You are on the right side of history. By signing the petition to keep cows out of Myakka River State Park, you have aligned yourself with many others who have been speaking out regarding Florida DEP’s abrupt ideological initiative to change our state parks: • Three former directors of Florida State Parks (Fran Mainella, Ney Landrum, & Mike Bullock) that served a total of 38 years: “This is one of those times when the people who love the state parks, and for whom the parks are intended, to make their feelings known — quickly and emphatically!” • 26 former Florida State Park managers: “We have spent our careers caring for these places. Please contact your elected officials and tell them agricultural activities are not appropriate for state parks. Let’s keep state parks for their intended use.” • The former chief biologist for Florida State Parks, Jim Stevenson: “The Department of Environmental Protection, which administers the Florida Park Service, is converting our state parks to consumptive use (multiple-use).” • Former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Nat Reed: “Reed says we should all be worried about the “growth-at-all-costs” mindset of the current administration. “To them, whatever green land is left is developable,” he says. “I’m getting scared about our state.” • The former chief of the office of Park Planning, Albert Gregory: “Cattle grazing has never been permitted in natural areas of state parks, as DEP is now proposing to do on 6,500 acres at Myakka River State Park.” • The former biologist of Myakka River State Park, Jean Huffman, who started the Florida Parks in Peril Facebook Group (which you should join if you are a Facebook user.) • and the more than 2,000 citizens who have signed our petition. *You’ll notice a lot of our most knowledgeable supporters have “former” in front of their titles– that’s because current state employees cannot express their professional opinion if it is contrary to official doctrine of the current regime. It’s a variant of the can’t-say-climate-change fiasco. They risk losing their jobs, so the rest of us have to speak for them. Our impressive team with centuries of support for Florida’s award winning state park system is challenging an unvetted, radical policy shift implemented by an INTERIM Secretary of DEP, Jon Steverson, who has been on the job less than six months! Despite this massive, focused effort by thousands, DEP has not budged. In fact, there is some reason to believe they are doubling down: adding hunting to the mix and holding meetings for state park managers, biologists, and support group leaders in an ominous blend of intimidation with indoctrination. So we need to do more. Our target for petition signatures is 5,000. We are almost halfway there. It would be great if we could hit 2,500 before a Bay News 9 TV crew covers the story on Father’s Day. Can you share the link below with your mailing list, post it on Facebook, or tweet it? http://tinyurl.com/pnbuzxj And remember if you lose the link, just go to change.org and search for Myakka – our petition will come right up. Here are some encouraging signs: Reuters News Agency has picked up the story. Local newspapers in Manatee County are tracking the issue. And the Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, and Jacksonville Times Union have all run pieces supporting our position. In addition, the decision about making Jon Steverson the permanent head of DEP has been delayed, affording us more chances to question his policies, if not his appointment. Please contact Florida Cabinet members to express your concern, outrage, and/or opposition to this new “anything goes” approach to our state parks. https://flparks-in-peril.good.do/Protect/e-mail-cabinet-members/ We can prevail. Your support is crucial because you speak for many who agree our state parks should be for conservation and recreation, not resource extraction and exploitation. Keeping cows out of Myakka will go a long way to keeping cell phone towers, wellfields, hunting and other forms of exploitation out of your favorite state park. Don't Mess with Myakka!