By James Call
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-976860.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Floridians are protesting a proposal to allow camping at more state parks. Hundreds have attended public hearings for the first four parks the Department of Environmental Protections has picked for the expansion project. James Call reports the protesters fear allowing camping at these parks will damage their unique and pristine natural beauty.
Fourteen-year-old Morgan Newton stands on a platform 13 feet above the springhead at Wakulla Springs State Park. Divers race past her.
Morgan's father waits below with a camera to capture her expression when she hits the constant 72-degree water. Her 12-year-old brother Kevin offers encouragement.
"I had to jump three times for her to jump once."
Finally Morgan takes the plunge, but not the way she originally planned.
"I was going to jump backward so that my dad could get a picture of my face but that scared me because I did it a couple of times jumping forward. But it's harder jumping backward than forward definitely."
The 75-year-old Florida Parks Service also is finding it difficult to go back and revise the rules for some of the parks. Camping is permitted at about a third of them and now the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees parks, proposes doubling the number and letting private companies build campsites at another 56 parks.
The plan is to start with four parks, three located at freshwater springs like Wakulla and Honeymoon Island near Dunedin.
More than 600 people attended four public hearings about the plans for those parks. Albert Gregory moderated the hearing for Honeymoon Island.
"Because of the large number of people tonight, and I must say I've been doing this for three decades and I haven't seen a group this large and I think it is great."
The mood changed when Gregory explained why the Department proposed offering camping at more parks.
"Parks and Camping go together they are inseparable. If you look--"
Environmentalists value the four parks as preserves for Florida's unique ecology, plants and wildlife. Wakulla was the site for Tarzan movies. And although Honeymoon Island is listed as having 28 hundred acres, most of it is under water. Fewer than 400 acres are uplands.
Camping opponents fear development would require trees to be cut, storm water systems built and wildlife habitat destroyed. They fear a slice of paradise will be lost. At the Honeymoon Island hearing Chris Robouski explained the nature of his opposition.
"A, nobody here wants this. B, our land is no longer for sale, and C: this is how it is going to go down. If you think this thing is going to go through you are wrong, it won't. Every aspect of it will be scrutinized it will be challenged in court. Every permit will be challenged and if you think you can survive that nightmare and gets this thing through. Ooh let's say that you do. Activists will line the street and will not allow a single RV into any of these parks Thank you."
The proposal was approved in June by a DEP advisory group made up of officials and citizens. The group also streamlined the process for changing policy. Senator Mike Fasano questions whether the group has the authority to make the changes without the Legislature's approval. He's written the governor and DEP about his concerns and is opposing the camping proposal.
"And I would ask you to take this message back to Tallahassee. Which I know you will, allowing a private firm to come in and perform what should be a public function is putting profit before the environment and the people we are here to protect."
Florida has built one of the best state park systems in the country. It is the only two-time winner of the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management and is a finalist this year. Someone familiar with the parks system from the grass roots to a managerial suite is Donald Forgione. He once was a park ranger and now is the statewide director. Forgione tells folks the same people who built an award-winning parks system would be the ones implementing a new camping program.
"Our brand the Florida Parks Service our symbol that you see on a sign coming in that's real to us. And it is real to the visiting public they know when they see that symbol they can turn in and there will be clean facilities, there will be well-behaved people there will be great amenities and camping is just a part of that. So we do, we want to be very sensitive no matter what amenity we place in a park goes through a process, a planning process and we would love to engage the public with that process."
Camping is a major revenue source for the parks system and Forgione concedes parks would like to be financially self sufficient but said that there are many ways to do that.
At Wakulla Springs State Park Morgan once again is standing on the platform 13 feet above the springs well head, where more than 65 million gallons of pristine water emerge daily from the earth. The Ontario teen is on a family vacation. Her dad lives in Georgia. Her grandparents are from Chester, England. Earlier the group had spotted some manatees. Morgan's Grandmother, Barbara Rowe said the family visits Wakulla Springs every summer. She doesn't like the idea of RV vehicles and campsites at Wakulla Springs.
"It's it just so nice that everyone comes for a day and the animals are left, you know the wild life is left I would hesitate. I just think that places like this should be left to the wild life and day people ya know day trips. Day trippers, no, not the rest of the time. Because they start setting off fireworks and having bonfires "
DEP is reviewing public comments and analyzing the proposal. If it decides to move forward with the plan to allow camping at more state parks a public hearing will be scheduled in Tallahassee for August 19th.