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From: Lisamarie.Carrubba@noaa.gov ()
To: coralations@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, December 11, 2009 4:00:02 PM
Subject: Re: formal communication for record: PR Land and Fruits_Victor Gonzalez_Culebra.

I will be on official travel December 11-16. I will be out of the office on vacation December 17, 2009 through
January 6, 2010. I will respond to your message as soon as possible upon my return to the office. If you need
immediate assistance, please contact Anabel Padilla at 787-851-3700 or Anabel.Padilla@noaa.gov.

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From: CORALations (coralations@yahoo.com)

To: Wegmann, Deborah L SAJ; Edwin Muniz; Ana Roman; john costello; Jose SAJ Cedeno-Maldonado;
Lisamarie Carrubba; shaun.griffin@noaa.gov; Eric Ortiz; Lic. Carlos Geigel Bunker; Ernesto Diaz; Ariel
Lugo; Mildred Alayon; angel.ortiz@dhs.gov; Jaime Lopez; Carl Axel Soderberg
Date: Fri, December 11, 2009 3:57:08 PM
Subject: formal communication for record: PR Land and Fruits_Victor Gonzalez_Culebra.

We have documented major destruction/ fill to Culebra's "boulder forest"/dry river beds...located at NE end of Flamenco
Beach in area known locally as muellecito.
This apparently happened sometime over the past two weeks. The area and the receiving water body of Flamenco
Beach is of enormous cultural, environmental and economic importance to the local islanders. It is our understanding (as
conveyed by durable power of attorney of property owners and former Honorable Mayor of Culebra) that the area being
destroyed is not the sole property of the developer, Victor Gonzalez / PR Land and Fruit, SE.

This concern was brought to the attention in writing of the Field Office of USFWS before federal funds were awarded to
the developer to carry out a "coastal watershed restoration" project in the area. The last four years of impacts to this
areas wetlands and navigable waters U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico continues to be documented by our
organization.

(USFWS field office has extensive public record of same developer impacting Federally protected lands in Boqueron,
Puerto Rico and lands adjacent to Guanica Dry Forest Bioshere Reserve in Guayanilla. A habitat conservation
agreement was recently issued to the developer from the Regional Office of Atlanta permitting the construction of a
controversial Wind Farming project in an area with endangered bird and amphibian populations.)

Public ACCESS
Most recently there has been a re-blocking of historic access roads on Culebra in this area by this developer:
First "re-blocking" is to the former military observation post and helipad, a road that served as an historic assess to
Playa Resaca through time immemorial, and,
second in a high velocity flood zone and coastal wetlands area...where older or handicapped local folks could more
easily access the beach.
This latest block of this area was made with the felled trunk of a large mahagony tree.

The alleged property owner, Victor Gonzalez is operating in Culebra under the corporation PR Land and Fruits SE,
(PRLF on sign)with alleged collaborative agreements with USFWS Culebra's ACDEC and PR DRNA have dramatically
impacted one of the most beautiful and cherished pristine ecologically sensitive areas on the island. The assumed the
associated work in the geologically and ecologically sensitive area should be under USFWS supervision, given the
Federal agreement/funding allocated to the developer, but we have been unable to trigger local meaningful agency
oversight.

The public record should reflect that unsustainable coastal deforestation and related impacts has been reported to
Federal agencies for the past five years in this area, including verbal input issued at a local USFWS management
planning meeting for the long overdue management plans for the Federal Refuge... and held on Culebra by the agency
after the Federal registry deadline for public comments had cloased. Associated beach berm and cliff deforestation to
install picnic gazebos destabilized the fragile beach berm have resulted in serious water quality violations after last
rainfall...

Last month, we left three messages on USFWS enforcement cell phone of John Castillo, although have never received
acknowledgment of these calls or our concerns from anyone at the local Refuge office.

