Posted on February 26, 2025
It was the first day of shorebird nesting season for Southwest Florida on the afternoon of Feb. 15 on Fort Myers Beach. The date, set by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, signifies added protection measures to guard the nesting activities of threatened and imperiled bird species. Fort Myers Beach is home to four threatened shorebird species who nest here: American oystercatchers, black skimmers, least terns and snowy plovers. The Wilson’s plover, another species of concern, also nests here.
On Feb. 15, hundreds of shorebirds were congregated around a sandbar on the southern end of the island, just south of the Eden House. They included threatened black skimmers, as well as royal terns, gulls and many other birds. They were gathered around the shoreline as a bulldozer and dump truck operated by a contractor working on the town’s beach renourishment project continually approached the area around them to deposit sand.
The birds frequently flew away in a repetitive display.
One week later at the same time, on the afternoon of Feb. 23, all of the birds were gone from the spot. The sandbar was also gone. The whole area had been filled in as part of the town’s beach renourishment project which is expanding the entire seven miles of the island’s shoreline.
In fact, from the southern tip of the island at Carlos Pointe to the Gulf water splashing against the concrete walls in front of Leonardo Arms, there was hardly any bird activity at all for a three-hour stretch of the afternoon until sundown minus a handful of birds flying at Mulholland Point near the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area, two wading birds in a lagoon, a random ring-billed gull and a small group of ruddy turnstones, a sanderling and a pelican flying above near Leonardo Arms.
Last year, the town also conducted sand renourishment during shorebird nesting season, electing to start its sand haul project three days after shorebird nesting season focused mainly on the southern tip of the island around where many of the town’s condo buildings have still not opened and where some of town’s most expansive beachfronts are.
The continual projects through the shorebird nesting season have raised questions about whether all the activity during the nesting season has impacted the protected birds who travel hundreds of miles to nest on Fort Myers Beach or rest here. During the Christmas Bird Count this winter, there were no snowy plovers identified, which led Florida Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count coordinator Robin Serne to question if all of the heavy machinery activity for the sand haul project during shorebird nesting season last year and the ongoing dredging and beach renourishment activity has scared off the snowy plovers.
Behind schedule
The entire beach renourishment project was supposed to be completed already but is more than two months behind schedule. The bid the town awarded to Ahtna Marine and Construction Company for the beach renourishment project in May specified that the work should be completed within a timeframe of 180 to 195 days or the contractor could face fines of $750 a day.
The contractors were granted an extension, though town officials have not said for how long, due to the impact of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton last fall.
There were also issues with some equipment being faulty, according to town officials.
Fort Myers Beach Environmental Project Manager Chadd Chustz said the new completion date for the beach renourishment is April 15, when Turtle Time begins monitoring the beach before turtle nesting season begins May 1.
Ahtna Marine and Construction Company did not respond to emails seeking comment from the Fort Myers Beach Observer.
Last May, a bid protest was filed by Callen Marine who argued that the lower bid of $21.7 million that Ahtna Marine and Construction Company gave the town for the project was not responsive to the bid terms and that the company did not have the proper equipment on hand to complete the project in time.
The town council rejected the bid protest and awarded the bid to Ahtna Marine and Construction Company. Callen Marine’s bid was for $37.19 million. The majority of the funds are being covered by Lee County Tourist Development Tax dollars and FEMA.
The area where the shorebirds historically have always nested was not prioritized after the end of bird nesting season last September. The town instead prioritized the northern section of the beach first though that was also behind schedule. The projects priorities have raised questions about not only why at the expense of not only the birds but why the three buildings of condo owners at Leonardo Arms who have faced perilous conditions due to the eroded beach in front of their properties were also left behind the northern section.
Beach renourishment activities at Leonardo Arms have only begun recently.
Chustz and Hyatt did not return messages seeking comment.
FWC: Permits under review
Town of Fort Myers Beach Environmental Projects Manager Chadd Chustz anticipated the town would be running into scheduling difficulties with the beach renourishment and requested incidental take permits from the state for potential disruption of bird activity during the project.
Bradley Johnson, Public Information Officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said the permit request remains “under review” as of Saturday.
