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have a tournament in March where about 200 teams participate.
Taken all together these tournaments bring millions of
dollars to our economy.’’
ECOTOURISM MAGNET
“We have a tour committee, Fort Pierce Authentic Tours,
which is very interested in this project,” he says. “The members
promote ‘the real Florida’ and these islands will provide opportunities
for boat tours, kayaking and canoeing to see the birds
that come to them and the fish that will live around them.”
Tour boat captain Barry “Chop” Lege, who docks right outside
the Fort Pierce Marina office, already has plans to take
tourists around the islands on his pontoon boat.
“I’m a volunteer Audubon bird watcher,” he says. “These
islands are the first of their kind in the state. We know they
are going to create a friendly habitat for shore birds like tern,
gulls, osprey, cormorants, pipers and willets.”
The island chain will start just south of the Fort Pierce library
and end at the community center in Veteran’s Memorial Park.
Marina Manager Dean Kubitschek said the city is working
on its approximately 50-acre underwater land donation to
the state. The land is near the Fort Pierce Inlet State Park and
serves as mitigation for any damage done to seagrasses and
habitat as the docks are being built.
STORM PROTECTION
The new islands will serve as protection against storm
surges like the one that tossed boats onto torn-out docks in
2004, and they will make it easier for boats to get in to dock
because they will calm the currents, he says.
“This will bring a lot of customers back in,” Kubitschek >>
ED DRONDOSKI
Fort Pierce City Marina Manager Dean Kubitschek is looking forward to the
day when he will once again see docks filled with boats stretching out into
the river.
/SMEE
