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Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Location Map
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (RBNERR) is located in Collier County, one of the fastest
growing counties in the United States. Collier County is also home to a portion of the original Everglades water
flowway and many other environmentally sensitive lands, such as mangroves. Over half of the county is in public
ownership, managed by either state or federal agencies. Opposing land uses—rampant development and large
conservation areas—create unique problems and opportunities for the reserve. Rookery Bay Reserve staff work
closely with private developers, regional planners and the water management district to encourage plans that protect
freshwater flows to the estuary and maintain important wildlife corridors, while meeting the needs of a growing
population.
Agriculture, tourism, fishing, boating and commercial crabbing are other important revenue sources in Collier County,
and the undeveloped areas of the reserve and the Aquatic Preserve are heavily used year-round. Acquisition and
restoration of watershed and barrier island land surrounding the reserve is a high priority as a means of buffering the
estuary from developmental pressure. However, once the land is in public ownership, conflicts over public access and
recreational use arise. Balancing the need for estuary research, preserving rare habitats and educating the public
through strategic access are never ending management tasks.
The Rookery Bay and Ten Thousand Islands ecosystem is a prime example of a nearly pristine subtropical mangrove
forested estuary. RBNERR is located in the West Florida subregion of the West Indian Biogeographic Region. The
total estimated surface area of open waters encompassed within proposed boundaries is 70,000 acres, 64 percent of
RBNERR. The remaining 40,000 acres are composed primarily of mangroves, fresh to brackish water marshes, and
upland
habitats.
Rookery Bay has a surface area of 1,034 acres and a mean depth of about 1 m. Salinities range from 18.5 to 39.4 parts
per thousand with lower values occurring during the wet season from May through October. Highest values occur
during the dry seasons (winter and spring) and can exceed those of the open Gulf of Mexico (35-36 parts per
thousand)..
Approximately 3,772 acres within the RBNERR boundaries are leased to the Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) by NAS, The Nature Conservancy, and CSF. State-owned lands, including 70,000 acres of submerged lands
and approximately 22,928 acres of acquired lands, are held in fee simple title by the Board of Trustees.
Approximately 13,300 additional acres within the boundaries were acquired by the state as part of a settlement
agreement with the Deltona Corporation. Parcels totaling approximately 500 acres represent privately-owned in
holdings
within
RBNERR..
DEP has proposed for NOAA consideration that the boundaries of the RBNERR be expanded to incorporate adjacent
state-owned coastal and submerged lands. DEP has designated all tidally connected waters within the boundaries of
RBNERR and Cape Romano/Ten Thousand Islands Aquatic Preserves as Class II and Outstanding Florida Waters
(OFW). OFW designation implements the state's highest standards for proposed developments, and does not allow for
direct discharges that would lower ambient water quality, or indirect discharges that would significantly degrade
water quality.
Exhibit 39
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Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Location Map
1964
1965
1967
1968
1969
1971
1972
1974
1975
1976
1977
1984
1988
2000
Concerned citizens block "Road to Nowhere."
The Collier County Conservancy is formed and $300,000 raised to begin purchase of the Rookery Bay
properties
The Conservancy purchased an additional $150,000 of Rookery Bay property and deeded it to the
National Audubon Society. They loaned money to buy one mile of beach near Wiggins Pass until the
State could purchase it.
Acquired entire western boundary of Rookery Bay for $240,000 and received from the Collier families
a gift of 390 acres of islands guarding south entrances
Purchased 2,000 acres in the Ten Thousand Islands area for $245,000 and presented the land to the
state for protection. Area designated as Cape Romano - Ten Thousand Islands Aquatic Preserve. Also
bought 40 acres of land and buildings on Henderson Creek and used the purchase to establish a Marine
Research Facility at Rookery Bay
Raised $800,000 in eight weeks to pay for past and future land purchases. Acquired Shell Point for
$235,000, completely enclosing Rookery Bay.
Continued making purchases around Rookery Bay
Obtained 258 more acres near Rookery Bay.
Persuaded the state to buy a large portion of Cape Romano
Won a three-year battle to deny permits to Deltona Corporation which would have destroyed 3,200
acres of Marco wetlands
Completed work to get Rookery Bay declared National Estuarine Research Reserve
Orchestrated land exchange after 14 years of negotiations with Deltona. Deltona swapped 13,000 acres
of wetlands and islands surrounding Marco for equally valuable uplands.
