Last entry

The end of 2010 also marks the end of this year-long project to raise awareness about the unique, beautiful, and environmentally fragile island of Virginia Key, the 1,000-acre barrier island off the coast of the City of Miami.

This is the last entry in View from Virginia Key.

But this is not the last chapter in the history of the island. There are many more stories to be told, old and new. There is a wilderness within,  growing and evolving. There are many new places yet to be discovered and enjoyed.

Vigilance is still in order if the island is to continue to be ecologically restored and preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Even with a master plan approved by the City of Miami earlier this year, there is much uncertainty about the island’s future development or preservation.

Its wild spaces, scenic vistas and quiet places for reflection distinguish the island.  It is a place apart. And should remain so, free of the commercial clutter and cacophony of the bustling metropolis across Biscayne Bay.

And for those considering future "improvements,"  the eighteenth-century English poet Alexander Pope has this advice: “Consult the genius of the place in all.” The genius is in the water, the sky, the open spaces and that magic that happens among them.

Enjoy. 

(C) Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.
For information on upcoming events and news about Virginia Key, join “Friends of Virginia Key” on Facebook.

Ten Things to Do on Virginia Key

For the tourist, transient and truly curious (willing to venture past the neighborhood mall), here are ten things to do on Virginia Key:

Eat. There are several restaurants, a few arepa/hot dog stands and a smoked fish joint: Rusty Pelican, the new Rickenbacker Fish Company, Bayside Hut, Jimbo’s and the  Hobie Beach stands. Or bring a picnic lunch. Best views are just about anywhere from the island out to aquamarine waters that surround it.

Sail. Hobie Beach has the rental boards. You’ll see the bright sails rustling in the sea breezes along the Rickenbacker Causeway. Or bring your own kayak, canoe, paddleboard. The water is crystal clear and teeming with fascinating critters.

Run/Walk. This is not just for the Brickell crowd. Park you car anywhere along the causeway parking lots and hike up the William Powell bridge (top of the Rickenbacker) and marvel at the Miami sky line to the north, the expanse of Biscayne Bay blue to the south. Particularly marvelous at sunset but inspiring anytime.

Hike. There’s an amazing Tropical Hammock to be discovered on Virginia Key and you don’t need a botany degree or birder’s eye to appreciate. Entrance off Virginia Key Beach (windsurfer’s beach across from the Miami-Dade South Water Treatment Facility - but don’t let that bother you from hiking).

Marvel.  At the icon of modern architecture, the Commodore Ralph Munroe Marine Stadium. It’s a sad mess right now but with lots of potential.

Amuse yourself. On the historic carousel and seaside train ride operating on weekends at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (entrance at the light across from University of Miami’s Rosensteil School just before the Bear Cut Bridge).

Fish. The fishing pier (old, closed bridge off the causeway) is open again. Can’t guarantee a catch but you might regain your serenity waiting for a bite.

Swim. OK it’s winter but if you’re from New York you won’t mind the surf temps.

Bird. As in check out the migrating songbirds in the hammock, shorebirds on the dunes.
   
Relax. It’s an island. A wilderness. A world away from that neighborhood mall.

(C) Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe at www.viewfromvirginiakey.com
Also, join on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Virginia Key as a great civic space

On the road, in the buildings, and through the landscape, Virginia Key is a great civic space that has the potential to build community. 


But only if the community is not shut out.  

A  Virginia Key of great civic spaces is a place where public areas are protected - public shorelines among them.   It's still possible on an island that is publicly owned, filled with wild and open spaces,  and possessing an extraordinary public shoreline that is raw but beautiful in its simplicity.  

Virginia Key is also a place filled with  buildings of civic significance:  the historic Miami Marine Stadium, the Miami  Seaquarium, the science complex (University of Miami’s Rosensteil School and the various NOAA buildings), and the segregation-era buildings  of the Historic Virginia Key Beach. 

And there’s the road in -- the Rickenbacker Causeway -- designed as public parkway by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips in the 1940‘s. 

Restoring these civic buildings and spaces would go a long way to restoring a sense of place in a city that is apparently short of civic “centeredness” by design.  

