Ranger Rob Howell resigns from MERTF seat

Aug 20, 2026 By Nathan Mayberg 3 min read

Rob Howell, seen assisting a manatee who had washed up on shore last year, has resigned his seat on the Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force.

Rob Howell, known better locally as Ranger Rob, has resigned his seat on the Town of Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF). The volunteer board members are appointed by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council.

Howell, a longtime member of the board, said he was resigning for personal reasons and to better attend to his work with other local environmental organizations. Howell also runs Keep it Wild, a nonprofit dedicated to acquiring and preserving natural lands to protect them from development.

“I don’t feel like the committee is as environmentally conscious as that committee should be,” Howell said.

“I feel like I can better help with the environmental organizations that are better established,” he said. Howell said he is concerned that some of the newer members of the board are more concerned with their own “private interests instead of the greater environment.”

Howell was the second-to-last member remaining from the committee since before Hurricane Ian. After a Town Council election in 2022 after Hurricane Ian change the composition of the Town Council, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted in 2023 to replace committee members Wendy DeGaetano and Dr. Greg Fossum following a coordinated social media campaign that targeted environmentally-conscious members of the group for their support for environmental causes in the town. The two were replaced with two condo board presidents, Dave Nusbaum and William Althoff. A year later, two other MERTF members resigned and the Council replaced longtime member Rose Larkin despite her application to continue. The Council voted unanimously to fill one of the three seats that included Larkin’s seat with Ed Rood, a controversial choice due to his battles and lawsuits with the town over the construction of a boardwalk near the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area.

Howell said he remains concerned about threats to nesting sea turtles due to turtle lighting code violations, and the way beach raking is conducted, as environmental issues he believes the town and MERTF should focus on.

A MERTF meeting scheduled for Aug. 12 was canceled when not enough members would be able to attend. Several of the board’s members do not live full-time on Fort Myers Beach and have residences elsewhere.

The terms of Howell, Rood and Sharon Hegstrom are up for re-appointment this October.

To apply for the vacant seat, send your application to Town of Fort Myers Beach Clerk Amy Baker at amy@fmbgov.com with the subject “MERTF:”