Are our habitats on the brink of a slow collapse?

For two years, Sanibel Island’s delicate ecosystems have been battered by unrelenting storm surges, leaving behind dead trees and tainted freshwater pools.

Neighbors worry the visible wounds are only the beginning.

WINK News spoke to experts who worry our habitats may be on the brink of a slow collapse.

This is leaving people concerned that this is just the start, so we came down to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to get some answers.

Lately, the island of Sanibel has learned that recovery is a gradual process.

Bob Gerwig is a manager at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge Complex and has a long history in Sanibel.

“I’ve got over 50 years of history here on Sanibel, and so I’m seeing these changes, too. I’m talking about things like impaired water quality; that’s been an issue here in Southwest Florida for a couple of decades now,” Gerwig said.

He told us about how the ecosystems on the island are in unchartered territory because of the repetitive impact of severe storms. The big concern for him is the continual stressors.

“That doesn’t allow ecosystems to recover as quickly and maybe as fully as they possibly could, so that is something that does concern me as a biologist and as a resource manager
the rampant development here in Southwest Florida that we’re not allowing these ecosystems maybe perhaps enough room to respond in the best way that they possibly could,” Gerwig said.

Luckily, nature is resilient, but you don’t want to push your luck too far. That said, Gerwig believes the island will recover. You just have to be patient.

“Barrier island systems, where these systems are, are extremely dynamic. They’re always in flux, so what you might have seen for 10 years might not be there in 10 years, and that’s just kind of how these systems work,” Gerwig said.

It’s been a long road for the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to recover from all of the hurricanes, but a few areas, including the visitor center and Bailey Track, will reopen at the refuge on Monday.