The Wildlife Forecast - Raking the wrack wrecks coastal wildlife’s home

By Patricia Behnke
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Raking the wrack wrecks coastal wildlife’s home

What is brown, teeming with life and raked off our beaches frequently? You may be struggling with an answer if the beach you frequent in Florida receives a clean sweep of all debris – both human-made and natural – before you put one big toe on the sand.
Beach wrack is the answer, and it is necessary to beach life, just as air is necessary to breathing. So why is it destroyed before the beach lovers hit the coast? It’s not sexy. Or at least on the surface, it’s not.
But that brown clump of seaweed teems with life and provides food and shelter for many animals that feed upon it. Beach wrack may not look like it, but it’s a pivotal part of the beach ecosystem. Yet, many beach lovers have never had the chance to ponder what lies beneath the surface.
“Local governments allot large amounts of money to beach raking every year,” said Nancy Douglass, a biologist who monitors shorebirds for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). “They do that because they are under the assumption everyone wants it done.”
But do we really want that? Do we want to take away a source of food for already stressed shorebirds pinched by sea level rise on one side and development on the other? Before answering those questions, take a stroll through Beach Wrack 101 with me to learn more.
Beach wrack consists of seagrass and marine algae mixed with shells, sand dollars, starfish, tiny shrimp, driftwood, sponges, coral and other biotic treasures that have drifted at sea before washing ashore, especially after storms. After landing on dry land, beach wrack becomes host to a diverse cast of insects and other tiny invertebrate animals, such as jumping beach hoppers, which are harmless rice-sized crustaceans. The tiny animals, in turn, serve as food for many other creatures.
Migrating shorebirds fly thousands of miles each year to munch on the nutritious meals found in that clump of seaweed.
Wrack also provides a safe haven for many animals that escape predators by hiding under it or by blending in with it. A shorebird can “disappear” while napping among the similarly colored shades of seaweed browns and grays.
Beach wrack also is critical to the health of the dunes by providing plant nutrients and stabilizing windblown sand. The wrack carries seeds from many dune plants, such as beach morning glory and sea rocket. As sand builds up and the seeds within the beach wrack take root, new dunes grow.
On some beaches, the sand is machine-raked; new dunes are manicured away; and the wrack is removed. These efforts cost taxpayers, but there is a price paid by the beach system as well. A natural wrack line is a key component of a healthy beach ecosystem.
“While a natural beach may not look as manicured as a raked beach, the diversity and richness of a natural, functioning beach is infinitely more interesting than the sterile landscape of one that is groomed,” Douglass said. “We can strengthen the health of habitats that are already being pinched by leaving more wrack so beaches can support migratory and wintering birds that use the wrack for both food and cover.”
However, Douglass cautions that stopping the raking of beaches alone is not a panacea for what is inevitable in Florida. Sea level rise is squeezing an already narrow, linear habitat that is limited even under the most natural of conditions. Unfortunately, shorebirds are being pinched between rising water levels and a solid line of roads and buildings in the most congested areas. Combined with sea level rise, beach habitat becomes an even narrower corridor for wildlife. And raking those narrow corridors creates sterile beaches that are not friendly to wildlife.
“In the short term, we can’t move the condos, and we can’t stop sea level rise,” Douglass said. “But we can try to be more responsible in how we manage our beaches. Stopping the removal of beach wrack will serve as a stopgap measure for shorebirds that are in trouble now. Individuals can contribute by making their voices heard in the community.”
Douglass suggests that folks voice their opinions about how their beaches are managed to community leaders and beach businesses, as well to the tourist councils that may encourage raking the beaches to attract visitors.
Wildlife needs the wrack, but there are other benefits. Wrack provides a line of protection for structures during tropical storms by lessening the impact of storm surge. It also saves municipalities money and lessens our carbon footprint by keeping those big machines off the beach.
Maybe that makes beach wrack sexy after all.
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Contact Patricia Behnke at pat.behnke@myfwc.com.

Who knew?

Who knew that golf would teach me lessons I've been trying unsuccessfully to learn all my life. There's a lesson in my attitude about golf as well. I never had anything good to say about the sport. And then Robert came into my life and guess what? I had to change my perceptions and attitudes and preconceived notions about a whole lot of things. Turned out that golf is his sport and for a jock, having a sport is tantamount to having a calling. So I decided in the early months of our still new relationship that I could either try and get him to give it up or I could join him. There would be no in between here.

