From Pensacola to Palm Beach, Florida is blessed with 172 parks, trails and historic sites encompassing more than 800,000 acres of pristine land and water for our enjoyment, and our appreciation.
Following last summer’s low-key fiasco to put golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels in nine of Florida’s most popular state parks, state Sen. Gayle Harrell filed a bill to protect our beloved parks from development. Network-Florida’s team of Opinion journalists wants to make sure that bill passes into law.
We’re conducting a campaign — in print and online — during the 60-day legislative session to remind Florida lawmakers that they should vote for this bill protecting some of our most prized assets, and send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for him to sign.
But this campaign isn’t just for our voices, it’s for yours. Email letters, op-eds, and even photos in support to this local newspaper, and we will publish them.
This legislator is among those pushing to protect Florida’s state parks. Here’s why.
State Sen. Jennifer Bradley remembers hearing from constituents last summer when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) tried to quickly authorize dramatic changes to nine state parks.
The plans included things like a “lodge” at Anastasia State Park (a structure so large that it could’ve become one of the biggest oceanfront hotels in Northeast Florida), golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County (a park with nearly 50 courses within a 20-mile radius) and pickleball courts at Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County (with its popular beaches touted as a serene “escape from the bustle of city”).
All across the state, people protested these plans. They gathered at park entrances and waved signs. They contacted their legislators — and, Bradley says, their legislators heard them.
➤ Read more here.
State Parks Preservation Act is a lesson in how Florida government should work
Wouldn’t it be something if government always operated like this?
Governor floats idea. General public hates idea and organizes protests. Governor backs down. New legislation is introduced to prevent bad idea from popping up again.
The truth is that, while Senate Bill 80 or the “State Parks Preservation Act”, may not yet be what environmentalists are hoping for, it does offer protection against development in our state parks and is a perfect example of how things should get done. (The bill was introduced by Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, and has a companion on the House side sponsored state Rep. John Snyder, R-Port St. Lucie.)
➤ Read more here.
Florida state parks bills are a good start. But without changes they won’t help.
Public anger over proposals to develop Florida’s state parks exploded across the state last summer. The plans to build golf courses, massive hotels, pickleball courts and more ran into a wall of opposition so vocal that it forced the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — and Gov. Ron DeSantis — to scuttle the plans.
That outrage is now reverberating in the state Legislature, where a pair of bills ostensibly designed to make sure it never happens again are making their way through the committee process.
➤ Read more here.
Let’s get Florida’s crucial ‘State Park Preservation Act’ over the finish line
Did you hold a sign, honk a horn, shake a fist, write a “How dare you?” letter, or tweet “Not in my park” last August when word spread that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wanted to put three golf courses and a hotel on 1,000 acres at Jonathan Dickinson State Park?
If yes, do one more thing: call state legislators and ask them to pass Florida’s Senate Bill 80, titled the State Park Preservation Act.
➤ Read more here.
If we destroy Florida’s state parks, we’ll never get that nature back
Protecting Florida’s State Parks: Can Legislature come together?
FLORIDA TODAY’s John Torres discusses the 2025 legislative session with reporters James Call and John Kennedy in this excerpt fro the Florida Pulse.
When I first came down to spend the summer here, I brought my kids to swim, and so had very few real forays into real Florida. We’d spent most of our time doing what most people from out-of-state do: beaches, boarding, fishing, more beaches. Disney World was an option, and of course I took the kids, as one did, but pledged to never return once they reached the age of 12. … I fell immediately, deeply, and unalterably in love. With the real Florida.
➤ Read more here.
Show some backbone, Florida lawmakers. Don’t back down on saving state parks
What’s the main difference between so many Florida lawmakers and the wondrous array of invertebrates you can find in our beautiful state parks?
The invertebrates are supposed to lack backbones.
➤ Read more here.
The natural beauty of Florida’s state parks has long been under attack
The need to make Florida’s parks scheme-proof against the state’s elected officials goes deeper than last summer’s plot.
The impetus of the State Park Preservation Act (SB 80) before the Florida Legislature this session grew from last summer’s clandestine attempt to change the character of some state parks by building among other things, golf courses, pickleball courts and lodges on them.
But that was far from the first time that state officials saw Florida’s beautiful, undisturbed natural parks as something that needed to be bulldozed, paved and monetized.
➤ Read more here.
Should Florida’s state parks be developed? Take our poll.
Florida’s state parks offer some of the most unique experiences in the country.
From fishing, camping, hiking and horseback riding to spotting and admiring some of our more unique wildlife like manatees and alligators there is literally something for everyone.
Not to mention only a handful of states can offer pristine surfing locations in their state parks.
➤ Read more here.
Florida must protect state parks. New bill is a step in the right direction.
In a perfect world, state Sen. Gayle Harrell’s Senate Bill 80, the so-called “State Park Preservation Act,” should be unnecessary.
After the public outcry last year over plans to put hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other development in nine targeted state parks, it would seem logical the developers and bureaucrats behind the push would have gotten the message.
Those involved in the ill-fated plans, quickly withdrawn amid a growing furor, should understand Floridians don’t want to see their state parks spoiled with excessive clearing, paving and building.
This isn’t a perfect world, though; it’s Florida.
➤ Read more here.
Florida opinion writers’ project needs you to help save our parks
USA TODAY Florida Network’s team of opinion writers team up to support the State Parks Preservation legislation coming before the Legislature.
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This page is part of a campaign by Network Florida Opinion Group to support Senate Bill 80 and protect Florida’s state parks from development. Email letter, op-eds, even photos to RChristieParks@gannett.com, and we will publish them.
