The Fort Pierce Tribune, 11/24/99, pg A1

Land listed as one of nations 12 endangered locales

Area near Indian River Lagoon is a Last Chance Landscape

by Jeni Brock Steele, Tribune Staff Writer

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - The rest of the nation learned Tuesday what St. Lucie County residents and regular visitors have known all along. The geographical area in downtown Fort Pierce around the Port of Fort Pierce and along the Indian River Lagoon is one of the last beautiful places in the country, and its fragile environmental balance is threatened by development.

Those factors earned the area recognition as one of 12 endangered natural locales in the nation by Scenic America as a Last Chance Landscape. Scenic America is a nationally acclaimed non-profit organization dedicated to conservation.

The official statement concerning the 12 Last Chance Landscapes was released by Scenic America in Washington, D.C., Wednesday at the same time the announcement was made locally by St. Lucie Waterfront Council, the organization that entered the community in the contest.

The 12 Last Chance Landscapes are not ranked in any order. Other areas named include Walden Woods in Massachusetts, where literary genius Henry David Thoreau did most of his research, The President George Bush Rampike in Texas; the Missouri Ozarks; and the Shenandoah Valley, which Chance Landscape spans Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.

There is no monetary reward that goes With the designation, but Waterfront Council members said the publicity received through the designation opens the door for grants and other assistance.

Waterfront Council member Jeanne Hearn announced the designation in the conference room of the new library, surrounded by panoramic views of the lagoon.

This is the first time Scenic America called for nominations for the Landscape designations, but information distributed with the award says the designation will now be an annual event.

"Scenic America hopes that 1999 Last Chance Landscapes will help citizens everywhere save their irreplaceable scenic heritage as blossom and fruit for generations to come," said Meg Maguire, president of Scenic America.

This is the first time such a nationwide focus has been placed on the Indian River Lagoon and the Port of Fort Pierce, Hearn said.

That focus will also shed light on the struggle by many local residents and organizations to protect the port from cargo development, a major effort by past boards of county commissioners and private businesses.

"We are pleased with the publicity this will give us," Hearn said. "This will help with what we're doing here, promoting and protecting what we have."

Dolores Hogan Johnson, the Waterfront Council chairwoman, said the designation calls attention to the council's effort to promote ecotourism that works in harmony with the sensitive ecosystem of the lagoon and estuary.

"You know, there is a tourism niche that we fit into," she said. "There are tourism dollars coming in from people who want to see our natural beauty. And we have some fantastic vision ..."

County Commissioner Doug Coward was present for Tuesday's announcement. He said he was pleased with the designation.

"This justifies and gives national recognition for the issues that the Waterfront Council has been working on for years," he said. "With this new board of county commissioners, we don't have a single member who is hell-bent on developing a deep-water cargo port. This will give us the chance to look at what we don't want at the port and start working on what we do want."

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The Fort Pierce Tribune, 11/28/99, pg A1
Balance sought for port development, environment

By Jeni Brock Steele
Tribune Staff Writer

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - All too frequently people misinterpret the message voiced by the St. Lucie Waterfront Council.  Make no mistake, said council member Bill Hearn, the Waterfront Council is not opposed to development at the Port of
Fort Pierce.

"A lot of people think we don't want any development at all at the port, and that's just not true," he said. "Some people think that all we want there is a park, and that's not true either."

The philosophy of the Waterfront Council is about 4 years old, members said. That's when the Waterfront Council was born at the port planning charrette of 1996.

The charrette came together as a committee of people who represent the diversity of residents in the county. Together, they brainstormed, discussed options and then made conclusions they recommended to local government officials. The port charrette devised a plan for the port that would devote one-third of the property to light industrial business, one-third to recreational activities and facilities. Somewhere along the planning stages, the final third became what is called a "flex zone," but where that came from is a mystery.

Waterfront Council members said they did not add the flex zone, but it appeared as part of the final plan.

"That flex zone was not there when the charrette ended," said charrette and council member Shirley Burlingham, president of the North Beach Association.

Perhaps the flex zone - and its mysterious appearance - in the port plans is what has left so much open for interpretation from onlookers in the community.

