Sanibel is salty: see how saltwater from hurricanes is still impacting wildlife

By Sarah Mankowitz

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    SANIBEL, Florida (WBBH) — Sanibel is salty right now and it has been ever since Hurricane Ian swept through. Then with storms after that, it hasn’t been able to catch a break.

“The storm surge put 8 to 12ft of water over the top of the island and all these freshwater bodies got inundated with saltwater, which turned all those areas brackish,” said Chris Lechowicz, Wildlife and habitat management director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF).

Even a year after Helene and Milton, salt content in the lakes are still way higher than it should be.

“Prior to Hurricane Ian, the freshwater areas were primarily between 0 and 5 parts per thousand, so that the whole ranking system goes from 0 to 35. 35 would be pure seawater,” said Lechowicz.

When we did a water test with Lechowicz, our reading was 13.

The big problem concerns the animals who call this ecosystem home. The water is too salty for those that need freshwater to survive.

Fish, turtles, frogs and more, can no longer breed in the waters.

“A lot of the wildlife species that we consider freshwater are able to live anywhere between 0 and 5, sometimes even up to six. We still have permanent water bodies that are in the 20s, which is just, just really bad,” said Lechowicz.

The only thing that can help is rain.

“Temporary water areas, the areas that are dry most of the year and only fill up with water when we get a lot of rain. Those areas when they fill up are fresh. So, a lot of the animals that are still around there, hover in those areas because they have a short window of being able to get fresh water,” said Lechowicz.

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