UPDATE Maps of AIP preferred alternative available on Park Website

Date: March 24, 2008
Contact: Linda Friar, 305-242-7714
Contact: Bonnie Foist, 305-242-7739

UPDATE – Maps of AIP preferred alternative to be presented at March 26 Public Meeting available on Park Website

Park seeks public comment on a Plan to address the Manatee Area of Inadequate Protection in the Gulf Coast area of Everglades National Park.

Everglades National Park Superintendent Dan Kimball encourages interested members of the community to attend  a second public meeting being held to present and seek comments on the park's preferred alternative for resolution of the Chokoloskee Area of Inadequate Protection (AIP) within Everglades National Park waters surrounding Chokoloskee Island in Collier County.

Park staff has worked diligently to address comments provided during the 30-day comment period that followed a January 16 public meeting held at the Everglades City School.  A focused working group, with vast local knowledge from a wide variety of backgrounds, has worked with park staff to design an alternative management option that uses the best available scientific data and local input to create an alternative that offers enhanced protection for manatees while providing safe public access through the waters within the AIP in Everglades National Park.  The revised alternative establishes Slow Speed Zones within areas of high manatee density and 30 Mile Per Hour zones that allow for safe navigation of the area’s shallow waters while preventing prop dredging in Chokoloskee Bay.  The preferred alternative should reduce impacts on water quality, seagrass, and other submerged resources while improving protection for manatees and their habitat. 

 Date              Location                                                                                                      

March 26                   Everglades City School,                   6:30 -8:30 PM

415 School Drive,

Everglades City, FL 34139

Input on the preferred alternative will be accepted through April 28, 2008. Maps detailing the preferred alternative and those presented in January are available on the Everglades National Park website at www.nps.gov/ever. These can be accessed under the AIP quicklinks on the home page.  Comments on alternatives can be provided in writing and either mailed to Bonnie Foist at ENP, 40001 State Road 9336, and Homestead, FL 33034-6733 or emailed to [e-mail].

For more information, please contact Everglades National Park Gulf Coast District Ranger Kevin Donnell by email, [e-mail] or by phone at [phone].

-ENP-