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Funding for the Web Cam was provided by the Indian River Lagoon License Plate FY2000 grant program, administered by the South Florida Water Management District. The Mosquito Control District also chipped-in some matching funds, and in-kind work for installation. The web cam was an idea which was spawned by an effort to provide Americans With Disabilities (ADA) access to the wetland impoundment areas of the Saint Lucie County Mosquito Control District. The Saint Lucie County Information Technology (IT) Department selected the equipment, provided some of their own, oversaw the installation of the system, and developed the web site. The Web Cam was installed at Mosquito Control Impoundment 14B, located at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. It is a very attractive site for wading birds (up to 18 species), especially during the summer and fall. The water level in the impoundment can be repeatedly lowered or drawn-down during the summer mosquito breeding season, to attract the birds, without breeding mosquitoes (which is the purpose for having a mosquito impoundment in the first place). For those that don't know, a mosquito impoundment draw-down involves the gradual lowering of water levels, until marsh resident fishes accumulate in the shallow water. This accumulation of fish prey species then enhances wading bird feeding success, for both adults and juveniles. The draw-downs of mosquito impoundments are performed during wading bird nesting and post-nesting periods. The marsh resident minnows are a favorite food of the waders, as are juveniles of some of the local transient fish species (like silver mullet). As many a 700 birds can be seen during a successful draw-down of Impoundment 14B. Draw-downs are generally performed every 30 to 45 days, in order to give the marsh residents time to reproduce, and for the waders to derive the maximum benefits from the fishery reproduction. The site is being restored to coastal wetland species (it was formerly a stormwater storage area isolated from the Indian River Lagoon), so the birds can be viewed in large clearings, which are as yet, unvegetated. Jim Baranoski (Webmaster) was in charge of the project for IT, and had a lot of technical help from Bob Rosart (Network Systems Mgr.). Jim had creative responsibility for developing the site, and has been great to work with. He is batting 1000 in getting tasks accomplished on-time, under budget and getting the equipment operating with maximum effectiveness. The Webcam is a Pelco Spectradome, connected to a Digital Image Mega Chips OpennetView which acts as a web server. The Pelco Spectradome and the OpennetView were provided and installed by Advanced Alarms Service Inc. The OpennetView is connected to a Bellsouth 128Kbps ISDN line which is then routed to the Internet.
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