Fort Myers Beach renourishment delayed to overlap with shorebird nesting season

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — If you stand near the Leonardo Arms Condominiums on Estero Island, you can see just how close the Gulf of Mexico is to the building.

The ongoing beach renourishment project is supposed to help protect this shoreline. However, the project has been delayed again and will now overlap with shorebird nesting season.

Lee County is home to many shorebirds that nest here, including some on the south end of Estero Island—an area that is currently part of the beach renourishment project.

Lee County Website

The project was originally expected to be finished by December 2023. According to a former chair of the town’s Environmental Task Force, the work should have started on the south end of the island first.

Lee County Website

“Commencement of the renourishment was on the north end, which obviously puts tourism ahead of the community, meaning the condo owners as well as conservation of natural resources,” he said. Meanwhile, the current chair of the Environmental Task Force says steps have been taken to reduce any harm to nesting shorebirds. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) confirmed that staff has been hired to do daily shorebird surveys. This is welcome news for visitors like Chris Trevis and Laura Mobley, who travel from Minnesota to see the birds.

“We’ve been coming down here for, I don’t know, six years?” said Chris. “Specifically for shorebirds and other nature and birds as well.”

The Town of Fort Myers Beach says it received authorization from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to extend the project until April 1. They say storms, including last year’s hurricanes, caused delays that pushed the work into the shorebirds’ nesting season.

“We’re worried,” Chris added. “Every year we wonder, is this the last year we’re going to see these birds? It’s kind of bittersweet.”FWC also says there are currently no nests in the area and that nests usually appear later in March.

The south part of the project is expected to be finished by mid-March, and the central part should be done by early April. All beach work will stop by April 15, which is when turtle nesting season starts.