“In this city, we don’t have a lot of public infrastructure,” architect Allan Shulman said Tuesday at a presentation on Miami Architecture, a new guidebook he co-authored with Randall Robinson, a landscape architect and James Donnelly, a historian. 

The book not only documents buildings of architectural significance but also places them in context.

Robinson, writing on the city’s history, describes how Miami sprouted into existence like a Wild West “gold rush” town, “with little regard for the creation of civic spaces.”

That can be remedied by making Virginia Key the new civic center, a place everyone feels they have a stake in protecting and preserving because it is kept in public hands, not parceled off to private development.

Photo: courtesy of University of Miami archives

(C) 2010 Copyright. All Rights Reserved by www.viewfromvirginiakey.com
Also, join on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Take a lead from bicyclists

Cheers to the bicyclists who have apparently taken it upon themselves to open the North Point of Virginia Key -- forging trails in the backcountry of Australian Pine detritus where tons dredge material has sculpted a terrain of ledges and hills perfect to pop some wheelies.   

A story this weekend in the Miami Herald states a bicycle group with a little donated cash and a lot of will power, is carving out the bike trails. 

Maybe this will start a trend: 

Hikers will blaze trails. 
Park enthusiasts will plop down benches.
Kayakers will launch en masse - and proclaim the spot the public boat ramp.  

And a public park island will emerge. 

Cheers to the bicyclists.  Enjoy. 

And cheers to many others who find this island beautiful, rare and wild. And want to keep it that way. 
Take a lead from the bicyclists and forge your own path to parkland.


It may be the only way it will happen.

(C) 2010 copyright. All Rights Reserved by viewfromvirginiakey.com

Join on Facebook:  Friends of Virginia Key

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What No One Talks About Needs to be Remembered on Virginia Key

The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park is a park born of the legacy of segregation. 

It is a legacy that the late M. Athalie Range, founding director of the park’s Trust, wanted to make sure was not forgotten. 

In her recollections (reprinted in a park brochure), Range revisits both the joy and pain of the past to summon a call to action to a new generation:

"Virginia Key Beach was special to us because of the laws of segregation. It was ours. It was the only place that welcomed us and the only place where we could be free, in a way. It was not a very good feeling to have the coast of Miami as a beach with all this beautiful water around you and you couldn’t enjoy it during the days of segregation when blacks were not welcome. Signs on beaches said No Jews, No Dogs, and No Coloreds.

I remember the popcorn, corndogs and Nehi sodas. The hurdy-gurdy music of the carousel, the whistle of the beach’s mini-train. I remember how going to the beach was an all-day affair; families would pack blankets an enough food to feed a small army and while away hours at the beach dancing, swimming and fellowshipping.

There were several developers and entrepreneurs who wanted to build on the beach. When we found that out, through public meetings, we had to plead with them not to let this happen. That is when we made the push to revitalize the beach as it was in those days. People don’t know the history of South Florida. Nobody talks about the segregated beaches and golf courses.

Those were our lunch counters (at the concession stand). Those are the things that need to be remembered. I hope my 10 grandchild and 10 great-grandchildren will be able to enjoy the work we’re trying to accomplish today. There is a legacy here.”

Miami-Dade County opened the beach park in 1945.

Support the legacy: 

The Historic Virginia Key Park Trust will be holding a fundraiser next month. All proceeds from the Larry Little Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Tournament  to be held Dec. 2-3, 2010 at the Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, will benefit the restoration, operation and capital improvement projects at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park.  For more info on this event and other ways to support the park, contact Ingrid Stuart at 305-960-4617 or email istuart@miamigov.com.

The park was restored and reopened in 2008 after extensive renovations spearheaded by the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. 

@Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.  Subscribe to viewfromvirginiakey.com for the latest articles on ecology, history, explorations of Virginia Key. Also on Facebook: join Friends of Virginia Key. 

Celebrating a City of Contrasts

It seems we’ve been  locked in the urban gridlock so long, we’ve lost the ability to recognize wild places any longer ---especially when the wilderness is in our midst, as it is on Virginia Key.

