Here?s another pressure point for our campaign to prevent the destruction of the mangrove ecosystem on Bimini island, Bahamas. Please send letters, emails or faxes to the company that is designing the golf course for the Bimini Bay Resort & Casino. Urge them to withdraw from the resort project to protect their reputation and the mangroves! For background information on the Save Bimini Campaign, please see the original Global Response action alert and campaign updates posted at http://www.globalresponse.org/gra.php?i=2/05 Below is a model letter addressed to the company that is designing the resort?s golf course. Please add your own comments, and send the letter today. Thanks for your continued help in this campaign for the mangroves and fisheries of Bimini island! ********************************** MODEL LETTER Robert Trent Jones, Jr. ROBERT TRENT JONES II, LLC
705 Forest Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301 EMAIL: rtj2@rtj2.com FAX: 650.326.3877 Dear Robert Trent Jones, Jr., I am writing to urge your company to withdraw from your involvement with the proposed golf course at the Bimini Bay Resort & Casino on North Bimini, Bahamas. Since it started back in 1997, this development has been highly criticized both locally and internationally, largely because of the horrendously detrimental impact it is having, and will continue to have, on Bimini?s ecology. The Bimini Bay Resort & Casino has already removed large areas of pristine habitat along Bimini?s coastline. A quick online search will show you the incredible amount of negative publicity this development has generated. Bimini?s mangrove forests and wetland areas are some of the Bahamas? most productive and precious resources, and serve as the only marine nursery area on the entire western Great Bahama Bank. Bimini?s mangroves supply essential habitat for an abundance of commercially important fish and invertebrates, as well as refuge for several rare and endangered species, both above and below the water. Because of Bimini?s unique ecology, the mangrove lagoons of the North Sound and East Bimini were designated as the country?s highest priority site for a proposed Marine Protected Area in 2000. This Marine Protected Area was to ensure that Bimini would remain viable, both ecologically and economically, for decades to come. The golf course your company designed is in direct conflict with North Bimini?s proposed Marine Protected Area boundaries. For the golf course to be made, hundreds of acres of untouched land will need to be cleared, including several hundred square meters of mangroves along the shoreline of the North Sound lagoon. Clearing these mangroves and filling the adjacent wetlands will drastically diminish the fisheries that have provided for Bimini and its visitors for decades, as well as making the tiny island far more susceptible to hurricanes and storm damage. I urge you to consider the tremendous harm your golf course will have on one of the most precious places on Earth. International icons, such as Ernest Hemmingway and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drew inspiration from waters around Bimini, and thousands of visitors have seen for themselves the astounding beauty of this island. Please don?t let the Robert Trent Jones Jr. name be associated with the destruction of this historic and beautiful island. Sincerely,
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