Conservancy efforts led to acquisition of Cannon Island by the State of Florida.
95 percent completion of CARL identified properties surrounding Rookery Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve. Effort underway to expand boundaries of RBBNERR to include the Cape-Romano Ten Thousand Island Aquatic Preserves and all CARL, Florida Department of Environmental
Protection, and Conservancy acquisitions
Exhibit 39
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Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Location Map
What
is
biodiversity
Biodiversity, from bio and diversity, is a term that has achieved widespread use among biologists, environmentalists,
political leaders, and concerned citizens worldwide. It is generally used to equate to a concern for the natural
environment and nature conservation. This use has coincided with the expansion of concern over flora and fauna
species extinction observed in the last decades of the 20th century.
How
is
biodiversity
measured?
Exhibit 39
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Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Location Map
Biodiversity is a broad concept, so a variety of objective measures have been created in order to empirically measure
biodiversity. For practical conservationists, this measure should quantify a value that is broadly shared among locally
affected people. For others, a more economically defensible definition should allow the ensuring of continued
possibilities for both adaptation and future use by people, assuring environmental sustainability.
Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. Flora and fauna vary depending on climate, altitude, soils and the
presence of other species. Earth’s species are formally classified as rare, endangered, threatened or extinct species.
Biodiversity is usually plotted as taxonomic richness of a geographic area, with some reference to a temporal scale.
Alpha diversity refers to diversity within a particular area. Community or ecosystem, and is measured by counting the
number of species within the ecosystem. Beta diversity is species diversity between ecosystems, and involves
comparing the number of species that are unique to each of the ecosystems. Gamma diversity is a measure of the
overall
diversity
for
different
ecosystems
within
a
region.
What
are
the
benefits
of
biodiversity?
Biodiversity has contributed in many ways to the development of human culture, and in turn, human communities
have played a major role in shaping the diversity of nature at the species and ecological levels. Biodiversity is what
underlies many important ecological goods and services that provide benefits to humans. There are three main reasons
commonly
cited
in
the
literature
for
the
benefits
of
biodiversity.
Ecological role of biodiversity – Al species provide at least one function in an ecosystem. Each function is an
integral part of regulating the species balance, species diversity and species health. All aspects which are intrinsic for
the ecosystem as a whole to survive and prosper. Ecosystems also provide various infrastructure of production (e.g.
soil fertility, pollinators of plants, predators, decomposers of waste) and services (e.g. purification of air and water,
stabilization and moderation of climate). Research suggests that a more diverse ecosystem is better able to withstand
environmental stress and is more productive. The loss of species thus is likely to decrease the ability of the system to
maintain
itself
or
to
recover
from
damage
or
disturbance.
Economic role of biodiversity – For all humans, biodiversity is a resource for daily life. Biodiversity is a reservoir of
resources to be drawn upon for the manufacture of food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Some of the
important economic commodities that biodiversity supplies to humankind are food, medicine, industry, recreation and
ecotourism.
Scientific role of biodiversity – Biodiversity is important because each species can give us some clues as to how life
evolved and will continue to evolve on Earth. Biodiversity also helps us understand how life functions and the role of
each
species
in
sustaining
ecosystems.
With Florida is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the United States. This biodiversity includes species
common to temperate North America and tropical West Indies. The number of temperate species progressively
decreases, and the number of tropical species increases, moving from north to south along the Florida peninsula.
Bioassessment
and
Monitoring
Program
To attain the goal of preserving biodiversity of Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (RBNERR)
requires understanding and managing the flora and fauna in an ecosystem context. An ecosystem consists of
Exhibit 39
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Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Location Map
organisms of various taxonomic designations, along with their interactions to each other and with abiotic conditions
and
processes.
In recent years the Resource Management Department of RBNERR has been developing their Bioassessment and
Monitoring Program. Data are systematically being collected on species occurrence and relative abundance among
different habitat types. The primary goal of this program is to develop multi-species habitat-specific management
strategies to support flora and fauna species conservation within the area managed by the Reserve. These strategies
will be closely coordinated with the objectives of existing Federal and State species-specific recovery plans, the South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, and the South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan. Once formulated, these
strategies will be recommended for incorporation into the Reserve’s Five-Year Management Plan. This framework
will be used to prioritize and guide the Reserve’s prescribed burn program, exotic species control objectives,
hydrological and habitat restoration activities, and land acquisition.
Exhibit 39
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