In just over 100 years, Miami went from “a city with ‘too much nature’ to one where nature has been marginalized,” according the Miami Parks and Public Spaces Master Plan.  The plan identifies Virginia Key as one of those last wild places. 

The island’s  wilderness doesn’t reveal itself on a drive-by along the Rickenbacker Causeway, though from the peak of the bridge you can glimpse the green heart of the place. But, when 700 of the island’s 1,000 acres is the state-designated Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, you can bet it’s there. 

It’s also something that should be nurtured and protected, according to the city’s parks masterplan. Here’s why: 

For much of its early history the wilderness surrounding Miami was treated as an obstacle to progress: The Everglades needed to be filled in and tamed as soon as possible so that the city could grow and prosper.....Today, however, Miami may be unique among American cities, with a continuous urban grid surrounded by near-wilderness, the protected Everglades and Biscayne national parks. From the “river of grass” at the west to the shining waters of Biscayne Bay at the east, these dramatic contrasts have always been an important part of the image of Miami, celebrated in postcard views of the skyline from the bay and alligators swimming in the Everglades. It is a theme that can and should be celebrated throughout the park system.”

@2010 All Rights Reserved.
Also on Facebook join "Friends of Virginia Key" 

Getting the Island Park You Deserve

Do the residents of Miami have the parks they deserve?

Given the low parks to people ratio, the answer is no.

One way to begin remedying this inequity is speaking up at the upcoming City of Miami planning meetings regarding the state-mandated Evaluation and Appraisal Report 2012.

City officials want to learn what major issues are facing neighborhoods, which clearly include the need for more and better parks.

“It may be worthwhile to create a city-wide parks committee,” said Steve Hagan, a long-time public parks advocate and activist with Miami Neighborhoods United, a civic group.

Hagan is calling on the City to increase the number of park acres - from the current 1.3 per thousand residents to 3.1 acres and adjusting impact fees for parks to accommodate the purchase of new park land and improve existing parks with trees, landscaping and playing fields.

These meetings are a great opportunity to speak up for Virginia Key.

Ask the City to get going on the biking and hiking trails that should interlace the island, the boat rental facilities where the general public can rent canoes and kayaks, the waterfront walkways with park benches and a host of other things that bring public uses back to the public lands.

The meetings start this week. For Virginia Key, in particular, make sure to attend the Oct. 25 meeting concerning needs in District 2 (Commissioner Marc Sarnoff), which is the district that includes Virginia Key.

Here’s the list of all the meetings throughout the City of Miami:
October 18
District 5 - Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II
Charles Hadley Park
1350 N.W. 50th Street
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Related Documents

October 19
District 3 - Commissioner Frank Carollo
José Marti Park
434 S.W. 3rd Avenue
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

October 21
District 4 - Commissioner Francis Suarez
Our Lady of Lebanon
2055 Coral Way
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

October 25
District 2 - Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff
Miami City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

October 26
District 1 - Commissioner Willy Gort
Allapattah Community Action Center
2257 NW North River Drive
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.


Can’t attend or public hearings aren’t your thing? You can leave comments via the planning department's website.


@2010 All Rights Reserved

"Aquatic Army" To Rally on Virginia Key Sunday

An “Aquatic Army” will descend on Virginia Key Sunday, Oct. 17 at the “Rally for Lolita’s Retirement.”

The event is being organized in part by Oceanic Defense, a non-profit ocean education and advocacy group that seeks to raise awareness about everyone’s responsibility to protect the world’s oceans. This week the group hosted a series of events and community forums in Miami.

The Rally takes place from 12 to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 outside the Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key.

Guest speakers include Captain Pete Bethune, captain of Earthrace, the wave-piercer that set a world record for the fastest global circumnavigation; Trevor, a nine year old boy from Washington State who started the Let Lolita Live Campaign; and Cynthia Aguilar, a record-setting endurance paddle boarder and South Beach Ocean Lifeguard, subject of an upcoming documentary about her challenge to solo paddle from Cuba-to-Key West.

