Their fear is that if an emergency evacuation were required, University students and students at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High and the David Lawrence K-8 Center would be trapped in a congested, single escape route.
Environmentalists, however, are worried that any attempts to build a second entrance to BBC would disturb the schools’ fledgling attempts to restore the once-plentiful mangroves adjacent to campus.
The dispute, which ironically pitted the University against some of its own employees, came to a temporary halt last week when the North Miami City Council rejected the University’s bid to build the new entry as an extension of 135 Street.
BBC Vice Provost Steven Moll believes that another road is a necessity to accommodate a projected enrollment that is expected to grow by 6,000 students during the next few years.
Moll has long thought of BBC as “Biscayne the beautiful” because it is located on what used to be an abundant coastal mangrove forest on a 200-acre piece of land east of NE 151 Street. The environmental impacts caused by the killing of mangroves is creating challenges for Moll, who wishes to expand the younger campus.
Moll said with three schools on one road, the safety of 12,000 students is at stake. Other options for the new road are either an extension of NE 143 Street, NE 163 Street along the Oleta River or a four-lane expansion of the existing 151 roadway.
Moll was strongly pushing for NE 135 Street, but his efforts were stymied by North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin, a University alumnus who said he helped make the area of the proposed extension into a nature preserve and worked hard to restore its natural mangroves. He even had a bike path installed along the new preserve.
“I strongly oppose the extension of NE 135 Street because it is a quiet, residential neighborhood,” Galvin said. “To put that there destroys the environment.”
Two of the other options also require the bulldozing of mangroves.
Red, black, and white mangroves are native to South Florida’s unique estuary system and are key species to the rest of the ecosystem in north Biscayne Bay.
Zack Jud, a University doctoral student who studies the environmental impacts caused by depletion of mangroves, specializes his research in the history of BBC.
Before this coastal oasis was FIU, Jud said, it was one of the most dense mangrove forests in Florida. In the 1950s, in the spirit of spreading American trade to Latin America, plans for an international marketplace were proposed.
Interama, as it was named, never achieved reality.
Due to political reasons under the Nixon administration and bankruptcy, only one building was constructed for Interama before the plans were cancelled. That structure today is the Hospitality and Tourism Management building.
Unfortunately, the damage to the mangroves was already done. Most of them were dug up and made into sub canals of the bay. The extra land was to be a sturdy foundation for the buildings that never made it off the drawing board. The state of Florida then directed that the piece of land be used for educational purposes and it eventually became BBC.
According to Jud, 80 percent of the mangroves that used to be here are gone, the landscape has changed dramatically and so has the ecosystem.
“There are few natural mangrove forests left in this part of town,” Jud said. “There are restoration projects being done, but not nearly what it used to be.”
Jud, a specialist in marine life, said that the real importance of the mangroves is to stabilize the shoreline and provide habitats for fish and other aquatic species.
“These trees provide crucial habitats for fish that we find economically and ecologically important,” Jud said. “Fish we like to eat such as lobster, snapper, grouper and stone crabs spend their juvenile stages living in the mangroves. By depleting them, we’re depleting the fish.”
Deron Burkepile, associate professor of marine biology and oceanography, agrees with Jud. He said that coastal areas that are covered with mangroves produce over 2,000 percent more fishes.
Burkepile also said that the killing of mangroves can indirectly cause bleaching of coral reefs.
Certain herbivorous fish, like parrotfish use mangroves as their homes. When mangroves are depleted, so are these herbivorous fish. Without these crucial plant-eaters, there is an abundance of algae that invades the corals. This then causes the coral reefs to become, in essence, “algal reefs,” Burkepile said.
Moll understands the delicacy of the environment the campus resides on, but is made to face a tough decision.
“I don’t want to destroy a seedling,” Moll said. “But I am also responsible for the safety of the students.”
Moll also said that the ideal solution would be to build a bridge over the mangroves, but money is proving to be the restricting factor.
Galvin said there is no money for the extra roadway right now anyway.
“I know what challenges they face at FIU, and the reality is that they’re stuck at this point,” Galvin said.
Though the plans of the supplementary road are nowhere near finalization, many “green” employees at the University are actively working to restore mangroves around campus.
Jennifer Grimm, environmental coordinator, said that the university, in partnership with Miami-Dade county schools, has committed to restore about 15 acres of mangrove habitat on BBC.
The beginning of the process began with removing about seven acres of Australian Pines, which are an invasive species, in order to replant mangroves in their place.
“The restoration will provide more habitat for wildlife, such as birds and fish,” Grimm said. “Additionally, these ecosystems will absorb more water from sea level rise compared to that of an open area, such as a beach.”
Grimm also said there are plans to restore a portion of BBC into a mangrove-wetland system that will serve as a living learning lab for the university.
“This habitat will be protected for perpetuity,” Grimm said.
This story was researched and written for JOU 3300 Advanced News Writing taught by Dr. Fred Blevens in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. You can see this and other class work for by going to The News Wave.
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