After a week of public outrage, Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s plan to build hotels, golf courses and pickleball courts among other amenities in state parks.
In a press conference Wednesday, the governor withdrew plans for nine state parks like Miami-Dade’s Oleta River State Park. This announcement followed a week of public protests, opposition from prominent Florida Republicans including the state’s two U.S. senators and strong criticism from the Florida Wildlife Federation, Conservation Florida and Tropical Audubon.
“I’ve never seen so many groups mobilize together so quickly, and [it was] bipartisan,” said Tropical Audubon senior conservation director Lauren Jonaitis. “Everyone agreed that we don’t need this in our state parks.”
DeSantis announced the retreat in Winter Haven.
“Here’s the thing, I’d rather not spend any money on this,” said DeSantis. “I mean, if people don’t want improvements, then don’t do it.”
The governor’s attitude was different from that of his spokesperson Jeremy Redfern, who cited the creator of national parks when describing the plan last week.
“Teddy Roosevelt believed that public parks were for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and we agree with him,” said Redfern. “No administration has done more than we have to conserve Florida’s natural resources, grow conservation lands and keep our environment pristine. But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”
But then on Sunday, Folds of Honor, a veterans group involved in the Jonathan Dickinson plan to build golf courses, withdrew its support.
At Wednesday’s press conference, DeSantis gave ground, suggesting that instead of park land, present golf facilities could be upgraded.
“It’s not going to work in a state park, and it may not work anywhere in Florida where you’re getting new land,” said DeSantis. “But what I think they can potentially do is take some of the existing courses [in the state] that have been run down or abandoned, raise a bunch of money, make it something nice and use that to help military and first responders.”
Jonaitis said that the fight was not over, though.
“We just have to stay vigilant and on top of it,” said Jonaitis. “I think for the FDEP, it’s really important for them and DeSantis to really make the case for why these additional uses are needed or warranted in the first place, and I don’t think they’ve accomplished that at all.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Lauren Jonaitis is the conservation chair of Tropical Audubon. She is the senior conservation director.
