Sports Fields Will Soon Take Over Part Of FIU's Nature Preserve
Muñoz-Jiménez gathered over 8,000 signatures from students and staff in a petition opposing the plan.
He worries about the fertilizer runoff from the fields affecting the produce from his garden. That produce is sold at farmer’s markets throughout Miami. The site’s only water source is a man-made pond that will be filled in to make way for the fields.
“There’s definitely fish in there,” says Muñoz-Jiménez, “there’s heron on the sides, egrets, a lot of turtles use this area as well. I mean all kinds of life. You’ve got opossums, raccoons, foxes. This is their water source so once you destroy this, what happens?
According to FIU, the preserve is home to almost 450 plant and animal species -- some that are threatened or endangered.
FIU was built over the former Tamiami airport and includes three different ecosystems: tropical hardwood hammock, wetlands and the endangered pine rockland.
