
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993                   TAG: 9308180058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI                                LENGTH: Medium

HURRICANE DIDN'T BLOW AWAY ENVIRONMENT'S TROUBLES

Hurricane Andrew has taught a troubling lesson - man has caused so much damage to Florida's environment that even one of the most powerful forces of nature couldn't put things right.

Environmentalists thought the Aug. 24, 1992, hurricane might have a chance of unraveling decades of abuse and bringing back some of the region's natural balance.

Joe Podgor, director of Friends of the Everglades, said, "Hurricanes blow away things that don't fit - they blow away mobile homes, they blow away trees from Australia."

Andrew, conservationists thought, would wipe out invasive imported plants crowding out native vegetation, like the fast-growing, thirsty melaleuca, which was introduced from Australia to help dry up the Everglades for development.

A hurricane also would flush pollution out of the Everglades and scour turbid Florida Bay clean, they thought.

But that sadly underestimated the problems, said Brian Millsap, wildlife director for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

"We've induced a lot of changes to the environment," he said. "A hurricane is clearly far more detrimental to plants and animals than it would have been 200 years ago - it would have done nothing then."

The most alarming result so far is accelerated deterioration of Florida Bay at the state's southern tip, said Harold Hudson, regional biologist at the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary.

Decades of fertilizer, pesticides and other waste had settled to the bottom of Florida Bay and collected in Everglades peat, he said. Andrew stirred the muck and flushed the wetlands, setting loose those nutrients and chemicals. The monster March storm that became a blizzard farther north aggravated the damage. Now seagrass beds are dying and the bay is turning even murkier.

Endangered animals such as the Florida panther and bald eagle fared well initially, said Millsap, but their future may be cloudy.

"Wading bird nesting colonies were blown away, bald eagle nest sites were destroyed, and there are very few alternate sites for them to nest in because of destruction of habitat," he said.

Another fear is the thousands of pets set loose by Andrew. So far, they have remained in urban areas, but could spread and compete with native wildlife, Millsap said.

Andrew cut a swath through the coastal mangroves in Dade County, destroying up to 80 percent of the ecologically vital trees in hardest-hit areas, said Susan Markley, head of natural resources for the county. The trees provide a haven for newly hatched fish and crabs, nesting areas for sea birds and a natural water filter.

Andrew leveled the few surviving natural pinelands in south Dade. In another time, they would have grown back naturally. But habitat destruction coupled with the introduction of aggressive exotic plants has altered the natural state, Markley said.

by CNB