Volunteer in the New Year on Virginia Key

Volunteers have replanted native species throughout the island.

Resolved: in the new year to do something for nature on Virginia Key

Go ahead, make Virginia Key part of your New Year’s resolutions and join the community effort to protect and preserve one of our community’s natural jewels.

Here are  some of the volunteer organizations working to restore the natural environment on Virginia Key and throughout South Florida:

Urban Paradise Guild.
www.urban-paradise.org
“Our mission is to re-create native habitats in the Urban areas of Miami-Dade County, and to promote sustainable models for healthy living that safeguard, enhance and integrate the human and natural worlds for the benefit of both.”

Tropical Audubon Society
www.tropicalaudubon.org
“We believe in the wisdom of nature's design. We seek to foster and promote ecological conscientiousness in our community.”

Sierra Club, Miami Group
http://florida.sierraclub.org/miami/
"Our mission is to enjoy and protect the natural places in South Florida, to teach others to understand and respect the fragile environment in which we live, and to practice and promote the responsible use of South Florida's ecosystems and resources."

Citizens for a Better South Florida
www.abettersouthlflorida.org
“Citizens is dedicated to providing environmental education, particularly to the under-served community, that inspires active stewardship and preservation of the South Florida environment.”

TREEmendous Miami
www.treemendousmiami.org
“TREEmendous Miami consists of a dedicated group of people who like to plant trees so that we can make Miami-Dade a greener, cooler, healthier and more enjoyable environment in which to live. Our environment is our number one concern.”

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Tracking the Great Black Hawk on Bird Count Day

The elusive Virginia Key Great Black Hawk may be spotted again today at the annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. 

The Great Black-Hawk of Virginia Key was seen and reported during the 2004-5 Virginia Key Christmas Bird Count, according to Robin Diaz, who wrote an excellent article on the life and times of this soaring bird that she describes as a “large (hawk) with short broad wings, short tail and long legs. The adult is black, while the juvenile is streaky brownish” usually seen near coastal mangroves. 

The annual bird count has been held since 1900 all around the country and is being held today in Miami Dade County with volunteers coordinated by  Tropical Audubon Society. The results provide statistics that can be used to gauge changes in the environment and the effects on bird populations. 

The statistics are also a window to the environmental deterioration that pollution, loss of habitat and climate change has wrought. 

Virginia Key is rich in bird life, from the 700-acre Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area to the tropical hammock and dunes.  

In March, Tropical Audubon volunteers working with representatives of the Florida Department of Environment Protection (DEP), to document the the birds that forage, roost, nest or even merely fly over the 700-acre wildlife area that includes submerged lands, two spoil islands, intertidal mudflats and bars and tidal swamp forests along Virginia Key’s northwest shoreline. That  part of Virginia Key contains the largest remaining portion of unaltered mangrove forest and unaltered, submerged lands. 

On that trip, ospreys, great blue herons, snowy egret, ibis, cormorants, anhingas and brown pelicans were among the many species found. A look was also taken underwater to document the health of the seagrasses - including Johnson’s seagrass (Halophila johnsonii), which the federal government lists as a threatened species.


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Kayakers Conduct Bird Survey of Virginia Key

The orange and yellow kayaks were lined up neatly along the shoreline of the Marine Stadium basin, the turquoise waters of the lagoon lapping up against them under a cloudless blue sky. With gear in hand - cameras in dry bags, binoculars and clipboards holding the survey lists- about a dozen volunteers had gathered to begin the first of several wildlife expeditions into the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildife Area (BSCWA) of Virginia Key.

“There’s a bird walking along the shoreline. Does that count?” someone asked, pointing to a cormorant surveying the group.

“Nope,” said Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society and coordinator of the trip. “It has to be in the Critical Wildlife Area, and after we get in the kayaks.”

Audubon volunteers joined Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) biologists on a recent Saturday in the first of many wildlife surveys planned to document the birds that forage, roost, nest or even merely fly over the 700-acre area that includes submerged lands, two spoil islands, intertidal mudflats and bars and tidal swamp forests along Virginia Key’s northwest shoreline. This part of Virginia Key contains the largest remaining portion of unaltered mangrove forest and unaltered, submerged lands.

The Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area received its state designation, one of the few in the state, to protect the extraordinary habitat values of the area. As such, it carries with it a prohibition against entry by people and vessels. The kayakers entered the area only with a special permit from the Florida DEP.

Since its designation in 1990 there has been little data collected - either on the inhabiting birds, submerged underwater vegetation or manatees.

This trip will help remedy that.

The kayaking volunteers paddled across the basin and alongside the shoreline of the CWA, parallel to the mangrove fringes, weaving through the vegetation islands, observing and recording their observations.

Ospreys, great blue herons, snowy egret, ibis, cormorants, anhingas and brown pelicans were among the many species found. A look was also taken underwater to document the health of the seagrasses - including Johnson’s seagrass (Halophila johnsonii), which the federal government lists as a threatened species.

“We need to accurately document abundance, diversity and function of birds using the area,” said Jennifer Baez, an environmental specialist with DEP’s Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas division, who brought along a special underwater camera and GPS. “The information collected through these surveys will show why this area is critical for many marine organisms.”

