Major conservation concerns over proposed plans for state parks

Florida state parks are treasures of natural beauty for residents and visitors, and protected habitat for many of our native plant and animal species. A new plan from Governor Ron DeSantis and the state Department of Environmental Protection dubbed the Great Outdoors Initiative seeks to add lodging, golf courses and additional recreational activities to state parks.

If you visit any of the 175 state parks, you’re bound to run into wildlife, native plants and beautiful waterways teaming with life. These are wild pockets of habitat that show a glimpse of Florida’s natural history. At Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County, eagles, osprey and great horned owls nest. Federally threatened gopher tortoises roam the park freely. At Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, threatened snowy plovers dip and dodge through the dunes. Anastasia State Park on the state’s north east coast is home to the endangered Anastasia Island beach mouse. The new plan proposes adding 350-room lodges to both Topsail Hill Preserve and Anastasia state parks. 

Threatening nature for more visitors

Encouraging more people to come experience our state parks is a great idea. For example, last October state park passes were discounted by 50% for 3 months making it more affordable for people to explore them. This newly proposed DEP plan doesn’t keep with the state parks department’s mission of “providing resource-based recreation while preserving, interpreting and restoring natural and cultural resources”. Instead it falls well short of its own mission, and could jeopardize many of these natural spaces. With plans to add lodges, golf courses, disc golf courses and pickleball courts to parks across the state, the state agency is devaluing the beauty and natural ecosystems that these parks were originally intended to provide.

Three areas are proposed for golf facilities at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on Florida’s south Atlantic coast. Replacing natural habitat with large-scale recreational activities does not make sense for Florida. According to visitflorida.com there are at least 1400 public golf courses in this state. You can find a list of the more than 5000 pickleball courts by city at pickleheads.com. Hotels are not scarce either.

Tell the state to scrap the plan 

We need to tell the state and Gov. Ron DeSantis no. We are not willing to trade our critical natural habitats for large-scale amenities. The DEP has postponed public comment on the Great Outdoors Initiative that was originally scheduled in 8 locations on Tuesday, August 27th. We will share the new date and times once they are posted by the state. In the meantime the agency has released a survey with links to plans for each park and space is provided for written comments on the proposal. 

Join us in making sure state leaders know that we want to keep our state parks wild. Florida has plenty of places to enjoy large-scale recreational activities, but what is rapidly disappearing is our natural landscapes and ecosystems.