So I weilded a golf club for the first time in nearly four decades. Some days I do all right; others I suck. On the days I suck, I revert to five-year-old behaviors and stomp my feet and shake my club. But on the course, the Zen of life becomes apparent. Even when I play poorly overall, I can take pleasure in my surroundings. I'm outside; I'm with the man I love; I'm focusing on one thing; I'm learning that life is about taking it one shot at a time and reveling in the times it works and learning from it the times it is not.

Now if I could just get him to ice skate.

Two Moons in Africa

Go to http://www.twomoonsinafrica.com to learn more about my latest book.

Finally, Two Moons in Africa: Barbara and Brent Swans Story of Terrorism has been published. Check it out. The story isn't mine - I only pulled the pieces together for the Swans. It's a compelling story that traces the course of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unfortunately, that story never ends.

Starting a new relationship

Some things are easy about starting a new relationship at my age. I'm happy that first dates are over. I'm glad I don't have to figure out strategy on how to say no to the second date. And I'm content staying home on a Friday night without feeling everyone in the whole world, except me, is out living life.

But other things are more difficult, especially after the end of long-term marriages. We are conditioned to respond and react to one another based on other people. When RL says something that reminds me of my ex, I say something back that never worked in the previous relationship, so it certainly won't work now. The other day when he almost hit a car in a parking lot, I even called him by the ex's name. Not a good thing when starting afresh. He did the same once with me, but he covered it up. He confessed when I felt horrible about my blurt. I felt a little less guilty but nonetheless chagrined.

Today as I emptied the dishwasher I thought about all those things we did with our former spouses. My ex never believed in drying anything with a towel. Everything had to be air dried. I started pulling things out of the dishwasher that were still wet and set them on the counter. Then I wondered what RL would think about the cluttered countertop when he came home.

"Why don't I just use the towel," I thought to myself. It was an "aha" moment. I can use the towel now rather than throw it in. Now the counter is cleared, the dishes are dried, and I am free of ex-husbands and dates.

It really is pretty easy after all.

Living in Pittsburgh

The past year has brought many surprising twists and turns to my life. First, falling in love once again after so many years with the first real love of my life perhaps is one of the greatest stories of my life. That has yet to be written - for public consumption. The second greatest twist happened when I fell in love with Pittsburgh. When I first visited here more than nine months ago, my daughter asked me why I was traveling to Pittsburgh. I wasn't sure I was ready to announce that I was going to meet my first love after a 37-year separation.

"I've always wanted to go there," I said.

"You have not," she replied.

And she was right. Pittsburgh was never on my top 10 list of places to visit - it probably wouldn't have made the top 100.

But here I am living here most of the time while I transition from Florida. And all I can say is I've fallen in love twice this past year - once with a man and once with a place.

The Wildlife Forecast -Climate Change bill provides for wildlife and habitats

Patricia writes this monthly column for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

Amid all the media attention on health care reform, economic recovery and the first-moonwalk anniversary, a bill made its way through the U.S. House of Representatives this summer. It may be just one piece of legislation, but it is one gigantic leap for the environment and wildlife.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 contains one section particularly important to wildlife – Natural Resource Adaptation. It sets a policy “to protect, restore and conserve natural resources to enable them to become more resilient, adapt to, and withstand the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.”
This is a wise course. Federal dollars will help state agencies and others “on the ground” implement the act – to make the kinds of lasting impacts that will ensure our wildlife adapts and is resilient to these projected changes.

Jackie Fauls, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) director of Legislative Affairs, says the money should be there to help Florida’s managers of wildlife.

“The bill includes language that will help fish, wildlife and natural resources adapt in a warming world,” Fauls said. “It provides 1 percent of revenues from a cap-and-trade system that will go to domestic natural resource adaptation, beginning in 2012, and will increase in allocation to 4 percent beginning in 2027.”

The adaptation component for wildlife is crucial because the experts agree that fish and wildlife will have to adapt to rising sea levels and warming temperatures, or they will not survive. It is up to the wildlife managers – in Florida state government, that’s the FWC – to help them adapt and remain resilient.

“Functioning ecosystems are critical to the future of life on this planet,” said Matt Hogan, executive director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “They provide a wide range of life-sustaining services in the form of clean water, clear air, and other benefits that determine the quality of human life. Ecosystems can significantly capture carbon and sustain fish and wildlife, which provide billions of dollars in direct economic benefits.”

The FWC has made adaptation of wildlife a priority by forming first a Climate Change Team and then an adaptation group that is already at work designing, planning and creating strategies that will manage fish and wildlife in Florida for the challenges ahead. The climate change bill has the potential to help agencies, such as the FWC, implement these management strategies to ensure no species goes extinct as climate change becomes more and more real.

