Professor Maehr of the University of Kentucky recently authored a guest column to the St. Petersburg Times and Pasco Times regarding habitat devastation facing the Florida black bear population residing in the Greater Chassahowitzka Ecosystem (GCE) in light of development plans associated with the Sunwest Harbourtowne Development of Regional Impact. Maehr reacts to findings presented by Sunwest consultants, who failed to find signs of bear activity within the area affected by the proposed Harbourtowne DRI. Having spent years studying bear populations in the area, Maehr contends that Sunwest researchers, having found no bears, were far behind in data collection with only 29 days spent surveying a variety of species in one area.

The presence of bears in the area necessitates special consideration and completely different actions and location choices than those proposed by Sunwest's DRI. Harbourtowne is positioned to eliminate and isolate 500 acres of crucial bear habitat in the GCE, which according to Maehr help support a tiny population that has already been pushed much too far toward extinction by human encroachment. Action is necessary to promote more reliance on university-sponsored data collection and scientific evidence in the evaluation of potential DRI effects on wildlife habitat in the GCE.

Check out the article online at: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/article474391.ece

More information on the Sunwest Harbourtowne DRI can be found online at:

http://www.sunwestpasco.com/

More information on Florida black bears can be found online at: http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/interactive/springscoast/blackbear.shtml