To the editor,

Kudos to the City of Sanibel and to Judie Zimomra and her staff for acknowledging and dealing realistically with the transformation of the Sanibel River.

Twenty years ago, the Sanibel River was a unique tropical paradise, harboring a huge amount of record size fresh water fish, and the open shores were blanketed with birds of every species and alive with native animals.

If we had only been aware then, that stealing away most of the natural filtration areas near the river with 100 percent development and not controlling fertilizer and other surface applications would turn out to be such a poor formula for maintaining pristine surface water. For today, our river is little more than a tropical slough, supporting a few, mostly invasive species of wildlife.

Publicly acknowledging the seriousness of the problem was the first step. Insuring that the river is in no way injurious to our health is obviously next. Who knows? If we really believe that it can happen and make the commitment, by some miracle, future generations may once again enjoy a natural Sanibel River.

Sterling Fulmer

Sanibel