Today is Wednesday, February 11th. >> Today is Wednesday, February 11th, 2026. I'm calling to order the advis advisory committee of the marine and environmental resource task force for the town of Fort Myers Beach. Could we
all rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you. You may be seated. >> Say, "Our father." >> Okay. With your mic on. >> Yes, I do. >> How's that? >> Better. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right. With that, I will proceed with the roll
call. Todd Zachinelli, >> present. >> Make sure your mic is on. >> Present. >> Sharon Hagstrom, >> present. >> Ed Rude, >> here.
>> And Dave Nusbomb is here. Um, do we have uh uh Bill Elto is uh on on conference and as soon as we establish the quorum? Uh, did you receive anything from Jennifer at all? >> Yes. Uh, sorry, Chad Shoots, town of
Fort Meyer speech staff. Um, both Jyn and um, Ranger Rob asked to be uh, excused for this meeting. >> Okay, thank you. U, with that, we do have a quorum. First we have to do is uh
member Alto is uh wish to be here via zoom. So u I'll accept a motion to accept accept uh bill attending via zoom. >> I'll make that motion. >> Okay, I'll second that. All those in
favor say I. >> I oppose. Motion carries. Bill, you're in the meeting. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate Okay, turn your volume up just a tad, please. >> Is that better? >> Yes.
>> All right. >> Okay. With that, I would like to approve the agenda for the meeting. U there is a 1:00 meeting that they're having here. So in the
um issue of time and we have a big agenda today, we may have to cut the portion regarding the uh updating the MURF
u guidelines, but uh I'd like to keep that open and if it gets close, we can we can table that till our next meeting. Is there any objection to that? >> No. >> No. >> Okay. With that then uh is there any
problem with the agenda as written? >> So moved. Okay. I'll accept the agenda. Thank you. >> All right. Uh with that we now have to approve uh our previous meeting minutes. Uh, I'll
accept the I'll take a motion to accept the previous minute meetings. >> Yes. >> So moved. >> So moved. >> I'll second that. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Minutes
approved. Okay. Now that we got rid of all of the stuff we legal stuff, uh, now we are open to public comment. Uh we have a a very nice crowd today. Thank you all for coming. Uh I will uh
do it by rows again. That seemed to work the best. So if there's anyone in the third row that would like to make a comment, please come up and turn your mic on. Okay.
Is there anyone in the fourth row that would like to make a public comment? please raise your hand and step forward. Okay, with that I'll close public comment.
>> Much better than last meeting. Um, okay. With that, going down the agenda, we are now at the MURF award. Um, at this time, I would like to ask uh Kathy
Turner to come forward, please. Come on up. >> It's pretty. Kathy is president of the Fort Myers Beach Garden Club and in recognition of their contribution
to the Arbor Day Festival uh and donating so that we could provide trees to many of the residents from the garden club. The MURF committee decided that the garden club should receive the
MURF award. This is our way of expressing appreciation to the individual or group that best um adds to the economic and environmental stability of the island and this is welld
deserved. So with that congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Here's the award. Please turn around. Please stand everyone. in there. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Morning. >> Yeah. >> That's nice. That's nice. >> All right. One, two, three. Trees. Trees. >> Trees are cheap. Trees is good.
>> Trees. >> All right. >> Okay. Okay. >> One minute. >> Pardon me. Yes, you. And please say something if you so choose. >> And where does this turn on? >> On the button. There's a button on the
bottom. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Well, I thank you for this award for on behalf of the Stera Island Garden Club. Uh we were thrilled to be able to sponsor um Arbor Day. We look forward to
continuing collaboration with the town on uh matters of horiculture and landscaping. So I thank you very much. You all have my contact information so I can't disappear. So looking forward to working with you in the future. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Very welldeserved award. >> I'd love trees. Trees are probably the greatest renewable resource on the planet and they always get second fiddle to somebody. So it's great that we have
recognition of Arbor Day. My personal opinion. Okay, we now have a presentation. >> We're doing Brianna's right now. >> Yeah, we can go to Brianna's. Okay. All right. We are going to have a presentation.
We're going to adjust our schedule a little bit and have a presentation by Rebecca Schneider. >> Yeah. Okay, we can do >> Okay. >> Is Brianna here? >> Okay. All right.
Um, >> what's Brianna's last name? >> Franklin. >> Okay. Um the other award we have um which we're I thought we were going to move down the but I guess we're doing
it now is the uh the other MURF award and this is one that um Ed I'm going to let you kind of give the narrative on this because you nominated Briana. Well, Briana Briana was the
representative, the FWC representative uh that um looks over the uh the birds, the nesting birds during the bird season. And um I had the pleasure of of meeting her last year and um she um um
her and her assistant Kaye um they h they they have they have a job that they do down there and I understand that it's that it's part of what they're hired and paid for but um from from living there u behind the area that that
they monitor and watching them and all the effort that they put and and um uh it it just it just they just worked there all the time tirelessly trying to trying to to make it work and to work with all
of the the residents that that live behind the nesting area and um and and the amount of labor and the time that they spent out there was just far above and beyond I believe uh that what they were actually uh expected to do. And so,
and it's a long it's a long season. Um, it's it's practically what almost 6 months. Um, and they're out there through the heat. Uh, it's it's during the heat of the year and um um and and it just I was amazed at how dedicated
they were and how how important it was to them uh to protect the the the nesting birds and and to take care of the area. And so I I just felt it was appropriate that that the town recognized them for their efforts. >> So Brianna, if you could come forward,
please. >> Ed, here you go. >> Thank you very much for everything that you've done. especially all of us down on the south end. We really appreciate everything that y'all do.
>> Squeeze in again for a picture, kids. >> That's perfect. >> Wherever you wish. >> Yeah, >> two birds. >> That's funny. >> Thank you. Would you like to say a few words?
