HURRICANE IAN UPDATES | OCT. 14, 2022
Amy Bennett Williams of The News-Press delves into SCCF's Hurricane Ian response — from our assistance with disaster recovery to our mission-driven work assessing wildlife, habitats, and water quality.
What did Ian do to Sanibel's water, wildlife?
Conservation foundation aims to find out
Even if you manage to tune out the constant media coverage of Hurricane Ian’s toll on human lives and property on Sanibel, the sensory reminders are everywhere: chainsaw whine, shattered homes, boarded stores, muck stink on the breeze.

But what about nature? When a storm of that magnitude roars through a region, what becomes of beach-nesting birds and sea turtles? Of gopher tortoises sheltering in burrows? And what happened to the water flowing from the Caloosahatchee and surrounding Lee County’s barrier islands?
Drone imagery shows Ian's impacts on marine environment
SCCF Research Associate Leah Reidenbach recently gathered some telling aerial footage of Sanibel's Lighthouse Beach Park after Hurricane Ian, which caused an excessive amount of runoff from rainfall and high wind speeds. Pollution sources include leaves and decomposing organic matter, flooded septic and sewer tanks, and oil and gasoline from flooded cars.
"These pollutants are detrimental to water quality and clarity and will likely have harmful effects on seagrass, which require high light for growth," Reidenbach said. "Excess nutrients in the water could also lead to algal blooms, and the decomposition of organic matter could lead to low oxygen zones in many areas, which is harmful for marine life such as fish, oysters, and seagrass."
Rebuilding SCCF
This week, SCCF staff members began to clear out contents from the Sanibel Sea School buildings, Intern Housing, and Bailey Homestead Preserve. This challenging labor included working to remove materials with mold damage, fighting through broken vegetation, and hauling large furniture items. Our dedication to SCCF's mission will power us through the next weeks and months as we continue to work on the island every day to repair the destruction and slowly rebuild. On Monday, please watch for a more expansive report on where SCCF stands now in our long road to recovery.
 
For supporters interested in helping SCCF through this unprecedented chapter in our history, please consider making an unrestricted tax-deductible donation using the link below. It will be used to address our greatest immediate needs. As we learn of the unmet needs of other island nonprofits, we will do what we can to redirect donations to them as well.

If you have questions, including information on our bank wiring instructions and making a donation of stock shares, please contact SCCF Development Director Cheryl Giattini at 239-822-6121 or cgiattini@sccf.org. Also, please remember that the island post offices are not functioning and SCCF’s temporary mailing address is PO Box 101130, Cape Coral, FL 33910. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this heartfelt request.
The Honey House at the Bailey Homestead Preserve.
A tree down at Sanibel Sea School.
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