Comments on New Florida Bay/Everglades GMP Document

[yakmaster]

The General Management Plan process for Florida bay & Everglades National Park is moving along.

Here’s a link to the full list of option alternatives:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkId=374&projectId=1...

I’ve copied the core of the change alternatives below (there's four alternatives, but one is no change from status quo).

We should all get involved in the comment process. This is still just a rough draft & the final decisions have not been made. There are some VERY pro-paddler items in here, including an expansion of camping opportunities, the creation of new no motor zones and John Buckley’s dream!, a parallel river route so that paddlers on the Wilderness Waterway take a different, less motor impacted route! There’s even an ongoing committee of users to develop the programs on an ongoing basis. I have taken the liberty of highlighting the items that I consider pro-paddler in bold below.

But there is some underlining as well…


There is concern among some in the paddling community relating to the language that provides: “Operators of motorboats and paddled boats would complete a mandatory education program to obtain a permit to operate vessels in the park.” This is seen as a problem because while only the captain of a flats boat would need to take the classes…each paddler on a canoe or kayak would have to be certified. This could be a big barrier to entry for renters and casual users. The hypothesis is: Only the hardcore would get certified & only the hardcore can paddle. While we all feel that boater education is a critical component (and if you don’t, ask me for a copy of the propscar study), a overly burdensome certification process for paddlers (who are not making propscars) may be unreasonable. I think the key is to develop different education programs for the different user types so as to promote rather than oppress paddleusers, while protecting the resource and improving the user experience.

I see this as an even bigger issue for you & me taking out a buddy for an afternoon paddle than I see it for the rental & tour operators. They may just have to add a component to their tour or rental process. You might not be able to take out that friend or romantic interest you wanted to take paddling.

The question is what is the appropriate level of education for paddle users. The commercial guys may just have to add “don’t get out on the grassbeds” to their basic paddlestroke spiel. What will be the mechanism for you to get uncle bob “certified”.

The key is input from the user community. The powerboat users have been very vocal & generally are OK with restrictions that limit the “yahoos” without beating up on the “conscientious” user. Paddlers need to get involved and let our voices be heard in a positive and productive manner to lobby for expanded paddle opportunities and minimal restrictions on first time users.

Like I said @ a Biscayne GMP meeting Kayaking in Biscayne (or Everglades) is the equivalent to hiking in Yosemite or Yellowstone. These new plans are very pro-kayaker, let’s push for more opportunities in the drafting and implementation of these plans which will control our access for years to come!

Let your voice be heard!

•• Develop a mandatory education program/permit system to
promote shared stewardship for marine resources, including shallow
bottomlands, seagrasses, and wildlife. Operators of motorboats and
paddled boats would complete a mandatory education program to
obtain a permit to operate vessels in the park.
•• Manage boat transit within Florida Bay based on a new system of
marked channels and identified routes.
•• Enhance backcountry wilderness opportunities by providing
additional backcountry camping platforms or “chickees” (Florida Bay
and Gulf Coast).
•• Develop an “alternative wilderness waterway” for improved
wilderness experiences (Gulf Coast).
•• Work cooperatively with other agencies and partners to improve
access for motorized and nonmotorized watercraft.
•• Establish improved/new launch sites (main park road and 18-mile
stretch).
•• Improve canoe trail accessibility, including opportunities for
persons with disabilities.
•• Increase law enforcement presence to enhance visitor
understanding of, and compliance with, marine management zones.
•• Provide enhanced educational and recreational opportunities in
Florida Bay and Gulf Coast waters related to the park's natural and
cultural history.
•• Plan and construct the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor
Center in Everglades City.
•• Provide additional multi-agency visitor services, including
information and education services, in the Upper Keys and Gulf
Coast gateways to the park.
•• Develop and implement a formal adaptive management process
designed to (a) evaluate the success of management actions in
achieving desired resource and visitor use conditions, and (b) modify
management strategies as needed to improve success at achieving
desired conditions.
•• Establish an Everglades National Park Advisory Committee
comprised of diverse stakeholders to help park managers consider
various perspectives on issues such as management of fisheries,
access and visitor use, and protection of endangered species during
adaptive implementation of the general management plan.

[Keith W]

If anybody out there is still looking for a good reason for creating a group like the Friends of the Wilderness Waterway, this is it. We are all stakeholders in the Park and the Waterway, and our voice will be heard much more clearly if we can speak as an organized group rather than individuals. This is our chance to have a very real and important impact on how the GMP will be implemented.