>> Sure. >> Okay. >> I have already been let know that I'm a quitter. So, um I too feel that way. And unfortunately, I wish I was still able to do my job down there. It's the first season I haven't. I was there for about
two years. But we couldn't have done it without the Perry's of course. Thank you very much. and Ed and everyone else's support, Chad especially. It was a big learning curve obviously, but I think hopefully we started some things that continue in the future and we can build
upon the relationships that we made and, you know, better the beach for people and the birds at the same time. So, thank you all for your support. I am still available. I may have dipped out of FWC, but I'm available for whenever you need, whatever assistance you may
need. And just thank you all. I appreciate your support. >> Thank you, Brianna. >> Okay. >> Thank you everyone. Uh moving down on the agenda, we're now going to have a presentation by
>> Muhammad Davies. >> Muhammad Davies >> Davies on dune impacts in response to success of hurricanes. Yeah. So, uh, Mohamd is with Humson and Moore. Um, they do great work. They've,
uh, helped out a lot of, uh, uh, condos and, uh, residences here on the beach. And I saw Muhammad's, uh, presentation just last week at the, uh, Florida, uh, shoreline and beach preservation conference and immediately went to ask
him, can you give this presentation to Murf? cuz it uh is very uh uh topical and um relevant to uh what we've been through and what we're still going through here on Fort Myers Beach. So, Muhammad, take it away. >> Thank you, Chad, for the uh uh for the
opportunity to be here and I have to say I missed my turn coming in because my head was on a swivel. I haven't been here in a while and I'm still in awe of how much Ian have uh reshaped the island and how much recovery has happened over
the past uh two and a half years. So uh kudos to everyone involved and I appreciate Chad's uh bringing me back here uh and also to see the uh beach nourishment being done that was a long time coming. So uh uh as we all plan for
more sustainability, we know we cannot fend everything, but we at least need to be uh ready for all the nuisance storms and then know what to do when we get a big one. Uh and no one knows that better than than the town of Fort Meyers. Um
and hopefully you've met your KOD and you met your your multi-entury event. So we'll focus on the high frequency storms and what we need to do to achieve sustainability and the presentation that we prepared for this year is basically
the outcome of um our modeling and analysis and restoration efforts in Kier County. So uh and and Chad is no uh stranger to Kier issues as well as Lee County issues. So it all it's it's all the same kind of issues that we deal
with. Um so in in general terms um sustainability is function of our preparedness is function of how we can um prepare our environment to be a good habitat not just for humans
but also for all the u wildlife as well as um developing the natural features that help us defend some of the storms that come from the the open gulf. So in in general when we look at Fort
Myers Beach, we're on a barrier island and if we look at the so the presentation was regarding Kier County for the most of Kier County, it's heavily developed. We have some parcels that are highlighted in in um in in those three circles that show the
natural setting of a barrier island, a backwater or a lagoon and then coastal vegetations. the dune and the dune vegetation is a very critical element of that coastal defense system and that was the highlight of of uh our
uh paper this year and for our resiliency uh the town of Fort Myers Beach would be similar to that kind of typical profile where we have upland development and then we have the beach and the coastal system that is basically squeezed between
the upland development that is not going anywhere and a barrier island that if left unattended would like to keep rolling landward and that's why we keep putting beach nourishment and the beach nourishment was done and that was a long time coming as I indicated but we cannot
lose sight of the fact that we had the litany of storms especially in the past um five years where we had practically five major storms since that kind of brushed us in one way or another
and created all kind of um uh impacts and multiple impacts and our analysis was looking at how did the dune function before in and where we are where our restoration because sometimes we restore the beach but we kind of say the dune is
is if we have the space for the dune we replanted if the removed all the vegetation we don't really realize that removing all the dune vegetation makes us more vulnerable so that was a case to quantify that we started last year with
looking at a natural setting of the Wiggins P Wiggins Pass Park which is um the northernmost inlet in Kier County and the it's a state park in one side and a um um county park on the other
and we basically tried to quantify the function of the dune and the dune vegetation in the storm resiliency. Um so without going into the technical details we basically classified several plants uh starting with the the frontter
the the the dune front would be sea oats then we have sea grapes and then in the back side we could have established Australian pines and some mangroves on the on the back shoreline and um if we look at that sequence for that area of
Wiggins Pass you'll see that prein the the beach was backed by a dune and thick vegetation. ation and then after you see that the vegetation got kind of like reduced to maybe 50 60% of what it was before because of in uh plus we also
lost elevations but because in kind of knocked out the dune initially and it was stronger knock um when Helina Milton came they have an they had an easier way of continued to push the sand on onto the parking lot that you see in the
furthest um picture to the right that the the um the the whole parking lot is covered in sand. So this is just a model simulation of hurricane in
and it it basically shows the the barrier and the green color shows the vegetation. And then the graph on the right shows the storm hydrograph showing the water level as it rises up and it rises from the back from the inlets and then the island gets completely
inundated and then the waves keep pounding and then we lose some of the the trees and then when the storm retreats we see that we have some sort of a overwash fans and and sand that is flowing uh that got pushes inland.
Um and then we look at the model results at different stages. And in in in that specific case, we're looking at the uh uh initial condition, then at the peak of the storm in the middle, then after the the the storm um passes. And then
the the the the one two punch is like, you know, after we ended up with more storms knocking down a system that was already battered down. So without really going too much into this, I'll skip to the three profiles. The yellow area is
the barrier profile before the uh before in uh sorry and the this area in the middle is where the vegetation used to uh where the vegetation um were before. And then you
can see that Ian pushed the the black uh profile line into the dotted line which the translation into the the back area or the landware area was not as extensive. We just had a translation of the dune because of the vegetation and
the established of dune. But then because that system was already weakened when we had Ein uh uh sorry when we had Helen and Milton follow in you can see the red line of how much sand had easier way being pushed to the uh towards the
um the east side. Um so we we took all this information to help with our design for the resiliency of co of of Kier County. And the example I'm going to use here is for um Pirican Bay which is uh a
small basically a small city within the Kier County uh that has its own tax district and we're specifically focusing on an area that has um a thin barrier with dune and and
vegetation and a mangrove shoreline that is uh on the back side there's outer clam bay and you can see the sequence of aerial of pre-in, postin, and then post Milton of how much loss of vegetation
and how the doom got pushed into the bay and make it into an area that if we get hit by another storm, it might actually breach uh this um this barrier. um to show you part of our technical analysis
in this in this profile. If we focus on the top uh in the top one, we'll see the the area that is um uh in yellow on the top. It's very difficult to focus. Um is the profile
before in and then the red is the measured profile post in. And if we um look at the water level going up and down in the in the model simulation and then the storm comes inundates and then pushes the whole uh system down. This
simulation was done without any without including any vegetation and you can see how much without vegetation the doom got pancaked and pushed um over 100 feet or 200 feet into the bay. But then when we introduce the vegetation and different
layers of it including the seaggrasses, the sea grapes and the the uh the mangroves and the Australian pine, you see that the model response gave us uh results that matched uh what actually happened in reality because all these
thick forest help uh kind of slow down the the progression of the uh the sand overwash as well as attenuate the energy of the water. Um so when when we uh took it a step further and simulated Helen
and Milton um and this example here shows the uh how we were able with the remnant of the vegetation uh model the uh the penetration of the overwash into outer
cloud bay. And um uh if we this is a prediction. So if we do not do anything and and another Milton comes by, we'll have further overwash
and an uh lowering of our burm to an to an elevation that would make us more vulnerable to breaching in the future. So to overcome that, we've uh came up with a plan that restored practically three miles of coastline from the city
of Naples to um uh to the uh Vanderbilt Road, if you're aware of of of Kyle County roads. Um and we basically reclaimed the overwash that used to sit on
um on the outer clam bay area and reclaimed it. Removed the dead mangroves and the dead vegetation and reconstructed the burm that is roughly n plus nine or nine and a half. and then in to complement the Kier
County's beach nourishment effort similar to the effort you do here where you're adding beach width. Um and then when we run the model for without any adding any vegetation when we run the model we'll see that when we
