MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The state's controversial Great Outdoors Initiative may be scrapped, but as the outcry over it continues, WPTV is sorting through fact versus fiction following comments from Gov. Ron DeSantis regarding the project.
For more than a week now, WPTV has been giving voice to the deafening outcry of opposition to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's proposal to add golf courses, hotels, pickleball courts and disc golf courses to protected parks across the state.
Thursday, FDEP told WPTV they're withdrawing all proposed amendments to state parks the day after Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the project for the first time publicly, calling on FDEP to "rework" their plan.
Yet many of the comments he made during that press conference rubbed activists and concerned residents the wrong way.
"That’s always worrisome when somebody is downplaying something that is meaningful to you," said Jessica Namath, conservationist chair of Tequesta’s environmental advisory committee.
WATCH: DeSantis says state won't 'take away any green space'
In Wednesday’s press conference, DeSantis, while addressing the now-pulled back plan, called Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and its acres of wildlife, an “abandoned military camp” that could be turned into “something really nice.”
“I’d rather not spend any money on this, right? I mean, if people don’t want improvements, then don’t do it,” DeSantis said.
“I think that the flippancy in which the governor addressed the issues that affect so many of us and the concerns for nine state parks were worrisome and disrespectful,” countered Namath.
Namath said she felt DeSantis’ comments downplayed the issue.
For one, Jonathan Dickinson State Park and Camp Murphy, the former World War II camp DeSantis is referring to, is a documented historical site.
“It actually has sites that are on the Florida Master Site File, so this is a historic resource,” conservation biologist Benji Studt told WPTV's Joe Fisher.
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Second, as Studt points out, the former camp and its 10,000 acres haven't been touched since the military base was deactivated in 1944, and has become a haven for the wildlife that live within it.
“When the map came out, it showed a golf course on the western scrub ridge," said Studt. "It is specifically where the park has been working so hard to introduce the endangered wood pecker species.”
Third, the camp's ruins have now been turned into off-roading bike trails.
Follow the snaking, sun-scorched trails, you’ll find where military bunkers, nestled among the gopher tortoise homes, serve as obstacles for bikers.
“It’s one of the best places to ride here in Florida,” said Mike Edens. “I’d hate to see us lose it, this gem.”
“We would have rather had these issues addressed,” added Namath. “I think that this was an obvious move to slide it under the rug until after the election.”
WATCH: FDEP withdraws all remaining proposed amendments to state parks
WPTV reached out to the Governor’s Office to ask if DeSantis wanted to clarify his comments. We didn’t hear back.
However, Namath and Edens hope he sees their little piece of paradise is far from abandoned.
“It’s definitely not that,” said Edens.
“You would like to think he was on top of this, knowing his constituency and his state parks and I find it hard to believe that he didn’t,” said Namath.
In the same press conference, DeSantis also said the Great Outdoors Initiative was “leaked to a left wing group to create a narrative.”
WPTV has shared bipartisan opposition to this proposal, and reported on the initiative after FDEP posted their own press release outlining its details.
WPTV'S COVERAGE ON THE FUTURE OF STATE PARKS BELOW:
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