FWC approves new wildlife areas in county
By JESSICA SALMOND
Birds of a feather that flock – and nest – together now have three safe spaces in Southwest Florida to hatch their young.
The birds don’t know that: different species have been using Estero Bay’s mangrove islands for years as their regular rookeries for nesting and raising chicks. However, humans have now protected those places to keep them safe.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved 13 new Critical Wildlife Areas around Florida to help protect birds, bats and tortoises at its Nov. 16 meeting in St. Petersburg.
Six are located in Lee County. Pine Island Sound has three named islands that will now be under FWC control: Broken Islands, Hemp Key and Useppa Oyster Bar.
Estero Bay also has three islands: the island located in Matanzas Pass, just north of the bridge; island M52 near Big Carlos Pass; and Coconut Point East across the bay from the Lee County dog beach.
A Critical Wildlife Area (CWA) is a natural space that is important to the life cycle of native species.
“These new and improved Critical Wildlife Areas will serve as wildlife conservation hubs-places that function as nurseries and feeding stations for signature Florida species,” said FWC Chairman Brian Yablonski in a prepared statement. “These small areas will have a huge impact on our vulnerable bird and wildlife populations, such as reddish egrets, roseate spoonbills and oystercatchers.”
The islands in Estero Bay will now be closed to the public year-round and will have a posted 100-foot buffer around them, past which only fish and fowl are permitted. If birds are spooked, they will “flush” or fly away as a flock, sometimes leaving behind and abandoning their young. This can happen both on the beach or on one of the mangrove islands if a loud boat gets too close.
“I think it’s a great thing,” said Terry Cain, president of Estero Bay Buddies. “It’s only three little islands. Fishing is important, too, but there are a lot of other islands and mangrove fringes.”
FWC held a public meeting in Fort Myers earlier this summer to discuss the proposed CWAs. Cain said some people were upset because the 100-foot buffer also prohibits anglers from casting into the fish-fertile shallows near the mangrove roots.
These three islands in particular were selected because they are already active rookeries, with birds returning every year to the same spots to roost.
“We have so few rookeries left,” Cain said.
Based on the feedback FWC received however, it did compromise: two other islands included in the Estero Bay group were dropped from the CWA program and staff eliminated the additional boundary around the islands, leaving just the 100-foot buffer.
While anglers might feel restricted, other ecotourism businesses should see the new CWAs as a plus, Cain said.
“Wildlife viewing is an incredibly active sport now, birding is big too,” she said. “It’s just another way for our community and our area to support our economic engine.”
The FWC set up the Critical Wildlife Program in 1977 and over the span of 16 years established 22 CWA sites throughout the state. Then, no new ones were added again until 2014. This past year, FWC staff undertook the revival of the CWA program to help protect stressed coastal bird species.