Controversy in Florida over governor's plan to build golf courses in state parks
The other proposals affect Topsail Hill Preserve, Grayton Beach, Camp Helen, Honeymoon Island, Hillsborough River, Oleta River, Dr. Von Mizell-Eula Johnson and Anastasia state parks.
The controversial proposal by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration to build golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts in state parks has generated a strong controversy among environmentalists, which has already forced a foundation interested in one of these constructions in reserves that house endemic species to desist.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced on Sunday the cancellation of the construction of golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, located in Martin County, on the east coast of the state.
For the moment, this is the only proposal officially withdrawn from a total of nine that the Government presented, which “included hotels, pickleball courts, disc golf and more,” Erika Zambello, spokesperson for Audubon Florida, told EFE on Monday.
Rejection in Florida
This organization “does not support any of the proposals,” said the spokesperson for this conservation organization, the most influential in Florida. Audubon Florida had questioned the initiative and pointed out with irony that “golf courses in the Treasure Coast (a region of southeastern Florida) are not a threatened species.”
The organization recalled that the Jonathan Dickinson State Park is “the anchor and the last and best regional bastion for the Florida jay, a threatened bird species and the only one found in Florida and nowhere else.”
Habitat for wildlife
The environmentalist highlighted that the aforementioned state park is a habitat for wildlife, both resident and migratory, as well as a “wild Florida island for Floridians.”
This controversial proposal was promoted by the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation and contemplated the development of golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, a proposal that immediately generated strong criticism.
To the point that the aforementioned foundation had to issue a statement on its website announcing the withdrawal of its plan.