Cocohatchee Slough wetlands flowing from Florida Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the wood stork habitat so important to this species received important protection in October. A federal judge agreed with Audubon and its allies, ruling to revoke a wetlands destruction permit issued to a developer in 2007.

Audubon of Florida, Collier County Audubon Society, National and Florida Wildlife Federations, and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, with litigation support from the Everglades Foundation, have been working for years to protect the Cocohatchee Slough from harmful development. In his ruling, federal District Judge Jose Martinez revoked the Mirasol wetland destruction permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2007, and invalidated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Biological Opinion, which assesses the project’s potential threat to endangered wood storks nesting at Corkscrew.

The basis for the revocation of the permit was agreement with the environmental groups’ claim that accounting for the cumulative impacts of all the development in the same watershed was inadequate.  Mirasol would destroy 645 acres of wetlands and stork habitat in order to build two golf courses and 799 homes, while other adjacent projects would destroy at least another 500 acres.

A ruling from the same judge is expected soon on a similar challenge Audubon and its allies filed against the adjacent Saturnia Falls project.  While such rulings can be appealed, it is not clear yet what will happen next.  Regardless, this is a clear victory for wetland and habitat protection, and is the result of the support and persistence of our members, friends and allies.