Endangered state animal faces threat from 10,000 homes in Lee County
By NATHAN MAYBERG
nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com
A public hearing on a proposed development opponents say would constitute one of the gravest threats to the survival of the endangered Florida panther in Lee County, brought out state and national environmental groups who warned of the dire consequences that up to 10,000 homes on the eastern border of Lee County could bring to the species.
A study from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the project could lead to more than 20 panthers deaths on Lee County roads each year.
The project, known as Kingston, is the result of a negotiated settlement between the Lee County Board of County Commissioners and Cameratta Companies LLC after litigation over a proposed mine on the land which contains former citrus groves. The development is situated on a parcel that covers 6,675 acres including wetlands.
Environmentalists say the project would be just as disastrous to the Florida panther and other threatened animals with the resulting traffic estimated to have the potential to kill up to 21 panthers a year according to a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The groups are pushing for the agency to declare that the development would jeopardize the very existence of the Florida panther. Between 120 and 240 panthers are estimated to survive in the wild, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service figures. However, a high rate of panther deaths from vehicle crashes in recent years could be severely depleting their population.
With major developments also currently moving through the approval process in core panther habitat in neighboring Collier County, the project has the potential to deliver a one-two punch to one of the most endangered species in America, opponetns said.
In addition to the 10,000 homes for the Kingston project, the agreement with the county would allow up to 240 hotel rooms and 700,000 square feet of commercial space. No development orders have yet been issued for the homes or construction.
A public hearing was held in Lehigh Acres this past week over an application to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a wetlands permit.
The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Conservancy of Southwest Florida protested outside the hearing. They called on the DEP to deny the permit and for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to invoke the Endangered Species Act and stop the development.
The Kingston project involves the construction of an internal four-lane public spine road from Corkscrew Road to State Route 82. There is just one large mammal crossing in the plans and 12 small mammal crossings.
Matthew Schwartz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association, said the project would be a death blow to the Florida panther. The panther is already struggling to survive in Florida, he said.
“For an animal like the Florida panther, it is 100% loss,” Schwartz said of the project. Schwartz said that the settlement Lee County engaged in with the developer in lieu of the rock mine was about as bad. “Either one would be bad,” he said. “It’s in the core habitat of the panther.”
The project is near Florida Gulf Coast University, off Corkscrew Road, and extends out to the Lehigh Acres area. Schwartz said the panthers will pay a price trying to cross Corkscrew Road and the other roads built as a result of the project, which is why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is projecting so many panthers deaths as a result of the project.
“Fish and Wildlife (Service) should be drawing a line here,” Schwartz said. Schwartz said the agency has the ability to stop the project if it believes the development jeopardizes the survival of the species. “The project should have been denied,” he said.
Schwartz said the new development would put up to 20,000 new cars on the road.
Last year, there were 13 confirmed Florida panther deaths on the state’s roads. Most were in Collier County, while others were in Hendry County and Glades County. That was down significantly from 27 in 2022, including three deaths in Lee County. In 2021, there were 27 panther deaths on Florida roads, including eight in Lee County. There were 22 deaths in 2020, including one on Corkscrew Road.
That precipitous drop last year has environmentalists concerned that the number of Florida panthers is continuing to dwindle from their precarious population.
Combined with the possibility of 20 more panthers deaths a year from the Kingston project and alarm bells are going off among some panther advocates.
“There are only eight panthers born each year. It doesn’t take a lot of advanced math to think this is unsustainable,” said Julianne Thomas, a senior environmental planning specialist with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
The numbers tell the story. Panthers are disappearing from Lee County roads and that means they could also be starting to disappear from Lee County entirely.
The precise number of panthers left in the Florida wild is unknown. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not completed a study that is overdue on the panther population.
Messages left with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were not returned.
Elise Bennett, Florida director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Endangered Species Act is meant to ensure that “no action threatens the survival of the species.” Bennett said the Florida panther needs three distinct populations to recover.
“They need every last inch of habitat in Southwest Florida to recover,” Bennett said.
Bennett said one of the problems with the review process is that the Florida DEP has taken over control of the wetlands permit review process, which used to be in the purview of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides comments but does not hold the keys to denying the permit unless it considers it to jeopardize the survival of the species.
“There is no question that this is jeopardy,” Bennett said.
Schwartz is disappointed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hasn’t taken more serious action to stop the project from moving forward.
“What I have seen of the service in 18 years of doing this work, is they just don’t say no. They don’t know how to say no.”
One of the problems he has with their review is he doesn’t believe they aren’t taking into account the cumulative effect of the various projects going through the panther habitat in Collier County and Lee County. By reviewing each project individually, and piecemeal, “they are not looking at the full picture,” Schwartz said.
Others are hopeful that the fact that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has forecasted so many deaths for the Florida panther as a result of the project, changes will need to be made by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) or a court battle will likely ensue.
The Sierra Club has already filed suit to stop the state’s review process.
At the public hearing, some of the officials from the Florida DEP were talking up the conservation areas of the development. Unlike the public hearings some may be accustomed to, the DEP doesn’t hold forums where each speaker is heard by the room. Rather, attendees meet with DEP officials at stations with maps and discuss the plans. There is a table for public comment to be given and written comments were being accepted through this past Tuesday.
The DEP held just one public hearing on the project and did not hold a hearing close to the other side of the project near Corkscrew Road and Florida Gulf Coast University.
According to DEP officials, the agency will review the public comments and provide them to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for further review. The EPA will issue a notice to issue or a notice to deny. Based on feedback from the EPA and the comments already submitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the DEP could approve or deny the wetlands permit, or make further conditions.
“It drives the nail in the coffin of our conservation landscape and our natural resources,” said Patty Whitehead, of Estero.
In addition to the crashes, panthers face other obstacles including a mysterious disorder that has been affecting their walking. The invasive Burmese python has been decimating panther prey in the Everglades, leading the animal to search farther for food.
The project is close to the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in the Everglades. Florida Audubon is “very concerned about the proximity of this large development on Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary’s northern boundary,” said Brad Cornell, of Audubon Florida.
Messages left with all five Lee County commissioners regarding the project and the county commission’s settlement that set the development into motion, were not responded to.
Lee County spokesperson Betsy Clayton said that of the 6,675 acres, a minimum of 3,287 acres to be dedicated to the creation, restoration, and/or enhancement of conservation/flowway areas.
According to the DEP, approximately 1,910 acres will be restored to a natural wetland. Of the remaining wetlands, 1,163 acres will be unaffected.
The panther has been Florida’s official state animal since a referendum by voters in 1982. The Florida panther was among the first animals placed on the Endangered Species List in 1967 following the passage of the Endangered Species Preservation Act, along with the grizzly bear, bald eagle, American alligator, red wolf and manatee. That law was strengthened by the Endangered Species Act in 1973.
Schwartz said the Kingston project is the “tip of the iceberg.” Combined with the Belmar and Rivergrass projects in Collier County, thousands of acres of prime panther habitat are threatened. Schwartz said there are about a dozen major projects going through the area that threaten the endangered species.
“It’s not compatible with the panther recovery plan or the Endangered Species Act,” Schwartz said.
“Developers are trying to turn eastern Lee, eastern Collier into suburbia,” he said. “The continued existence of the panthers is in doubt.”