CONGRATULATIONS (and Yikes!) You signed the petition to keep cows out of Myakka River State Park, and you and 3,374 like-minded citizens were finally heard and DEP now says it has no plans (“at this time”) to put cows in the Park. Nice work. But the assault on our State Parks continues. Please read the two important items below and call your senator in Tallahassee on Tuesday (or really early Wednesday) to advance dollars for acquisition and thwart a bad bill that could destroy our parks as we know them. Let Tallahassee know you support $200 million for Florida Forever and oppose Senate Bill 1290. A message from the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast: $200 million for Florida Forever can be a reality if the Florida Senate votes this Wednesday, February 10, to provide $200 million in bond funds. These funds will help conserve such incredible properties as Orange Hammock Ranch in Sarasota County, and Triangle Ranch and Murphy Marsh in Manatee County. Please call your Senator immediately and request their support for Senator Alton’s budget amendment to restore Florida Forever with $200 million in bond monies. Senator Nancy C. Detert (R) (District 28, Sarasota, Charlotte) 416 Senate Office Building, 404 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
(850) 487-5028 detert.nancy@flsenate.gov Senator Bill Galvano (R) (District 26 Manatee, Sarasota) 330 Senate Office Building, 404 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
(850) 487-5026 galvano.bill@flsenate.gov Thank you for your active involvement to protect and conserve our special places, now and for future generations. Gainesville Sun Editorial: Another assault on our parks Published: Monday, February 8, 2016 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, February 5, 2016 at 11:56 a.m The assault on Florida’s park and conservation lands continues in Tallahassee, as a new bill introduced under the guise of improving management of state lands proposes using Amendment 1 money for massive water transfer projects and allowing landowners with property adjacent to state-owned lands to buy those state lands in exchange for not developing their existing properties. The legislation — HB 1075 and its companion, SB 1290 — seems to be a special-interest solution in search of a pubic-policy problem. The 134-page bill, among other things, would allow the state to declare state conservation and park lands “surplus” if it was determined their “short-term management goals” were not being met. In other words, if land acquired for recreational purposes was not being used for recreation because of, say, a lack of funding, it could be declared surplus land and sold to private interests. It is too easy to see the chicanery that such a law would permit. Another part of the bill would change the wording of existing law and allow state lands to be used for conservation or recreational purposes. The change in wording is significant because current law specifies the purpose for which state lands are acquired. Under the proposed change, environmental advocates argue it would potentially open critical conservation and park lands to be converted to recreational uses, such as golf courses — a proposal Gov. Rick Scott floated a few years back before public outcry forced him to back down. So this bill would open the door to easing the transfer of public park and conservation lands to private ownership, muddy the intended purpose of major public land acquisitions to — again — foster more private use and development and ease the process for selling off public lands by starving the so-called beast until they can be deemed surplus lands. But the most troublesome part of HB 1075/SB 1290, is the provision that would allow spending money from Florida Forever, the state’s popular and successful conservation land acquisition program, to fund “water resource development infrastructure.” The bill specifically spells out the money — Amendment 1 money 75 percent of Florida voters said in 2014 they wanted earmarked to buy and protect sensitive lands and watersheds — would be used for to fund treatment, transmissions and distribution infrastructure. Here’s how that could hit close to home. The newly enacted water policy bill the Legislature hurriedly passed the first week of the current session calls for enactment of the Central Florida Water Initiative. The initiative calls for pumping millions upon millions of gallons of water daily from the Ocklawaha and St. Johns rivers to quench the growing thirst of greater Orlando. Building the pumping stations and some 500 miles of pipeline to do that will cost billions. This bill proposes using Amendment 1 money to pay the tab — and sap North Florida’s already dwindling water supply. And proponents have the audacity to argue such massive drawdowns of our surface water are good for the environment. This is another bad piece of environmental legislation undoubtedly being pushed by big business special interests. The bill is already moving through the House committee process. But in the Senate, state Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, who represents is chairman of the Senate Environmental Protection and Conservation Committee, can stop this attack on our treasured state parks and conservation lands by refusing to bring it before his panel. We urge Dean to stop this madness and let Florida’s nationally recognized park system remain such and let Amendment 1 do what the voters intended. — This editorial originally appeared in the Ocala Star-Banner, one of The Sun's sister publications.