DeSantis administration is learning what happens when you mess with Florida state parks | Opinion

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got a taste of bipartisanship in recent weeks in the form of fierce pushback against his administration’s proposal to build golf courses, pickleball courts and lodging at the state’s beloved parks.

Tree-hugging liberals and MAGA Republicans can agree that the mission of state parks is to be a refuge to enjoy and learn about Florida’s natural habitat, waterways and forests, not to be profit-focused or recreational spaces that interfere with the people’s ability to peacefully enjoy nature.

The public can also sense when there appears to be an effort to keep them in the dark.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection originally unveiled its proposal to add amenities to nine parks just one week before public meetings were scheduled on the matter. All nine individual meetings were scheduled across the state on the same day and time, taking away environmental groups’ ability to organize to give their input. Faced with public outcry, the DEP postponed the meetings, but that didn’t quell the opposition; protests were held on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, DeSantis acquiesced and announced his administration was dropping the “Great Outdoors Initiative,” saying, “If people don’t want improvements, then we won’t do them,” the Herald reported.

Those were hardly improvements.

The changes at two South Florida parks would have been smaller compared to what was proposed across the state: a disc golf course, up to four pickleball courts and 10 new cabins at Oleta River State Park in Miami-Dade; and four pickleball courts at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Broward. Pickleball, which is played with a racket, is one of America’s fastest growing sports — and it’s also loud, unlike the recreational activities normally offered at state parks such as camping, kayaking, horseback riding, swimming and biking.

At Jonathan Dickinson State Park, north of Jupiter, three golf courses were planned. On Sunday, the obscure group that was behind the proposal— and whose Florida lobbyists, curiously, included a former interim DEP secretary — announced it would be withdrawing it. The area’s own Republican congressman, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, said no one among local officials knew where the idea for the golf courses came from, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The state also suggested a 350-unit lodge at Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County and another at Topsail State Park in Santa Rosa County, drawing opposition from residents and officials in deep-red parts of the state.

Perhaps a couple of pickleball courts in acres-wide parks wouldn’t be that much of a problem and that, as the DEP, has said, will “enhance public access.” But state parks exist to protect our last slices of wilderness. Pickleball and disc golf are a better fit for municipal and county parks that commonly provide recreational and sporting activities.

That’s why environmentalists fought against the smaller projects planned at Oleta State Park as much as they opposed the larger-scale golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson and others.

“None of the proposals adhere to taxpayers’ understanding of what a state park is,” Sierra Club Senior Organizing Manager Cris Costello told the Herald Editorial Board on Monday.

Environmental groups worried about the proverbial slippery slope — that a golf course or 350-unit lodge would be the precursor to turning the state’s precious parks into money-making enterprises for well-connected contractors with less concern for preservation. There’s a precedent for that in the Sunshine State. In June, the Florida Cabinet — of which DeSantis is part — approved with no discussion the transfer of 324 acres of state forest land part of a wildlife corridor to a Hernando County golf course company. In exchange, the state got 861 acres of timberland that’s isolated from other conservation land and isn’t part of a wildlife corridor, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The battle to preserve Florida’s natural lands is not a new battle. In 2011, lawmakers wanted to allow at least five golf courses at parks across Florida. The bill failed thanks to widespread pushback.

Yet again, Florida learned that only with the public’s involvement can Florida’s environmental lands and parks fend off any efforts to steer them away from their mission.

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This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 12:31 PM.