Longtime Polk County environmental activist and Sierra Club member Paul Fellers died this week.
Paul, a retired agriculture research scientist. for decades led birdwatching and wildflower field trips throughout central Florida to educate people about the amazing diversity of flora and fauna that is found in this part of the state
He also oversaw the Lake Region Audubon Society Christmas bird counts for many years to document the changes in the variety and distribution of bird life in Polk County as development reduced wildlife habitat.
Final arrangements and a celebration of his life will be announced later by his family

Forget about the pickleball courts and Hyatt-sized “lodges” for a moment and consider just how low the public perception of Florida’s government has sunk when it comes to transparency and public policy. decisions involving our state parks.
Where is Sherlock Holmes when we need him?
The mystery surrounding the plot to commercialize some of Florida’s state parks remains unsolved in many ways.
No one will admit responsibility for advancing the idea for these “improvements.” even as the state spin machine was defending them.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared the ideas were “half-baked” even though they were all set for public meetings. The process does not work that way.
DeSantis blamed all of the hoopla on a staff leak to a “left-wing group” but won’t name the group. How chicken-hearted, and. McCarthyite. He may go down on that account as the worst governor since Charley Johns.
And we still don’t have any idea about the other plans that do not involve building a golf course nor are the details very clear about a less-discussed but related plan to surplus state forest land for another golf course. that was approved by the same Cabinet members who criticized the state park golf course package.
More details will emerge eventually and it is unlikely to make things look any better for the folks in Tallahassee.

You would think what part of no would be enough to persuade the DeSantis regime to shelve its suspicious idea to increase commercial development in Florida’s state parks but Noooo!
The latest news is that they have simply put the discussion on hold for another year–half of the time remaining in the governor’s term–to come up with another rationalization for this bad idea.
That means every environmental organization in Florida needs to remain on high alert for further grifting (or graft as spellcheck reminded me).
Meanwhile, there is the suspect land swap that appeared out of nowhere at the June Florida Cabinet meeting to turn over part of Withlacoochee State Forest to a Canadian golf course developer on the outskirts of Brooksville in exchange for a tree farm near Rosewood,. a historic African-American community in Levy County.
That idea will likely come before the state’s Acquistion and Restoration Council later this year.
The property is several miles from Goethe State Forest and the hastily prepared staff report listed the acreage as about 861 acres when it was about 851 acres, according to the Levy County Property Appraiser’s website.
Also missing from the superficial staff analysis is why the property should be accepted. who will manage it etc. etc. etc;.
This all fits with the incompetence and secrecy that surrounded the state park plot.
We must be vigilant.

The idea of turning some of Florida’s state parks into mini resorts has brought quick pushback from the general public as well as from a number of elected officials from both political parties.
As they say around here, that dog won’t hunt.
In case you tuned in late, earlier this week the Ron DeSantis regime’s Florida Department of Environmental We’re Not Sure What Anymore suddenly announced a plan to add a golf course. hotels and pickleball courts to a handful of state parks in some coastal areas under the guise of providing more public access.
The public, it seems, likes the access it already has to hike and swim and enjoy nature without the honkytonk additions the governor’s staff has proposed.
Brief public meetings have been scheduled next week that seem to fit with the current Tallahassee regime’s idea of not very open government or public engagement.
The final decision will lie with the Acquisition and Restoration Council, which is usually the final word on such topics.
At least one elected representative, Congressman Brian Mast, has proposed ARC members attend the meetings to hear from the public., but there is a problem with that suggestion.–all of the meetings were scheduled to occur at the same time.

However, as I was writing this, state officials announced they were rethinking the meeting schedule and would get back to us. Imagine that.

Meanwhile, the Tallahassee spin machine is in rationalization overdrive.
The worst one is to argue that. well, there are already lodges in state parts, citing the ancient Wakulla Lodge at Wakulla Springs State Park south of Tallahassee.
I’ve stayed there. It is not exactly comparable to the 350-room high rises the proposal envisions to lay waste to a bunch of natural habitats with all of the accompanying light and sound pollution it would bring to our once relatively serene state parks.
The so far unspoken aspect of this proposal is what kinds of grift by some DeSantis crony somewhere in the background might these development proposals benefit were they to go through.
There are certainly enough examples to make that idea credible.

I recall a conversation several years ago with a woman who had reserved an upscale cabin at Lake Louisa State Park. She lamented that although she enjoyed the accommodations, there was nothing to do there.

My initial reaction was to wonder why on earth someone would book accommodations in a state park who was not interested in taking a hike through the woods, observing diverse wildlife or simple sitting on the porch and enjoying the morning or evening chorus of bird song.

Well, according to reports this week, the Gov. Ron DeSantis administration has come up with a solution to this problem.

That would involve clearing messy wildlife habitat in several state parks to make way for golf courses and pickleball courts.

I am not making this up.

Some of this mirrors a short-lived attempt by former Gov. Rick Scott several years ago to do the same thing, though not as ambitiously. He also wanted to try to sell off some wildlife management areas., which did not go anywhere, either.

Naturally, this latest idea has aroused Florida’s environmental community., including Florida Sierra.

The issue is just what kind of activities ought to be part of the state park experience and what kinds of activities are more appropriate in a city or county park. Golf courses, which demand extensive space and require a lot of water, herbicides and generally high-input maintenance stand out as an example of what really does not fit in state parks.

It is unclear whether it would even be a revenue producer as article after article describes the decline of interest in golf courses as generational recreational, preferences have changed.

Pickleball courts, which have generated noise complaints where they exist in the suburbs, would seem to be more out of place in a state park.

Election season is a good time to let your elected representatives know what you feel about this unexpected mission shift.

Let’s shut this bad idea down before it goes any farther.

Polk County officials have been talking about doing something to improve water quality flowing down the Peace Creek Drainage Canal since at least 1991.
Tuesday they finally took action by voting to buy a1,272-acre ranch in the upper reaches of this World War I-era ditch system.
The purchase price was $20.055,000, financed primarily by money from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan and a grant from the Florida Department of Enviornmental Protection. Polk also used money from the county’s stormwater tax.
The land lies on both sides of U.S. 27 north of Cypress Gardens Boulevard and Waverly Road.
Under the sales agreement the Buck Mann Ranch will remain a private cattle lease operation for the next decade while county officials and their consultants work to redesign the site’s drainage system to treat the water that flows into the site before it reaches the Peace River. No public access is planned while the work proceeds.

However, there are plans for public recreational development after the cattle lease expires.
Meanwhile, the sales agreement also ends the practice of using the site to dispose of sewer sludge.

Circle B Bar Reserve, a popular ecotourism site managed by Polk County Parks and Natural Resources has reopened.
The site was temporarily closed last week after heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby flooded some the trails.
There has been no announcement yet on the reopening of the Lake Hancock boat ramp, which is located south of the lake near the Southwest Florida Water Managment District water control structure.
The storm’s rain has raised lake and stream levels and streamflow volumes to normal or above normal after being below normal earlier this summer.