There's a legal dispute on Fort Myers Beach between those who protect birds and people who want to build a boardwalk. Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has issued an intent to permit the construction of the boardwalk through a Critical Wildlife Area.
On a hot morning the Audubon Society's Brad Cornell was on Little Estero Island where one of the biggest beach nesting colonies in the state of Florida lives.
There are hundreds on birds' nests on this little beach and territorial parents are protecting their hatchlings.
"See that Least Tern is watching us," Cornell said, pointing to a bird hovering about 3 feet above.
They defend their territory by dive-bombing and defecating on suspected predators.
"The scout's gonna send out the troops," Cornell said. "We got their attention."
"So there's a chance we're gonna get pooped on?" I ask.
"There is. So hold onto your hat," Cornell said. "Good thing you're wearing a hat."
This beach is home to hundreds of nesting Least Terns, Snowy Plovers, Black Skimmers and Wilson's Plovers. And it's adjacent to a tidal lagoon that's in the middle of the beach. It's an area with mangroves, it's where a few of these birds go to nest in addition to Reddish Egrets and Red Knots.
"State and federally protected species that simply don't have the space to go about their daily business," Julie Wraithmell, deputy director of Audubon Florida, said.
She said the tidal lagoon is also a designated Critical Wildlife Area, which means the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission deems it important to protect.
But it's also where the owners of two rental homes want to build a boardwalk from their backyards, through the lagoon and to the beach. And Florida's Department of Environmental Protection issued an intent to permit.
According to DEP-provided court documents, The Audubon Society filed a petition to halt the permit process. After that, the people who want to build the boardwalk went back to the drawing board to create something more environmentally friendly.
But Wraithmell said there's no environmentally friendly man-made structure that could work in this delicate ecosystem.
"Well, for the birds' sake, it's a very remote area and so it would be delivering disturbance right into the midst of their sanctuary," she said.
But they're just birds, some might say and this boardwalk is going to create jobs for people.
To that, Wraithmell said, "That's a false economy. Because, actually, Fort Myers Beach is a very prominent destination for bird-watching tourists. Bird-watching and wildlife viewing is big business in Florida."
And that's why the Audubon Society intends to do everything it can in court to prevent the boardwalk from being built. The DEP would not do an interview and the people who want to build the boardwalk did not return requests for an interview either.
Back on the beach, the Audubon Society's Brad Cornell said the boardwalk could bring in natural predators that wouldn't otherwise be there to prey on the birds.
"Rats, feral cats. You add perches for Peregrine falcons, for hawks," he said. "You build a highway for all these things to walk into the critical wildlife area."
As a machine pumps cement to start construction on a house in the background, a lady carrying sea shells walked up to Cornell who examined the beach through a monocular on a tripod.
"I thought he was excavating for some type of construction project on the beach," Tracey Dodrill said about Cornell. "Because we see all these pipes that are here and having come here for 40 years, it kinda sticks the hairs up on the back of your neck as to what's going on as far as development."
Dodrill is a science teacher from Arizona.
"There's a limit to how much natural space we have and I think we need to look at those areas we're building on and make sure we're not destroying preserves and natural areas."
As for Brad Cornell, he said he won't be here in a hundred years. But, he said preventing the boardwalk is one step to ensuring the birds will be here long after he's gone.
The Audubon Society said the DEP is now considering requiring a second type of permit before the boardwalk could go forward.
