Surfrider Foundation’s Florida network is celebrating a victory for some of its most treasured coastal and estuarine habitats following an announcement from Governor Ron DeSantis on August 28th that leaked plans to outlining the development of nine state park units to include golf courses, pickleball courts, and resort-style lodging were being withdrawn. This announcement came after advocates across Florida made more than 250,000 calls and emails to state officials opposing these appalling plans.
When the plans were first leaked to the media in late August 2024, environmental advocates and state park lovers, including Surfrider’s 12 Florida chapters, rapidly organized a response to protect Florida’s state parks, coastal recreation areas, and undeveloped lands. In a state plagued by risky development in high hazard coastal areas, state parks and preserved lands serve as some of the last vestiges of wild Florida, providing numerous coastal resilience, water quality, and recreational benefits to communities throughout the state. Paving over pristine tracts of Florida’s beaches and coastal habitats would eliminate the natural buffers to the increasing impacts of sea level rise and climate change to the Sunshine State.
That’s why Surfrider’s Florida chapters, alongside partners throughout the state, activated to oppose the egregious proposals in the proposed ‘Great Outdoors Initiative’. In addition to the threats to sensitive ecosystems and habitats, the proposed plans also threatened to eliminate treasured coastal recreation opportunities. Our members frequently visit the nine state parks in the plans to hike, swim, surf, paddle, and recreate in wild spaces, not to play nine holes of golf.
When the plans were leaked, the state provided less than a week’s notice for public meetings and an equally narrow window for limited public comment on the plans. Surfrider launched an action alert and joined in community advocacy efforts to oppose the plans at state parks subject to the plans, particularly Jonathan Dickinson, Anastasia, and Topsail State Parks. Our members sent countless messages to state officials urging them to withdraw all plans to turn Florida’s state parks into yet another golf course or beachfront hotel. The groundswell of advocacy, including what was expected to be overwhelming public turnout at the scheduled meetings statewide, led to the cancellation of all public comment meetings.
Left to Right: Surfrider Foundation Treasure Coast Chapter Vice-Chair Roselyne Rose, Chair Leisa Bee, and Florida + PR Regional Manager Evan Orellana speaking out for Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
The flurry of campaign activity came to a close at a press conference on August 28, 2024, when the Governor made the announcement scrapping the new plans. While Surfrider Foundation’s Florida network is celebrating this incredible victory for coastal resilience and clean water in the Sunshine State, they will remain vigilant to monitor any future plans by the Department of Environmental Protection to develop Florida’s state parks and degrade Florida’s treasured coasts.
Read more about the victory here.