Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Letter

Photo courtesy of: NPS / Lori Oberhofer

Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Conservation involves an ecological management plan that coincides with Everglades restoration. Peace River Audubon signed the attached letter to SFWMD in support of the sparrow.

Moving water south from Lake Okeechobee to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay is a key priority of the SFWMD governing board, and the Center for Biodiversity shares a commitment to that Everglades restoration goal. The attached letter provides information about how this goal intersects with the conservation of the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow.

While some members of the public have pointed to the sparrow as a primary obstacle to moving water south, a fact-based analysis of the issue shows this is simply not the case: There is no so-called “single-species management”. The Cape Sable seaside sparrow stands as a beneficiary of Everglades restoration — not an impediment to it.

Instead of placing blame on the sparrow, stakeholders and decision makers alike should do all they can to secure substantially greater water storage, treatment, and conveyance throughout the Everglades Agricultural Area to realize the shared vision of a fully restored Everglades, with sufficient flow to support a healthy Florida Bay and free of damaging discharges of polluted water to our northern estuaries.

Seaside Sparrow Letter – September 2020