Lolita (Tokitae) is a 44-year old captive orca living at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, Florida. She was captured off Whidbey Island, Washington State in 1970. In response to previous requests to retire Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium has responded that the killer whale has been hand-fed for the past 39 years and could not survive on her own in the ocean.

Resources:
www.oceanicdefense.org
http://www.miamiseaquarium.com

Photo courtesy of Oceanic Defense.

@2010 All Rights Reserved

Virginia Key on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Urban Paradise Guild's Idea of Paradise on Virginia Key

“Recreation through conservation.”

That’s an approach Sam Van Leer, director of the Urban Paradise Guild, an environmental advocacy and volunteer restoration group, would like to see on Virginia Key.

Van Leer has helped craft a tangible plan for just what that would mean on Virginia Key’s North Point. He says this can be accomplished in a short time with just a modest investment of public and private funds plus the sweat equity his organization harnesses so well:

1. A public beach shared by people during the day, nesting sea turtles at night.

2. Mult-use paths enjoyed by all.

3. Native vegetation selected to preserve the stunning views of the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlike Area, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and the city skyline.

4. A large area set aside for mountain biking.

5. Picnic areas along the North Point Beach.

6. Walking paths that allow people to explore different native habitants found in coastal and inland areas.

7. A primitive campground on high ground, with exposure to cooling and bug-abating breezes.


The Urban Paradise Guild was founded, in part, to defend Virginia Key from commercial development, Van Leer states.

As a member of the Virginia Key Coalition, he and hundreds of other citizens participated in the September 2009 public planning charrette that took a closer look at each part of the island and crafted sustainable and public recreation-oriented plans for the island.

Which is very much in line with the UPG’s motto: “creating sustainable paradise in South Florida, one Habitat at a Time.”

TO LEARN MORE: http://www.urban-paradise.org/

Photo: Sam Van Leer and UPG volunteers help replant dunes with native vegetation on Virginia Key beach

@2010 All Rights Reserved
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Will economics "whittle away our heritage" on Virginia Key?

As both Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami mull over proposals for development of Virginia Key, the words of the stadium architect, Hilario Candela, captured in July 1993 in a letter to the Miami-Dade Commission, are prescient.

He was writing to commissioners to save the stadium from demolition at a time the City of Miami was facing economic difficulties and wanted to raze the stadium to make way for commercial development of the area.


In the letter, Candela refers to the "economic equation" that might be used to justify razing the stadium.

That same equation has returned-- with a slight twist. The stadium is not slated for demolition for now but pressure exists to introduce commercial development of public lands surrounding the stadium as a way to both pay for its restoration as well as provide a quick fix to solve budget shortfalls.

How far will it go? And what is the real cost of giving away public lands? In 1993, Candela urged that we not give up what is uniquely ours:

As the architect of the facility, both on a personal and professional level, I would be extremely disappointed to see this landmark razed primarily because the "economic equation" didn't work. It seems to me that there must be other creative ways we can take advantage of this unique facility, ways that could improve the financial picture to the City and its taxpayers as well as enhancing the quality of life of citizens by the concerts, shows and special events which could take place at the Marine Stadium. In a City and County where we have too few civic structures which have been preserved, it would be a shame to lose a facility that has been the center of so many happy memories for so many people.

...(T)he people of Miami and the surrounding communities need a structure like the Marine Stadium. Its very existence celebrates the public assembly of the various cultures that make up our unique community along the waterfront. It is this celebration of the waterfront and its various recreational activities that define us, not only in this community, but in truth throughout the entire world. It is synonymous with Miami and an intrinsic part of our community. It is my belief that the destruction of the Marine Stadium would accomplish the exact opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. We need to accentuate our uniqueness not whittle away our heritage.

Video: Great shots of Miami Marine Stadium, today and in its heyday.

The "Petrified Forest" of Biscayne Bay

In solidarity with the "Pachanga" Kayaking Meetup group that launched off Virginia Key this morning, enjoy this virtual tour of the fossilized mangrove reef found offshore of the Bear Cut Preserve. (see the Untamed Science video link below.)

