The Brevard Midreach is one of only a few near shore reefs along the entire east coast of the U.S., and a recognized essential habitat for many species of fish and sea turtles, yet the Army Corps of Engineers want to bury it under more than 600,000 cubic yards of sand.

The ''project'' now includes a full dredge and fill on the southern 1.4 miles of Mid Reach; and using that area as a dump for ''material'' to be trucked north. Lots of big trucks and heavy equipment on beach for a long time. Approved for more dredge and fill every 3 years.

In their last second bogus report, they claim that even if the project fails, the new sand will disappear in about two years, leaving the reef exposed again. However, there is not one scrap of evidence to prove this will happen. They also would call the artificial reef a success if only 3.8 acres of 4.9 were left exposed after one year, expecting over 20% to be buried by sediment. (about $2 million of wasted expense)

Read the public notice. Then email: Irene.sadowski@usace.army.mil to send in comments, and copy those to the Florida Today and Orlando Sentinel, as well as your representatives locally and state wide. (they hold the purse strings)

Public notice here - LINK
Their unbelievable evaluation of the project and special conditions attached to it - Link to PDF

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http://www.crsurf.com ~ CR Surf Travel Company

http://www.dadecosurf.com ~ South Florida Surf Site

http://www.surfrider.org ~ Find your Surfrider chapter

This is not an apathetic response please understand. I really want to know, what can we do? It appears that the money holders and the army have made their choice before even bringing it public. I will gladly send my letter to the government and media outlets but realistically what may come of it? I want nothing more than our reef to be left alone, as many here, and folks that I've spoke with about it elsewhere feel the same way.

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"I come from the water."

Thanks for the links and info. I was at the beach this past Sunday and it looked nice. And the dune line is built up well. What are they trying to do? Ruin this?







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surf forecast

Set up a petition and we'll sign it... http://www.change.org/

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There's no surf on Wall Street!
One man's loss is another man's gold...Operating principal behind Wall Street, and sadly, to a large extent, America

Am I alone when thinking that maybe this is exactly what the "man" wants?

Here we are scrambling to assemble a force equivilant to BIG [corporate] money in order to stop a project backed by the army corps of engineers (thus backed by the US corporations), while the guys writing the checks just laugh as the "fill" gets trucked to the beaches. We sign petitions, assemble, protest, but is there any precedent to that really working?

It may be time to take a more drastic approach. Perhaps prevent the fill with our own two hands.

 

I don't really know how that would happen. You'd have to be extremely zeleous in your protest. But I'm sure there are a few dozen of them out there...

BLat-  I would say you're thinking way to deep about it, to assume that there is a huge conspiracy that will keep all the surfers focused on the beach fill and off what huge corps are doing is giving way to much credit to the politicians in the intellegence arena.  They see crappy projects like this as "job creation" and they can claim that "your tax dollars went to create more jobs in the US".  It's posturing at it's best, similar to wanting to extending Ellis road to 95 (price tag $75 million) because Melbourne Airport needs to be "connected" (yeah for all 2 airlines that don't go to anywhere without connecting in Atlanta). 

If the ACOE doesn't use all the money in its budget and plan to use all the money in future budgets then someone else in the GOV will and the ACOE budget will steadly decline until it doesn't exist anymore.  Our Governments budget crisis is simple, they played by the use it of lose it policy for so long that they believe these projects "need" to be done.  No conspiracy about it bro, just dumb logic that most Americans subscribe too and that's why the national average for non equitable debt is $9577 (or $15000 depending on how you like your statistics).

Protests prove nothing other than we as Americans would rather go stand on street with a sign than develop a solid, convincing argument and speak at the public hearings.  The solution is not complex, go to public hearings on the matter, stand up and in clear voice say I don't believe this is a good idea or a great use of funds.  And offer a counter use for the funds, if you're so bold, show them there is a better way to waste the remainder of their budget so it doesn't get slashed.

 

Just a thought, not trolling (I think that's the term).