When I first started the EDE social network 4 months ago I expected to see no more than a few of the hardcore paddlers join the group, maybe a half-dozen or so, but not much more that that.Today we have 37 members. Most of you have remained silent up until now. If you've been looking for a way to participate in the group, here is your chance.

[Rolando Willimann]

This has been the most common topic lately among me and my comrades, there will be a rather large group of kayak anglers attending the meetings at the IGFA on the 16th of April...I also know that the South Florida and WPB kayak meet-ups will also be promoting these meetings on their sites as well. I will warn you guys that most of the people present at the last round of meetings all favored what was proposition "A", which is now "plan 1", and this calls for the leave it as it is policy...I for one am apalled that this is even a consideration but apparently I am in the minority for thinking as such...come if you can, come if you want to voice your opinion, this is important, hope to see you guys there with gloves off.

[Ann Rougle]

Hello, folks. I'm a brand new member, long-time 'Glades paddler and sailor, and pretty excited to discover that y'all are out there!

Just wondering, is anybody else concerned about the fact that the Alternative Wilderness Waterway would be a marked route through the wilderness? To my mind, there are already too many markers in the Park. I'm not as bothered by powerboaters as I am by the prospect of losing my wilderness-given right to discover my own way.

[Keith W]

Hi Ann, glad to have you on board! How often do you get down to the Glades?

I know what you're saying about marked trails. I've been making my own alternative Wilderness Waterways for so long I have a hard time getting excited about an official one. I'm also not too keen on maybe finding out that some of my favorite 'private' trails may be on or near whatever alternative route becomes the official one. On the other hand not everybody has the experience or skill to navigate the mangrove maze without some direction and some folks will always need the markers, especially first-timers. The Park needs to cater to all skill levels and that means marked trails. but that doesn't bother me because I can always go where there aren't any.The Glades are big enough and there is still so much unexplored area that will never be marked that I'll always be able to a get regular dose of pure wilderness.

[Terry]

I've always been curious about John's "alternate" WW myself. I always run into John on the fly and
never have time to sit and discuss it with him. I don't understand, with the exception of the crocodile
preserves in north Florida Bay, paddlers can already go anywhere in the park. In all my WW through
trips I've never taken the same route and I'm rarely on the "marked" route. When I'm on the "marked"
route, I'm following the magenta line on the chart, the stakes are too far apart to be used as a guide.
What's an "alternative" WW?
If another route is marked wouldn't that just encourage powerboaters to use those waterways?
I can understand markers through places like Hells Bay Trail or Noble Hammock but may be it
would be better to remove the existing WW markers.

[yakmaster]

The idea is to discourage powerboats from using the WWW (wilder wilderness waterway or alternative ww). That way, paddlers have it more to themselves. Some alternative(s) just designate this as the alternate waterway and some go farther and put no wake or no motor zones on portions to further discourage motors on the WWW.

By making it less motor friendly the result should be paddlers on the slow zone creeks without motorboats & the motorboats on the originally designated creeks. You would have parallel routes going to the same places, but keeping the motors out of the silence. Motorboats would generally not be banned, but through traffic would be discouraged by the designation and/or restrictions.

On the signage issue, I have discussed it with NPS folks involved in the planning process and they are not averse to having this as a designated, & GPS coordinated, but not “marked on the ground” trail. However, it would seem that if you are going to have slow zones or NMZ’s you’re probably going to have to have some signage to tell the motor boaters to slow down or pole.

There already are tons of alternative routes, the key to John’s dream (if I may be so bold as to speak for him) is to have a route that is primarily paddlepowered, where we know we can be alone.

I think if there are going to be measures to discourage motor traffic on certain stretches, to promote the solitude, this would have to be posted. I don’t think anyone is proposing a go here don’t go there trail system for paddlers. One would still be free to go on the WW or the WWW or any other route between point A & point B, as circuitous or as direct as you choose (or end up with through poor navigation).

Beyond the issue of the WWW, there is a good possibility that there will be more and/or bigger signage out & about, particularly in the larger bays to direct motorboaters around skinny water. While it is ok for yakkers to go a wandering over shallows that they did not intend to (worst thing that can happen is you get stuck for a few hours & have a better story to tell), there are a lot of comments asking for more & better signage especially on the approaches to choke points to avoid further prop damage to the bottoms.

