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The pressure to armor is common along Florida's east coast, especially in areas such as this critically "eroding" beach in Indian River County.
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Indian River County, located on Florida’s central Atlantic coast, is at the center of a growing debate on the state's coastal construction and beach protection policies and their impacts to Florida’s sea turtle nesting habitat and offshore foraging grounds. Not coincidentally, the county is also a focal point for CCC's “Free the Beach Campaign,” which seeks to stop the destruction of Florida’s remaining coastal habitat by reforming poorly designed coastal management policies.
Recently, state Representative Stan Mayfield convened a “town meeting” in Vero Beach to address coastal management issues and to inform the public about state and local beach armoring and renourishment policies. Representatives of CCC's Sea Turtle Survival League (STSL) were invited to the meeting to address the public with our concerns for sea turtle habitat in the area. The hundreds of citizens in attendance asked numerous question and provided a lively, often heated, debate on these controversial issues. CCC commends Rep. Mayfield and his staff for bringing numerous stakeholders together for this public meeting.
Another focus of the town meeting was the county’s ongoing efforts to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for sea turtles. The HCP is being developed as a result of an agreement between the county, the state and CCC, which was negotiated following a 1999 lawsuit filed by CCC to halt the construction of sea walls that were illegally authorized by the county. The lawsuit alleged that the unlawfully built sea walls were causing a “take” of marine turtle nesting habitat. Through the settlement agreement, the county was forced to stop all permitting of sea walls until it develops an HCP, which must be approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Once approved, the HCP would allow the county again authorize certain types sea walls following major storms, but only if strict measures are taken to minimize and mitigate for any harm done to sea turtles or their nesting habitat. The types of mitigation being suggested include beach front lighting regulations, the purchase and protection of beach front properties that would otherwise be developed, the implementation of a sea turtle monitoring program, and more stringent regulations on the construction of coastal armoring. Gary Appelson, STSL's Advocacy Coordinator, used the meeting to support the HCP process and to explain to homeowners how this approach has the potential to providing long term protection for sea turtles, while still allowing some relief to coastal homeowners threatened with erosion.
Appelson declared, “while the HCP process may seem long and arduous, the results will be long lasting and will benefit beach goers, coastal property owners, elected officials, and, of course, sea turtles.”
The plan is currently in draft form and should be available for public review in a couple of months.
Events in Indian River County provide the perfect example of how coastal management policies can directly impact the long term recovery of sea turtle populations—and why CCC is so intent on reforming these policies through the Free the Beach Campaign. Of the county's 22 miles of shoreline, 7.6 miles (34%) are designated as critically eroding, meaning coastal erosion already threatens private structures built on the beach. Much of the remaining coastline is in various states of erosion. Thus, there is great pressure to either pump sand on the beach or to build sea walls to protect private homes. Both activities can dramatically harm sea turtles (See the Velador, Winter 2001). Currently, 8.2% of the county’s shoreline is armored and 37% (8.3 miles) is slated for nourishment.
Indian River County’s beaches are also critical sea turtle nesting beaches, with over 5,000 turtle nests within the county last year. The county's northern beaches are included in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Additionally, the reefs just off shore are uniquely valuable to juvenile green sea turtles, which migrate to these reefs from throughout the Caribbean to forage and grow. Planned beach nourishment projects, if not revised, could bury 56 acres of these reefs and impact many more. CCC, as part of its FTB Campaign, will continue to influence decision-making in Indian River County and in other coastal counties where beaches are heavily used by sea turtles.
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