get another Milton the doom will be wiped out and pancake and pushed in but it will be pushed in to levels similar to what we had before Milton. We're not going to keep contining land would retreat, but we will lose the dune that we uh vegetated. And then if we add
vegetation and hopefully we will not have the the type of storms that allow these vegetation to grow, we'll see how much those trees will help stabilize the beach and the dune and prevent the penetration of sand
into the landward areas whether they're upland or um natural preserves. So this is just a summary of the model results and uh basically saying this is the restored profile u and then we up the dune to plus n the burm is near plus4 or
plus five depending on the area um and then if we don't have any vegetation we end up if we have another milton we'll have an uh the level of of overwash that that uh uh that you see
there and then with vegetation we have a much more limited. So this basically highlighted the um the function of both the dune and the dune vegetation and the mature uh thickets that sits in the back of the
dune in mitigating some of the storm damages uh in case of a future storm. And that effort has been uh we're in the final stages of completing it at this point uh for um uh in this picture here we saw the area that I uh explained
about the um uh the narrow section uh between outer clam bay and the Gulf. And then um the uh the scale of the scale of the uh of the dune you can see uh the project manager from PBSD standing there. So the dune basically the dune
height is roughly five to six feet above the burm and it has uh practically a 70 75 foot uh base. So it is a decent size dune and we are now uh on the process of planting. We have planted about 3,000
mangroves in in the area that you see there on the back shore. And then we're going from the mangrove plateau that we restored to plant more um coastal dune uh plants. And we're continuing with that plan um on the on the on the on the
um inside the the inlet as well. We've uh did some restoration of the mangroves that were damaged and then along the uh the northern part of Pelican Bay all the way to Vanderbilt. That area is about
two miles and we've completed a dune in the size that I just mentioned throughout this area. Um and uh if I can just show you pictures that you're very familiar with. This is basically the um
windshield assessment of post storm where you drive on the beach and you see no sign of burm damaged habitat damaged uh no significant doom whatsoever. Everything is pushed landward. Um and um that that
was the what prompted us to do all the effort that was done on that on those three miles. You can see that all these boardwalks while they're still standing and damaged um currently the dune basically barely brushes the land the
the the the elevation of those decks. Here are uh here is a picture of the post conditions and this is the same tour two days ago uh showing that the beach that was uh partly nourished by Kia County coastal zone effort. the dune that was basically reclaimed sand from
the previous overwash and then um we have a more uh resilient profile. The planting is underway and u uh not only the dune as you can see it in this picture uh provide the
resiliency. It also restores the level of privacy for private properties that used to that used to have that privacy through a a dune and a coastal thicket. So on choosing the elevation the the crest of the dune is basically above the
eye level of someone walking the shoreline and that adds another layer um in addition to the a meter a meter and a half of storm surge that we might get. And that concludes my uh my presentation
and uh once again I appreciate uh being here and I appreciate all the work that was done that uh is very impressive to see how how the the town has recovered to some degree from uh um I don't know
was it considered finally a 300y year event a 400y year event I have no idea but it's just a >> hopefully several lifetimes doctor. >> Yes. So I I but with all what we're doing, we're not planning we we're just saying if we have another 100redy year
event or a 50-year event, we should be able to have some resiliency to it where we can do manageable maintenance. Um but we should be able to withstand the all the nuisance storms, all the king tides
and and um um high frequency storms without much upheaval uh that we expect from major storms. >> Okay. Thank you, doctor. Do we have any questions from anyone? >> Yes, I have a question if that's okay.
>> Yes, that's uh Mr. Al. >> Yes, go ahead, Bill. Oh, thank you. Uh, thank you, Muhammad. That was very good. Can we have copies of that presentation? >> I I think uh Chad has the uh the PowerPoint, but I I think he can make a
PDF the because the the because of the videos and the animations, it's just not not going to be emailable. Um so if if you can just print it to PDF, you can pass it along. >> All righty. The second thing is you you talked about uh sustainability of a
resiliency with the Australian pines >> since they're not really a native species. Is there another tree like a sable palm that would >> I I think it comes down the same type of uh protection. I we we used the the
Australian pine because they exist on the Wiggins Pass Park and some other areas and um it was introducing to the model different types of of vegetation to create a thicket on the back side of the
the dune. So what we saw is while sea oats really help with a lot of the milder storms helping keeping the dune elevation and helping trapping wind driven sand, they don't really have that kind of resiliency to withstand when the
when there's a lot of force pushing pushing sand landward. But having mangroves at the the uh the lower shoreline in natural areas, having sea grapes and uh any kind of thicket on the
back side of the dune u really help reduce the penetration and the overwash limits. So, in the case of Fort Myers Beach, you've got your road and your infrastructure right there, and you've got also properties that are sitting right on um uh on the uh edge of the the
edge of development. Um having a dune and vegetation is uh a very valuable asset for uh for engineering with nature and for resiliency. Um it's just a matter of uh um when you plan those you
have to also be prepared to have some iterative process with this because if we get storms before the plants mature they become um you know >> sacrificial >> yeah sacrificial elements. So when we when we planted we planted already 3,000
mangroves and we have a capacity to do 10,000 and I always tell them you know don't get disheartened when you see either dead uh plants or washed away plants because if we recover 40 to 50% if we have 40 or 50 that reach maturity
we've achieved a lot. uh we we just have to have the understanding that when you work with nature, you also have to understand that it's an iterative process with nature and nature does not really take any orders from us. We are
the one who should respond to nature rather than trying to dictate things on nature. >> Agreed. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. >> So, yeah, if I may, chairman. >> Sure. Go ahead. Um, thank you so much.
Um, so whenever I saw uh his models and that that graphic showing how the um the sand was moving and how much more overwash was happening when there was no vegetation that really drove home. It's definitely what we lived um over the last several years with uh putting that
emergency BM there and having that uh amount of overwash without that vegetation. Um as uh Dr. Davy said it's uh it's difficult whenever you're getting hit uh year after year to get some vegetation in there and mature
vegetation to actually hold that sand in. Um that's something that um was discussed at the FGCU uh uh kind of environmental get together that they had and having trying to develop a kind of a rapid response um you know plantings to
try and get some quick growing things to try and stabilize the dunes. Uh but again whenever he made this presentation I was it it it just seemed like a such a great illustration and model of what we've lived and what and also therefore what we what we need to do and getting
some more um vegetation out on our dunes. Um, one thing I did want to ask is whenever you're quantifying the vegetation, just in a relative sense, um, from, you know, sea, if you know, if sea oats are one, what is a, what is the
a mangrove or a green buttonwood, what is a sea grape? Um, we're obviously not going to be planting any Australian pines out here, but we can get some, you know, equivalent uh, you know, trees and everything. So, what what would be like the holding power that you're assigning it in the model? And how did you come to
that? I I would say buttonwood is a very good alternative for dune vegetation, especially in the backside of the dune and the sea grapes as well. They they grow big and high and then they become I'm I'm trying to focus on the
>> the root structure as well as the thicket that develops between the trunks and the um the structure of the tree itself. So having a combination of um um buttonwoods and sea grapes is what we recommended and what we're planting.
We're not planting uh obviously we're not planting um Australian pines but that was what was there and that was what we were trying to calibrate too. Uh so I think it is uh um important to diversify and also I'm not a biologist.
I just give the feedback. So initially our biologist came back and say let's plant the overwash where where that sand is and then I looked at it it's like okay if we retreat 50 to 100 ft based on
2024 storms we're losing acreages of wetlands we're losing um a lot of space plus we lost the elevation of the dune. So, we came up with the the plan to kind of flip back the overwash to restore the dune and then the biologist came with
the the the planting plan. And um we put this information in the model and we believe that we have a much higher chance of um withstanding storms with the current plan than just uh planting existing overwash.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Um we we can't to have questions from you know that's >> afterwards >> you can talk to doctor the doctor after the meeting or I'll step step outside.
Thank any other questions from >> the MURF committee. >> Okay doctor thank you very much for your presentation. Very enlightening. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Next on the presentation list is
Rebecca. >> We can uh we do time at 11 just to make sure that we're all ready with presentation. >> Sure. >> Does it have to be 11 o'clock? >> Uh well, just as soon as I can get ready with it.
