BARBARA B. CUMMINGS
BARBARA B. CUMMINGS
Interviewed by Joyce W. Miller on November 19, 1998
They lost the
battle--- but
they won the
war.
This was the impression I left with as I drove away from my interview with Barbara B. Cummings on November 19, 1998.
A relative newcomer to Southwest Florida, I went to her for clarification of the events in the late 1950s that threatened Estero Bay. Mrs. Cummings and her husband, David, were members of the group called the Lee County Conservation Association (LCCA) that protested the events surrounding development on Estero Bay. In December 1966, they had a dedication of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, the first of its kind in Florida.
The group reacted with surprise when an article appeared in The News Press announcing that the State of Florida swapped a portion of that land (land they believed preserved in perpetuity) for some "upland." LCCA was "incensed" as was the general public. The lawsuit that ensued included the developer, Robert Troutman, and various government officials. Mrs. Cummings stated that the court found that no member of LCAA had been injured any more than any other and dismissed the suit. This was the judgment, in spite of the fact that the LCCA board included a shrimper, a commercial fisherman, and a couple who lived on Estero Bay.
In spite of the defeat in court, LCCA was instrumental in setting up other aquatic preserves in this area and other Florida counties. They aided in the establishment of statutes protecting the mangroves in Florida.
The wrangling continued for many years over surveyor's measurements, mean high water line, and the sovereignty submerged lands. After the 30 year "war" ended, the LCCA gave its remaining funds to the 6th grade of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, then engaged in studies on water quality and specimens from Estero Bay.
Barbara Cummings reminisced about the "goings on" of those years with a mixture of asperity and humor. She remembers the developer, Robert Troutman as a "very colorful man...a likable man.. very funny." She chuckled, recounting a visit by some members of the group to his construction trailer when he teasedJim English about alligators. Although she agreed with rumors that members were followed and phones were tapped, she deftly avoided making statements regarding who was involved, telling me I would have to hear about this from the actual people involved. She reminisced about Charlie Bigelow, an attorney repesenting the Troutman interests, down in the mangroves "sawing away with a chainsaw." The Troutman development was never built although other development continues, including a recent one on Coconut road .
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She said,"it's amazing that the mangroves are still down in Estero Bay with all that went on." The birds and the fish they dine on are still there, too. |
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Future generations can thank Mrs. Cummings and the other members of LCCA for the war of attrition they waged against those who invaded the sovereignty submerged state lands which are an integral part of Southwest Florida. Asked if she was proud of the group's accomplishments , she replied with a resounding , "Yes."
All drawings courtesy of and copyright (c) by Joyce Miller, 1998.
