During the Ecofest at Mcdonough park this past April, Jake Respondek provided an interview on WMNF 88.5. He talks about Upham Beach and other Surfrider Issues. 

To read the entire article and link to the interview please click here

Many chapter members were in attendance at the June 1st Stakeholder's meeting. 

Thank you to Jake for video recording the meeting.  Now we only have to figure out how to load it onto the site!

Copies of the latest Monitoring Report, Wave Data, and Poperpoint have been requested from the county to share with the chapter.

Remember, we want a big wide safe beach and no, to the other options. Get the structures out of there, do not replace them with anything else, and work on feasable solutions including what it would cost the cities, county and state to support a pump house sand bypass project or a regular re-nourishment schedule. We also want solutions for restoring the natural sandflow - as that is what willsave the area, the enviroment, and all of our dollars!

FREE UPHAM!

 The Upham Beach Stabilization Project is costing all of us $$$. 

The project is funded through Federal, State, and County tax dollars. 

Remember: YOU ARE A TOURIST TOO! 

Everytime you rent a hotel room in Pinellas County, a portion of the fees collected goes to pay for the "experiment".  Let your voice be heard on how you want the priceless dollars spent - especially in the current economic climate!

AND, even if you don't rent rooms in Pinellas County, you have a right to be heard.  The monies collected as apart of the bed tax should be appropriated throughout Pinellas County to benefit ALL residents - which means your voice counts.

• Upham Questions Answered
• Statement of position: PhD from Western Carolina University and 42 others
• Characteristics of a Chronically, Rapidly Eroding Beach by: Alyssa L. Saint John
• Progress Report for the Period of Nov - April 2009 by: Dr. Wang comming soon
• 1992 Blind Pass Inlet Management Plan
• Ecological Effects of Coastal Armoring on Sandy Beaches
  
• History of Blind Pass
• Florida FDEP Bureau of Beaches and Coast Systems Strategic Beach Management Plan for the Southwest Gulf Coast Region

Where you can help

• Attend Surfrider events
• Participate in chapter fund raisers
• Attend the City/County Meetings
• Get the Word out!! 
• Volunteer to research or make calls to obtain more information
• Reach out to other Environmental friends to join us in the cause
• Send communication to elected officials

Photo's by Chad March '09.

Photo's by Julie Spring 2009

Reorganized!

The chapter has an updated reorganized Upham Committee.  The committee, comprised of seasoned and new Suncoast beach stewards, are working together on the Free Upham campaign.  The committee is currently working on research, fund raising, press contacts, and contact with city and county officals.

Smarter!

In the research phase of the Free Upham campaign, the committee is finding smarter solutions to solve the erosion problem on Upham Beach.  A long time ago, before the condo boom on the barrier islands, sand would flow south from a huge sandy knob on the south side of Blind Pass and provide new sand for the rest of the key (St. Pete Beach). The pass was actually a traveling pass, gradually moving south with each layer of sand that peeled away from the edge.  When the first condo went up on Upham Beach, it was placed right on the edge of the Gulf just a little south of the pass which eliminated the beach in front of the building. Then a seawall and jetty needed to be constructed on the south side of Blind Pass to stop all the traveling and peeling the pass was doing and to protect the poorly placed building.  That decision halted the sand flow permanently. A Federally funded beach nourishment plan began then to compensate for the loss of sand on Upham Beach and the down drift beaches. And the other 3 buildings went up. 

So these days, the sand that is supposed to nourish the beaches south of Blind pass sweeps into Blind Pass and builds up into little white mounds inside the pass. The buildup of sand then gets dredged every nine years, per the plan in place now.   

Many hands!

Join the Suncoast Upham Committee! 

Contact us through suncoast@surfrider.org or

any of the board members on the contact us page.

Upham in the Press

BayNews 9 Feb 09

BeachHunter.net

Creative Loafing

Fox 13 news

Tampa Tribune

Barrier Island Gazette

BayNews9

BlogtheBeach