>> Okay. >> Yeah, she's here. She is here. And yeah, we didn't get to the time certain. Okay. Um, while Chad is stepping out, we can move down a little bit. Um,
one of the items that we had on our list and Sharon, can I borrow the email that I sent the that you copied? the whole >> you know we had talked about ecoourism and uh that was one of the items on our
agenda. We're charged under the MURF or under the comp plan to go through and develop not only a list but then try and u have a unified voice from the town as
far as uh where to go and and how to do it on an ecoourism. And for those watching, ecoourism is something that doesn't leave a footprint. Um, it's renewable
uh and u doesn't doesn't uh have a an environmental impact. So the list that we have been putting together obviously beaches sunning on the beach shelling botchi ball kite flying um wherever
you've got space available on the beach all around the island we have kaying and the committee needs to develop places where you can launch on the island. Uh we need to get with Chamber of Commerce
and determine what vendors are on the island, where they can rent. Uh that's certainly something. The Moundhouse is, you know, the number one tourist attraction I believe counselor in Lee
County. It was voted last year or one of the top five. >> Your memory is better than mine. >> Okay. But I would say that um kayaking the moundhouse does offer that as well. >> Yes. Uh the Fort Myers Beach Historical
Society, Matanza Pass Preserve when it does open uh on the north end of the island is another one. Uh we have pickle ball courts that are opening on the island. Some that are open now. Uh we have a
walking track that's been poured and um is functional, but that will continue to get some work. >> At Bay Oaks, yes, >> at Bay Oaks, the Blue Gym at Bay Oaks, we have cycling to Lovers Key. Lee County is expanding the bike trail to
Bonita Springs in the future. I just saw they got a $1.2 million grant to expand that. So, u that's something where we can promote that going forward. Uh the
Bay Oaks pool when it's open. Uh Eststerero Island Arboretum self-guiding tour. This is something that uh I wanted to dubtail in with the garden club who gave me this wonderful
brochure that came out uh several several years ago and there's very few copies left, but in talking to Kathy this morning, she said uh they would be in favor of helping put
together a self-walking, self-guiding biking or uh walking tour where we could talk about some of the classic trees that are on the island. Get bronze plaques in similar to what's at Mount
House only have it cover the entire island. So, it's not only a a a hiking or biking, but it's a very educational thing where you can go through >> uh and get some permanent uh brass or
bronze plaques that that sit there and commemorate a gumbo limbo or a banyan tree or a historic oak tree, so on so forth. Uh we also have uh little
Eststerero Island and that's a uh key uh visit by the bird watchers and the people that come to the island. We have a very unique area where we have
five of the most uh critical shore birds in Florida nesting on the island. We're one of the only places in Florida where all four uh varieties or species are nesting on the
south end of the island. And um that's again something that attracts a lot of uh naturalists and people from the Ottabbon Society and you know we get uh Rosetta spoon bills and the some of the
ponds in the spring that occur on the white areas of the beach. Uh and they're absolutely gorgeous to look at. Eagles come down. It's it's you know a burers's paradise throughout the year. So that's
something and one of the areas that uh we need to put together is and I think this is what uh Mayor Allers is charging the committee with is trying to get this all put together so that we have a
united front working with the chamber and saying here are all of the eco-friendly things you can do on Fort Myers Beach and it doesn't cost anything. So, and it's a and it's a wonderful thing we just and that's one of our charges to
get done in 2026 and add anything else that anyone from the audience or you know Fort Myers Beach or the committee or staff would like to add on that. >> Sounds great. >> Okay. So, thank you. >> Did I use enough time up?
>> Yes, you we are good to go. >> All right. we can take that off the agenda and what we'll what we will try and do is get a permanent list out and then figure out how we're going to attack that. >> Okay.
>> Okay. >> Dave, can I add one little point there real quick? >> Uh good morning everyone. I'm so excited to be here. Uh to introduce myself, my name is Becky Schneider. I am with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I work specifically in our
uh division of habitat and species conservation in our wildlife diversity conservation section uh which includes our Florida shorebird program. Um that's top down to bottom. Um I'm here because I've invite been invited by you all to give a presentation about uh the
shorebirds that nest on this island. And I want to start by thanking uh you all again for your interest and support of our program and of shorebird conservation in this community. Um, I also want to commend my staff who have worked really, really hard on building
relationships in this community and making sure that our program priorities for shorebird conservation are implemented in a way that is um, working with the priorities of Fort Myers Beach. Um, so I will caveat also by saying that the information that I'm going to
present in this presentation is um due to the hard work of my field biologists and staff uh who put in a lot of effort last season to make sure that these data were collected and these birds were protected. Um, so if there are any questions that I can't answer, I'm happy
to say that they are all here in the audience today. Um, and so I want to make sure that they get the recognition they deserve as well. Uh so again, good to see everyone who I've met before. Um thank you for the invitation and I'm excited to meet folks
that are new to me today, too. Okay, so we'll start with the nesting outcomes of the 2025 season. Black skimmers had a peak adult count of 849 individuals uh and a peak nest count of 270
individuals. They fledged an estimated 225 chicks which is fantastic level of productivity and we're really excited about that uh those numbers. Lease turns had a peak adult count of
413 individuals uh and peak nest count of 250 and an estimated number of chicks to be 221. These are our two colonial nesting species. They can p primarily be found on the south end of the island on
uh the Carlos Beach properties. Our snowy clovers uh nested three times. They fledged eight chicks. Uh and with there being zero re nest attempts, I think that means that their their uh nests were successful the first time around every time, which is really uh commendable because that means that they
were protected well from disturbances. they didn't have to uh try again and again for that success. And that means their chicks are more likely to be um uh healthy and grow because they have the whole summer to do so. Uh and so hopefully we'll see some more uh adults
this this season. Wilson's Pver uh total nests of eight. They fledged 10 chicks. They did attempt to reest twice. The Wilson's Pvers were primarily nesting in our critical wildlife area. Uh, and so, um, that, uh,
is, you know, exciting because we have these Wilson's Pvers in that CWA. I want to point out that the Wilson's Pver, uh, just last week was, uh, approved by our commission as a candidate species for listing. So, for a long time, this
species has not technically had the um the legal benefits, so to speak, of the other species when it comes to imperiled species protections, but our commissioners uh did approve it as a candidate species, which means we will be moving forward on listing status of
the Wilson Wilson's Clover, which will make uh a total of five imperiled shorebirds nesting uh in Fort Myers Beach uh which is including the Wilson's PL. Uh the American oyster catcher uh has been known to nest on this island
before. We did not have any nests this season or last season I should say. Uh but there are adults still present throughout the year and we know we they utilize this habitat. Okay, I'm going to start um from kind of the top down or the north to the south
uh and highlight some of our nesting areas. I know these maps may be hard to see on the screen. Um, these data are all pulled directly from our shorter Florida shorebird database. Uh, this is a database that is publicly available to anyone uh with an account. An account is
free to create. So, if you are ever interested in learning more about how we collect data and the data we we have over decades of nesting shorebirds statewide, um, the FSD Florida Shorebird database is the place to go. Um so on
the 6,000 block we had these two snowy pulver nests which are shown in orange diamonds on the left side of the screen and then those um nests fledged the young that I mentioned on the previous slide and all the yellow dots on the right side are places where those chicks
were observed. So, as you can tell from this comparison, the nests um the nest success is really uh kind of blossoms out from the original natal location and these chicks use areas all throughout the beach uh during that brooding stage.
