American Eagle at water treatment plant in Lehigh. Photos by Mel Toadvine

A lot of people in Lehigh may know where the FGUA sewage treatment plant is off of Lee Blvd. and where the deep water injection well is located, but few know that the vast area of land is also a wildlife refuge and that the area, in the middle of Lehigh Acres, is fill with all types of wildlife.

The area is close to the core area of Lehigh and is surrounded by a tall chain link fence. It’s also protected by Homeland Security, according to Barbara Kerby, a customer specialist in Lehigh.

What we really enjoy watching are the American Eagles that have made their nesting areas and homes here.

There are six employees working at the treatment plant area on different shifts and everyone keeps their eyes on the eagles.

“There was a nest here a few days ago, large enough for a man to get in,” laughed Kerby.

Barbara Kerby with eagle pin feathers

“But when the two little babies were able to fly away, the parents tore down the nest,” she said.

Eagles have been nesting in the pine trees on the land overlooking a retention pond. Sometimes there have been as many as three or more eagles.

Even after the nest is gone, they continue to fly around and stand in the pine trees.

“They feed their young, both the mother and the father; they are fun to watch,” Kerby said.

When the deep injection well was dug, Kerby said the structure holding the water had to be so many yard or feet away from where the eagles were nesting.

“The workers here tell me there have been American Bald Eagles nesting here for at least 10 years,” Kerby said.

The Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA) wastewater plant is a popular habitat area for Bald Eagles, with a nest included in the Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) Eagle Nest Locator program. The nest is part of a FWC 24-year tracking plan that includes five nests in Lee County, Kerby said.

It’s against the law to shoot at or kill an American Bald Eagle. They’re a protected species under the Florida law and have been in the past on the endangered list.

Kerby’s offices are located in the Beall’s Shopping Center.