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PORT ORANGE SANCTUARY
Island #3, locally referred to as
"Pelican Island" or "Seabird Island" is located just south of
the Dunlawton Bridge in Port Orange. This environmental
treasure is endangered by boaters landing and turning their dogs
loose and by wakes from larger boats cruising the Intracoastal
Waterway.
Wakes
from these larger boats cause erosion on the east side of the
island. Because of these concerns, sometime in 2002-2003,
HRA began trying to determine which government entity has
jurisdiction over the islands in the Halifax River. After
being shuttled from one agency to another, we learned the
Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) administers the
islands but has no enforcement branch. Additional
communication revealed that in February 1960--48 years ago--the
island was designated the Port Orange Wildlife Sanctuary by
FIND, and responsibility for its care was assigned to what was
then the Florida Audubon Society. Conrad H. Ekdahl and
T.J. Wetherell of Halifax River Audubon and C. Russell Mason of
the Florida Audubon Society (now Audubon of Florida) put
together a petition that was presented to the Board of
Commissioners of FIND at their meeting in West Palm Beach on
February 26, 1960. The petition outlined the importance of
the islands along the ICW in Volusia County as rookeries for a
variety of nesting wading birds and their allies.
In October 2005 City staff from
Port Orange agreed to assist HRA in reestablishing the Port
Orange Wildlife Sanctuary. According to an article
published in the March 6, 1960 Daytona Beach News-Journal,
the Sanctuary contains 975 acres and according to the aerial
photo map provided by FIND Director, David K. Roach, it runs
along the west side of the ICW almost to Ponce Inlet.
The resolution establishing the
sanctuary placed certain
responsibilities
on the Florida Audubon Society. Among these were:
"...a proper and attractive sign be erected to that effect, and
that the proper POSTED signs also be placed..." We assume
this was done back in 1960 and that due to hurricanes, salt
water and time, the signs disappeared. The people who were
instrumental in the establishment of the sanctuary had passed on
and it seems there was no one around to replace the signs when
they disappeared. So the fact of the sanctuary's
establishment was lost to current memory. New signs were installed to
mark the north and south boundaries of the Port Orange
Wildlife Sanctuary. Using his boat,
John Roessler (Chapter President at that time and seen standing on deck,) David Hartgrove
(who took the photo) and Bart
Paulding (standing in the water) installed the signs on
Saturday morning, March 18, 2006.
Over the following months City
staff from Port Orange continued to work with David Hartgrove
and Ken Russell to ensure the protection of the Sanctuary.
HRA contacted a sign company which will create a design to be
approved by Port Orange. A committee was formed to
put the whole process in motion.
A public ceremony was held to
dedicate the sign announcing the Port Orange Wildlife
Sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November
2, 2006.
The ceremony was held in Port Orange Causeway Park
(beneath the Port Orange Bridge) just west of the boat
ramps. The photo below, taken by Kent Donohue shows Pete
Atwood, Port Orange Environmental Advisory Board; Glenn
Walker, Port Orange Parks Dept.; Ken Parker, Port Orange
City Manager; Jerry Penny, Ponce Inlet Port Authority
Advisory Board member; David Hartgrove, HRA Conservation
Chair; Ken Russell, HRA Board member and Rachel Ramsey, HRA
Treasurer. All the community representatives present
at the dedication agreed that this is just the beginning of
the cooperative support of preserving, protecting and
maintaining this unique sanctuary.
The photo on the right, taken by
David Hartgrove, shows the view of the Sanctuary beyond
the sign. |