Shell Island - No Dogs & Booze Allowed - Pinellas County, Florida

From the St. Petersburg Times on August 30, 2007 (full article here):

For years Shell Key Preserve, commonly referred to as Shell Island, has been a popular weekend and holiday destination for many local boaters. Now environmentalist groups and the county department of environmental management say the partying has begun to interfere with nesting shore birds.

Largo resident Pat Edmund, 60, came out to support the changes.

She said her work as a volunteer for the county and the Audubon of Clearwater have shown her the damage by partiers and dogs on the preserve. "Even dog's on a leash are seen as predators, and the eggs will be abandoned to either bake in the sun or be eaten," She said.

 From the St. Petersburg Times on December 19, 2007 (full article here):

The new plan includes stricter regulation of camping on the island, which will now require a permit, and a complete ban on dogs and alcohol from the entire preserve.

Alcohol has long been restricted on the island itself, but it was previously allowed in the surrounding waterways, a policy that recently came under criticism when the county staff and sheriff's deputies who patrol the preserve claimed that partying there had gotten out of hand.

Despite harsh criticism from boaters who frequent the area, the decision was made to ban pets and parties in an attempt to protect nesting birds that also use the preserve.

"It was a disappointing experience because we were not heard," said Dick Granger, a local boater who started an advocacy group out of frustration over the decision.

Granger and many other boaters thought the decision was an attempt by environmentalists to scare away recreational boaters with increased restrictions.

"So the next step is we see this incrementalism, and before long Shell Key is no longer a preserve and it becomes a sanctuary," Granger said.

Still, county staffers say the decision was made to protect an increasingly rare ecosystem and the wildlife that relies on it.

"We have to decide as a Gulf Coast community how to decrease our ecological footprint, and a good place to start are these barrier islands that are already designated preserves," said Bruce Rinker, county director of the Department of Environmental Management.

The county hopes to have the signs in place and begin enforcing the new rules before the next shore bird nesting season in March.