Protect Our State Parks!
Here are links to articles in the Florida Phoenix published throughout the timeline of the events, and an article in The Palm Beach Post about the whistleblower who was fired by DEP.
On August 19, just when I thought we were well settled into this year's final summer doldrums, I received an alarming email from Dana Bryan, a long-time AAS member and retired Florida State Parks employee. In early August, the Office of Park Planning was directed by the Executive Office of the Governor to compose nine amendments to existing management plans for nine state parks. The office was directed to drop/hold other tasks and compose these amendments as quickly as possible so they could be approved in September by the Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC).
Under the auspices of the Great Outdoors Initiative, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed to add three golf courses, two 350-room lodges, disc golf courses, cabins, glamping sites, and pickleball courts to nine of our coastal state parks, three of them located in the panhandle. To say that this was being fast-tracked is an understatement. Only a week’s notice was given for a public meeting where citizen comments could be given and they were ALL scheduled for August 27 at 3 PM!
After bipartisan objections, the meetings were going to be rescheduled for the week after Labor Day. In Tallahassee, the Florida Native Plant Society hosted a press conference on August 27—the day originally scheduled for the public meetings. Fifteen people spoke, including me on behalf of Apalachee Audubon, defending the need for our state parks to stay wild. On August 28, the Governor announced that he was asking DEP to go "back to the drawing board” about the new park plans, about which he claimed he knew nothing.
At the end of August, whistleblower James Gaddis was fired from Florida State Parks for releasing information that should have been made public much sooner. See the Palm Beach Post article below for more details and a link to his gofundme page, which details his experience. You can also search for his name at gofundme.com.
Here is the one-minute comment I made at the August 27 press conference that was hosted by the Florida Native Plant Society. Following that are links to articles detailing the plan to create human recreational instrusions at nine of our state parks.
August 27, 2024 Press Conference at DEP headquarters for the Florida State Parks with well over 50 people in attendance. Photo by Joe Clark.
My name is Kathleen Carr and I am the President of the Apalachee Audubon Society, which is affiliated with Audubon Florida and the National Audubon Society.
The Great Outdoors Initiative is VERY bad for birds. It would greatly expand the human footprint and human impact in areas that are supposed to be protected and preserved for wildlife.
The nine state parks listed in this initiative lie along major bird migration flyways. Coastal parks, in particular, provide critical stopover points. Removing habitat to build lodging, pickleball courts, or disc golf courses could be a death sentence for exhausted birds as they travel between their wintering and breeding grounds.
And I should add that building lodges with 350 rooms will result in thousands of dead birds from window and building strikes.
We’ve lost 3 billion birds since 1970. Apalachee Audubon is committed to a future where birds thrive. Let’s help them thrive by rejecting the Great Outdoors Initiative!
