Take Action for River Otters

Otter habitat in Florida's panhandle is threatened by the long-term mismanagement of upstream dams, starving the river of water and jeopardizing otters’ food sources. Dredging 27.8 million cubic yards of sand from the Apalachicola River and dumping it onto wetlands and essential habitats would further damage an already fragile environment on the brink.

Take action today to keep the Apalachicola River and its watershed healthy for river otters.

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Dear Col. Shaw:

Florida’s Apalachicola River is a national treasure that supports hundreds of species of fish and wildlife, including over 130 species of fish, countless birds, multiple amphibians, and mammals like river otters and manatees. The Army Corps of Engineers should abandon its plan to dredge this vital River and promptly terminate the supplemental environmental impact statement evaluating the reinstatement of navigation dredging.

The Army Corps’ own leadership has long acknowledged that it could not justify dredging the Apalachicola River because dredging caused unacceptable, wide-ranging damage to the river ecosystem and the hundreds of species that rely on it and made no economic sense. Navigation dredging is even more indefensible today than it was when the Army Corps first made these determinations and stopped dredging the river some 25 years ago.

Reinstating navigation dredging will restart a cycle of destruction that will ravage the river channel, bury as much as 926 acres of wetlands and other essential habitat, block the flow of water into the river’s vital floodplain, and undo hard-won ecological gains achieved through millions of dollars in restoration work and the river’s natural recovery processes. Reinstating navigation dredging makes no economic sense because the river is not used to transport commercial cargo.

The Army Corps does not need a study to uncover these realities; these facts are already well-documented and readily apparent. I urge you to terminate the study evaluating navigation dredging, abandon all plans to dredge the Apalachicola River, and prioritize the protection and restoration of the Apalachicola River and its vital floodplain.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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Otters