Mirasol is the now-infamous development proposal that threatens to destroy wetlands crucial to Southwest Florida's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and its endangered Wood Stork colony. Thanks in large part to the outcry from Corkscrew supporters like you, the original Mirasol federal permit request was denied by the Army Corps of Engineers in December 2005.  However, the developer won't take "no" for an answer and has re-applied for modified state and federal permits for almost the same project.

At the time of the initial denial, Mirasol was a proposed 800-home, 36-hole golf course project on a site 90% covered in wetlands. It included a regional drainage ditch and would have resulted in almost 1000 acres of wetland impacts.  In the new proposal, the regional ditch is gone, but more than 650 acres of impending wetlands impacts remain. Despite Audubon science findings to the contrary, the South Florida Water Management District staff have concluded these impacts won't cause wetland harm or impact any endangered species. We have learned the District intends to approve this "new and improved" Mirasol project at its Governing Board meeting Wednesday, October 11. 

Audubon science shows the wetlands slated for development are vital to the endangered Wood Stork rookery at Corkscrew, and their loss, coupled with similar wetlands slated for destruction by adjacent projects, would put the continued long-term survival of Wood Storks in the United States in jeopardy. Audubon science and advocacy staff, and our allies, are working with the permitting agencies to change this prospect, but this Mirasol permit must be denied now.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I write to you with great concern for the needed protection of unique wetlands surrounding Southwest Florida's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the Sanctuary's endangered colony of nesting Wood Storks. The SFWMD board will consider on October 11 whether to approve a modified permit application for the Mirasol project, a proposed golf course community sited in the middle of a Collier County wetland slough.

District staff have not adequately evaluated the most recent science which demonstrates that the destruction of over 650 acres of wetlands would do great harm to endangered Wood Storks, water quality and flood protection in this region. Wood Stork annual nesting at Corkscrew Swamp has declined from 4,000-6,000 pairs in the 1960's to only 400-600 pairs currently, due almost entirely to wetland losses just like those proposed in the Mirasol application. This was not considered when the original Mirasol permit was issued in 2002.

In 1989, former President George H.W. Bush said there would be no further net loss of wetlands allowed in the United States. Only a few years ago, President George W. Bush promised in a speech at Naples' Rookery Bay that this country would henceforth foster wetland increases. I fail to see how the Mirasol project conforms with either of these important public objectives.

For these reasons, I am urging the South Florida Water Management District board to deny the Mirasol permit application at its meeting on October 11 and instead begin a process with the landowners to permanently protect and restore these vital wetlands.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
September 20, 2006