Beach resident opposed to re-nourishment
To the editor:
In response to the “Re-nourishment Not Complicated” story by alleged “Noted Expert,” I have read the article at least twice to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Kate Gooderman is alleged to be the “Noted Expert who both informs of education and experience.” Note: education is not cited in the article and experience “being recently hired by Lee County as a consultant” is slim pickings.
The numerous studies showing ‘Fort Myers Beach is eroding’ has nothing to do with the building on Fort Myers Beach. If you truly want the ‘big picture,’ let’s go back beyond the 1960s to the 1927 Army Core of Engineers survey. Mother Nature will take its course if you stop messing with the shorelines, which the Town of Fort Myers Beach refuses to enforce.
I can also be known as a noted expert. Having taken and given marine and shore courses with four Masters degrees, 38 years of public school teaching, nine years working on Fire Island National Seashore for the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior and 22 years living on Fort Myers Beach, I have witnessed the beach being attacked daily with no enforcement by the Town to save the beach.
Our No. 1 problem is the tractors on the beach raping the wrack line which is the cement to hold the beach. The businesses on the beach want their patrons to walk on the sugar, white sands and not look at or walk through the daily deposits of plants and shells from the tides.
The No. 2 problem I have witnessed and reported to the Town is that certain businesses are emptying their swimming pools onto the beach which erodes the sand and leaches chlorine into the Gulf. It’s no wonder fish die and red tide washes up… which then the tractors rake up.
As far as the fear factor, I am scared to death to let the Town of Fort Myers Beach try to fix the alleged erosion with re-nourishment. And, they plan to do this not during tourist season but during turtle season.
I have kept my vegetation on my property for the last 22 years and have gained three feet of dune by so doing. And, I am opposed to the re-nourishment plan which is not needed, will cost too much money and the tractors will help to wash the sand away.
Edwina Foster
Fort Myers Beach