The Fossil Reef is actually the fossilized remains of an ancient black mangrove forest that once extended along the shoreline for miles. This is believed to be the first reported occurrence of the fossilization of mangrove roots. The area was exposed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Radiocarbon dating indicates the age of the rods to be between 1000 and 2000 years.

“Key Biscayne’s Petrified Forest” is home to small marine animals and plants found in inter tidal zones. See sergeant major fish swimming and barnacles and anemones attached to the surface of the reef. The offshore seagrasses support octopi, sea horses, snapper, blue crabs, spider crabs, sea squarts and queen conch.


Attention landlubbers:
You can also see the fossilized forest from land through the Fossil Reef Trail that winds its way through the 163-acre Bear Cut Nature Preserve in the northern part of Crandon Park. Start at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center. The walk/bicycle trail takes you through a canopied walk of strangler figs and sea grape trees where you may encounter birds of prey, including hawks, kestrels and ospreys perched on the larger dead trees. Look for smaller songbirds among the shrubs and wading birds in the wetter areas, including egrets and herons. The 30-minute walk ends with a wonderful payoff - a boardwalk with great views of the fossil reef as well as the shoreline of Virginia Key.

Photos: Fossilized Roof Reef, Fossil Reef Trail in the Bear Cut Nature Preserve

Resources:
http://www.untamedscience.com/biodiversity/article/fossil-reef-near-miami-fl
http://www.biscaynenaturecenter.org

Q & A on Virginia Key: What it is, why it matters and what you can do about it.

Why do locals care so much about the future of Virginia Key? Why is this place significant?

Virginia Key is a 1,000 acre barrier island that at its heart is a wilderness, just steps from downtown Miami. People care about it because it is the last great green space in an urban area that is short on public spaces and urban wilderness, and spectacular waterfront parks, in particular.

Have local organizations and residents been working together to help plan the future of this area? What has happened so far?

Most recently the City of Miami Commission approved a new masterplan for Virginia Key in July 2010 that is much “greener” and less commercial than previous versions proposed. It also envisions the restoration of the historically designated Miami Marine Stadium.

Local organizations and residents have been working to help shape the future of Virginia Key for several generations but efforts heated up again about five years ago with the City of Miami began a master plan process, hiring a consultant to develop a new master plan.

Which organizations have been involved?

Miami Neighborhoods United (MNU), Sierra Club  Miami Group, Tropical Audubon Society, Urban Paradise Guild, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, Urban Environment League, Surfriders, ECOMB (Miami Beach),, Miami Rowing Club, Izaak Walton League, Dade Heritage Trust, Friends of Virginia Key, Windsurfers of Virginia Key, Citizens for a Better South Florida and many more groups and individuals. 


If someone wants to get involved now, what can they do?

They can contact any of the groups above or work on their own by contacting city and county officials, the mayor of Miami Tomas Regalado. Or they can start their own group, Facebook page, write letters to the editor of local newspapers, start a petition, design a poster, create a flyer, post photos, whatever they are inspired to do to raise awareness. Anyone can make a difference. 

How can they start the process?

Visiting the island is the first thing anyone should do. Often people just drive by the island entrances off the Rickenbacker and assume there’s not much beyond the Marine Stadium area. In fact, there are natural sandy beaches, tropical hammocks, estuaries and marshes, underwater archaeological sites, hiking and biking trails, mangrove islands and the surrounding waters of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve teeming with life. 

Beyond that there are websites, Facebook sites and blogs and the City of Miami planning site. 

Which Websites/blogs have more information?

Friends of Virginia Key, Historic Virginia Key Beach, Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium on Facebook.

www.viewfromvirginiakey.com is a blog with articles on history, events and opinion pieces

www.virginiakeymasterplan.com is the website developed by the City of Miami’s planning consultant, EDSA. There you can see various versions of the plan developed over more than five years at different public meetings.

http://ci.miami.fl.us/planning/pages/master_plans/VKey.asp is the City of Miami’s Planning Department website.

Each of the groups that have been working on the issue have their own websites, Facebook sites with more information.