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Peddle over, paddle out, paddle in, peddle home!

here's some productive aternatives. rebuild the bridges to actually span the river and restore more of a natural flow. clean up the river and stop allowing dumping by land and by the ships out of the port so the river could possibly become clear again. fix/rebuild the sewer system, someone on here mentioned a catch basin system, so that sewage doesn't run directly into the ocean and river. or even easier for them, just buy some land and make it a nature preserve. if only the system was geared towards preserving the earth not constantly destroying it.

 

 

hope your not reffering to the "indian river"....cause its not a river, its a lagoon due to the fact that there is little to no flow. The water is brown because its brackish, and due full of algae and stuff....unless your reffering to a different river

Need to ask yourselves, who are the sponsors of this project. The COE may fund, design and administer the contract but some local sponsor(s) initiated the renourishment and seem to be happy hiding behind the Feds as far as taking any responsibility. The sponsors petition congress for the work and the Federal Gov't cost shares with those sponsors. The agency responsible for overseeing the work may be the COE but they are not the ones initiating it. They are simply the lap dogs of congress. Ideally there should be no construction at all on our beaches, but it may be a little late to solve erosion problems by buying out beachfront properties. Now everyone with an oceanfront view wants you, the taxpayer, to continue to preserve it for them.

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
Friedrich Nietzsche

What is the purported goal of this project? Though my feet have many a scar due to those accursed rocks, I nonetheless like them right where they are at. Seems like everything has held up very well since the last beach fortification, as Dave's photos indicate.

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Brujo, gdudewe, martinA and WG - the white Al Sharptons of NSR.

Dave, I have some old crappy cell phone pics when the dozers were on the beach in same spot having just dumped and graded the beautiful orange dirt they call beach sand, which shows that the slope is more substantial in your pic, proving what they're doing is a drop in the bucket (and a big dent in our walltes) compared to nature's course. I'll try to post them tonight.

also in the PDF linked above, I copy-pasted this:

PERMIT: Renourishment of the Mid-Reach cannot be performed unless authorized by a Department of

the Army Permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1344) and Section 10 of the

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403). These activities include: Placement of sand on the

beach and hopper dredging of sand from an offshore sand source.

 

I want to dig into these acts to see if there are any requirements they are actually violating by doing this. Use their own ammo against them might be our best chance to defer this precident-setting pet project.

 

I am totally against the project, but having a new baby and working overtime at work leaves very little time to stand up. However, if he doesn't get to grow up on natural beaches, I will be pissed. 

 

Read the public notice. Then email: Irene.sadowski@usace.army.mil to send in comments, and copy those to the Florida Today and Orlando Sentinel, as well as your representatives locally and state wide. (they hold the purse strings)

Public notice here - LINK

The above is the important part. It doesn't take much more time than it does to post here. Voicing you concerns; whether they are environmental, fiscal, or other, is you right and responsibility. This is a long fight and the project is by no means a done deal. Every voice helps!

Online petitions don't carry nearly as much weight as reasoned individual letters. But if someone started one, I'm sure they'd get some sign-ons.

To repeat what Mike said, all you need to do is send an email to Irene, and copy it to the media outlets and your elected reps. IT DOES WORK, since the ACOE is legally held to take into account every comment and your 'elected' officials are listening to voters right now. The media will hop on it since it is a waste of taxpayer money AND destroys a limited natural resource, but only if they hear about it from you.

You can read what I wrote to understand better where the ACOE is wrong, but don't copy/paste - make it personal. It's your beach to save! If you want to get more involved, go to the next Surfrider meeting but don't wait to get in your comments before APRIL 14th.

Also, it would help to get this topic shared on Facebook and other surf forums since a lot of surfers/fisherman/divers use this reef. The action item should be - Send in comments to: Irene.sadowski@usace.army.mil, with the subject 'Brevard Midreach Project', and copy to the media and elected officials.

