The Hydrophyte Volume 19 Issue 3

The South Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society

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Highlights Wastewater Creates Wading Bird Oasis How to Store Pesticides Aquatic Activities at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research & Education Center Large Snails & Tiny Pink Eggs 2015 Environmental Report Shows Progress in South Florida Restoration

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President’s Message

Board Members - 2015 Officers 2015

Greetings Sfampers!

Hopefully, everyone has made it through the South Florida summer unscathed! As I write this (actually in July), I still have my fingers crossed that we are spared from a major hurricane once again this year!

Pretty sure that I just jinxed us! We shall see…

Enough with the weather report! I just want to once again say thanks to everyone that made our last general meeting at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park a great success! Thank- you Vortex, R&K Pump and SePRO for your generous sponsorships. Thanks also to our vendors who threw in some nice raffle prizes to sweeten the 50/50 cash prize drawing. A buck or two for a couple of raffle tickets, provided a good chance to take home a door prize, or a hand full of cash! I trust that everyone has put Trooper Rosen’s safe driving tips to practice? Remember, do not text or surf inappropriate websites while driving!

We are moving north to Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach for our next general meeting. I expect to see good attendance from our northern members.

Southern members…your turn to drive! Make sure to come early for coffee, donuts and mixing and please don’t forget to RSVP. As our meeting continues to grow, we need to have accurate head-counts for meeting accommodations and lunch order planning. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Stay safe out there!

Craig Smith President / SFAPMS

Craig Smith, President

(561) 301-8326

Linda Wolonick, Secretary/

(954) 370-0041

Treasurer Mark Weinrub, Immediate Past

(954) 972-8126

President Board Members 2015 James Boggs

(352) 521-3538

Rose Bechard-Butman

(954) 382-9766

Norma Cassinari

(334) 741-9393

Andy Fuhrman

(954) 382-9766

Lyn Gettys, PhD

(954) 577-6331

Scott Jackson

(561) 402-0682

John Selby

(954) 612-9664

Michael Shaner

(813) 267-5650

Steven Weinsier

(954) 382-9766

The Francis E. “Chil” Rossbach Scholarship Fund

Funds from the scholarship are used to help defray costs for students taking classes related to the study of aquatic environmental sciences or related areas. The scholarship is open to anyone, and all are encouraged to apply. Applications will be accepted throughout the year and the scholarship awarded when a suitable candidate is found. Money raised by the Society during the year partially goes to fund this scholarship, the intent of which is to promote the study of aquatics.

For an application, please go to www.sfapms.org.

Cover Photo: Stephen Montgomery | Allstate Resource Management

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Wastewater creates wading bird oasis By: Andy Reid | Sun Sentinel

Wildlife thrives at manmade wetlands in West Delray

Saturday, May 9, 2015 feeding at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, which means "created waters" in Seminole. Alligators, turtles and even the occasional otter or bobcat also have found at the wastewater-fueled wetland.

Where the birds go, bird watchers and other visitors follow.

Wakodahatchee had about 500,000 visitors last year, according to the county.

And about 750,000 visited the Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands, another man-made wetland using treated wastewater on Hagen Ranch Road near Boynton Beach.

With every flush, southern Palm Beach County becomes a more attractive destination for America's largest native wading bird.

After struggling through decades of shabby treatment by development, wood storks are finding a new home at a suburban oasis supplied by water washed down drains and flushed through toilets.

There at the site of an old sewage treatment plant, cleaned-up wastewater gets pumped into ponds, boosting the number of plants and fish. That is luring more wood storks and other wading birds to the man-made swamp beside Jog Road, north of Atlantic Avenue, west of Delray Beach.

"You have got plenty of fish, which is what the birds eat. It's safe habitat that appeals to them," county water utilities spokesman Robert Nelton said. "When they nest there once, it's not uncommon for them to come back again."

And the wood storks aren't alone. Great blue herons, great egrets and snowy egrets also are nesting and

"If you build it, they will come," joked Mike Rawls, a landscape architect for the county who helped create Wakodahatchee and Green Cay. "We have created the environment the birds are looking for (and) it provides sanctuary."

The 50-acre Wakodahatchee Wetlands opened in 1996, without county officials expecting to create such popular bird hangout that would turn into a bird watching attraction. (There were only eight parking spots when it first opened.)

