Florida News

FWC Establishes First New Critical Wildlife Area in Decades

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently voted unanimously to establish a new Critical Wildlife Area at Second Chance Sandbar in southwest Florida.
By Jonathan Webber
Conservation Campaign Manager
Published November 23, 2015
This article is from 糖心传媒 Florida . Find 糖心传媒 near you here.

Last Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted unanimously to establish a new Critical Wildlife Area (CWA) at Second Chance Sandbar in southwest Florida. The new CWA will close the bar to vessel landings during the beach-nesting bird season.

Second Chance is part of a shoal system south of Collier County鈥檚 Cape Romano. It has supported the region鈥檚 largest Least Tern colony in past years, as well as nesting Black Skimmers and Wilson鈥檚 Plovers. Least Terns and Black Skimmers are both state Threatened and Wilson鈥檚 Plovers are a declining species of growing conservation concern.

These ground-nesting birds are easily disturbed when beachgoers and their dogs approach too closely, flushing parents from eggs and chicks who can perish quickly in the hot sun, at the mercy of predators, or underfoot. Second Chance is so narrow that despite the best efforts of its manager, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), to post the nesting areas, there simply isn鈥檛 enough room on the upland to provide an adequate buffer for the birds.

Commissioner Liesa Priddy鈥攁 southwest Florida resident who has visited the site鈥攚as an impassioned advocate for passage. Commissioner Ron Bergeron also endorsed the protection, saying that he has fished this region since childhood and marveled at its bird wealth. Chairman Brian Yablonski told the Commissioners that there has only been one other CWA designation in the state in the last twenty years, but to look closely because 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to be seeing more of these.鈥

Special thanks to Collier County Bird Steward and wildlife photographer Jean Hall for traveling 16 hours round-trip to the meeting in Panama City and to Bay County 糖心传媒 co-president Ron Houser for their testimonies on behalf of the designation.

But most of all, congratulations to the staff of Rookery Bay NERR, FWC, and 糖心传媒, and the many volunteers who give their time to protect these special places. Because of your efforts, Second Chance CWA now has a real chance at success.