On the chopping block

I don't now if you've heard, but Florida is looking to shut the doors on several state parks.  I think this is sad.  Two weekends ago, Cory and I squeezed in an afternoon ride at Pumpkin Hill today. We were riding the purple loop when I spotted an eagle flying overhead with something in its grasp. We watched it land in a huge nest in a tree not far from us. We got very quiet and could hear babies. All of a sudden another eagle flew out of the nest and perched itself on a nearby tree to stand gaurd. It was such an awesome experience! They moved the gazebo so you could observe them State Parks on the Chopping Block The Department of Environmental Protection offered this list of 53 state parks as potential closure targets to help Florida close its $3.6 billion budget gap.

Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park, Haines City Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park, Stuart Big Shoals State Park, White Springs Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park, Flagler Beach Camp Helen State Park, Panama City Beach Cedar Key State Museum State Park, Cedar Key Colt Creek State Park, Lakeland Constitution Convention Museum State Park, Port St. Joe Crystal River Archaeological State Park, Crystal River Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, Bushnell Dagny Johsnon Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, Key Largo Deer Lake State Park, Santa Rosa Beach Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, Gainesville Don Pedro Island State Park, Boca Grande Dudley Farm Historic State Park, Newberry Dunn’s Creek State Park, Pomona Estero Bay Preserve State Park, Estero Fort Cooper State Park, Inverness Fort George Island Cultural State Park, Jacksonville Fort Mose Historic State Park, St. Augustine John Gorrie Museum State Park, Apalachicola Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, Ellentn Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park, Tallahassee Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park, Sebring Lake Talquin State Park, Tallahassee Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park, Tallahassee Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park, Islamorada Madison Blue Spring State Park, Lee Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, Cross Creek Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park, Woodville Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, Olustee Orman House Historic State Park, Apalachicola Paynes Creek Historic State Park, Bowling Green Peacock Springs State Park, Luraville Perdido Key State Park, Pensacola Ponce de Leon Springs State Park, Ponce de Leon Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park, Jacksonville Rock Springs Run State Reserve, Sorrento San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park, Alachua San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park, St. Marks Savannas Preserve State Park, Jensen Beach St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park, Stuart St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere Suwannee River Wilderness Trail/Nature and Heritage Tourism Center, White Springs Terra Ceia Preserve State Park, Palmetto The Barnacle Historic State Park, Coconut Grove Troy Spring State Park, Branford Wacasassa Bay Preserve State Park, Cedar Key Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Palm Coast Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park, Port Richey Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park, Islamorada Ybor City Museum State Park, Tampa Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park, Holt Additionally, three parks—Egmont Key, Three Rivers and Forest Capital—are proposed to be returned to their primary owners, whether or not those owners have the capacity to manage them for conservation and public access. In the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Committee, members seemed concerned but not willing to simply remove these cuts from the table. One suggested these lands should be sold to put them back on county tax rolls. Another suggested enlisting cash-strapped local governments to manage them. A third suggested closing them “except on weekends.”

Contact your legislators and ask them to stand up for our State Parks.  Find your state legislators (you’ll need your zip+4) at: http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislator&Submenu=3&Tab=legislators

You can help Audubon of Florida protect these parks by speaking up for them! Head over to the Florida’s Special Places Facebook Page and tell us how these parks are important to you, personally! We need you to speak up on behalf of your parks – let’s see if we can get support for each one.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Florida-State-Parks/196556007022136?v=wall

Don’t have a Facebook Account? No problem! Email your Special Places nominee to FLConservation@Audubon.org. Tell us how each of these threatened parks is important to you and your community. Florida’s public lands need your voice!

Forward the Audubon of Florida’s latest email to your friends, family and co-workers so they can stay up-to-date with the threat to our State Parks.  http://fl.audubonaction.org/site/TellAFriend?msgId=10581.0&devId=0