The goal was to create a place to help get rid of treated wastewater that may technically be clean enough to drink, but is still far from appetizing to the typical H2O connoisseur.

The idea involved holding the water in ponds and using aquatic plants to help soak up more of the nutrient-rich leftovers in water that once washed away human waste.

Then the water could eventually soak back into the ground and restock the drinking water supplies.

Photo Credit: Mark Randall, South Florida Sun Sentinel

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Wastewater creates wading bird oasis Small fish were added to eat mosquitoes and avoid creating "a giant mosquito farm in suburban Delray Beach," Nelton said.

Those little mosquito-eating fish attracted hungry birds. And later bigger sunfish and catfish and others started growing in the ponds, likely thanks to fertilized fish eggs inadvertently delivered by wading birds regurgitating meals they ate elsewhere, according to the county.

The "nutrients" in the treated wastewater helped fertilize the aquatic plants and trees, creating more places to nest and feed. Eventually the alligators and turtles found their way there.

And now pumping in two million gallons a day of cleaned-up wastewater -- the same type of water used to keep many lawns and golf courses green -- allows the Wakodahatchee Wetlands to thrive.

Yet at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, the number of wood storks and other wading birds is on the rise.

Wood storks starting showing up there five years ago and now there are about 80 of the birds calling it home during the spring nesting season, according to the county.

Several wood stork nests are tucked into one of the tree islands near a pavilion on the boardwalk that winds through Wakodahatchee.

Squawking hatchlings call for food delivered by adult birds that soar over the ponds, hunting for fish.

Just one wood stork "family" needs to eat about 440 pounds of fish during nesting season, according to the conservation commission.

Creating new wildlife habitat amid South Florida's growing sea of asphalt is particularly good news for wood storks.

Slow-moving Everglades restoration, aimed at recreating water flows to Florida's parched River of Grass, is the best long-term, large-scale habitat solution for wood storks and other wading birds, according to Tabitha Cale, Everglades policy associate for Audubon.

The tall birds with featherless heads and long curved beaks rely on shallow pools of water to find small fish to feed themselves and their hatchlings.

In the meantime, Wakodahatchee is at least providing some wood storks a safe place to nest, with plenty of food.

The birds, with white and black feathers and a 5-1/2-foot wingspan, will fly up to 80 miles from their nest looking for feeding grounds, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

But through the decades, development and farming has claimed much of their prime territory.

Last year, the number of wood stork nests in Everglades National Park dropped 37 percent, according to Audubon Florida.

"Once you provide them the right type of wetland habitat, they will find them and use them," Cale said. abreid@sunsentinel.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews

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2015 Environmental Report Shows Progress in South Florida Restoration The South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection released their “2015 South Florida Environmental Report,” marking the 17th year of unified, streamlined environmental reporting by the two agencies.

The 2015 report detailed a year of science, engineering and environmental restoration progress to improve the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee Basin and South Florida coastal zones.

Spanning three volumes, the report unifies dozens of individual reports. The volumes, plus a 27-page executive summary, provide extensive peer-reviewed research summaries, data analysis, financial updates and a searchable database of environmental projects.

“The report details these efforts and the path forward to sustain the momentum of project construction and the state’s restoration strategies initiative,” said SFWMD Executive Director Black Guillory.

Highlights of the 2015 report include restoration strategies; Everglades water quality, best management practices, Kissimmee Basin restoration and “moving the water south”.

The restoration strategies initiative saw significant progress. Massive flow equalization basins and associated features are beginning to take, and design plans are under development to expand stormwater treatment area capacity.

The 57,000 acres of existing Everglades STAs treated more than 1.3 million acre-feet of water, reducing phosphorous loads by 81 percent.

Within the extensive Everglades water quality-monitoring network, water quality improved.

This was the first year that some of the stations previously identified as “impacted” transitioned to “unimpacted” status. Six stations successfully met the phosphorous criterion for the change in designated based on both five-year and annual compliance consistency.

Improved farming BMPs produced a 63 percent phosphorous reduction in the Everglades Agricultural Credit: Susan Telford and “Florida Specifier”

Area when compared to baseline data. Farmers have continued reducing nutrient discharges in the C-139 basin, maintaining nutrients discharges within allowable historic levels.

Kissimmee Basin restoration is ongoing. Providing water essential for the protection of fish and wildlife in the Kissimmee River, its vast floodplain and upper chain of lakes will involve a public process to reserve water for the ecosystem.