The FWC received an application on January 24 from the Town of Fort Myers Beach seeking an Incidental Take Permit for beach-nesting shorebirds (American oystercatchers, snowy plover, black skimmer and least tern) at a recent breeding site on Fort Myers Beach, Johnson said.
“The application is currently under review by FWC staff,” Johnson said in a letter Saturday. “Beach renourishment permit extensions go to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; the FWC does not grant permits for beach renourishment or extensions of such permits but does provide comments regarding imperiled species, including imperiled beach-nesting birds.”
The DEP has not commented on the matter. Spokesperson Nikki Clifton said on Monday that staff was still working on addressing questions posed by the Fort Myers Beach Observer concerning the project and handling document requests. The initial requests were sent two weeks ago on Feb. 11.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Town of Fort Myers Beach Public Information Officer Nicole Berzin sent out a notice to the public and media declaring that “The Town of Fort Myers Beach has received authorization from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in consultation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to extend the construction window for the south segment of the Beach Renourishment Project to April 1.”
That segment includes the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area (LEICWA), which is home to several threatened bird species that nest on the island.
“This extension is required due to project delays from a number of unavoidable factors, which included impacts from Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton during the Summer of 2024 after the project commenced,” Berzin said.
Berzin and Chustz did not respond to requests for copies of any documents or correspondence regarding the approvals to comment on what kind of approvals the town received. Clifton said the department would be “working on a response.”
Berzin said the town would conduct “daily monitoring of bird nesting activity, posting and notifying FWC of any active nests once they are observed. The combination of these avoidance measures and minimization of impacts to bird nesting activities constitutes avoidance of take in accordance with FWC Imperiled Beach Nesting Bird Guidelines.”
Berzin’s statement regarding take does not indicate whether the town is no longer seeking incidental take permits as they had sought last month and she did not respond to emailed questions regarding the take permits.
Berzin said the “one-time only extension of the environmental construction window for the restoration of the southern end of Estero Island is in the public’s interests, as it will increase protection from future storm events and sea level rise, create a sustainable habitat for marine turtle and shorebird species, and protect the recreational use of this shoreline.”
The south segment of the beach renourishment work is expected to be completed by mid-March, and the central segment is expected to be completed by the 1st week of April. All beach construction activities will cease on or before April 15, Berzin said.
The FWC has made no findings that the town or its contractor has violated any state law through the work that has continued into beach renourishment season near shorebrid. Videos of the contractors working close to the birds were forwarded to the FWC and DEP for review by the Fort Myers Beach Observer.
While the FWC has not responded to the videos, Johnson said if any violations of state law regarding harassment of shorebirds were to be found, penalties could include a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $1,000 and up to one year of jail time per violation. Johnson said that would be for a court to decide.
Ahtna Marine and Construction Company didn’t respond to emails sent by the Fort Myers Beach Observer seeking comment regarding their work dumping sand close to the large congregation of shorebirds on a sandbar and near the shoreline.
“When you are dealing with shorebirds or threatened/endangered birds there is always a possibility of federal charges as well if they are federally protected species but United States Fish and Wildlife Services would handle that typically,” Johnson said.
Lisa Thompson, a spokesperson for the FWC, said “FWC shorebird biologists have been in contact with the Town of Fort Myers Beach, project staff and qualified bird monitors hired by the project to conduct daily shorebird breeding surveys during the nesting season wherever there are project activities. These are part of the standard conditions for shorebird protections from DEP for any beach renourishment project.”
Currently, Thompson said, FWC staff and project shorebird monitors have not confirmed any nests this season in this area. While the shorebird nesting season spans from February 15-September 1, historically beach-nesting shorebirds haven’t started nesting in this area until later March, with beach-nesting seabirds historically nesting starting in April. Daily shorebird breeding surveys will continue during the nesting season wherever there are project activities in this area.”
According to Audubon Florida, threatened snowy plovers are the first shorebirds to nest on Fort Myers Beach historically and last year was one of the lowest numbers of fledglings recorded on Fort Myers Beach for snowy plovers in recent years.