“Climate change is a complicated issue,” said Terry Doonan, co-chairman of the FWC’s Adaptation Working Group. “We have some understanding of the impacts of climate change, but we have much to learn about the specific impacts and how they change from one part of the state to another. The more we understand, the better we’ll be at ensuring we do the best job possible of managing and conserving Florida’s diverse fish and wildlife species.”

While the politicians debate the virtues of the bill – which could go to a vote in the Senate sometime in the fall – and the wildlife managers plan strategies, individuals can lower greenhouse gas emissions, too.

The National Wildlife Federation asks us to do our part by taking the Good Neighbor Pledge found on its Web site at http://online.nwf.org. I took the pledge today. By promising such things as replacing five incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs; turning off lights when not using them; turning off my PC, monitor and printer when not in use; unplugging electronic devices (or putting on a power strip that is turned off); setting the thermostat two degrees lower or higher, depending on the season; using the air-dry setting on my dishwasher; and driving the speed limit, I passed the test to be a Good Neighbor. I even have a certificate to prove it, although I decided to save the ink and paper and not print it out. It is the simple things we all do together that can make a big difference for our future.
At the federal, state or individual level, all of us can do our best to ensure the forecast for fish and wildlife remains resilient and hopeful.

The Wildlife Forecast - Watch the coral reefs for effects of climate change

Written for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Images of red and purple coral with darting blue and orange fish dance in my imagination when I think of Florida’s coral reefs. My dreams turn to nightmares, however, when I study the forecasts for the precious and important habitat.

“The coral reefs are the sentinel for climate change,” said Patty Glick from the National Wildlife Federation and author of “Preparing for a Sea Change in Florida.” “And in the Caribbean and Florida we’re already seeing the signs.”

Coral reefs are called the “rain forests of the sea” because of the number of species they harbor. They cover only 0.07 percent of the ocean’s floor, but they are home to one-quarter of the world’s fish and marine species.

The creation of a coral reef is a complicated process and takes thousands of years. Yet with increasing sea temperatures a reality, coral bleaching could wipe them all out by the end of this century.

The vibrant colors of the corals are actually caused by algae that feed the coral. High temperatures create stress, and the coral expels the algae. When this “bleaching” occurs, the coral loses its color.

“Coral is highly sensitive to temperatures at higher thresholds,” Glick said. “When bleaching occurs, it means the coral is starving to death.”

The most extensive living coral reef in the United States lies adjacent to the Florida Keys, serving as the first line of defense during storms, protecting our beaches from further erosion. They may offer a form of human protection, too. Corals may be home to medicines that hold the cure for today’s incurable diseases. The limestone deposits of the coral could become invaluable as a source for surgical bone replacements. The natural sunscreen of the coral is being studied by scientists around the world.

But for how long? One of the first effects of global warming may very well attack the sea before we see visible effects on the land. Rising sea temperatures are already having an impact.

“The Tropical Atlantic region’s temperatures have risen 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past three decades,” Glick said. “A full degree may not seem like a lot, but coral is highly sensitive, so it is very detrimental.”

Should we give up and rush out now to see a dying ecosystem? As we make our own personal sacrifices, rest assured there are groups doing something now. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project monitors the condition of coral reefs annually throughout the Florida Keys, Southeast Florida and the Dry Tortugas.

“The focus of our monitoring is to observe changes in coral cover over time,” said Rob Ruzicka with the FWC’s coral reef program. “We document changes in status and trends of the coral reef sites we monitor for the managers at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the National Park Service.”

Places such as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary help educate the public about the importance of reefs. The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Reef Resiliency Program identifies the resilient areas of the reefs and studies why those areas have been able to survive and revive.

In 2008, the FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute was one of the sponsors of the International Coral Reef Symposium, which brought together the world’s top scientists, conservationists, economists and educators to advance coral reef science, management and conservation. Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill at the symposium that eliminated the use of ocean outfalls for wastewater disposal in Southeast Florida.

“Coral reefs are extraordinary living ecosystems that draw visitors, support our economy and protect our beaches and homes from erosion and storm surge,” Crist said in a press release. “Florida will continue to take steps, such as new legislation reducing nutrients and other pollutants in the ocean, which will protect these sensitive ecosystems for residents and visitors for generations to come,”

According to the FWC, reef-related expenditures generate billions of dollars in sales and provide thousands of jobs in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Environmentally and economically, we can not afford to lose our coral reefs.

The forecast for our coral reefs may seem bleak, but if we do our part to support the programs that pursue their conservation, we may find we’ve slowed things down just enough to ensure the coral reefs survive for our grandkids.