Environmentally Endangered Lands Report: Critical Habitats of Virginia Key

A new biological evaluation of Virginia Key just released by Miami-Dade County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program documents the barrier island contains some of Miami-Dade County’s last remaining critical habitats.

Plant communities on the island include seagrass beds, sand and mud flats, mangrove and herbaceous wetlands, beach dunes and coastal maritime hammock.  Of the approximately 1,300 acres, submerged lands constitute 900 acres, coastal wetlands 235 acres, dunes 12 acres, maritime hammock 28 acres with an additional 7 acres of reforested maritime hammock reclaimed from previously disturbed areas.

Key findings of the biological evaluation show:
-Freshwater wetlands are “one of the last wetland/beach ecotones remaining in Miami Dade County.” (The only other wetland/beach ecotone of this kind within the County is located at the Bear Cut Preserve on Key Biscayne).
-A 13-acre maritime hammock forest at the center of the island is the “best example of this forest type” in Miami-Dade County, where many plant and animal species are listed as rare or endangered. The forest is a vital resource for wildlife species, including rare, migrating songbirds that travel down the Atlantic coast. 
-Beaches and dunes on Virginia Key, including essential sea-turtle nesting areas frequented by loggerhead and green sea turtles, comprise a “significant amount” of this type of community in Miami-Dade County.
-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 diversity of bird species in the refuge is well-documented and includes at least a dozen species of raptors - American kestral and ospreys among them. Ospreys, eagles and falcons are a common site, particularly during migration times. 
-The waters surrounding Virginia Key, bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by Biscayne Bay, are used by manatees for feeding, resting, mating, traveling and calving. (Atlantic bottlenose dolphins also use the water.)

The evaluation was completed as part of an application filed by The Sierra Club Miami Group, Tropical Audubon Society and Izaak Walton League South Florida Chapter last year seeking protection of vulnerable environmental lands on the island.

The Miami Dade County EEL program was created in 1990 to acquire, restore and maintain environmentally significant lands in our community. The program is voluntary and inclusion of any of Virginia Key’s natural areas in the program would have to be approved by Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami.

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The Last Stand for Rare Plant Species of Virginia Key

The first stop in the Virginia Key Coastal Hammock Trail is a “transitional” zone, created to show how attractive native plants can be in the landscape as well as demonstrate how planting natives like Sea Grape, Gumbo Limbo, and Wild Lime helps heal a land once overtaken by exotics.

Restoring the native landscape has also created critical habitat for rare and endangered wildlife species. Migrating songbirds that can be found here include rare migrants like the pine siskin, Tennessee warbler, Swainson’s thrush and indigo bunting. These species travel down the Atlantic coast flyway and use this maritime hammock for food and shelter.

The 13-acre site, accessible from the parking lot of Virginia Key Beach (beyond Jimbo’s across from the Sewage Treatment Plant) is the best example of this forest type remaining in Miami Dade. The following list of the rare plant species that call Virginia Key home underscores just how important it is to protect Virginia Key’s spectacular but fragile wilderness areas.

This is the last stand.

Rare Plant Species of Virginia Key
Locally rare: Balloon vine, Beach-tea, Sevenyear apple, Ocean morning glory, Mangrove rubbervine
Locally imperiled: Florida vente conmigo (I love that name!)

State protected: black mangrove, white mangrove, red mangrove, sea oats

State endangered: beachstar beach-peanut, mangrove mallow

State threatened: Florida silver palm, maidenberry, darlingplum, inkberry, Biscayne prickly-ash

Federally endangered: beach clustervine

Federally threatened: Johnson’s Seagrass

Commercially exploited: coontie





Resources:
To learn more about which natives are right for your yard, see the native planting tool at:
http://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/default.asp
More info:
http://regionalconservation.org
http://www.abettersouthflorida.org/Revive.html

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What a “Green” Master Plan Looks Like: Trails, Public Beaches, More Trails

During the five years of “master planning” for Virginia Key, there was lots of talk of creating a “green” plan for the island. But doubts set in after one early proposal showed 11 parking garages.

The inclusion of “bioswales,” “green roofs” and “green recreational opportunities” didn’t do much to sway a skeptical public from the impression that the plan contained a tad too much concrete.

A June 2009 Miami Herald editorial summed it up this way:

Residents don't want to tart up Virginia Key with retail complexes and parking garages. They want a beautiful place to play and relax....A place to walk through nature preserves, hang out at the beach or take the family on a spin along a biking trail.

That eco-friendly vision might come to fruition first in the North Point. Miami-Dade Environmental Resources Management restoration expert Gary Milano (with input of Tropical Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Miami Group and Urban Paradise Guild) has just submitted to City officials a “green” blueprint for the North Point.

The proposed plan protects restored natural areas while carving out space for biking trails, beachside picnics and solitary strolls through hammocks and alongside dunes and marshes.

The proposal, which includes a primitive camping area, reflects public consensus culled from many several well-attended public planning charrettes on the island dating back to 2007.

It's what a "green" master plan should look like. Let's hope the City agrees.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key