A car drives carefully past a section of destroyed roadway near Jensen Beach, Fla., on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004. Hurricane Frances made landfall nearby and damaged hundreds of homes and roadways and left millions without power. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Posted on 09/06/2004 9:45:37 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MIAMI - Along with their destructive force, hurricanes can have beneficial effects as part of the rhythm of nature. Storms that erode beaches, uproot trees and flatten wildlife habitats may also refresh waterways, revive dry areas and bulk up barrier islands with redistributed sand.
"What we see is the damage it does to our structures, but it can actually renew areas," said Karen Westphal, a coastal scientist at Louisiana State University's School of the Coast and Environment.
Hurricane Frances could help the Everglades, which is already undergoing a $8.4 billion environmental restoration.
"Hurricanes are a vital part of the natural process," said Nick Auman, an aquatic ecologist at Everglades National Park. Hurricane Frances may serve "as a flushing-out mechanism in areas of the Everglades where sediment has accumulated on the bottom of waterways."
Frances may help eliminate some invasive exotic plants in the area, such as Australian pines, but also could end up helping others if high wind disperses seeds to new places.
However, human changes to the Everglades may prevent it from recovering from flooding caused by the slow-moving hurricane, Auman said. "We've had so much impact on the Everglades as human beings that we have hampered its ability to bounce back from big events like this."
The storm's changes also can affect animal life.
Beach mice in Florida's Panhandle become easy targets for predators in flattened areas. But new dunes might shield beaches from lights that confuse sea turtles when they come ashore to lay eggs and their babies after hatching, said Seth Blitch, a biologist who is the head of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Hurricane Charley, the biggest storm to hit Florida in more than a decade, made significant changes to southwest Florida's beach landscape in August. Charley sliced the barrier island of North Captiva in half, creating a new inlet joining the Gulf of Mexico and Pine Island Sound.
Charley's wind and rain also likely stirred up old debris and pollutants, which could hurt the environment, said Hans Paerl, professor of marine and environmental science at the University of North Carolina.
"A lot has to do with the frequency of these hurricanes, too," he said. "If you get three or four hurricanes right in a row, probably the second or third are more beneficial because they bring in cleaner water" after sediments and old debris are flushed out by the earlier storm.
Frances' impact is yet to be determined, but Westphal said the environment will be fine.
"Nature will go back into a balance," she said. "It will just not be what humans are used to. Humans don't like change. Nature doesn't mind, it just balances itself out."
A car drives carefully past a section of destroyed roadway near Jensen Beach, Fla., on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004. Hurricane Frances made landfall nearby and damaged hundreds of homes and roadways and left millions without power. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
People jet ski down Bayshore Blvd., Monday morning Sept. 6, 2004 in Tampa, Fla., after the remnants of Hurricane Frances flooded the street. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
As Tropical Storm Frances (far left) passes over the Florida peninsula in the United States, another category 4 hurricane, Ivan, (lower right) is waiting, and moving, in the wings on September 5, 2004. Frances, downgraded to a tropical storm, moved into the Gulf of Mexico late today, leaving chaos in its wake after virtually shutting down the fourth largest state in the U.S., and cutting off electrical power to nearly six million people. REUTERS/Handout/NOAA
Yep, Hurricane Fran in 1996 brought me new species of weeds that I still can't get rid of.
Well, we won't have to pay a tree man to clean out the dead wood from our oaks...I guess that's environmental renewal, LOL!
sort of like "forest fires are your friend"
5.56mm
I nominate this story for Most Retarded AP Story of the Day honors.
Maybe she still has her training wheels on her typewriter laptop.
(sarcasm on/
Well, now...this story can't be right. It is a known fact (that just hasn't been publicized yet by the MSM) that Pres. Bush and his brother Jeb arranged the hurricanes!
1. To punish Florida voters for 2000
2. To make it easier for people to be denied their votes in 2004...because they'll be climbing over uncleared storm debris to get to the polls.
And since Pres Bush hates EVERYTHING in the environment, he would never allow anything to help fresh water tables, beach mice (are they related to hamsters?) or vegetation.
It's all part of the plan to benefit the rich and let Halliburton build oil refineries along Miami beach. You heard it here first.
/sarcasm off)
FYI.
What do you get when you restore a swamp? A bigger swamp?More mosquitoes? West Nile virus? More mud bogs,quicksand, alligators, water moccasin?
What kind of parts do you order for a swamp and where do you get them, AA Discount Swamp And Insect?
As far as the dune rats are concerned if they are worried about them they should just ask the locals to stop by and dump their garbage on the beach, they'll have plenty.
It's amazing to me all you have to do in this country is find a cause such as "Save the African Warthog", or think up a study such as the "Long Term Effect Of Aspirin on the Mating Habits of Tree Squirrels", and our government will give you billions of dollars with out any thought of accountability as to what the money will be spent for or of the value of the eventual outcome.
Our government is about 70% too big and entirely out of control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.