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Tag: Florida wildlife officials

  • Attorneys for FWC defend firing biologist over Charlie Kirk post

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    Disputing allegations that they violated First Amendment rights, Florida wildlife officials Thursday argued that a federal judge should reject a request to reinstate a biologist who was fired because of a social-media post after the murder of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

    Attorneys for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Roger Young and Melissa Tucker, a division director, said the agency fired Brittney Brown on Sept. 15 to “prevent foreseeable disruption, reputational harm and loss of public trust. The agency did not police ideology; it protected credibility central to its mission.”

    “The First Amendment does not shield public employees from the consequences of speech that undermines the effectiveness, credibility or public trust on which their agencies depend. … Even if the post had some political dimension, FWC’s (the agency’s) interest in maintaining credibility and neutrality far outweighs any minimal expressive value,” the officials’ attorneys wrote.

    Brown, who worked for the commission studying shorebirds and seabirds in the area of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panhandle, filed a lawsuit Sept. 30 alleging that her firing violated First Amendment rights.

    The lawsuit said Brown was fired after reposting on her personal Instagram account a post from an account called “@whalefact.” The post said, “the whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all,” according to the lawsuit.

    Brown’s attorneys on Oct. 3 filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that asked U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to reinstate her to her job and to prevent retaliation by the agency. In addition to alleging First Amendment violations, the motion said Brown’s post did not disrupt Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission operations.

    “Plaintiff made her social media post on her personal phone while she was on vacation,” the motion said. “That political post had nothing to do with plaintiff’s job responsibilities. After all, she is a wildlife biologist, not a public information officer. In addition, plaintiff did not identify herself as an FWC employee in her post; the post itself had nothing to do with FWC or its operations; and her Instagram profile made no reference to FWC as her employer or otherwise.”

    The document filed Thursday by attorneys for Young and Tucker was a response to the motion for a preliminary injunction. Walker has scheduled a Nov. 10 hearing on the motion.

    Kirk, who led the conservative group Turning Point USA, was assassinated Sept. 10 during an appearance at Utah Valley University. After Brown made the repost on Sept. 14, Libs of TikTok, a conservative social-media account, shared a screenshot and called for her firing, according to the lawsuit. She was fired the next day.

    Brown worked for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years, according to the lawsuit. A copy of her Sept. 15 termination letter included in the lawsuit indicated she had an “Other Personal Services” position, a classification that does not include some of the protections that other employees receive.

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    The local case took on a statewide angle when Uthmeier in September publicly bashed Orlando Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell

    The lawsuit accuses the DeSantis administration of slow-walking the process to put its proposed amendment on the Florida ballot.

    They want Florida to require nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to allow residents to install video monitoring devices in rooms



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    Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
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  • Federal wildlife officials eye ‘critical habitat’ expansions for Florida manatees

    Federal wildlife officials eye ‘critical habitat’ expansions for Florida manatees

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    Photo via Three Sister Springs/Facebook

    Federal wildlife officials have proposed expanding designations of “critical habitat” for Florida manatees, potentially bolstering protections in areas ranging from Wakulla Springs in Northwest Florida to the upper St. Johns River in Northeast Florida.

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected Tuesday to publish a proposed rule that would lead to 1.9 million acres being designated as critical habitat, nearly double the amount designated in the past.

    The proposal came after the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Save the Manatee Club filed a lawsuit in 2022 to try to force upgraded habitat protections. The federal agency later reached a settlement and agreed to propose revised critical habitat for manatees by this month.

    “For too long, we have degraded and destroyed the Florida manatee’s habitat through pollution, dredging and blocking access to the natural warm water springs vital to its winter survival,” Jane Davenport, a senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, said in a prepared statement Monday. “When finalized, the proposed critical habitat expansion will give federal, state and conservation groups the information and impetus to ensure the beloved Florida manatee’s full recovery.”

    The proposal involves 12 coastal and inland areas of the state and focuses on places where manatees go for warm water in the winter and on relatively nearby areas where they forage for food.

    “Florida manatees require stable, long-term sources of warm water, such as natural springs, during colder months to survive,” the proposal said.

    The federal government classifies manatees as a “threatened” species, and the sea cows drew widespread attention in 2021 when a record 1,100 died. Many died of starvation caused by the decline of seagrass beds that are prime foraging areas.

    The state had 800 manatee deaths in 2022, before the number dropped to 555 in 2023, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission data. As of Sept. 13, the state had totaled 451 manatee deaths this year,

    The Fish and Wildlife Service said in the proposed rule that it designated 965,394 acres of critical habitat in 1976, based on where large concentrations of manatees were known to occur. But environmental groups have long sought to get the agency to expand the designated habitat.

    A news release Monday from the Center for Biological Diversity said federal agencies that fund or permit projects in areas of critical habitat are required to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to make sure the habitat would not be harmed or destroyed. The proposed rule said critical habitat includes waters up to what is known as the “ordinary high-water line.”

    The proposal cited issues for manatees such as natural springs having declining water quality and water flow and algae blooms causing seagrass losses.

    “Examples of special management considerations or protection that could reduce the threat of warm-water habitat loss may include (but not be limited to): establishing and maintaining minimum flows and levels for springs, lakes, and rivers; conducting spring run restoration projects (e.g., remove excess sediment, stabilize creek banks) and removing or modifying dams and locks to improve access; and enhancing existing warm-water refuges or creating alternate warm-water refuges,” the proposal said.

    Other examples of potential protections in the proposal include such things as “improving water quality through reductions in nutrient inputs from stormwater, septic tanks, and fertilizers.”

    The proposal targets certain inland waterways and coastal waters in the 12 areas of the state.

    Generally, they are the Wakulla Springs area in Wakulla County; the Manatee Springs and Fanning Springs areas of Dixie, Gilchrist and Levy counties; areas from Withlacoochee Bay to the Anclote River in Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, and Pinellas counties; areas of Tampa Bay in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties; areas from Venice to Estero Bay in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Hendry, and Collier counties; areas from Rookery Bay to Florida Bay West in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; an Upper Florida Keys area in Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; areas from Biscayne Bay to Deerfield Beach in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties; areas from Boynton Beach to Fort Pierce in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties; areas from Vero Beach to the northern Indian River Lagoon in Indian River, Brevard and Volusia counties; areas of the upper St. Johns River in Lake, Seminole, Volusia, Marion and Putnam counties; and the Silver Springs area of Marion County.

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    Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

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