Editor, The Beacon:

I’m writing this because I was once a Florida Park ranger. Back in the 1970s when Blue Spring Park was established, we learned at Ranger Academy about how our parks each preserved a particular aspect of Florida’s natural habitats and history. There was a balance between use and overuse of the resource; it’s called resource management.

It was a good plan back then, and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of interpreting the wonders of the park to visitors. That was then, this is now.

The FDEP 2024-25 Great Outdoors Initiative (GOI) seems to have left out some of those original founding aspects that made Florida’s parks natural and unique.

I was particularly interested in what GOI was proposing. I examined what was being considered for the parks. Knowing what I do about the various parks and their natural environments, I had mixed reactions.

For the most part, the pickleball-court disc-golf proposals seemed mildly invasive. They’ve become popular, but I was concerned about the expanse of underbrush and ground cover they might require eliminating.

Care and intelligent environmental design would be needed to avoid destroying existing habitats, especially if they were unique and dwindling. Much more consideration is necessary for the proposed hotel at Anastasia State Park. The area it would be in is habitat for the endangered Anastasia Island beach mouse, not to mention the ancient dune system. The idea might be nice, but location is all-important, especially if we are trying to maintain the original intent and mission of the Florida State Parks.

Likewise, the golf-course proposal for Jonathan Dickinson State Park is an extremely bad idea. Again, a special preserved Florida habitat would be destroyed for this large structure. It’s just not a part of the real Natural Florida.

Again, each of our parks was designed to not only preserve a particular Florida natural habitat, but many of them maintain a unique aspect of Florida history.

Larry French
Deltona