Okay. Uh then we have the CWA. Uh like I said a moment ago, Wilson's plvers I think were the primary um you know shbird species nesting other than uh killed deer uh and other species that are are non-listed species. And you can
see a few of those orange diamonds on the top there of where those Wilson's clover nests were and then subsequently all those chick locations on the lower part of the screen. And then we have the 8,000 block. Um this is where our large colonial nesting
um our large colonial nesting site is on this property and we also do have solitary nesting as well. Uh so the big green polygon is the shorebird colony that Bri posted for uh for lease turns and black skimmers and the two diamonds
are those solitary nests I believe for snowy clovers. Bri >> one snowy and a Wilson >> one snowy and one Wilson's uh and then subsequently all those chick locations all over the beach. Um, I know this aerial is a little outdated and the beach does not necessarily look exactly
like this after the recent project, but that lowerlying area to um to the east is um obviously a place where chicks like to spend their time because it's a little wetter and we call that a critical brood rearing area. They can um
get resources there and and mom and dad like to take their little ones there for um a day in the park, so to speak. So, some of the major conservation milestones that we had last year were improved nesting habitat. We use herbicide treatment to reduce sandpurs.
This has been an agreement that we've implemented over the past several years and it seems to be extremely effective and um and uh has certainly limited the extent of nuisance vegetation that's growing in this colonial nesting area.
Uh we also had limited overwash events this past season. I think that was due to weather and climate events. Um obviously out of our control, but it's still a good thing for shorebirds. It means that their nests don't fail due to natural causes uh and they have the
highest chance of success. So all of this led to increased productivity uh for our uh our focal species. I'm also really proud to say that stakeholder engagement was was excellent last season. Uh we did preseason
engagement um and within season updates throughout the year for anyone who was interested in remaining informed or who we wanted to make sure was kept informed about um the listed species that may be occurring on this island. And then uh we've always used an
adaptive management approach in our program and we really put that into place uh this season to make sure that we are adjusting our posting areas and uh addressing any threats or concerns uh that we would have for the protection of
these shorebirds in real time. Uh and that was through a lot of hard work that Bri did with stakeholders making sure that we um were operating in a way that was um as I said earlier conducive to not just the birds but also the property owners. So we adjusted the posted area
as uh as we were able to uh based on what the birds were doing and also uh did a lot of hand removal of vegetation uh in areas where birds ended up uh occurring that we did not treat for veget uh for nuisance vegetation with herbicide. Uh we didn't anticipate them
to spread out as much as they did. Uh and so we ended up doing some manual removal there. And I'll get to uh a point on that in just a moment. Okay. Uh so the management we implemented in 2025 was to post an agreed upon area in shown in the yellow
polygon on the map. This would be for the protection of primarily our colonial nesting species. It's a little easier to predict where those black skimmers and lease turns are going to show up each year. The um solitary nesting species will um return to the same general area,
but they won't have the same precise nest location year after year. Um, so the posting is intended to kind of hopefully in a way predict where we would expect to see birds nesting in the subsequent season. And the idea here is that we would prepost um a footprint
that would then be treated with herbicide to ensure that when it was closed off due to the protection of nesting species, uh, that the vegetative growth didn't become, um, problematic for both the birds or the homeowners. So that yellow polygon is where we
applied herbicide treatment. We treated only within that agreed upon area. And then when the birds first showed up, uh we uh ultimately closed off the area with signs and string. Uh so what that means is that we worked with property owners to create an agreement in which
we were able to implement our preseason management before birds arrived, which is very important. You obviously can't spray herbicide when um imperiled species are present. Uh but we also didn't impede any access to the beach um until the birds were actually physically
uh on site and that happens usually about um middle of April or so. So that pre-posted area was closed off per our posting uh guidelines, statewide posting guidelines at uh the moment that nesting was initiated.
There was very limited growth of sandspurs throughout the nesting season on that treated area. Uh but there was growth of sand spurs outside of the treated area where birds ended up nesting um in places that weren't pre-treated. So for that reason, we are proposing a
uh modified management plan for the 2026 season. This uh is the first preview that this community is going to receive. So, this is not something that we've discussed with property owners yet, and we will be going through thorough processes of talking to folks about this
uh proposal and making sure that this is uh something that is um still acceptable for our conservation priorities. So, we will be discussing this potential pre-posting option. Um the benefit to
both birds and homeowners for this prospective option is that we get more widespread treatment of those nuisance plants like sandpurs and crowfoot grass. Uh and we can um limit the disturbance
to the birds that um may nest outside of a treated area. It's obviously not ideal for us to have to go into a posted area during the nesting season to manage vegetation. um that's a breach of our own policy about uh entering posted areas and it just disturbs the birds and
there's a lot of inherent risk there. So the idea here would be it would be a a lower impact approach uh and uh ultimately a benefit to as I said more widespread um vegetation management. So, we would conduct targeted herbicide
treatment in the pre-posted area, which we're proposing to include not just the yellow polygon that we treated last year, but also um this green polygon that uh is more um representative of precisely where the birds nested in 2025.
Of course, above all, we'll be >> Excuse me, Rebecca, just for a second. Can you explain what the purple is? >> Bri, can you explain what the purple is? >> Oh, yeah. So, um, actually, >> hey, Bri, can you, um, come up to the mic? Sorry. Thank you.
>> You want to push the button? >> Okay. So, the yellow plus the green area, the polygons, that's actually the footprint of nesting for the 2024 and the 2025 season. So, two seasons consecutively.
The purple area is where we had the highest amount of sand spur and vegetative growth throughout the 2024 and the 2025 season, which on the eastern most side backs up to that little lagoon area that gets really, really wet during season, especially with heavy rains and overwash. So that
purple area is where we actually had to go against our own policy, go inside the nesting area and handpull bags and bags of sand spurs to prevent any type of medical issue, injury or illness to the birds that were there at the time.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you, Bri. Um, and the reason, uh, you know, the ecological explanation for why there's probably a lot more vegetative growth in that area is because it's a garden that gets watered, right? It's a little wetter down there. Uh, okay. So, as I was stating, uh,
above all, we're going to adhere to our adaptive management framework for conservation of these species throughout the nesting season. Um, so we'll continue to work with property owners. We will agree to close off the posting only after nesting has initiated. Um, we'll adjust the posting size as the
colony establishes so that is an accurate reflection of where the birds are actually present. and will um perspectively decrease posting later in the nesting season as the colony diminishes. As you saw in those maps earlier, um once the nests have fledged and the chicks are mobile and on their
own, they're not going to, you know, know where our signs and string end. So, they're going to be all over the beach. And in that sense, uh it really is important for beachgoers to be generally vigilant of where they are recreating. Um, but the posting itself doesn't necessarily uh need to continue to be
there if it's not protecting a a a nest. So, what this community can expect from FWC coming up are uh preseason stakeholder engagement. We will be corresponding primarily by email um for
some of those preseason communications. We do plan to host a virtual meeting where we can discuss this manage plan in more detail. Uh this is just a preview and just a proposal that has not uh been thoroughly um refined yet and has not
been dis uh presented prior to today. Um, and so we'll have continued engagement and communication with stakeholders throughout the nesting season. Uh, and make sure that we're um, working in a way that has, um, been proven to be successful for everyone,
especially in the past two seasons with this thorough level of communication. Uh, I want to thank you all again. I want to thank this community for their continued support of our Florida Shorebird program. All of this proposed these proposed actions and all the hard
work that has been put into place over um recent years and uh frankly decades uh is really the a reflection of of a positive relationship between um the community and uh FWC. And I think that relationship has been improving over
time. Uh, and we want to um commend staff again for how hard they've worked to make sure that we've got um that relationship and those communications flowing freely. I want to take this moment to introduce Monica McKenzie, the
woman with red hair sitting in the audience. Um, she is our new southwest regional shorebird biologist. Monica might not be a stranger to some of you. She actually worked as a critical area critical wildlife area biologist in Fort
Myers Beach in 2022. Yeah. So, we hired her in 2022 as a seasonal biologist. Uh that was before we had the year-round position that Brie subsequently um uh was hired for and uh formed and created and uh formed as her
own. Um so, Monica will be your regional contact for shorebird issues. I'll always be available as I have been uh as regional biologist. Both Monica and I are based in the Lakeland regional office, so we are quite a ways away. You can reach us by phone or email anytime.
