Work of Brad Cornell and others to protect our Corkscrew Sanctuary from a project that would have terribly deleterious effects on the wetlands and watershed of that area.

Thanks to Brad and our partners for the efforts they made to effect this change.

David Anderson 

“Five conservation organizations just won a major victory today in their efforts to protect and restore the Cocohatchee Slough adjacent to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Northern Collier County.  Audubon of Florida/National Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation, Collier County Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida last June 1, 2006 sued the Army Corps of Engineers and US Fish & Wildlife Service over their issuance of a wetland destruction permit for Ronto Group's Parklands-Collier residential golf project in the Cocohatchee Slough.  The project would destroy over 200 acres of wetlands and threaten the recovery of the endangered wood stork, which nests at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (the largest stork rookery in the United States and vital to the species' recovery). 

In a settlement arrived at amongst all parties, the permit will be completely reconsidered (remanded) including a new public notice and new listed species consultation from the US Fish & Wildlife Service over possible Endangered Species Act violations.  The lawsuit will be dismissed while this new permit review goes forward and the public has a chance to address the huge impacts this project represents to Southwest Florida.  This settlement does not preclude the Cocohatchee Coalition from bringing another lawsuit challenging any permit changes or approvals in the future on this project. 

The 5 environmental groups see this settlement as tremendous progress toward protecting and restoring all of the remaining Cocohatchee Slough flow-way.

The Parklands-Collier challenge is one of three major project challenges we and the Coalition are pursuing in this wetland system, the other two being Mirasol (proposed destruction of 656 acres of wetlands) and Terafina/Saturnia Lakes (almost 300 acres of wetlands to be destroyed).”