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Home My WebLink AboutMunyon Island Restoration Groundbreaking Ceremony program 10-23-96• 4 ••* .1 • 7. • '1‘$•'•: , • , .;* dt A **"" '"N • ,;•2‘.777' • , • Mun.yon. I8tand Qe8 or ion Groundbreaking Ceremony .,* ••••• *, • 4 • "4 0,04. .44 4 ..., „„..* • ,..., * .4, ,•• 4 • ' ,,, „„ ,,,, , s• „ „ ,, 7 ,•• , ' ,'.. ,.; , 'k' ,,, N ! ?' 4* • ' , . v• * ''' - 4' '' * * ., , , ,„ ‘,4,,, , r...„. • '.1, a -. , . Is. A i.,. • , - ' ' *- .''''' • „, A , i, „* .:, • •,, * . ...... --,- . •-, -***----,'- ' ,,,,* 4 . t,s,-. ,„ , ,,,.. ', - „.,.., .. • '.-.*.-‘.,*-. 4., aim beacl, Florida dober 28, 1996 NORTH PAUV EACH PU3i. Lifr3AA VF: tfri ei, - e-- 44 • , , DATE US Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Contributing Partner& Florida Inland Navigation District Florida Department of Environiiiena1 Protection Department of Agriculture and Consumer 6ervices Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management U.eS. Army Corps of Engineer About the Cover: Thousands of f drier crabs forage alon8 the edge of the wetland tidy channels at low tide on Munyon Island. (Thanks to Marine Industries who provided the water taxis.) Program 1:00 p.m. Program Commences Opening Remarks by Mr. Warren Newell, Palm Beach County Commissioner 1:05 p.m. Invocation Rev. Arthur Venezia St. Paul of the Cross, North Palm Beach 1:10 p.m. Welcome the Honorable V.A. Marks, M.D., Mayor North Palm Beach 1:15 p.m. Remarks Mr. Lennart Lindahl, Chairman Florida Inland Navigational District Mr. John N. Fillyaw, Park Manager John D. MacArthur Beach State Park Mr. Herbert Zebuth, Environmental Manager Department of Environmental Protection Dr. William Klech, Deputy Director Coastal America, Washington, D.C. Col. Terry L. Rice, District Engineer Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1:35 p.m. Closing Remarks Ms. Karen T. Marcus, Palm Beach County Commissioner 1:40 p.m. Groundbreaking Ceremony Reception Follows Environmental Restoration of Munyon Island An Overview After three years of partnering studies, research, plans and speci- fications, Munyon Island will soon have the distinction of being the Corps of Engineers' and Palm Beach County's first constructed environmental restoration project implementing Section 1135 of the 1986 Water Re- sources Development Act. Munyon Island is located in John D. MacArthur Beach State Park in the northeastern section of Lake Worth Lagoon in Palm Beach County. EccenLrc HiLory Munyon Island, Palm Beach County, Fla., has had an interesting history. Over the years, its changing names have reflected varied purposes and owners. especially the brown pelicans, which brought about the nickname Pelican Island by the Seminoles. Later it was renamed Pitts Island after said couple turned the island into the "most picturesque spot in Atlantic Ocean Lake Worth Inlet Munyon Island Intracoastal Waterway North Palm Beach Map of eSurrounding Area Florida." The Pitts cultivated over 28 kinds of fruit and made its beauty known through national magazine articles. By the early 1900s, the island In the early 1800's it was a haven housed a five -story "rejuvenat- for a variety of bird species, ing" hotel where Dr. James Munyon catered to ailing, wealthy northerners with such concoctions as "Mun- yon's Paw -Paw" elixir made of fermented papaya juice. After the hotel burned to the ground in 1917, its environmental resources and, ultimately, life for its wildlife inhabitants, deterio- rated. With the construction of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in the 1930s, Munyon Island was used as a disposal site for the waterway's construction and maintenance until around 1962. During this time, the island's original 15.57 acres tripled in size as material dredged from Lake Worth Lagoon to maintain the waterway was placed along the western edge of the island. When John D. MacArthur bought the island and park area (for whom the park is named), he intended to fill in and around the island, but only got as far as the west banks of Lake Worth. After MacArthur's death in 1978, the State purchased the park property from the MacArthur Foundation. The snowy egret and woodstork fish in the tidal channels on the restored northern section of Munyon Island Phase I and II In 1989, a study by the Palm Beach County Department of Environ- mental Resources Management (ERM) showed Munyon Island to be an ideal restoration choice because of its location on public lands, the state's and public's desire for its restoration and its contribution to an estuarine lagoon system. The environmental benefits that will be reaped from this project can be seen in two other restoration projects, Phase I and II, on the northern portion of the island. These restorations, also totaling 9.6 acres, were performed from early 1991 to October 1993 by Palm Beach County's ERM. The wetland created in Phases I and II has been monitored on a bi- monthly basis with collected data showing high ecological success, according to the Corps' Environ- mental Assessment. The man- groves are growing and producing foliage at a rapid rate. Most impressive are the organisms that are utilizing the wetland habitat created through the dredged tidal channels and ponds. Thousands of fiddler crabs have been observed in vast herds during low tide scooting along to their burrows. Biologists also have documented some of the fish species utilizing the area as: snook, mangrove snapper, silver and black mullet, flounder, Irish pompano, hogfish, barracuda, needlefish, checkered puffer, ladyfish and stonefish. Already in the restored northern section, various wading bird species have been observed by Palm Beach Project Managers. Some of these bird species include the Great, Reddish and Snowy egrets; the Brown Pelican; Wood Stork; the Peregrine Falcon; the Little Blue, Louisiana, Great Blue and Green herons; the Osprey, the White Ibis; and the Kingfisher. Artawk Munyon Island's north end how almost Len acres of restored wetlands with tidal channels and ponds that are home to many 6pecies offish and wilcl.ife. Federally - endangered species that are expect- ed to bene- fit from the restoration include the Atlantic Green and Leatherback turtles, the Wood Stork, the Peregrine Falcon and the West Indian Manatee. Next Ph&e The Section 1135 restoration project involves the restoration of 9.6 acres of wetland habitat in the southern section of the island: First, the dredged material deposited during creation and maintenance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, will be removed. So will the exotic vegetation, predominantly Australian pine and Brazilian pepper, that has taken over the island. GNext, tidal channels and ponds will be dug to reinstate flushing action in the area providing for fish, invertebrates and birds. @Then, native wetland and upland vegetation will be planted. °Finally, the wetland will be protected by installing an 800- foot-long wavebreak made of limestone boulder riprap and a 1200-foot-long protective berm. Palm Beach County residents plant mangroves on the northern pert of Munyon Island during Phase I and II of the restoration. The material removed from the island will be placed in a nearby anoxic dredged hole, which should improve the water quality of the area and encourage the colonization of seagrasses. All of this activity will take place while preserving the island's rich history of prehistoric and historic inhabitance throughout project construction. Project work began in mid - October 1996 by Waste Control Services and is scheduled to be completed around April 1997. The project cost is $900,352.