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Section 2 Existing Conditions/Affected Environment

EAA Storage Reservoirs Revised Draft PIR and EIS February 2006

2-27

Manatees are also found in other inland fresh waters that may be affected by the

EAA Project, such as Lake Okeechobee, SLE, and CE. This slow-moving aquatic

mammal is an opportunistic herbivore feeding on a variety of submergent,

emergent, or floating aquatic vegetation including bank grasses and overhanging

plants. A study is currently underway to document the use of canals by the

manatee (Ferrell, D. [personal communication] USFWS, 2004). Watercraft

collisions, water control structures, and navigational locks are principal hazards

to manatees.

A survey of manatee accessibility performed by the CERP Interagency Manatee

Task Force (Manatee Task Force), consisting of representatives from the

USFWS, FWC, USACE, SFWMD, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Park

Service, and the Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resources

Management, shows that manatees access canals within the EAA by navigating

from the Okeechobee Waterway through the gates at structures S-351, S-352, or

S-354. A manatee habitat suitability survey was also performed in 178 miles of

canals within the EAA. The survey was conducted using the following criteria:

canal configuration, forage availability, refugia, temperature, presence of

structures, mortality/rescue incidents, boat ramps, watercraft, and structure

accessibility. The Manatee Task Force concluded the risks of manatee

entrapment/mortality in the EAA canals outweigh the availability of suitable

manatee habitat (CERP Interagency Manatee Task Force, 2004).

2.11.5.3 Wood Stork

The endangered wood stork (Mycteria americana) is a long-legged wading bird

that typically forages in freshwater marshes, ponds, ditches, tidal creeks and

pools, impoundments, pine/cypress depressions, and swamp sloughs (USFWS,

1999). The wood stork has been documented in EAA wetlands, temporarily

flooded fields, and in associated canals and ditches. In addition, wood stork

nesting colonies are within foraging range of the project footprint and occur

adjacent to Lake Okeechobee and downstream in the EPA. Wood storks may

also forage within the SLE and CE areas.

Wood storks are large, long-legged wading birds. They have a heavy bill that is

used to locate prey items, mostly fish and crustaceans, by touch in shallow

water. Prey must be concentrated in high densities to forage effectively;

therefore, wood storks frequent drying wetland pools. Nesting occurs in trees-

typically cypress-and communal nest sites occur or have occurred in all South

Florida counties.

2.11.5.4 Bald Eagle

Although the threatened bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) has been

proposed for delisting under the ESA (64 FR 36453), it is still protected under

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