Revenues from the half-cent sales tax increase voters approved in November to buy environmental lands are coming in as expected: $6.6 million in the first four months of the year, on track to generate the anticipated $18 million/year, or $180 million over its ten-year lifespan. Importantly, Martin County is already able to bond a significant chunk of that $180 million, so the Committee has a lot more than $6.6 million to use right now.

They intend to spend as much as possible as quickly as possible by pursuing the easiest deals first, either buying the land outright or doing a conservation easement in perpetuity. They only negotiate with “willing sellers”; if the asking price is way above the market price, that’s not a ‘willing seller”.

Currently, they’re working on two projects. The first: buying nearly 1000 acres in Pal-Mar: the “highest-quality wetlands” in Martin County. The second: a conservation easement with the Bar D Ranch, a 1900-acre property near the C-44 reservoir; it’s in luxury-golf course territory where current zoning allows 1 home per 20 acres. 

An extensive review process -- initial approval by the Board of County Commissioners, Martin County staff working out the details, and a final BOCC approval -- still lies ahead. But the environmental-land acquisition process approved in November is well underway – and the money from the sales tax increase is being put to use in exactly the way voters intended.

Major Cory Bell, from the Army Corps Of Engineers, then shared some welcome news: their Lake Recovery Operation to lower the lake level and enable the decimated seagrass habitat to recover has been successful. One goal, to lower it below 11.5 feet for 60 days, has already been met, and given the current lake level of 10.97 feet the second goal, to lower it below 12 feet for 90 days, will almost certainly be achieved in mid-July. This means that -- barring a biblical deluge -- no further discharges to the east will be necessary for at least five years.

Five years!

Finally, Eve Samples, Executive Director of the Friends of the Everglades, mentioned Alligator Alcatraz. She noted that The Friends was formed in 1969 to fight a huge jetport project in the very heart of the Everglades – the exact location of Alligator Alcatraz. AA is just as much of an environmental threat as the jetport was – and it’s already gotten underway despite no environmental impact reviews whatsoever. They filed a lawsuit June 27 to stop it, but this is a rapidly-evolving situation, so you should go to https://www.everglades.org/ to keep up with the latest developments and get suggestions on what you can do to voice your opposition.

-- Walter Deemer, League of Women Voters Martin County Chapter Representative