John W. Morris
program. General Gribble was instrumental, as you may recall, in getting us to call the
conference in New Orleans to come to grips with the matter.
Would this be a good place to talk about Marco Island?
Q:
A:
Yes. Marco Island became a major issue. I think the two projects that took the most time, as
deputy, were Marco Island and, again, Lock and Dam 26. What happened at Marco Island?
As I recall, there were several elements of the Marco Island Development plan-Areas A, B,
C and D. Area A was developed. The developers needed a permit to start B and D, and to
finish C. That's the concept, as I recall.
The district engineer had recommended the permit be issued. The division engineer
recommended that it not be issued. The key element of the decision concerned the red
mangrove-98 percent of the red mangroves in the United States are in the state of Florida.
This particular tree is critical to the food chain for the shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico. The
environmental community was very much concerned that Marco Island was going to destroy
too much of the red mangroves. The governor of Florida wanted the permit issued, and that's
normally a key factor. I think on that basis the district engineer said, "Okay," but the division
engineer, for a variety of reasons, said, "No." One reason, I think, was that this matter was so
important it should be decided in Washington. If the district engineer had turned the permit
MG John W. Morris was sworn in as Deputy Chief of Engineers on 1 August 1975 by First
Lieutenant Yuvonne Balentine, the junior officer in OCE. Lieutenant Balentine wrote on the picture,
"Congratulations, sir. Keep working at it and you may become Chief one day."
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