VOLUME 7, NUMBER 4
August-September 2005
August August is the beginning of our fall planting season. Also, alligators hatch from mid-August to midSeptember. Young sea turtles are still hatching, too, so watch where you’re walking on the beach. This is a good month to learn the different eupatoriums (there are 17) and asters (29), as there will be many in bloom. Buttonbush will be displaying the reason for its name. Look for the lilac-flowered Spotted beebalm and Sky flower
September This is the peak blooming period for water-spider orchids in central Florida. Watch for blooming blazing star, rabbit tobacco and blue curls. Look up after those tropical storms, you may get some unusual bird sightings. Florida scrub-jay fledglings will have completely blue heads; no more the brown juvie plumage. Paynes Prairie Chapter has its Fall Native Plant Sale September 16, 17 at Morningside Nature Center (3540 E. University Ave, Gainesville, FL.) Note: FNPS members only on the 16th, 5-7pm! Open to the public Saturday, September 17, 8:30am-1pm. There will be native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers suited to the north-central area of Florida. There also will be vendors, educational booths, and a wildflower walk in the park’s flatwoods, which are reknowned for their fall wildflowers. Check the chapter website for more information.
FNPS President Urges Protection and Restoration of Native Species Last December, The Florida Native Plant Society joined with several other environmental organizations to form the Florida Endangered Species Network. (See the February – March 2005 Sable minor for more details). In July, a draft version of legislation that will affect the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was leaked to the New York Times by a lawmaker on the House Resources Committee. (See “Bill Would Reduce Government’s Role in Protecting Species” by Felicity Barringer, New York Times, July 4, 2005). On July 22, NPR’s All Things Considered covered the draft and interviewed the Committee’s Chair, Richard W. Pombo, R-CA. You can listen to this on their archive. Details are murky at best, and I’m reluctant to repeat shrill spin. The two “sides” are exemplified by Partnership For The West, a group representing Western ranchers, farmers, and industries, against The Defenders of Wildlife. Environmentalists are picking up some unusual support from Americans for Tax Reform and Gun Owners of America who want property owners to be compensated if their land values drop because of use restrictions while the draft calls for compensation only if government action causes the land value to drop by at least 50%. Pombo cites statistics that show 1200 species are listed as endangered, but since 1973, only 10 species have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the list. He wants the Act to emphasize incremental changes rather than setting the bar at total and complete recovery that could take decades. The draft would take the ESA off the books in 2015. One key provision concerns habitat protection. The current law protects territory essential for a species recovery to include the species’ historic range. The draft legislation would limit that protection to areas currently occupied by the species, unless that range is inadequate to prevent the species’ extinction. The Draft also defines what is “best available science,” calling for use of empirical data rather than studies that use statistical models of a species’ number, range, and viability. Scientists object to this when the species’ numbers are small and scattered. The Draft also restricts listing of subgroups within a species. In short, the draft focuses on ensuring that the status of species gets no worse rather than helping to make it better. When President Nixon backed the ESA in 1973 it enjoyed widespread, bipartisan support. That was years before some concerned Floridians started FNPS. Today growth, sprawl, and the need to drill threaten habitat from the ANWAR to the Keys, but environmental issues are met with apathy or outright hostility. Please do something about it. Urge your member of Congress to support and strengthen the ESA.
Bob Egolf, FNPS President
Florida Native Plant Society, P.O. Box 278, Melbourne, FL 32902-0278 www.fnps.org 321-272-6702 Fax: 815-361-9166 President: Bob Egolf, email: begolf@pcsonline.com Editor: Rosalind Rowe, email: rosrowe@comcast.net