EPA's Regional Director, Mr. Carl Sodderberg told me at brief meeting on 4th of November, 2009 that 404b / fill of dry
river beds is US Army Corps jurisdiction. The last ACE site visit to area was in March 2009 by Jose Rosario-Frabrigas.
We understand at this time he was the sole enforcement officer for all of US Caribbean territorial waters for ACE. He
indicated that these violations were EPAs jurisdiction's as well. We understand he has left the Corps and is now working
for US EPA.
We left messages today with Mr. Sodderberg and enforcement agent Jaime Lopez.

Culebra and Protected Resources

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Receiving waters are designated as critical habitat for foraging green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) with some sea grass
prairies further designated as Resource Cat 1 and considered
irreparable if destroyed. Receiving waters are also designated critical habitat for threatened Acroporid corals, found a
few hundred yards away from this impact, and beach between river bed and shore listed as critical habitat for nesting
Hawksbill sea turtles (Erytmochelys imbricata) , now used by endangered Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys
coriacea).

Boulder forests are home to terrestrial endangered endemic Anolis roosevelti, endangered Epicrates monensis and the
endangered endemic plant Peperomia wheeleri.

Developer indicates permits and agreements with Federal and Local agencies, but to date we have been unable even
through FOIA to obtain the information from USFWS. FOIA request was sent last September by our attorneys. The
DRNA agreement referenced was shown upon investigation by PR legislators to be illegal in November of 2006. This
was conveyed to us by the PR Government Ombudsmon, Eric Ortiz, (copied) and whose oversight has also been
officially triggered regarding enforcement from local governnent agencies, since access and illegal construction issues
initially emerged in the area in 2006.

These alleged agency agreements are referenced on a sign the developer posted at the site....
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11080464/Gonzalez-Signs

NMFS, NOAA representative, Shaun Griffin photographed this site, prior to last heavy rains October of 2009.

Refuge Manager Ana Ramos was called today on her cell phone and we await a call back.....

We just received a call back from Army Corps of Engineers (after calling up the COC to Washington) from a new
enforcement officer, Jose Cedano-Maldonado who informed me that Lisa Marie Carruba of NMFS/NOAA and Ana
Roman from USFWS would reporting if there were legitimate impacts to the area.

If these comments sound frustrated, it may be becuase we have been bringing exactly these issues to the attention of
the US Executive Coral Reef Task force since 2005 meetings. (Ex Order 13089 1998, William Jefferson Clinton)

Request for Immediate Action to Prevent Future Environmental Harm.

We would welcome the opportunity to work with local agencies to coordinate volunteers or find the local workers
necessary to repair the damage before the next rains.
As a conservation organization we continue to hope for prompt documentation and action to prevent more impacts to
Flamenco beach and bay by the Federal Agencies.
Specifically we are requesting that an immediate Order for Initial Corrective Measures be drafted with a management
plan for implementation. We respectfully request formal intervention in this process regarding subsequent actions taken
by any and all Federal agencies. We also request that the responsible party(s), while clearly should be held
accountable for this impact financially, should not be relied upon for mitigation operations, given the damage already
done in the name of 'watershed restoration' to this area to date. It is our understanding federal funding is involved in this
restoration.

At this point conflicts between developer and local community are again on the rise. In 2006 the developer issued formal
compaint with PR CIC against former mayor, and filed criminal trespass charges against local school administrator and a
number of private citizens to court in an attempt to privatize the beach access and access road to observation post
accesses. While the municipality took formal action against the developer, ultimately new municipal endorsements were
made now facilitating more impacts and the access areas have again been privitized. Two members of the off island
work-force now employed by Mr. Gonzalez filed formal complaints against locals and more court cases are again on the
horizon for folks using what municipality once defended as a public access to the Observation Post, Helipad and historic
route to Playa Resaca.

An immediate response from all agencies is greatly appreciated before this again escalates and more damage is
done not Culebrenses and this cultural, economic and ecologically valuable area.

Mary Ann Lucking

Director

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CORALations
P.O. Box 750
Culebra, PR 00775
www.coralations.org
1-877-77CORAL / 1-877-77(2-6725) (gratis / toll free)
(o) 787-556-6234 email: maryann@coralations.org

"A morning could come in which governments might ask what happened not merely to the forests and the bays but to a
whole people." Derek Walcott Nobel Lecture 1992

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