[Ann Rougle]

Hi, Keith,

I try to do a solo 3-weeker in the 'Glades once a year. Usually Flamingo-EC-Flamingo, with some 10,000 Islands thrown in for grins. This year I was lucky enough to be a volunteer in Flamingo all winter, tasked with canoe-trail maintenance, among other things. In a couple of days I'm off on a vanabout for the rest of the year.

I'm with you -- I will definitely be irked if, in trying to get from campsite to campsite along "my" route, I come across markers. And I fear I will. The proposed route goes through the Labyrinth! Really, people, you can't mark up the Labyrinth. Even no-wake zone signs give way too many hints.

Consider that the route would link the chickees from Shark River to Hells Bay via a path that does not go out into Whitewater Bay: Shark, Watson, North, Roberts, Lane, Hells. I never see power boaters back there (except maybe the Swamp Lily and its tender -- hi, John and Donna! (;>)). If the goal is to eliminate motorboats, the solution is way overkill. imho. And again, no-wake signs are almost as bad as numbered markers.

I'm afraid I don't agree that the Park is under any mandate to make the wilderness accessible to the under-experienced or under-prepared. I believe that if people want to travel in any wilderness area, they need to either do their homework and acquire the skills and gear they need, or go with a guide. We have the Hells Bay practice run for people who want of taste of wilderness trekking. After that, it's a whole new adventure -- a step up to competence with chart and compass -- and I think that's as it should be.

I'd hate to see this wilderness area be sort of dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. There are other lovely marked trails for anyone who wants that sort of experience. Which I'm not knocking, by the way. I love the sit-back-and-watch-the-scenery type of paddling. Just not in wilderness.

Whew! Sorry about the tirade. I love this place so much, and I get really protective of it. I'm all better now. I'm attaching a copy of the proposed route for Alternative #4 (the route itself is the same in Alternatives 2,3,4), though I'm sure y'all have seen it. The old WW is depicted by circles, and the new one by rectangles of various colors, depending on the type of restrictions on powerboating on that portion of the route.

[Terry]

The "Alternate" route certainly follows closer to my last 3 through trips, especially the
Hells Bay to Broad River section. I agree with Ann this doesn't need to be Disneyified
it's obvious to anyone who opens a chart. Isn't it bad enough we have the Gatlinburg
of Everglades National Park at our north terminus?
Not only that but I think the Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough are adequately marked
right now ... in fact, all that's needed is some "no motor zone" signage on already established
no motor zone areas.

I've heard no mention of the biggest need in any of the plans for us paddlers - a dedicated
canoe trail clearing team. It appears that canoe trail maintenance seems to be a loose
gathering of volunteers who just take in upon themselves to keep these routes open.
The most important connection in the WW evidently is kept open by just John hacking
through the Nightmare every winter. If it wasn't for Jim and Tom the long time established
in-land route to Cape Sable would have been gone forever. They still have years to go.
If it wasn't for "illegal" canoe trail clearing we would have lost Charley Creek. Is anyone
"officially" keeping Cabbage Creek open? The north route out of Willy Willy is just hacked
by who knows who every once in a while. Bottle Creek could use a little snipping.
It's an unbelievable shame we lost Whiskey Creek,
first by the highway cutting it off with only insignificant culverts then by neglect. Oh boy,
you want backcountry, imagine being able to canoe from Lard Can/Pearl Bay pass
the north side of Nine Mile Pond and out Taylor River. Would that be a killer WW trip? -
Start at Flagler's old water station on US1 and end at Collier Seminole State Park and still
all be in wilderness with only Marco Island damaging the vista at the north end.
What good are markers if routes grow over?
Instead we might end up with a canoe drivers licenses. Maybe we can get mouse ears
after successful completion of our canoe operators course. This is headed the same way
as the original no-take zones in Tortugas that turned into no-stopping zones when fishermen
realized that diving would still be allowed.

[vivian]

Like the rest of you, I have my own off trail ways to get from point A to B. And although not thrilled to have these areas open to all paddlers (selfish me) it would create alternative routes in high wind conditions to those that are new to the area. It not need be marked with garrish PVC markers like the Hells Bay trail. These routes don't twist and turn as much. It would just be an option to get away from the motorboats and to hide from the wind.