Pennekamp History Offers Cautionary Tale for Virginia Key

Key Largo’s coral reefs has the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Virginia Key has the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area.

Biologists monitor bird rookeries in the 700-acre Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area on Virginia Key,

These special designations by the State of Florida have helped protect the wilderness areas of Virginia Key, including the surrounding waters, just as the creation of John Pennekamp State Park 50 years ago stopped the unfettered blasting and spearfishing that was on  course to devastate the fragile coral reefs off Key Largo.  

 A Miami Herald story today, “Aquatic Gem: The world’s first underwater park - John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park” documents the tenacity of those who understood the perils the area faced and worked to save it. 

It’s a cautionary tale and an inspiration to those fighting today to protect the wilderness areas of Virginia Key from proposed development both within and adjacent to the sea turtle nesting beaches, mangroves, tropical hammock and dunes.  

Until the island becomes part of the State Park or National Park system, it’s all we’ve got. That and a band of dedicated and vigilant citizens who have managed to carry the story so far.  

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Boaters Be Aware of Manatees of Virginia Key this Fourth of July weekend

Boaters traveling through and around Virginia Key this Fourth of July weekend are being asked to be especially careful of the endangered manatee, which uses the surrounding waters for feeding, resting, mating, traveling and calving.

Virginia Key is located within the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, which shares the bay with Biscayne National Park, where manatees frequent. And the Virginia Key marinas are across from the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area (CWA), a 700-acre state-designated refuge with “extraordinary habitat values” that contains the island’s largest remaining portion of unaltered mangrove forest and largest amount of unaltered, submerged land, is an important undisturbed spawning area for many species of fish and invertebrates.

The Save the Manatee Club is asking boaters to abide by posted speed limits, to slow down in shallow areas where manatees like to feed and rest and to travel through deep water channels whenever possible in the interest of saving the endangered species.

Other tips range from wearing polarized sunglasses to reduce glare and see below the water’s surface to limiting high-speed watersports (jet-skiing, water-skiing) to landlocked lakes or waters well offshore. Ideally, boaters should remain a safe distance away - at least 50 feet - while operating a boat or personal watercraft. Cut your motor if you want to observe a manatee, the club suggests.

Last year, a record 97 manatees were killed by boat strikes, according to the club. But the population also succumbed to the cold winter, with more than 500 manatees dying in the first six months of the year.

If you see an injured, dead or orphaned manatee, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 1-888-404-3922 or #FWC or *FWC on your cellphone, or use VHF Channel 16 on your marine radio.
Resources:
http://www.savethemanatee.org/boatertips.htm
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/biscayne/

National Parks Traveler on Virginia Key

An article in the National Parks Traveler, a web magazine dedicated to the National Parks, considers how creating an urban gateway to Biscayne National Park on Virginia Key would put a national park within steps of downtown Miami, accessible through the scenic Rickenbacker Causeway. This would make Biscayne National Park perhaps the only national park that combines both remote island wild lands, such as the Channel Islands National Park, with the easy accessibility to natural and historic sites provided by urban parks such as Santa Monica Mountains or Gateway National Recreation Areas in California, the article states.

The expansion could include the southern portion of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve. The park’s expansion would link the natural and historic heritage of the Miami region and help foster and fund the restoration and protection of important historic and cultural sites and facilities, such as the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, an 82-acre public park that played a critical role in the nation’s civil rights history as well as the the historic but neglected Miami Marine Stadium, an icon of modern architecture.

The City of Miami currently owns most of Virginia Key, including the historic Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium. Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve is owned by the State of Florida.

After nearly a century of neglect, mismanagement and/or ill-conceived development plans, there has recently been a new appreciation in the community for the ecological, historic, and recreational significance of Virginia Key. It was that concern and the outcry that resulted when extensive commercial development was proposed for the island, that postponed approval by the Miami City Commission of the last master plan proposal for the island.

A March 2010 Miami Herald editorial stated:

"The value of this semi-tropical natural haven can't be overestimated in a city that sorely lacks adequate park and recreation space. The city has targeted Virginia Key for a make-over, but so far its plans have given short shrift to Mother Nature in favor of concrete."

Under the National Park proposal, parts of the island and the surrounding Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve could be acquired by the National Park Service through donation or exchange. These additions and the placement of a northern visitor center for Biscayne National Park on the island would help to address longstanding public concerns about the protection of these areas, and also make Biscayne National Park a more interesting and accessible national park.

This hybrid urban/wild national park property with tales to tell about the American experience - from civil rights, to restoring Florida's fragile ecology to Miami's modern architectural heritage - may be the new model for the National Park system, which is eager to reach out to an urban, diverse America.