What else should you know?
There is a movement to have Virginia Key become a part of the National Park system, as an extension of Biscayne National Park, whose waterway boundaries are just outside the island where they meet with Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve.

Or, perhaps include Virginia Key and Key Biscayne corridor as part of a National Recreation Area.  Biscayne National Park has been seeking a site to build a northern visitor center on Virginia Key for many years and has identified several sites on Virginia Key, including Miami Dade County land leased to the Miami Seaquarium. Another site suggested is the  area around the Miami Marine Stadium. Tour boats could dock in the adjacent marina.  

City of Miami Public Meetings on Virginia Key Master Plan

The City of Miami will begin a series of public meetings to present a new proposed Virginia Key Master Plan beginning Tuesday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m. with the City of Miami Waterfront Advisory Board.

For a full schedule and to see the planning department's proposal (which apparently after much public clamoring, was posted today: http://www.miamigov.com/planning/pages/master_plans/VKey.asp

Apparently, there will also be a separate presentation of proposals prepared by students from the University of Miami. This plan, which the Urban Environment League (UEL) has dubbed the community plan, varies from the city planning department's plan in some ways.

What's YOUR plan?


The meetings are open to the public. If you care about Virginia Key's future, attend the meeting and learn more about what various groups are proposing and why. Then stroll up to microphone and have your say.

As the saying goes - more or less - one person can make a difference, and everyone should try.

To Save Biscayne Bay Again

To save Biscayne Bay, Lloyd Miller battled oil magnates, rapacious developers, causeway proponents, chambers of commerce, newspaper editorial boards and lots of politicians touting progress.

In the course of things, his dog was poisoned, his job was threatened and, looking at the odds, it’s no doubt he also had to face down the fear that he would lose. And southern Biscayne Bay - which he knew as the most beautiful, serene, productive gem - would be forever ruined.

Fortunately, Miller won. He won on behalf of all of us who today gaze over the tranquil, vibrant waters of Biscayne Bay, and sigh with relief there’s not an oil refinery in the distance or causeways criss-crossing the emerald green islands of what is today Biscayne National Park.

In case anyone doesn’t believe just how close it all almost came to ruin, Miller, the “father” of Biscayne National Park, documented it in his book. “Biscayne National Park: It Almost Wasn’t.”

Fortunately, all schemes to pave over, dig up, channelize and fill in South Biscayne Bay fizzled for one reason or another but mostly because none of the promoters found a way to finance their projects. That our beautiful bay survived as well as it did for as long is part miracle, part bungled development schemes and partly because it remains a little remote. It certainly hadn’t been saved by an official awareness and concern for its fantastic value as a marine resource, economic engine and recreational wonderland for our ever-expanding population.

But Miller isn’t content just creating Biscayne National Park (and saving Biscayne Bay), Nowadays, this South Dade resident who is in his eighties, continues to fight for his beloved park. This time, his quest is to find a way to increase visitors to what is arguably one of America’s most beautiful and unique parks, but also one that is virtually inaccessible, especially to those without a boat. With the main visitor center near Homstead, few Miami residents even know Biscayne National Park exists.

Biscayne National Park is virtually unknown to our many visitors from across the nation and the world. Many who are aware of Biscayne Bay don’t know that the south half IS Biscayne National Park. This beautiful treasure should be made known and available...There are no mountains, no valleys, no geysers, no elk nor wolves. There are mangroves, beautiful barrier islands, clear water, sea life that doesn’t exist in any of our other parks and tranquility, blessed tranquility, and America’s only coral reef at our front door.

Miller’s fix: bring Biscayne National Park closer to Miami by opening a northern visitor center on Virginia Key.

Miller has been circulating a proposal for more than five years, hoping the political leadership will emerge to champion his vision.

Several sites have been identified, including the keyhole boat basin west of the Miami Seaquarium. Another site would be next to the Miami Marine Stadium, where Biscayne National Park tour boats could start their tour of Biscayne Bay at historic Stiltsville. Boca Chita, with its little lighthouse, would also be within easy reach.

