On Tuesday, April 28, Collier County voted 4-1 to approve the controversial Mirasol golf course residential project.  The proposed footprint is located in a slough eminating from Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  The project would destroy about 600 acres of wetlands critical to the survival and continued presence of endangered wood storks at the Corkscrew Swamp rookery – the largest in the nation.   Jason Lauritsen, Audubon of Florida Southwest Florida Science Coordinator and Assistant Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Manager, warned the Collier County Board of Commissioners that approval of this wetland destruction, along with at least 500 more wetland acres to be destroyed adjacent to Mirasol, could doom the storks at Corkscrew due to their dependence on scarce shallow wetlands found in abundance in the Mirasol area.  Based on the Board's discussion, it appeared that the Board was more concerned about possible lawsuits from the developer than the sustainability of the region's natural resources.  Read the Naples Daily News report on the vote.

While this is a disappointing defeat, Audubon and its allies (Collier County Audubon Society, Florida and National Wildlife Federations and the Conservancy of SW Florida) are hopeful for a favorable ruling from the judge on a pending federal lawsuit filed against the Mirasol permit.