Object

Planning for the trail began in 1999. Mark Kiser of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is the trail Coordinator. He says it’s modeled after the Texas Coastal Birding Trail. He says Corkscrew is great place to celebrate the trail’s completion.



“the wood stork in an endangered species and corkscrew is famous for having the largest breeding colony of woodstorks in north America and its considered the crown jewel of Audubon sanctuary network – it’s a fabulous place for bird watching and just strolling along their bird walk.”

There are 446 stops along the Great Florida Birding Trail. 480 bird species are found in Florida. And birding is big business in the Sunshine State – supporting about 19 thousand jobs and generating nearly half a billion dollars a year in retail sales related to bird-watching. Events surrounding the ribbon cutting begin at 8:30 in the morning.

Object

Citrus Canker is a contagious bacterial disease that poses no threat to humans – but seriously diminishes trees’ fruit production.

Citrus is the sunshine state’s second biggest industry, behind tourism – generating more than 9-Billion dollars a year.

Mark Fagan with the state’s Citrus Canker Eradication Program says hurricane Wilma spread the disease to such an extent eradication is out of the question.

Runs :17

“It was determined that it could affect anywhere from 180 to 220 thousand acres of citrus. So as a result the USDA determined that the eradication of citrus canker just simply was not feasible anymore.”

The state’s eradication program HAD called for the destruction of ALL trees within 19-hundred feet of an infected tree.

Fagan says that’s no longer the plan – but that INFECTED trees will still be destroyed, just not potentially EXPOSED trees.

There are somewhere between 6 and 7-hundred thousand acres of citrus in Florida. If the 19-hundred foot rule continued to be used, it would have meant destroying nearly a third of the state’s total crop.

FEMA opened 41 disaster centers shortly after Hurricane Wilma struck in late October. Federal officials helped residents fill out stacks of paperwork to qualify for loans, rent assistance and other monetary aid. More than 135-thousand Floridians got a total of 290-million dollars. Florida FEMA spokeswoman Denise Everhart says three months later, the demand isn’t there.

“There aren’t enough people coming into these disaster recovery centers to justify the manpower and the time and with the deadline ending, there won’t be people coming to register. So it is time to close them.”

Disaster recovery centers in Collier County will begin to shut their doors this Friday. In Lee County, they’ll close on January 18th. The final day to apply for federal assistance is a week from Thursday.

More than 135-thousand Floridians have gotten the federal aid since the hurricane came ashore in Southwest Florida last October. The FEMA assistance centers help people fill out disaster loan applications and try to weed through the bureaucratic red tape. So, far residents have received almost 300-million dollars. FEMA spokeswoman Denise Everhart says there’s still time to sign up for help...but time is running out.

“If you haven’t registered, get it done now. Get into a disaster recovery center if you have questions and need one-on-one personal contact. At this point in time, these disaster recovery centers have been open over three months and it is time to close them.”

The FEMA centers will begin to close in Collier County on Friday; in Lee and Hendry Counties, the centers shut down January 18th.

Freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee in the summer and fall have seriously degraded water quality in coast Southwest Florida harming sea grasses and killing fish and discolored water.

Mack said the there could be short and long term solutions. The short term solution, he says, involves limiting or diverting the quantity of the water being directed down the Caloosahatchee and the long term solution may involve improving the quality of the water being released into the river. Right now water in Lake Okeechobee contains large amounts of phosphorous and other nutrients.

Mack could not say how long it would take to accomplish this and he encouraged Sanibel City Council to keep all its options open, including the legal remedy of suing the South Florida Water Management District.

001:07:07 …001:07:38
I would like to see us be able to get some solutions without having to go through the legal system, because a lot of times the goals you’re trying to accomplish you can actually end up hindering. But you need to keep every tool you have available and if you have to use them, you have to use them.

At a recent meeting Sanibel city council members instructed their attorney to look into bringing a lawsuit against the South Florida Water Management District. City council members are working to get legislators to priority to the problem. Sanibel Council members spoke to Senator Bill Nelson in Sanibel and they are planning a trip to Tallahasse to see Florida governor, Jeb Bush as soon as next week

Each year Florida produces virtually all the fresh market tomatoes grown in the United States from December to May and about half the domestically produced fresh market tomatoes in the country. New varieties of tomatoes are sometimes introduced. Genetic material for some of these new varieties comes from the Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the University of California at Davis. Roger Chetelat (sheh-tuh-lay) directs the Center – he’s recently returned from a trek across Chile – looking for wild relatives of Florida’s domestic tomatoes.

He spoke to WGCU’s Valerie Alker.

An effort to bolster the Everglades National Park’s wild turkey population got a boost this week – when wildlife biologists relocated several dozen birds from other areas of the state.

The wild turkey population in the park basically disappeared over the past few decades – mostly due to illegal hunting.

So about 5 years ago, biologists relocated two dozen of the birds from private lands. But only a few of them survived, so biologists have now captured 31 more birds and released them into the park.

Wild turkey management program coordinator with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission – Larry Perrin – says they basically cheat to catch the wily birds…using cracked corn for bait, and what are called rocket nets.

“A rocket net is a rectangle-shaped net that we hide in front of that bait pile – and then we have attached to it what are called rockets. But when the turkeys come in we’ll have an individual sitting in a blind, and when the turkeys get to feeding on that bait they discharge those rockets and shoot the net over the top of the turkeys – because turkeys are extremely fast in their initial take off, and so that net has to get over the top of them very quick or they’ll get out from beneath it.”

Perrin says they caught the turkeys during 2 days of trapping.

10 of them are fitted with tiny radio transmitters to allow biologists to track them…all the birds are marked with wing tags.

He says they’ll monitor this group closely, but if it doesn’t flourish, they may have to rethink the program.

Shares of online marketer Miva (MEE-vuh) traded up more seven percent today (Tuesday) after the Fort Myers-based company indicated it might go up for sale. Miva says it’s hired investment firm Deutsche Bank Securities to help it consider new ideas to boost its lagging share price. Its stock has about the same value now as at the height of the dot-com boom six years ago. Miva, formerly known as FindWhat-dot-com, has for months been discussed as a company poised for a takeover. Miva vice president Peter Weinberg says all options are on the table.

“We’re simply letting the market know that we are exploring strategic opportunities that would essentially enhance our competitive positioning in the marketplace. And ultimately improve or enhance our value to shareholders.”

Miva’s market value currently stands at 175-million dollars. Weinberg says there is no timeline to decide whether or not to sell Miva. The company offers online marketing services and helps its clients sell Internet advertising. Miva employs a total of 500 people.