Dreikorn saw the damage, he called his attorney and then contacted the Department of Environmental Protection to report the violation.
"People are talking about motive," Dreikorn said. "There was no motive. Somebody made a mistake, and we stepped up to it. I've got nothing to hide in this thing."
Dreikorn would not divulge the name of the 19-year-old who knocked down the mangroves.
"This is my property, and I'm taking responsibility for it," he said. "I don't want to pull anybody else into it."
Whether or not Dreikorn knew about or condoned the mangrove destruction doesn't matter as far as possible penalties are concerned, DEP spokesman Eli Fleishauer said.
"Everybody has a story," he said. "I don't really care. If there are circumstances that implicate somebody else, unless he wants to include other defendants, it's irrelevant."
What Mangroves mean to fish Populations
Mangroves are an integral part of estuarine food chains, producing 3.6 tons/acre of leaf litter per year. Leaves dropped from the trees are decomposed by fungi and other microorganisms which add to the nutritive value of the litter. As the leaves decompose into detritus and are flushed into the estuary, they become food for a wide variety of marine life. The food chain continues with these organisms serving as a valuable food source for snook, redfish, sea trout, tarpon, mangrove snapper, grouper, mackerel an estimated 280 species of game and forage fish, invertebrates, pink shrimp and blue crabs depend and thrive on the mangrove system. This system produces the millions of tons of fish that we rely on for recreation and commercial catch. A healthy inshore fishery revolves around this system.
Other possible penalties include:
- Removing exotic vegetation and treating the stumps with herbicide.
- Planting thousands of 24-inch-tall or taller one-gallon-size black mangroves - gallon-size black mangroves that sell for about $5, according to David Bates of D.R. Bates Nursery in Loxahatchee.
- Buying
six mangrove forest credits at Little Pine Island Wetlands Mitigation
Bank - mangrove credits now sell for $95,000 apiece, which would be a
total of $570,000.
Records show that the Cubles Drive case ranks in square footage right behind the case that triggered the highest penalties over the past 10 years.
In that case, OR Golf Partners of Ocean Reef on Key Largo clear-cut 3.04 acres of red, black and white mangroves, including 2.27 acres in John Pennekamp State Park.
OR Golf was fined $50,000 and had to donate 26 acres of wetlands and native hardwood hammocks to Pennekamp and $250,000 to the Florida Keys Environmental Trust Fund
Mangrove expert Terry Tattar said that the state's proposed penalties for the Cubles Drive case would be appropriate. "I'm not as concerned about the monetary fine as I am about restoration," said Tattar, an adjunct professor of microbiology at Edison State College, Charlotte campus. "Replanting the site is certainly fair. Removing exotics is also fair because disturbing the site lets exotics move in. Also, making him kick in to the state's efforts of restoring Little Pine Island seems a worthy idea. So it sounds like they came at this guy with the degree of punishment that fits what he did."
Rick Roberts, executive director of the Snook Foundation, agreed.
"Chalk one up for the good guys," he said. "I hope this sets a pattern for how DEP responds to this kind of thing.
"The business of the foundation is the future of our inshore fisheries, period. If we don't have mangroves, we won't have snook, or redfish or seatrout or tarpon or Spanish mackerel. Mangroves are the womb of our fisheries."
Information from a draft consent order about the case has appeared on the Snook Foundation Web site, suggesting that the case is closed - this information has been removed from the Web site.
That information is preliminary, Dreikorn said, and negotiations are continuing.
"The consent order talks about the magnitude of the infraction," Dreikorn said. "DEP swagged it: There hasn't been a survey. They took their best guess. Our estimates of the damage are significantly less than what DEP estimated."
Fleishauer agreed that DEP didn't do a survey. "We look at aerials and get the square footage from that," Fleishauer said. "I can't say the damage is significantly different from that. That's part of what's ongoing. There might be pockets that aren't wetlands." Anyone not satisfied with the results of aerial surveys can contest them, Fleishauer said.
Another point, Dreikorn said, is that new mangroves have started to grow throughout the site.
Natural recruitment is a good start, Fleishauer said, and it might decrease the penalty.
"It is coming back," Fleishauer said. "There is a large number of mangroves in there. It's pretty thick with them. But they're 3 feet tall, and that doesn't mean the site is recovered. It was a full-standing mangrove canopy.
"We have to make sure those mangroves continue to grow. If they do, we're not going to make him replant."
Mangrove alteration cases can drag on for years, often because defendants don't cooperate with DEP officials.
The state and Dreikorn are working together to conclude the Cubles Drive case, Fleishauer said.
"It was never his intention to have this happen, and he's been very cooperative - that's a rarity," Fleishauer said. "Usually, people are argumentative and want to pass the buck, which makes the process more challenging."
Mangrove Destruction on Pine Island
An initial story about this case was removed from snookfoundation.org news, at the request of the Pine Island property owner, who felt that the story inferred that a consent order had been finalized when in fact, it was still being negotiated with DEP.
The following story clearly spells out Mr. Dreikhorn's position. Reproduced with permission by Kevin Lollar, News-Press.com, it covers the positions of all parties. full News-Press story click here
Snook Foundation will continue to follow up on these and other efforts that provide an eye opening view of the responsibilities of Florida's citizens and property owners and the massive difficulties DEP faces in protecting the remaining mangrove forests of Florida from destruction.
This is one piece of the bigger story-- that we are in a battle to preserve the mangrove shield that once produced Florida's super-abundant fishery; we have already lost 50% of Florida's native mangrove forest. Our goal is to preserve what is left.
