Everglades Law Center Attorneys have been working with the Center for Biological Diversity, Wild South, and dedicated conservationist Margaret Copeland to protect the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) in Apalachicola National Forest. We recently submitted an objection letter to the Forest Service’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for their proposed landscape changes around Beasley Pond. You can read more about the Forest Service’s plans at http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/florida/landmanagement/projects.
In our letter, we offer the following recommendations the Forest Service could undertake to remedy our concerns:
- Identify and evaluate the specific measures that must be performed to restore the hydrology of the wet savanna sites as well as their environmental impacts.
- Identify the definite, certain, or enforceable criteria or standards for the measures that must be taken to restore the hydrology of these savanna sites, including baselines for monitoring parameters and a plan on how the Forest Service will use the data gathered to guide future management.
- Discuss the likelihood of success of restoring the hydrology of the wet savanna sites.
- Discuss the impacts of anticipated adjustments that may be part of adaptive management.
- Identify and discuss other less harmful alternatives that eliminate or reduce impacts to RCW foraging habitat in these savanna sites.
[button color=”green” size=”medium” align=”center” link=”http://evergladeslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Final-Beasley-Pond-Objection-Letter-8.pdf”][icon style=”fa fa-external-link”]Read our full objection letter[/button]