Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Deer hunting, airboats proposed for wildlife refuge
Almost all of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge would be opened up to hunting, under a proposal intended to make more of the western Palm Beach County preserve available for public recreation.
The draft plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will be discussed Thursday at a public meeting in Wellington, would allow hunting for deer and hogs and expand existing hunting areas for ducks and alligators.
The plan calls for a variety of other activities, including horseback riding, camping and limited airboating. But the expansion of hunting is likely to be the most controversial of the plans for the refuge, where hunters and animal-rights activists have previously clashed over proposals to open it up to hunting for alligators.
“Killing animals for conservation is like saying I only want to poison someone a little,” said Staci-lee Sherwood, a Deerfield Beach animal rights activist, who had previously fought the alligator hunting proposal. “It’s just a con, it’s not conservation. Hunting is violent and it’s cruel.”
Bishop Wright Jr., a hunter and airboater who has been among the leaders in pressing for more public access to Loxahatchee, said the hunting would be unlikely to disturb non-hunters, given the vastness of the refuge.
“Anyone who’s looking for more recreational opportunities ought to be thrilled with the proposal,” he said. “I’m a hunter, but I still like to see more people go out and enjoy the area. I feel like the more people go out and enjoy an area, no matter what their love is for the area, the more they’re going to appreciate the area. I think it’s great they’re going to get more people into the outdoors.”
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has made a priority of opening up more federal land to public use, including mining, hunting and oil drilling.
And the South Florida Water Management District, which leases the refuge land to the federal government, had pressed for more hunting and other activities during renewal negotiations earlier this year.
Among the other activities proposed in the plan are frogging, dog walking and small-scale weddings and other ceremonies. It calls for expanding the areas open to fishing and the construction of more trails for hiking and biking.
The lemon-shaped refuge protects 227 square miles of wet prairies, sloughs, tree islands and cypress swamps extending across a sweep of territory west of U.S. 441, from Boca Raton to Wellington. Dotted with wading bird colonies, it contains nests of bald eagles and snail kites, providing habitat for 250 bird species.
Elinor Williams, president of Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, said members of her group had been concerned that hunting and airboat noise would “disturb wildlife, that would disturb people who came to enjoy wildlife.”
But she said anything that brought people into the Everglades was likely to make them value it and support its protection.
“So you have to weigh the good with the bad,” she said. “And I think staff did the best they could in trying to weigh different alternatives that would try to satisfy the people who wanted to come on the refuge with airboats and make sure the resource itself isn’t destroyed.”
In particular, she said, she was glad to see the plan dropped an earlier proposal for a small mammal hunt, since Burmese pythons in the larger Everglades were already taking a toll on bobcats, otters, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and opossums.
Rolf Olson, the refuge’s manager, said the plan accomplishes its goal of opening up the preserve to the public without harming the environment.
“I think we have a good plan that allows for more uses, airboating and more hunting, but it’s not going to compromise our mission,” he said.
Although he recognizes that hunting can be controversial, he said the actual numbers won’t be significant because of limits on when it could be done and how many permits would be issued.
“The seasons are going to be small, and the number of hunters is going to be small,” he said. “I think the number of deer is going to be inconsequential from a population perspective. I think the impact is going to be pretty minimal.”
The public meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wellington Community High School Theater, 2101 Greenview Shores Blvd., Wellington.
Comments on the proposal may be emailed to armloxvsp@fws.gov or sent by U.S. mail to Draft VSP, P.O. Box 924, Freeport, FL 32429.