Miller’s dream is not just about promoting Biscayne National Park - - it’s also about sharing our ecological and historic bounty with future generations.

“It is so important that we all learn of the magnificent heritage the National Park Services provides,” Miller writes in his proposal for a new visitor center on Virginia Key. “Our system is the envy of and the model for park systems around the world - and it belongs to the people.

2010 Copyright.@ All Rights Reserved
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Voices of the Community: A Biscayne National Park Visitor Center on Virginia Key

Michael Chenoweth, a former member of the City of Miami’s Waterfront Advisory Board and currently a national director of the Izaak Walton League, one of the nation's oldest and and most respected conservation organizations, recently wrote to the National Parks Director Jon Jarvis about the need for a Biscayne National Park Visitor Center on Virginia Key. Following are excerpts for a letter hand-delivered to the director during the National Park Service's visit to Miami:

The Greater Miami area is wonderfully fortunate to have two national parks, Everglades and Biscayne, hugging it on the west and east, and Big Cypress Preserve just an hour to the west. But public access to those parks is inadequate, both because of their size AND because of the unique and remote character of their resources.

The Biscayne National Park Visitor Center is a 40-mile drive from downtown Miami. Access into the park is severely constrained by the huge size of the park and the absence of affordable rental boats. This is despite the fact that people living in Miami can almost throw a rock into Biscayne National Park from Miami at the edge of the Bay. Park rangers have a real challenge patrolling the park, with the Visitor Center being located at the far south end, many miles from the north end of the park, where most current park users enter in their private boats from the urban area.

The bottom line: Virginia Key is the sensible location for a northern Visitor Center for Biscayne National Park. And the boundaries of Biscayne National Park should be expanded to incorporate the presently undeveloped parts of Virginia Key, including the Marine Stadium.

In addition to the opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the accessibility, addition of this area would incorporate the Historic Virginia Key Beach and Civil Rights Park on the Bear Cut side of the island, and provide an opportunity to revitalize the historic and architecturally significant Miami Marine Stadium as a venue for events, such as concerts, similar to events at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia.

In addition, significant natural resources of Virginia Key are important for the health of Biscayne National Park. The water quality of nearshore waters surrounding Virginia Key are dependent on the continued natural state of the upland of Virginia Key. ...Those resources face significant risks of damage if (development) interests prevail over the need to protect nearshore water quality.

It takes only a little imagination to recognize that a Visitor Center here could serve not only Biscayne National Park, but also serve as an educational facility, working in conjunction with other important educational organizations in the vicinity (The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center, located on Key Biscayne, one island away; The Dade County Science Museum, located at the foot of Rickenbacker Causeway; The MAST High School; RSMAS; and others), and provide a single, accessible opportunity for visitors to Miami to get on a tour bus at the new Biscayne NP Visitor Center on Virginia Key to visit Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, or the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and local wildlife refuges.

It is time for all of the federal agencies with interests in our natural resources to be working together to improve the effectiveness of their management as well as the ability of visitors to learn about and visit their special protected areas.

Photo: Biscayne National Park boardwalk at Visitor's Center shows Xavier Cortada flags art installation, "Endangered World: Biscayne National Park."

Resources:
Biscayne National Park, http://www.nps.gov/bisc/index.htm
Izaak Walton League, http://www.iwla.org/

2010 Copywright. @All Rights Reserved.

On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

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.”

Dade Heritage Days events on Virginia Key

Virginia Key plays front and center during “Dade Heritage Days,” the annual trek through historic neighborhoods and landscapes. The two-month festival is sponsored by the Dade Heritage Trust, the nonprofit established in 1972 to “preserve the best of the past for the future.”

Here’s the March line-up:

Tropical Hardwood Hammock Trail Walk: Take a walk on the Wild Side of Virginia Key in a naturalist-led tour of the Virginia Key Coastal Hammock Trail. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m, Sun., March 21. FREE. Learn about the endangered and threatened native plants and animals that call this 1,000 acre barrier island home by visiting this 13-acre coastal hammock that is considered the best example of this forest type in Miami-Dade County. Bring your own picnic lunch and stay for an optional afternoon planting or exploration of another part of the island.  Get a head start on the tour by downloading the trailbook, http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/guidebook.pdf .  Sponsored by Urban Paradise Guild, Friends of Virginia Key and Virginia Key Coalition groups. Contact: sam@urban-paradise.org; http://www.urban-paradise.org/WalkWild2010.