Um I want to congratulate Brie for taking on a new professional opportunity. She's actually departed from FWC and taken on a new job. Um so we now have a vacancy on our team. um the se the critical wildlife area
biologist that uh position that she held is vacant and we are looking to hire someone uh hopefully just almost as excellent as Bri was and uh we will be getting that person uh ideally in place uh in March so that they can start to
build those preseason relationships and get ready for um shoreburn nesting which will start in April. And I want to thank you all again for your time and the invitation to be here. I'm going to spend a little bit of time out uh on the beach later this afternoon. Anyone who is interested in joining me and my team
are welcome to do so. Uh and I'm happy to take any questions. >> Becca, remember the day when you have the birds and you're trying to pull out all the sand spurs from the little chicks? >> That's just amazing. And now they're
really the the amount of of sand spurs is so down thanks to all that >> spraying. I'm I am so grateful. >> Yeah, I it really is uh I believe to be the uh most favorable approach that we can uh implement with the resources that
we have to make sure that we're not those birds aren't suffering uh later on in their uh development. >> Okay. Yeah, it's good work. Thank you. Thank you all. Rebecca, I know this is kind of a difficult number to try and uh
ascertain, but do you have any ideas as far as the improvement of the mortality rate uh of the fledglings and chicks due to herbicide versus not? >> Yeah. Yeah. uh we had pretty substantial
mortality particularly among the black skimmers uh when the uh when we were experiencing that that major die-off event uh the I'll I'll um describe a very complex uh
issue very simply the what we deduced with the issue with the sandspurs was not that the sand spurs were the harm although like Sharon described they did get they do get embedded in feathers and they immobilize the chicks So the sand pairs when um when so ubiquitous are are
problematic on their own. Uh but the die off that we were experiencing in um 2021 2021 I think it was 2020 in 21 to three years 22 yeah um what we were observing
in the field was um was sepsis and uh we believe that the sans were causing lesions on the exposed skin of the black skimmer chicks in particular and then those lesions would lead to sepsis um so that so as I said it's complex um that
uh issue ecological issue that we ultimately um honed in on sand spurs as being one manage thing that we could manage for. Uh so as a major die- off I don't think we had um very much fledged success at all in those years when it was peak and I am uh delighted to say
that there were no no chick die offs to sandps in the past two seasons that I'm aware of. So we really took it down. Um >> that's a pretty substantial improvement. It's a very substantial improvement. Yes. >> Okay. >> To answer that question further, I
actually ran the wildlife hospital at the time of the die off. So, I was there treating the chicks. >> Okay. To ask a question. Now, >> I'll repeat what Bri's saying. She's um she's The reason I turned to Bri to get clarification on this is because her previous position of employment before
taking a position with FWC was at the Crow Wildlife Hospital. So, she was actually um attending to a lot of these um uh chicks when they were admitted to the hospital. Every single chick that made it into the hospital passed away or had to be humanely euthanized due to the
significance of the septic arthritis and septic joints that they sustained from the injuries. So, yes, Becky is correct. We did not have any succumb to this illness the past two seasons with the increased herbicide management.
>> Excellent. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Becky, can you can you give us an approximate time when we can expect to see the herbicide being applied so the property owners have an idea of a time frame?
>> Yeah, we um Bri left us with some recommendations about that timeline. Uh we will be working with our own internal staff's availability to um get folks out here to do the spring, but our target would be towards the end of March. Uh again, with birds arriving usually in um
April and actually clover nesting initiating as early as um the beginning of April on the on this island, we wouldn't want to um inadvertently harm any uh eggs that might get laid early. So, we'll want to do that spraying, probably before the end of March. And
I'm not sure if you if you can answer for Bill, but I'm curious. Bill typically uh uh rakes the beach uh pre-season. So, will that will he be raking the beach before the herbicide is applied or after the herbicide is
applied? Uh I think before I we'll still adhere to the same agreement that we've had in place for for several years to do uh raking no later than March 15th I think is what the permit says. Um so that would be a mid-m March deadline for
raking and then we'll do spraying after that. >> Okay. Regarding the sunset or 6000 beach, are you planning to do any herbicide on that particular location? We've never had any evidence of um
vegetation harming our clover species, so we wouldn't recommend uh herbicide management for that. >> Thank you. >> Hey, Becky. Um just wanted to thank you and your staff again. Um I mentioned y'all in the presentation that we gave
at the last council meeting. A big thank you for all the collaboration and uh faith in staff and community for the beach nourishment project and bringing that to fruition. It was a big deal for the community and um we could not have
done it without all of that uh again that collaboration and working together. Um I saw the numbers that you gave for the different bird species. Uh what do you have an idea of what percentage Fort Myers Beach is contributing to the o overall productivity of snow clover
snowy clovers and are we significant? Are we just a blip or >> I wish I had that statistic. it. I can't give you a proportion of species, but what I can tell you uh is that as Mr. Newsbomb uh mentioned earlier, this is
among the only sites in the entire state where we have all five of our state listed species um Wilson's clover being soon to be listed uh nesting in one place. So that is extremely impactful to the priorities of our Florida shorebird program and our um ultimate goal within
the program. The reason why we are funded to do the work that we do is to increase the statewide population of these species by uh 10% before 2029 and we were we are well on our way to achieving that goal. There's no expectation that we won't. Uh and so
again this is really um really important site and I want to commend the community for supporting shorebird conservation for that reason. I think the last thing I read, and there was several years ago, two or three, that said there were 105
breeding pair of snowy clovers in the entire state of Florida. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know the exact number, but we do do a statewide abundance estimate. Um, our data team uh processes those statistics based on data that's submitted by um staff and
volunteers statewide who are counting birds month after month. And we have abundance estimates for all five species. Uh and the clover numbers are Yes. in hundreds. It's It is concerning. >> Yeah. So if we threw eight new ones in there last year, that's well on your way to your goal.
>> That's a good proportion. Yeah. >> I believe Bill had a question. >> Hi Becky. Um uh Bill on the M committee are David asked about the 6,000 block about herbicide treatment. I'm going to ask about the 7,000 block.
or you have any plans for that herbicide treatment in that area? >> Uh we manage uh the CWA, the Little Eststero Islands critical wildlife area for the protection of nesting uh shorebirds in that on that site. And
there's uh due to the minimal amount of disturbance or in fact no disturbance uh to the CWA habitat um over the course of its establishment, we haven't seen that uh overgrowth of nuisance vegetation. Um it's we see a lot more native dune
vegetation in the CWA. So we we wouldn't have any reason to um to manage sandspurs in in in the CWA. Uh, and the nesting on um the 7,000 block on private property does not support imperiled species outside of the CWA. Um, I think
we've observed some killed your nests. Uh, but I'm I'm not uh to my knowledge, we do not have listed species nesting on the 7,000 block. >> Okay. Um, and we have a a raking permit
uh that expires basically or gives us the right to rake up to the start of the season. See dub the vegetation line. Is that correct? >> I I'm not exactly sure what the CCCL permit conditions are and I don't know
in that area exactly what where the coastal construction control line is, but I'm I see Chad kind of shaking his head maybe. So, we have a a I'm not sure if I heard you correctly, Mr. Bill, but um so the raking permit is for
uh landward of the CWA. It specifically calls out, and correct me if I'm wrong, uh Mr. Perry if with a nod that the raking permit as it stands right now does not allow raking within the CWA unless we get explicit permission from
FWC uh which may need to be um updated with the triple CL program. Um and I think we've we've come to an understanding with Becky and and working out the management of that of that area.
