I was assigned as a seaman to Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet on Peanut Island from June to December 1967 when I was promoted and transferred. We had 19 Coasties assigned to the station and CWO4(BOSN) Rex W. Coulson was our great CO. The next station north was Ft. Pierce and the next station south was Miami Beach so we covered the area about halfway to each of those stations and out eastward to the Bahamas. Seamen/Firemen and below pulled port and starboard duty at night and on weekends and it was a very busy station while I was assigned there. We were the only ones on the island most of the week and the wind whispering through the pines was the only noise that we usually heard. The Coast Guard moved to a new station on the mainland in Lake Park in 1995, increasing the time and distance for rescue responses to the ocean via the inlet. There are more old photos from the station located at http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/friends_don60s and http://www.pbase.com/airlinerphotos/uscg

I visited Peanut Island and the former station on January 7th, 2007, for the first time in 38 years and was amazed at the difference on the island which is now a Palm Beach County park. All the beautiful tall and shady dark green Australian Pines were gone and it reminded me of a desert in parts. While it was great to create an island county park for the enjoyment of residents and tourists, the elimination of all the shade provided by the tall pines was tough to see. I could understand the elimination of non-native species in an environmentally sensitive area but most of the county has already been paved and built over with non-native asphalt and concrete so why eliminate the greenery, shade and bird habitat like this? The only bald eagle nest in Dade County a year or two ago was in an Australian Pine, probably because they are the tallest trees in the region. And besides, the island itself is man-made from dredging the Intra Coastal Waterway and the inlet, which is hardly "native." Speaking of "native", the Australian Pines have been in South Florida far longer than 95% of the residents and it is usually "non-native" immigrants from up North or from countries south of us that usually decide to remove our old "non-native" trees. Ugly imposing non-native condoms are being built along the precious shorelines ruining the view and blocking the sea breezes for many and Palm Beach County is concerned with living breathing tall Australian Pines? Give us a break!

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