Walking Tours of the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park: Established in 1945 as the only public beach for the “exclusive use of Negroes” in Miami-Dade County, historic Virginia Key Beach Park was closed by the City of Miami in 1982 but reopened in 2008 thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens who successfully fought off plans for a resort development in the 82-acre public park. The park is now on the National Register of Historic Places and there are plans underway for a civil rights museum to commemorate the struggle of those who fought segregation. Free tours by appointment. Contact Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, at (305) 960-4600. www.VirginiaKeybeachpark.net

Miami Marine Stadium presentation: Built in 1964, the Miami Marine Stadium is an icon of 20th century Modern architecture, site of concerts, church services, community meetings. The stadium was closed by the City of Miami in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew and has been severely vandalized. Since 2008, Friends of Marine Stadium (website: www.marinestadium.org), has secured inclusion in the City of Miami’s proposals for a new master plan of Virginia Key.  The stadium has also received national recognition by the National Trust and the World Monuments Fund. Learn about efforts to restore and reopen the stadium to community uses and secure National Historic status for the stadium and surrounding land and lagoon. Presentation by Friends of Marine Stadium co-founder Don Worth scheduled for Wed. March 10, 6 to 8 p.m. Design Within Reach, 927 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Reception follows. FREE. RSVP to 305- 531-6470.


Miami Marine Stadium/Virginia Key Public Planning Charrette: The public can help shape the future of Virginia Key and the historic Miami Marine Stadium at a charrette sponsored by the University of Miami and the Urban Environment League (www.uel.org)  Students from UM’s School of Architecture, under the guidance of architects Jorge Hernandez and Hilario Candela, will present their designs followed by public input. Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Rusty Pelican Restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne. FREE.  For more info, call DHT, 305-358-9572.

For complete schedule of all Dade Heritage Trust events, go to www.dadeheritagetrust.org

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Photo Friday: Miami Marine Stadium Lagoon

Studies in blue: Miami Marine Stadium basin lagoon.
Photo 1: Approaching Rickenbacker Marina
Photo 2: Preserve area in background is part of the state-designated Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Refuge.
Photo 3: Denizen of lagoon enjoys Miami skyline. (Photo credit: Coki Michel)

@All Rights Reserved.
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Welcome to View from Virginia Key

Virginia Key

Welcome to your island.  Virginia Key is a 1,000 acre barrier island off the coast of Miami, Florida. It is publicly owned and largely undeveloped. 

The island’s history is rich with development schemes: A Port. A blimp base. A mining operation. A resort. A sports stadium. Most dreadful proposals haven’t succeeded. Some have, including placement of the County’s Sewer Treatment Facility. Another: turning a lake in the island’s interior into an unlined waste dump, the Virginia Key Landfill site. 

What will be the island’s future? That may depend on how vocal, how organized and how caring the community is going forward. Always it has been the public's passion for protecting Virginia Key that has saved it.

In October, 2009, the City of Miami Commission voted to defer approval of a proposed Virginia Key Master Plan which had met with disapproval from various civic, preservation and environmental organizations and two city advisory boards, as well as hundreds of interested citizens. Many of those who spoke out against various versions of the proposed plan objected to what they perceived to be intense commercial and recreational development of an environmentally fragile island. There were also concerns about the City’s commitment to restoring the iconic Miami Marine Stadium. 

The City of Miami Commission is scheduled to reconsider the Virginia Key Master Plan in May 2010. In essence, the island has received a reprieve. 

In the interim, this blog will serve to celebrate, educate and illuminate all things Virginia Key: past, present and future. And, hopefully, it will also serve as a community forum to discuss proposals and generate ideas. 

Please consider following this blog and joining it as we go forward together to a better future for Virginia Key.