2012 Comment Letter

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http://www.crsurf.com ~ CR Surf Travel Company

http://www.dadecosurf.com ~ South Florida Surf Site

http://www.surfrider.org ~ Find your Surfrider chapter

Similar to the island naming, I've been told that petitions don't carry much weight but individual emails and snail mail do.  I agree with writing in and have completed mine but I will say that appearing at public meetings on the matter carry the most weight.  Most of our city and county officials don't live on the beach and possible don't understand the issue at hand.

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Peddle over, paddle out, paddle in, peddle home!

Here's the ''why'' behind most of this:

“In accordance with the intent expressed in s.

161.088 and the legislative finding that erosion

of the beaches of this state is detrimental on

tourism, the state’s major industry, further exposes

the state’s highly developed coastline to severe

storm damage, and threatens beach-related jobs,

which, if not stopped could significantly reduce

state sales tax revenues, funds deposited into

the State Treasury to the credit of the Ecosystem

Management and Restoration Trust Fund, in the

annual amounts provided in s. 201.15(8), shall

be used, for a period of not less than 15 years to

fund the development, implementation, and

administration of the state’s beach management

plan . . . ” [Florida Statutes 161.091(3)].

It's a legislative mandate to dredge and fill our beaches, all because governments couldn't follow any sane guidelines to coastal development. Once the development was in place the mindset has become ''we must protect these structures''. The Mid Reach was left out (in 1995) of the larger dredge and fill projects to the north and south, because of the unique and valuable habitat that is the reef. Our local government has been ''working'' to figure out a way to do a dredge ever since. This is just the latest step in that direction.

If you read the Public Notice, the first paragraph contains text in bold that says: ''We are still evaluating whether or not to issue a Department of the Army permit''. I think that they clearly understand that this project has big problems.

IMO Florida's natural beaches are (were) our greatest asset, both for tourism and residents. These dredge projects always produce an unnatural, ugly beach; and about the time nature starts to recover they come along with another fill. But it has become its own industry, with lobbyists making $ure that politicians everywhere are convinced that the whole economy of the state will collapse if not for continued, never-ending dredge and fill.

The good news is that fiscal constraints are starting to lead to a re-examination of this misguided policy at higher levels of government. The Mid Reach makes a great example to show to elected officials, because this taxpayer bailout not only is a waste of $$ but it buries portions of a living reef. I'm trying hard to imagine the legislator who wants a vote for funding this fiasco on his/her record.

Edited: 03/28/2012 at 01:46 PM by mikedaniel

Copy/paste these emails for our county officials and the media. This group is part of the driving force behind this project since they want the state/feds to pay for most of it - for the next 30 years!

D1.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us
D2.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us
D3.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us
D4.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us
D5.Commissioner@brevardcounty.us
letters@floridatoday.com
insight@orlandosentinel.com
action9@wftv.com


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http://www.crsurf.com ~ CR Surf Travel Company

http://www.dadecosurf.com ~ South Florida Surf Site

http://www.surfrider.org ~ Find your Surfrider chapter

Sent a letter opposing the plan to all those links provided as well as ACOE email and news media. Thanks for the links. Let's hope for the best, or, do more than the rest. Thanks to all for info.

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Ka'a'awa avocado

I sent a complaint in also ! Thanks for the links & Info !

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...............John Holeman = Local Hero ...........
......Ride COIL INDUSTRIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last time they did this they dumped orange sand on top of a beautifully vegetated dune behind the shop. I had the Today paper here, video, Channel 6 etc. They just don't learn.

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Wooden Boards for Iron Men

Yes finguru I am referring to the IRL as "the river", everyone I know in Brevard has always called it that. Yes there is a natural flow because there is an exchange with the inlets and it was disrupted when dirt was mounded up on both sides of the river to build the new causeways. I've heard accounts that the river used to be crystal clear and mahi mahi were caught because schools of them used to run through the river! Now sea tutles are being found in the river with tumors growing on them. I wouldn't say the water is brown because it's brackish or from algae.