Update on LOX. Federal Refuge Dump Site Issue

[N. Cook]

I attended a meeting of invited environmental groups at the PB Cty. Waste Management offices....yes, I sat next to a flock of Sierra Club ladies and a sprinkling of similar minded folk....

The WM people know they are in trouble....the site is right next to the Refuge and the environmentalist (and UW-F representing those who duck hunt on the Refuge) are not going away.

This would be a 50 year dump site and would not meet the parameters UW-F has set as it is currently designed..."we do not want to be able to see the dump, hear the dump or smell the dump" while in the Refuge.

We are not against a dump in the general area....just that it be located with consideration of the Refuge.

The WM officials have set up a two track procedure, one moving forward for permitting on the current site..., two looking for alternatives (they have put out a request to land owners and have several possible new sites).

We will continue to monitor the progress made. This will cover about three years of meetings up to construction.

[brightlights]

Good, not to belittle your hard work Newton!

But we also need

1 Food in there for the ducks.
2 Better access for hunters by means of mud motors,
3 Increase the hunting hours to permit afternoon hunting, 4 Open it up 7 days a week,
5 Raise the no access latteral line up to the Boyton ramp,
6 Open up trails on mile markers 6-15,

Fishermen can fish all week and all day. Hunters are limited. Just not right.

[N. Cook]

Don't disagree, and in fact we had a trial for mud motors as you know but the biologist saw the video sales tape that shows a guy busting through a swamp and blowing mud and that ended that for a while!!!! We also were working on getting a portion of the northern section open to the public to better utilized the new boat ramp off Rt. 80 (with the intent to add hunting)....however, the Sierra Club and others have won a lawsuit in California, that is now on appeal, preventing any additional hunting on any Refuge. (that is why we cannot hunt white or canada geese on Merritt Island although they will both be legal in Florida next season).."Any additional hunting" means new days, hours, species or territory...

We have an excellent relationship with the Refuge staff and may be able to get the mud motors looked at again....There is no current Refuge Manager and no real change will take place until one is appointed.

[Keith Yates]

Can we approach someone higher on the food chain until the replacement manager is hired?

[jeepcj7]

Newton, as I recall Mark Musaus (sp?), the previous refuge manager, agreed to revisit the mud motor issue for the 2007 season. Obviously since he's been gone there likely hasn't been any forward progress on this but I agree that it makes sense to escalate this in the food chain since Mark's replacement may not be in place for a long time given the usual project life cycle for the federal government.