Rule development for water reservation will bring together stakeholders to continue an ongoing public review of Kissimmee science and technical data, with the goal of adopting a final rule this year.

Moving the water south has been one of the biggest challenges for all of the agencies. The reporting period reflected above average rainfall, marked by an aggressive start to the rainy season. As a result, Lake Okeechobee rose more than two and half fee during May, June and July 2013.

Although inflows into Lake Okeechobee were above the historical average, outflows were also significantly higher. And while the east and west coast estuaries received the brunt of the freshwater discharges, extra efforts were made to move the water to the south.

Of the three volumes of the 2015 report, the first volume showed findings derived from regional monitoring and research projects, and highlighted key financial information during 2014.

The second volume provided an annual update on the planning and project status for eight annual reports required of all water management districts.

The third volume expanded on the findings in Volume 1, further streamlined unified reporting and fulfilled various federal and state permit-related reporting requirements.

The 2015 South Florida report covers environmental information for Water Year 2014 – from May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014 – and project / budgetary information for Fiscal Year 2014 – October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014.

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Calendar of Upcoming Events MidSouth Aquatic Plant Management Society 34th Annual Conference - Mobile, AL September 14-16, 2015 www.msapms.org/conferences/2015

SFAPMS, Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, September 24, 2015 www.sfapms.org

Florida Aquatic Plant Management Society 39th Annual Conference - Lake Buena Vista, FL October 5-8, 2015 www.fapms.org

SFAPMS, General Meeting Thursday, October 22, 2015 www.sfapms.org

SFAPMS, Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, November 12, 2015 www.sfapms.org

North American Lake Management Society 35th International Symposium November 17-20, 2015 www.nalms.org

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Large snails and tiny pink eggs A non-native freshwater snail of the Pomacea sp. has established in Florida, Texas and Hawaii. The snails were native to South America, and were probably introduced to the United States from aquarium release (“aquarium dumping�).

This non-native snail feeds on aquatic plants and invertebrates. A single female can lay approximately 2,000 to 4,000 bright pink eggs each week. This snail is a threat to agriculture and native wetland ecosystems in the United States.

Moderately effective methods of control include biological control, pesticides and draining heavily infested areas followed by manual removal.

A study was done to investigate two other proposed methods of control, dislodging or flooding the eggs. The objectives of the study were to: compare the hatching success of unsubmerged egg clutches with the hatching success of partially submerged egg clutches, compare the growth rates between snails hatched from partially submerged egg clutches and snails hatched from unsubmerged egg clutches, and to determine if snails hatched in submerged conditions are viable to a shell length that exceeds 25 millimeters (one inch), which would be the average size of an adult snail of reproductive age. The egg clutches of invasive snails are distinctive, with many tiny pink eggs. They look much different than those of the native apple snails, which have fewer, larger white eggs.

During the study, researchers observed that eggs in unsubmerged conditions had an average hatching success of 47 percent, eggs in partially submerged conditions had an average hatching success of 43 percent and floating eggs (which had been dislodged from the vegetation where they had been deposited)had an average hatching success of 30 percent. A moderate estimate of a 10 percent hatchling viability to reproductive age in partially submerged eggs could result in 60 to 80 snails per clutch. With an average of 2064 eggs per clutch, these 60 to 80 snails could potentially produce more than 12,000 viable offspring in one week!

Non-native Pomacea species. have become the most serious snail pests, attacking a wide range of crops, with impacts in South-East Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Japan and Philippines.

Pomacea species. infestations in 1990 cost the United States $28 to 45 million. A thorough understanding of this species is crucial in applying methods to control this ongoing invasion.

Read the complete study: An Assessment of Submersion as a Mechanical Control Technique of Pomacea insularum eggs in Southern Florida, USA, by April S. Ostrom, Thomas C. Chesnes.

Published in Natural Resource and Conservation: http://bit.ly/1hzXVCd

Credit: April S. Ostrom, Palm Beach Atlantic University

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Credit: Reproduced from the AQUAPHYTE 2014 with permission of the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic & Invasive Plants

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Credit: Rose Bechard-Butman; Certified Arborist and Horticultural Consultant

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WEBSITES PRINT MARKETING Jodi Miller jodi@interactivedesignandmedia.com www.interactivedesignandmedia.com 561.843.1376