|
Another large-scale resort is the proposed SunWest Harbourtowne Development of Regional Impact (DRI) in Pasco County on the southern reaches of the Nature Coast. This development calls for 2,300 acres of coastal development that will severely affect the survival of the federally endangered West Indian Manatee and state listed Florida black bear
SunWest’s proposal includes construction of a marina and park. The marina will be available to resort residents but the park will be open to the public. A 2.2-mile long channel will be dredged through shallow water seagrass meadows to allow deep water access for boats using the marina and public park. This proposal is detrimental to manatees on many levels. The destruction of seagrass will remove vital habitat to manatee survival. Seagrass mitigation measures, where developers replant seagrass elsewhere equal to the amount they destroy, have proven ineffective. What’s worse is that increased traffic from the marina and public park will increase exposure of manatees to their number one threat – boat collisions. The population manatee population is already in danger and the proposed area for the new canal falls in what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined as an area critical to their survival.
Another serious concern for conservation advocates is that SunWest resort will be the final straw that breaks the back of a fragile black bear population living in the region. Florida black bears are at one-tenth their historical numbers with only eight distinct populations remaining in the entire state. One of those populations, the smallest in North America, is the 20-member group in the “Greater Chassahowitzka Ecosystem.” These black bears are teetering on the edge of being displaced forever unless steps are taken to keep developments from fragmenting their habitat further and conservation corridors are put in place to allow these bears to establish new territories and connect with other bear populations. Pioneering black bear research by the late Dr. David Maehr, who wrote letters of concern about SunWest before his death in 2008, proved the use of the development site by several collard bears. In fact the bears moved both south and north of the development site. SunWest will effectively slice off the southern most extent of the core habitat for these bears.
 |
Conservation 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