And I'm seeing Becky nod just for the record. understand she will be visiting with uh Bill Perry this afternoon to our our area down on the 7,000 block >> today. So um I will ask a couple of the
uh board members to meet her and ask her a few questions just for clarification. >> Okay. And I should say too, part part of our job as regional species conservation biologists is to provide technical expertise for any state listed or
non-game species. Um, so we can certainly answer any questions and provide customer service on what might be the most appropriate thing for wildlife management. Uh, and I look forward to meeting with your folks, Bill. >> Thank you. >> We're looking forward to it.
>> Any other questions for Becky? >> No, just a big thank you again. And I think it's such a a big home run for not only that we put nearly a million cubic yards out on the beach, but also had such great uh productivity from the shorebird nesting birds. Shore birds
>> here. Here. >> Agreed. Thank you all again. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Becky. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um two two agenda items down. U next on the thing we've talked about
the ecoourism. Um I'd like to get uh if there is anyone in here that would like to comment on the water taxis. Please raise your hand.
Okay. I will like to table that to our next meeting and get a little more public input on that. Uh, one of the things that we've been charged with as a committee is to get some public feedback
>> on who's in favor of uh, water taxis or fairies for Fort Myers Beach and who is not. And I think what we should do as a committee is advertise it, get with our uh new PIO
and and tell everyone, please come to the meeting, give an opinion, tell us what you like, tell us what you hope for, tell us what you don't like, and then we can report that and say, "Here's here's what we found with the town." and
then we can put together our own recommendations for it. >> Okay. >> Um so yeah, I just want to let you guys know so we did post on the Facebook about the water taxi being spoken about today. But what I would like to do is put out an official survey um through a
creation, a survey monkey creation that we can do that would petition uh the public to put in direct input and then we can aggregate the data from the survey so that you could present it and actually have hard data. >> Okay, that would be great. Okay, thank you.
>> Thanks, Abigail. >> All right, mission statement. >> That pretty much takes us down. Uh I would like to talk about our mission statement next month and get a little cleaner uh direction on that. So that
ends our current items. I would like to go to Do you want to do staff update first or members items first, Chad? >> Uh, let y'all go first. >> Okay. Uh, members items. >> Um,
my only thought was on that water taxing. May I go back to that? >> Sure. >> Okay. Um, just I'm not sure that it's clear that is it it's not rides, it's to get from one place to another. It's not
a day event or a half day event. Is that >> correct? >> Okay. >> I'm I I think it's the direction that I think the town would like to go is to use it as a
mode of transportation to reduce traffic on the street. >> Right. Right. And >> well, they're two different things. You're talking water taxi and then you're also talking a water ferry, >> right? The water ferry would be what you're alluding to of about getting from
one end of the island to the other >> with certain stops or restaurants >> and okay and and I don't and my other question was have are any of the hotels has anybody are they going to be involved in this to hopefully people
just don't rent a car and take an Uber to the beach and get over >> well I think that's some of the questions that we have Okay. >> Talk to the marinas, the hotels. >> Yes. >> And and the tourists. Certainly, there
are people, I'm sure, that would love to be able to come to the island and not rent a car. >> Correct. >> And stay here for two weeks or three weeks or four weeks. >> Okay. >> And literally, you know, >> at the last meeting, I was a little
confused because it it was, you know, it's not a day tour. I mean, somebody can buy a day pass. I think Naples has a $20 day pass that's good all day so people can go and get on and off and for the day. So that's that was my question
anyway, just to kind of clarify. >> Well, and I think I think there's a lot of different >> there's a lot of different wants and needs from everyone, >> right? >> And I think our goal as Mayor Allers
explained it to me was try and find out what the wants and needs are. >> Okay. >> And and present it back to them and say here's what we found. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. >> Anything else, Todd? On members items?
Uh, >> no. I'm good. Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, I have something this time. I am now, as you can see, a graduated member of the waterkeepers, Clusa waterkeepers,
all my classes, which is really helpful as far as being a part of this committee and the CLU water keepers. It all kind of goes together and the the MURF um book flippers and flippers and what flippers and floaters. Anyway, the little booklet
that is put together by the MURF committee previously, I brought two, they asked for 200 of them for the last tableabling event that I went to last weekend in Cape Coral. And uh so it's all a good thing. So, thank you.
>> Well, congratulations, Sharon. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> This is all. Thank you. >> Hey. >> Yep. >> I don't have anybody. >> Okay. Um, again, I'd like to bring up >> You want to ask Bill?
>> Bill, he may have dropped off. >> I think so. >> Maybe. >> Bill, are you there? >> Okay. Apparently, he did. Um
I had uh once again I was uh involved in meeting at the uh Margarita Hotel talking with kind of the second meeting on discussing speed zones on Eststerero
Bay. Uh, Mary Toreson was kind enough to to be the ramrod putting it all together and we came up with a lot of great ideas that uh came forward and one of the
uh biggest suggestions u is they have a map that they're now uh putting out that discusses where the speed zones are, where the manity zones are,
>> and everybody's using the same map. Now, they're going to streamline that, make it a little simpler, and put a little more information. They're going to get a little, uh, code that you can zap with your camera and get the information on
it. But uh it's it's everyone the hotels, the condos that are renting the you know >> marinas, boat rentals, everyone using the same
uh statements going out as far as protecting the manatees and the porpuses, dolphins and the wildlife that are back there using speed zones. and protecting the seaw walls that are
back there. So, it's it's a a great second step. I was very happy to be part of it and I will keep the committee advised as we go forward and certainly
uh again kudos to Mary for for ramrotting this. Chad, you were also there. And uh I think it was just a phenomenal event that uh she put together. And hopefully we can get
uh at least more people aware of the fact that there are speed zones and no wake means no wake, not just slow your boat down. >> Right. Right. >> That's all I had.
>> All right. So, uh staff update. So, we had a successful Arbor Day event. Uh, again, thank you to the garden club for uh purchasing those saplings and the giveaway. We got uh a lot of good uh feedback and everybody is very happy with the
>> uh species that we chose this time with the flowering trees and uh um I thought it was a great event. Uh we also have some more trees planned and going to be putting some trees into wasting away uh and Lover's Lane uh the parking lot proper and then Lover's Lane
there's a 20ft by 70 foot um I guess you could call it maybe a pocket park uh to get some uh vegetation in there and beautify it and um right across from uh the Chamber of Commerce if you're not aware of where that's at. And uh so that
should uh look great. and then also our trees that we have planned for our beach accesses and offerings to all of the beachfront property owners. Please, if you are looking for more uh vegetation stabilization in your dune um
uh trees that we're going to be planting uh green buttonwoods as uh we had talked to Dr. Davies about as well as sable palms uh seag trees um uh are all on offer as well as ground
cover. So if you are interested in more plantings or if if you haven't signed up for the easement and would like to enjoy the benefits of uh the town dune management plan, it's never too late. So, please just reach out to me and we can uh sign you up and get some
plantings in front of your beachfront property to protect that investment in sand that the town, the state, and uh FEMA has made uh in our on our beach. Uh we had a successful beach project um
down in the CWA. Uh this was in the original uh template of our permit. Um just filling in some scour and some low-lying areas that were uh not done in the original project due to some uh logistical
um uh challenges with the historical pilings being there. So we came in with a more surgical uh truck hall project and finished off that that template over there. So uh nothing new per se, just finishing off that area. Uh came out
really good. we were able to um protect some of those buttonwoods, that line of buttonwoods that was there. Um they were looking pretty dried out um out on that beach. We'll see um we'll see how they do out there. Um again, that's a great species for giving uh some resiliency to
uh any overwash and surge events that we might have. Um those woody species are great root systems and they also uh mitigate the storm surge with their their branches and and trunks. Um, so good project. And then we also have a uh
central uh beach uh rebuilding dunes and uh filling in scour uh again that was uh uh left undone by the the dredge project. So we're going to again finish it off with a um more surgical strategic
uh beach uh beach truck hall project. um that is should be going out to bid uh sooner than later. And uh we also have uh tilling that's planned. So that is a permit required activity that uh will uh
come and uh till the uh the the beach that was renourished for the sake of the turtles so they're they don't blow their back out whenever they're digging in that sand. Um and I think that's all I have unless y'all have any questions.
