Fisheries Administrator Of Southwest Region Of Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Discusses Texture At SEOPA 2016
The texture of how water works and flourishes life especially in the depths of Florida is a dexterous undertaking. The ideas of science, conservation and a general concern for the well-being of the outdoors fuel this effort. For Eric Johnson, Fisheries Administrator of The Southwest Region for Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, detail is key. Johnson sat down with The Buzz at the SEOPA Conference in Lakeland, Florida to discuss cause and effect, adaptability and man-made versus natural events that alter the ecosystem.
The Buzz: How do you find yourself in this arena?
Eric Johnson: I am fishery biologist by trade. That is my background. That is my schooling. I moved up the ladder within the state agency. The job that I am in now I have been for little over a year. We have 5 regions in our state and the Southwest region is the region I am in. The regional office is located out of Lakeland Florida which is where are now. And that region encompasses 12 counties including Polk, Highlands, Hardy, Pinellas, Hillsborough…
The Buzz: How would you subscribe the uniqueness of your territory?
EJ: My box of terrain runs just a little bit north of Crystal River on the West Coast. We’ll go all the way down the West Coast throughout Tampa Bay down to Charlotte Harbor…the Fort Meyers area…and then we kind of angle across over to Lake Istokpoga and southern Highlands county…that doesn’t include Lake Okeechobee…and you kind of run that Highway 27 corridor up north just to the edge…I mean literally the property line of the Kissimmee River on the Western side. Part of my region also includes the Kissimmee and then you kind of angle back just north of Weechi Wachee. That is kind of my box. So within that area, I’m responsible for freshwater lakes and rivers that are considered public for the most part….well over 1000 lakes…and probably over a 1000 miles of rivers, streams and tributaries. Just here in Polk County alone, we have over 500 lakes. The diversity is between lakes that are just little bull shapes to bigger ones like Istokpoga which is one of my bigger systems at 28,000 acres. It is pretty good size. But of them are somewhere between 1000 and 5000 acres. But there are some lakes that are relatively rural with fish camps that my staff and I oversee to ones like ones in the Winter Haven area…including Ovendale…ones that are heavily encroached by development all the way around them. I mean you basically have a ½ million…2 million…5 million dollar homes all the way around these lakes with boardwalks and docks and stuff like that. So a lot of diversity. There is also aquatic vegetation in these lakes that could be highly variable. Some of the species are the same. Some of them are very diverse. The fish species though for the most part are about the same. The terrain around the lake itself [by comparison though] can be highly variable. A couple major river systems flow through there. We also oversee the Peace River which originates right in this area [outside Lakeland] and flows all the way into Charlotte Harbor. That is also a big river system in South Florida.
The Buzz: How do you administrate that since you always have urban elements currently encroaching on nature and maintain the balance of that?
EJ: A presentation I gave here at a breakfast as a keynote speaker here the day before yesterday, one of the slides that I showed [explained] what the population was going to be in 2060 compared to what it is now. If we consider this Interstate 4 corridor between Orlando and Tampa…right now [we are] just south of that. If you look at the influence on that corridor on the population between Tampa and Orlando [and it] is growing. Once it sort of links up (like “Orlampa”] it will start to spread north and southward. When we talk and meet with the experts that have looked at the population growth based on where the populations are now and their radius expanding, it is eye opening to say the least. We are very aware of that but it is a tough battle primarily because what we are concerned about most in fisheries is losing access. Right now we have a lot of boat ramps which are either maintained by us or the property is owned and the city or county government maintains those ramps. But these ramps can also be next to a lake that is full of million dollar homes. Hopefully those city and county governments hopefully will always have the funding to keep those ramps open. But we are concerned about losing access to those lakes because of tightening budgets. The price of land is so expensive that we are concerned we will never be able with what limited funds we’ve got be able to acquire those properties. Once they build all the way around a lake, unless you get permission to go onto that property from a resident who lives there, then you’ve lost that fishing opportunity in that lake. That is a huge concern.
The Buzz: Can you talk about the impact on the wildlife and the fish population because of this kind of building?
EJ: It’s amazing. Wildlife is pretty adaptable in terms of bird species and stuff. They can adapt unless they require some kind of critical nesting habitat like a lake that got destroyed because now you’ve got a waterfront home with a dock or something. There are certain species that benefit and do better than others and are more adaptable. From the fish standpoint, it doesn’t really impact them just by the organization aspect itself but it is the ramifications. When you talk about changes in water quality and water clarity…those are things that can definitely impact our fisheries either directly because of point source nitrification or if there happens to be point source pollution. What we see if that our lakes are becoming greener and that is all due to algae blooms. That is driven by the nitrogen and the phosphates that are going in the lake either from the fertilizer that people are putting on their lawns or if there happens to be a drainage system that comes off the streets or somewhere else. That doesn’t happen if the water is filtered through a wetland or something. That is the greatest thing about a wetland is that they are a good filter system. If it goes straight into the lakes, that is just like fertilizing the lake. You get the algae populations that want to grow. The lake turns really really green and it increases the productivity…but it is a dual edged sword because you have to be careful if things get too over productive in there. Sometimes we get the right type of weather scenario or something that causes the algae to be diseased. When they die, they can cause fish kills. When we see lakes turn really green, we are concerned about fish kills, harmful bacteria and harmful algae blooms. There are harmful species of algae out there that produce toxins that can be annoying to people and to wildlife but can kill fish. You have to be careful how you ramp up the productivity of a system in getting it too green because it can backfire on you.
The Buzz: Natural weather systems can obviously add to the problems. Hurricane Matthew just passed near here barely missing this part of Florida. How do you have to look at natural occurrences?
EJ: We have no control over Mother Nature. She is going to do what she is going to do. So when we have system like that ramp in, we are pretty much at the mercy of Mother Nature. All we can do is try to make sure our staff is safe and get those people taken care of and hunkered down through the storm. But we know that these storms can come in…and whether it is increased water influences and flooding or with pure wind and using wind and water as a combination ripping vegetation literally off the bottom of the lake and stockpiling it onto the shoreline, storms like these can alter the ecosystem and habitats within our lakes in a matter of 24 hours. The hurricane that hit Lake Okeechobee more than a few years ago basically turned it that ecosystem into chocolate milk. And our own Lake Walk-In-Water that sits over just east of Haines City, we had a 1000 acres of hydrilla. Mother Nature basically ripped it up and piled a lot of it on the shore and because of changes in water quality and water chemistry basically Mother Nature totally eliminated hydrilla in Lake Walking Water. When they talk about the three [hurricanes]: Charlie, Francis and Gene [that hit Florida] in 2004…all three of those eyes kind of crossed the same path just south of where we are. The hydrilla wasn’t ripped out because of the water torpidity or the changes to water chemistry, it just disappeared. Our plant staff who goes in to monitor invasive plant species has yet been unable to find any tubers from the hydrilla. The storm literally went in there and just annihilated it and it hasn’t come back. These impacts can be very significant on lakes. Again when you get 40, 50, 60, 70, 90 mile per hour winds that water to literally force those plants out…Mother Nature has a huge impact, positive or negative…however you want to look at it.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.Make Sure To Check Out:
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, a Florida government agency founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tallahassee, manages and regulates the state's fish and wildlife resources, and enforces related laws