Since the beginning, many community members thought the Waterfront Council just opposed anything going on at the port, Hearn said, when the truth is that they know development at the port is inevitable.

"'But we want development there that doesn't do any damage to the fragile environment," he said.

Hearn answered several questions about the philosophy at a press conference called by the council last Wednesday.

The conference was called to announce the national designation from Scenic America of the country's 12 Last Chance Landscapes. The port and the downtown area of Fort Pierce and the Indian River Lagoon were named one of the 12.

The designation does not include any monetary reward but certainly opens the doors for grants and other assistance, said Council Chairwoman Dolores Hogan Johnson.

"We look to this for the kind of publicity to help us move toward a particular niche in ecotourism," she said. "What we want at the port is business that is economically and ecologically sustainable."

Council members have said that the perfect port activity would be some type of marine research facility, something that could tie in and expand upon what is already being done here by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and the Smithsonian Marine Station.

Harbor Branch has all kinds of marine-related research going on that ranges from biomedical research toward a cure for cancer to the development of aquaculture methods to promote a worldwide food source.

The Smithsonian Marine Station is researching, identifying and completing an inventory of life in the Indian River Lagoon. So far, the compiled data includes more than 4,000 species of marine animals, water mammals and plants that depend upon the lagoon for survival.

"And don't forget that the lagoon's economic value has been placed at $290 million a year," Hearn said.

That figure comes from the National Estuary Program, as part of the South Florida Water Management District.

Johnson said there are ways to work in harmony with the lagoon that don't spoil the natural beauty and importance of it. And there are more reasons to preserve the lagoon than just the environmental concerns.

"Of the 14 Florida ports," Johnson said, "we are one of the two smallest. And none of the others has the fragile ecosystem we have here."

'To move toward a "world-class hotel and conference center" that would incorporate activities in the area with marine research and education would be the perfect way to combine recreation/tourism, light industrial business and do no damage to the Indian River Lagoon, Johnson said. And she said the council is willing to work toward that in any way possible.

"We are a group with incredible vision."

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The Fort Pierce Tribune, 11/28/99, pg A8

Editorial

Designation shows unique value of area

The list is impressive. It includes Walden Woods in Massachusetts, the Missouri Ozarks and the Shenandoah Valley.

Most impressive of all is that the list includes downtown Fort Pierce, the Port of Fort Pierce and the city's section of the Indian River Lagoon.

Last week, Scenic America, a national non-profit organization dedicated to conservation, named the downtown Fort Pierce area among only 12 sites in the nation as a Last Chance Landscape, an area of natural beauty threatened
by potential development.

"Scenic America hopes that 1999 Last Chance Landscapes will help citizens everywhere save their irreplaceable scenic heritage as blossom and fruit for generations to come," said Meg Maguire, president of the organization.

The Fort Pierce downtown and waterfront were nominated for the designation by the St. Lucie County Waterfront Council.

Although the designation does not come with a financial reward, it may open the door for potential grants and awards to protect and preserve the area.

"We are pleased with the publicity this will give us," said Council member Jeanne Hearn. "This will help with what we're doing here, promoting and protecting what we have."

According to Hearn, this is the first time such national attention has been given to the Indian River Lagoon and the Port of Fort Pierce.

That designation should also help the city and the county economically through ecotourism promotion. The Fort Pierce waterfront and the Indian River Lagoon are tremendous assets to our area and citizens who are aware of that have
in recent years, especially, been working to keep them from harm.

National designation of the area along with such places as Walden Woods, which was made famous by Henry David Thoreau, could also have an impact locally in enhanced appreciation of the fragile environment of the Indian River Lagoon.

For example, it might spur increased momentum by the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority to move its treatment plant away from the Indian River Lagoon into which a recent spill from the plant sent millions of gallons of sewage and stormwater runoff.

It may also encourage environmentally-sensitive use of land at the Port of Fort Pierce.

Scenic America is one of the most respected conservation groups in the nation. That it would recognize the Fort Pierce waterfront as a Last Chance Landscape is extremely prestigious an should bring both pride - and concern.

We have been left a wonderful legacy. We should use it to our best advantage while saving it for future generations, maybe even better than it is now.

We appreciate the efforts of the Waterfront Council in bringing such attention to our unique area.