Town not addressing questions
Chustz, who oversees the beach renourishment project for the town as well as other environmental issues, did not respond to multiple emails seeking answers to questions about the project over the past two weeks. Outgoing Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Andy Hyatt also did not address questions posed by the Fort Myers Beach Observer. Mayor Dan Allers referred questions to Chustz.
Public Information Officer Nicole Berzin referred to videos Chustz posted on Facebook about the project.
The video did not address questions posed by the Fort Myers Beach Observer regarding the impact of the project on birds and why the area wasn’t prioritized before nesting season.
In a video posted Jan. 31, the town’s Facebook page said the hope was to complete the south end of the island’s renourishment by Feb. 15.
By Feb. 13, Chustz said that date had changed to March 10. The entire project’s deadline is now April 15 according to a video posted by Chustz on Feb. 21.
Chustz said in the video posted Jan. 31 regarding the birds, that the contractors were building a buffer between the project and the birds. No explanation was given of why or how that would benefit the birds was given or what that would entail.
“We are going to bring in about 30,000 cubic yards on the southern part of the south segment,” Chustz said. Chustz said about 30,000 cubic yards of sand was
brought to the area around the southern segment of the project including near where the birds had
congregated near the Eden House.
“That’s just to give us a little bit of buffer with the heavy bird nesting that occurs on the south end to get that done before February 15. Just give us that extra buffer between those dense areas and where our project is happening,” Chustz said.
The project was still happening around the birds on Feb. 15 on the start of shorebird nesting season.
Chustz said in a Feb. 13 video that bird monitors would be placed by the town to monitor the project daily in the mornings and the equipment will be escorted “so we can avoid any bird issues.” According to statements made by Chustz at a Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force meeting, the contractor is also supposed to have its own bird monitors on the project.
Chustz said sand is being trucked from a mine in Immokalee and it is being stockpiled in front of Cresciente and the Estero Beach and Tennis Club and being trucked “so we don’t get jammed up by any environmental concerns, nesting shorebirds here on the south end.”
Emails sent to Chustz, Hyatt and Berzin seeking an answer to what he meant by the buffer between the birds were not responded to.
In the video, posted to the town’s Facebook page on Feb. 13, Chustz said he also met with the DEP about permits to finish building the beach into bird nesting season. Chustz said he talked to an FWC shorebird biologist recently.
“Everybody feels that because the beach is so low-lying and lack of nesting habitat right now there is a low probability of take,” Chustz said.
Chustz said about 30,000 cubic yards of sand were brought to the area around where the shorebirds had congregated near the Eden House.
Chustz said there are also plans to expand the sand in front of Leonardo Arms by about 300 feet (or the length of a football field), where one of its condo buildings is facing the most critical erosion issue on the island.
Chustz said the entire project will be completed by April 15, which is when Turtle Times begins monitoring ahead of the start of the town’s turtle-nesting season.
Audubon Florida defers to FWC
Brad Cornell, Southwest Florida Policy expert for Audubon Florida, said the organization was leaving it up to the FWC to determine if the town should be granted a take permit for its work or if the contractor was harassing birds with the activities of its dump truck and bulldozer pushing sand around a sandbar past the shoreline where hundreds of birds had congregated, including the threatened black skimmers as seen in the videos posted online.
“It is a risk when you bring giant bulldozers to the beach there is going to be an impact,” Cornell said. Cornell said it is difficult to tell from the videos what kind of an impact there was.
“Everywhere along the coast, this problem of disturbance is an issue,” Cornell said. “There are very few places for flocks to rest and feed themselves. It’s important for them to get the rest.”
Audubon looking on bright side
Cornell, for his part, is staying hopeful that the town’s plans for reconstituting the dunes on the island will lead to better protections for the beach and its residents while also providing habitat for birds.
“It is disappointing that (the beach renourishment project) is overlapping with nesting season,” Cornell said. Cornell said he understood the context of the project following the hurricanes the town experienced. “Healthy dunes are a good way to mitigate storm damage. We want these dunes restored.”
He hopes that the bird monitors hired by the town and contractor are “looking out for the shorebirds.”
He said the situation “clearly isn’t ideal” as seen on the videos.
“We just want to see them finish up and get out of there as quickly as possible.”
Cornell is optimistic about the future of the birds on Fort Myers Beach.
“They will come back,” he said.