To read more of the article in National Parks Traveler, go to:
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/04/creating-urban-gateway-biscayne-national-park-virginia-key5739

Biscayne Bay's "hidden flora" is island's life force

Like a mirage on the horizon, the deep green forests of Virginia Key rise from a languid and transparent sea that is Biscayne Bay.

The life force that stirs beneath those clear, calm waters is described by Commodore Ralph Munroe in The Commodore's Story, his account of sailing and living on Biscayne Bay beginning in the late 1800's:

“No sea-lover could look unmoved on the blue rollers of the Gulf Stream and the crystal-clear waters of the Reef, of every delicate shade of blue and a green, and tinged with every color of the spectrum from the fantastically rich growths on the bottom, visible to the last detail through this incredibly translucent medium.”

Munroe undoubtedly was speaking of the seagrasses, those “rich growths” that anchor one of the most dynamic and diverse ecosystems of the 40-mile-wide bay.

Combined with the mangroves that stabilize the shoreline and provide shelter for marine life as well as birds and other animals, the lush seagrass beds found throughout Biscayne Bay and in the waters surrounding Virginia Key, form the food chain for everything for the Florida spiny lobster to shrimp, fish, sea turtles and manatees.

And for those who love to fish and/or love to eat fish, listen up: Seventy percent of Florida’s marine recreational fish depend upon seagrass communities sometime throughout their lives.

There are about 52 species of seagrasses in the world, but only seven species are found in Florida’s waters, including Johnson’s seagrass, a threatened species under federal law that is found on Virginia Key.

The shallow waters of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve that surround Virginia Key contain Johnson's seagrass, turtle grass, manatee grass and shoal grass. The area serves as an important undisturbed spawning area for many species of fish and invertebrates, including a large variety of sponges, invertebrates and algae.

Learn more: March is “Seagrass Awareness Month” and the launch of Baynanza, the annual celebration of Biscayne Bay. Hear about Seagrasses, Biscayne Bay’s “hidden flora” at a special presentation by the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve staff, Wed., March 31, 6 - 7:30 p.m., at the University of Miami’s Rosentiel School (RSMAS), Seminar Room 2nd Floor, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key. Info: www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/biscayne (305) 795-3485.

Photo mural: Artist Xavier Cortada's mural, "Discover Biscayne Bay" represents the vital connection between people and the environment. It can be seen at the Miami Children's Museum. According to Citizens for a Better South Florida, which commissioned the artwork, the mural "is one component of a comprehensive education program designed to raise awareness about issues relating to Biscayne Bay like storm water run-off, deterioration of marine habitat, visual and physical access and boater safety."

Other resources:
How much do you know about Biscayne Bay? Take the quiz:
http://www.miamidade.gov/derm/quiz/bay/home.asp

Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/biscayne/

Artist Xavier Cortada: http://www.cortada.com/
Citizens for a Better South Florida: http://www.abettersouthflorida.org/

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Kayaking the Key

The Virginia Key “experience” is as much about the waters surrounding the 1,000 acre island as it is the wilderness of its tropical hammocks and dunes.

The island is surrounded by the protected waters of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, which includes 67,000 acres of sovereign submerged lands. The Preserve shares the bay with Biscayne National Park, whose watery boundary begins just to the south. (If you’ve ever sailed past Stiltville in Biscayne Bay, you’ve been in National Park territory.)

Biscayne Bay’s shallow, clear waters make it a haven for nature lovers who can peer over the edge of the vessels to see all manner of critters that make their home in the soft sediments of mud or sand or among the seagrasses, including Johnson’s seagrass, a threatened species found only in southeast Florida.

And then there’s the wildlife swimming alongside, on the edges or flying above.

The fact there’s a major metropolis just over the horizon makes the experience even more thrilling and startling:

Siobhan Morrissey, who rows in the early mornings in the Marine Stadium lagoon, paints the picture:

“Perhaps the best place to see the moon over Miami is from a boat that sits a mere six inches off the water and glides silently along with a cityscape for a backdrop.

We also see dolphins breaching above the water. Occasionally a manatee may become intrigued enough to investigate us as our oars silently slip into the water and propel us along.

The lagoon by the rowing club provides a refuge for other animals, as well. On any given day we see blue herons wading at the shoreline, pelicans in formation, pods of leopard rays and an occasional shark or crocodile.
It’s amazing to see such wildlife in the midst of Miami.

TRIP! Experience this watery world of Virginia Key on a kayaking trip sponsored by the Tropical Audubon Society Sat., Feb. 20 that combines adventure with nature photography. Bring your own kayak ($10) or rent one for $35. Reservations and information can be made by calling or emailing Tropical Audubon: 786-543-1926 or tropicalaudubon@gmail.com

More info:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/biscayne/
http://www.tropicalaudubon.com


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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key