Does anyone have any questions first? >> I do not. >> No. >> No. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Also, uh, shorebird nesting season, sorry. >> Shorebird nesting season starts February 15th. So, uh, >> for, um, for everybody in the CWA and
any dog walkers over there, please mind your, uh, dogs are not allowed in the CWA uh, especially during shorebird nesting season. Um, I'm sure FWC law enforcement will be down there uh educating folks.
Uh, but we ask just to uh we we've made that runway that's upland of the CWA um uh as a walking path and that's outside of the CWA. So, please stay off the the beach proper and uh give the uh shore birds their space.
>> Okay. Bill, are you on? >> Yeah. Um uh Chad the um the easement agreement has uh once a year tilling right which on the outer beach. Is that what you were just talking about?
>> So our our FDA uh permit for reourishing the beach um has uh tilling required for three years uh in the template area following the renourishment event. Yes. >> Yeah. And that's a that's just a one-time shot. You're not out there
saving the turtles back every week or anything like that. >> It it'll be for the next for this year and another two years. >> Yeah. But it's a one-time shot. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> 128 acres. >> Wow. >> Okay. And we're part of that, correct?
>> Sorry. >> We are part of that tilling, correct? >> Yes, sir. You you do have uh uh the template is out in front of the 7,000 block in the CWA. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Okay. Any other questions for Chad? >> Yeah. Did you say nesting is February 15th? >> Shorebird nesting season starts February 15th through September, correct? >> Yep. >> Thank you.
Any other questions for Chad? >> Thank you very much, Chad. >> You're welcome. Very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, that takes us down to public comment. Does Oh, Mr. Please state your name.
>> Uh, for the record, it's Bill Perry. Um, first I'd like to thank uh FWC Rebecca and Monica for coming and Rebecca's presentation. What I really appreciate in the last 21 years,
um, since Charlie changed the South End and created that vast beach, um, we've had Shorebird Seabird Nesting. They decided they like the South End of Fort Myers Beach better than Lover's Key. So, they moved there. And so, for all these years, I've worked
with FWC and I have to say, they always are truthful. they always work with the property owners and it's been really a pleasure the last few years especially um to work with them
um and I look forward to working with him this year and going into the future as well as my son and um um Rebecca really really goes out and and and makes relationships with the property owners
and that's so important to really explain because people are have questions. They a lot of people don't trust the government and she is always a smiling face that works with the Upland property owners and explains to them
what's going on and she does everything she can within the law and um to um assure them that their their beach will be taken care of. Um and um that's about all I have to say about that. The other
thing is I like the presentation that the that the doctor gave um about the vegetation. Um I actually worked on that beach years ago. Um I did the tilling for them after renourishment. Um
something very similar happened in the CWA where the um vegetation was sheared off and pushed in and that's why the tidal area there has filled in over the last many years. Another thing since Charlie I've noticed the little stero
island diminish and over time move in and it's filled in. Most of most of it is filled in except in front of part of Tamar Island Reef and um Sand Caper. Um
so touching on that what he spoke about about vegetative plannings I'm really pleased with um what under Chad and Michael Puff's supervision the beach reourishment and
then later the plantings the vegetative plantings up and down the island took a lot of arm twisting by myself for my properties that I take care of and Chad and explaining to people the the merits of planting dune plantings and allowing uh being part of the town's plan and
allowing plantings on their beach. Um it was done in August. Uh there was a few little tweaks that we that had to be made. A few properties didn't like it the way it was done. So it Chad under Chad's supervision, it was redone in
those areas. But overall, everyone that I speak to up and down the island are very pleased. And now we have pretty much an island and we have vegetation on this island where we never had vegetation. And we have dunes
and we have we have um an a way to protect against most of our normal storm events. Of course, the kind of storms like Ian, there's really pretty much nothing we can do. But, um, I
congratulate, uh, the town's project for the reourishment and the, um, Chad's work and Mike Pop's work to get it done and it's come out really, really good. >> Okay. Thank you, Bill. >> Thank you.
>> Yeah, Chad, you have done a great job. >> Mr. Any other public comment? Seeing no others, I will close public comment. And now we get to the MURF award. Do we
have any recommendations for the MURF award for this month? >> No, >> I don't have any. But >> out that Kaylee, it was here earlier. I don't know where she went, but we
>> You might want to do this on mic. >> Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to point out uh Kaylee that was here earlier. This was Brianna's assistant this last year was also a recipient of the MURF award. Uh at the same time, I don't know where Kaylee stepped out to.
Um, thank you all so much for honoring Bri and Kaylee. I'll clarify that uh Kaylee is our predation management biologist. She actually works directly for Monica. So Bri and Kaylee uh Bree's position and Kaylee are both Monica's direct reports. Uh Kayle's specific
purview is to manage uh predators uh at sites where we know that those predators are negatively impacting the productivity of shorebirds. Uh and the reason she had to step out is she's actually been working really hard uh to host a uh training experience this week
for her counterparts statewide. So, we have um other predation management staff who operate in the panhandle and in uh northeast Florida. And she invited them all down to to this site in particular to learn a few things about trapping, uh
to learn a thing few things about um uh tracking uh coyotes and um capturing raccoons. Uh and I think that the team is uh putting some explicit energy into
getting that iguana. uh this week that apparently looks like Godzilla. Uh and so hopefully with the team of experts, we might we might actually catch that guy. Um but she had to step out because part of her responsibilities in leading that training was uh was uh going to take place later this afternoon. So uh
please forgive her for for not being here. I wish I had a chance to introduce her before she left. >> So Becky, can someone how does h how can we get the award to her? >> I apologize. We didn't we didn't realize she had an an engagement that she had to
attend or or we we would have taken care of this before she had to leave. >> Understood. Yeah, I think she only had a few minutes to commit and we didn't want to be interrupted, but I'm happy to bring her her award. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right.
I guess we will uh table it for next month then. >> Okay. >> On the MURF award. All right. next >> agenda for next month. Uh I do want to continue our discussion on water taxes
if that's okay with everyone. >> Sure. >> And I would like to try and get our objectives for the MURF committee reestablished. And those two items are going to take probably some lengthy discussion I would
I would state. So again, let's put those two on and Chad may find something that he wants to stick on between now and then. He has a habit of doing that. So >> it's his job. >> If if that's okay with everyone,
I will then it is 11:37. I will accept a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I will make that motion. >> You have to turn your mic on. I will I will make that motion that we journ the meeting today. >> Second.
>> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Thank you very much. >> Meetings adjourned. >> Thank you. Thank you.