August 27, 2001

Mr. Chip Merriam
South Florida Water Management District
Ft. Myers Service Center
2301 McGregor Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL 33901

Dear Mr. Merriam:

The Southwest Florida Watershed Council is interested in learning more about the District’s rule development regarding minimum flows and levels for the Caloosahatchee River. The Council’s Resources Committee would like to meet with a representative of the District to discuss the current draft of the rule, its implementation schedule, the MFL Recovery and Prevention Strategy and discretionary flows under the WES plan.

The Resource Committee will be meeting Friday, September 14th and again on Friday, October 12th from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Lee County Public Works Building, 3^rd floor conference room, 1500 Monroe Street in Fort Myers. Would it be possible to have a District representative at one of these meetings to discuss the MFL components mentioned above?

If you have any questions about the Southwest Florida Watershed Council, I invite you to visit our web site at www.swfwc.org or call me at 941.694.5844. Thank you for your consideration of this request. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

John Cassani

Chairman, Natural Resources Committee

The mission of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council is to protect, conserve, manage and/or

restore the land and water resources of the Caloosahatchee and Big Cypress Watersheds through participation and cooperation of all stakeholders in consensus building, planning, and decision making to meet the

economic, natural and cultural needs for this and succeeding generations.