Eagle Security

News stories in Highlands Today have said twice that the proposed Eagle National Security Training Center will have its own water and sewage treatment. However, the handout at the Planning and Zoning meeting says that there is "no information" on how water and sewage treatment will be handled. For a project that is supposed to be meticulously planned, this falls short.

The site of the Eagle Training Center is adjacent to the Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area, which has also been named an Important Bird Area by the National and Florida Audubon societies. From the online description of this Important Bird Area, "Fisheating Creek contains a staging area for swallow-tailed kites that are the largest in the United States. Up to 2,200 kites have been seen at once and perhaps 3,000 individuals use the roost annually, which represents 60 percent of the North American population"

In addition, swallow-tailed kites are known to be disturbed by noise and have moved their nesting grounds in response to airboat noise. What will be the effect of the airstrip that comes with the Eagle Training Center? We know that it will not be confined to small planes.

From the same document: "The Fisheating Creek Watershed also is a Strategic Habitat Conservation Area for the Florida panther." This information can be found at http://www.audubon.org/bird.iba/florida then click southern peninsula on p. 230-231.

We have been told that the land for the Eagle Center has been an orange grove and so is far from being in a natural state. However, it is unusual for orange groves to be fenced. Bears and panthers can easily pass through an unfenced orange grove without being noticed, especially at night. The proposed training center would be fenced, secured and totally impassable to all wildlife.