WCA -
(June 3, 2008)
Rainfall:
High
intensity rain cells were scattered throughout the
WCA-1:
0.95”
WCA-3A: 1.57”
WCA-2A:
2.65”
WCA-3B: 1.97”
WCA-2B: 1.27”
ENP:
2.69”
Fire:
The
Southern Area Incident Management Team is transitioning command of the Mustang
Corner Fire back to Everglades National Park effective 6:30 a.m. Sunday, May
25. The fire is 90% contained and total acreage remains at 39,465 acres. For
safety reasons,
Water Conservation Areas:
Stages
are holding steady throughout the WCA’s. Despite it being June and the “normal”
start of the wet season, good recession rates have returned to the
The spatial
pattern for rainfall (see raindar.gif)
was reflected in last week’s trends for ENP wetland water levels. Water
levels in SRS (station P33) were up by 0.8” for the week. The panhandle
(station EVER6), on the other hand, saw water level drop by nearly 0.75”.
Taylor Slough Bridge (TSB) water levels dropped by 2.5” (not an unusual
recession rate at this station) and by 1.2” to the south at Craighead Pond
(CP), an area where water levels have been declining rapidly of late.
While this week’s recession rates are not particularly high, it is notable that
May water levels were below the decadal average at both TSB & CP, by 17”
& 10”, respectively.
Salinity
continues to trend upward (see salinity.pdf).
Salinity remained in the middle – upper 30s across most of the northeast Bay
last week, while, in the Taylor ponds, salinity continued to climb for another
week, reaching the mid-30s at Pond 5 (USGS station) and Argyle Hendry (ENP
station TR). As of Sunday, 6/1, the 30d moving average concentration at
TR (used for tracking the FL Bay MFL criterion of 30 psu – see Fl Bay MFL.bmp)
was at 32.1 psu (up from 30.4 psu last week). Low rainfall, especially in the
pan handle, and high ET across the region continue to facilitate this MFL
exceedance. Salinity increased into the mid-40s in the
Wildlife:
Hydrologic
conditions have finally become more conducive to foraging/nesting in a number
of areas of the system. The District does not usually conduct a June nest count
so the current survey was relatively limited in scope and focused only on
colonies that are active or had a good possibility of being so. A total of
11175 nests (3400 egrets and 7775 White Ibis nests) were counted yesterday.
This is almost double last month’s count but considerably lower than during the
peak of nesting in 2006 and 2007 (see attached
xls for more details). Most nesting activity was in the Refuge and WCA
3A.
Most
foraging activity was observed in southern WCA 2A and northern WCA 3A. Little
foraging was noted in the Refuge.
Attached is
a spreadsheet providing a table
for comparing nest numbers between 2006, 2007 and this year, and a map showing colony locations.
Please contact Mark Cook (mcook@sfwmd.gov) if you have any
questions.
.
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