The Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Monday announced its Great Outdoors Initiative, which aims to update state parks management plans and improve park amenities.
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The four-leaf pawpaw plant has been listed as endangered by the USFWS since 1986. It grows in Martin and Palm Beach counties.
Environmentalists in Florida are raising concerns about initiatives to expand facilities at state parks, which they say include plans for three golf courses at the popular Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced its Great Outdoors Initiative on Monday, August 19, which aims to update state parks management plans and expand the offerings of park amenities such as cabins, lodges, pickleball, disc golf, golf and paddleboarding.
While the announcement did not include details about the individual parks, environmental groups received a one-page plan that details two 18-hole golf courses and one 9-hole golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. It is called a “Unit Management Plan Amendment” and the DEP has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, August 27 at 3 p.m. to present a “proposed Unit Management Plan Amendment” for the park.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at The Flagler of Stuart venue, 201 SW Flagler Avenue, Stuart.
Does Florida need more golf courses? At the expense of state natural areas?
Julie Brashears Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida, said she has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the golf course document, which calls the project the Greenside Oasis Golf Complex and includes a plan for a clubhouse.
“I’m not sure who feels the desperate lack of golf courses in Southeast Florida, but what I can tell you is that we feel a desperate lack of natural bushland,” Wraithmell said. “Putting a golf course on a habitat is not the job of state parks.”
The DEP did not respond to requests for information about the proposals as of Tuesday afternoon.
Wraithmell said she was told there are eight other parks with planned projects across the state, including lodges with up to 350 rooms at Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County.
Other state parks that may be considering management plan changes include Camp Helen in Bay County, Grayton Beach in Walton County, Hillsborough River in Hillsborough County, Honeymoon Island in Pinellas County, Von Mizell-Eula Johnson in Broward County, and Oleta River in Miami-Dade County.
The DEP has scheduled meetings in each of these counties on the same day and time as the meeting in Stuart.
That bothers Casey Darling Kniffin, conservation policy director for the Florida Wildlife Federation, because she thinks people may want to attend more than one meeting.
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“They’re essentially trying to accelerate the public engagement part,” she said. “We’re a national organization, so I’d love to be at every one of these events, but they’re all happening at the same time on the same day.”
Largest state park in southeast Florida is habitat for endangered Florida scrub jays
Jonathan Dickinson State Park covers more than 10,500 acres in Martin County and is the largest state park in southeast Florida, according to its website.
According to the America Society of Golf Course Architects, a full-size 18-hole (par 72) golf course is typically 120 to 200 acres in size.
The park includes numerous habitats, including coastal sandhills, upland lakes, scrub forests, and the Loxahatchee River. It features 90 campgrounds, paved and unpaved bike trails, and boating, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and swimming. It also provides the largest protected scrub jay habitat in southeast Florida.
Florida scrub jays are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“These wild and beautiful places are the last best examples of pristine habitats in our urbanising landscape,” Wraithmell said.
The document outlining the golf course proposal, which environmentalists say was leaked to raise public awareness, states that an 18-hole course and a 9-hole course will be built between the “Brightline rail corridor and US Highway 1.” A second 18-hole course will also be built in the northeast part of the park on the west side of the rail line.
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It notes that “avoiding sensitive habitats will be a priority in the design of the proposed golf courses,” but that the observation tower at Hobe Mountain would have to be demolished. The tower is currently closed for renovations.
Previous plans to include the Jack Nicklaus golf course in the Florida State Park were scrapped
In 2011, a bill requiring at least five state parks to have Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses was defeated after opposition from environmentalists. The only park designated for a Nicklaus golf course in the failed bill was Jonathan Dickinson State Park, not far from Nicklaus’s home in North Palm Beach.
“The state talks about recovery, but that would require bringing in machinery to install equipment and destroying habitat,” said Jessica Namath, a Tequesta resident and environmental advocate for 35 years. “I love this environment and have witnessed its loss since I was a child.”
A Facebook group called “Protect Jonathan Dickinson State Park” was created on Monday and had 2,500 members as of Tuesday afternoon.
The DEP’s announcement on Monday said Florida’s 175 state parks attracted nearly 30 million visitors in 2022 and 2023, contributing an annual economic impact of $3.6 billion.
Wraithmell said it was unclear how the planned golf courses and other facilities would work, but the state could lease the land to a private group to manage.
Any proposal would be reviewed by the state’s Acquisition and Restoration Council, a 10-member group whose job includes reviewing all management plans for state-owned lands.
“Florida has always struck a balance between nature-based recreation and resource conservation,” Wraithmell said. “These proposals threaten to shift the balance sharply in favor of recreation at the expense of resources.”
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather and the environmental impact of growth in South Florida. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to [email protected]. Support our local journalism and subscribe today.
