MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A proposal to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park is getting a strong reaction on the WPTV Facebook page.
Many comments from WPTV viewers said this needs to be stopped, asking where is all the wildlife supposed to go?
Region Martin County
Golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park? What you told WPTV
Normand Berube and the Turbo Turtles group are out riding at Jonathan Dickinson State Park five days a week.
"Just to exercise, get out here mental health for the people," Berube said.
That's thanks to Shawna Williams and her Club Scrub crew who help maintain the trails.
"We have thousands of people that come here," Williams said.
She, like others, are distressed over the plan to build golf course facilities at the state park.
"This will all be gone, you will not see the scrub," Williams said.
The scrub is home to a number of species like gopher tortoises, a threatened species, and the scrub jay.
"Something like a golf course going in would clear cut that habitat for the wildlife that call this home," Casey Darling Kniffin of the Florida Wildlife Federation said.
Read the DEP's draft plan below:
In the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) draft plan it notes "avoidance of sensitive habitat will be priority in the design of the proposed facilities."
Still, conservation biologist Benji Studt said the proposals would set a precedent for state lands.
"From my reading and my understanding, [the plan] deviates significantly from their mission and from what makes these places so loved," Studt said.
Then there's the issue of how a golf course would fit near the Loxahatchee River, the last scenic and natural river in Florida, according to Jim Moir, the Indian Riverkeeper.
"It is a treasure. This is the treasure of the Treasure Coast," Moir said. "The herbicides that are required for a golf course would be terrible for this kind of fragile environment."
Small business owner like Heather Anderson fear if golfers are brought in, her bike shop would be left out.
"The trails go away and some of our livelihood goes away," Anderson said.
WPTV spoke with three bike shop owners who all said similar things. It's much safer to be on the dirt as opposed to out on the roads. If they lose their 10 miles of heaven, as some call it, it could hurt business.
A petition on Change.org that was started Tuesday has already garnered more than 25,000 signatures to stop the plan.
A public comment meeting on this proposal will be held on Aug. 27 at the Flagler of Stuart.
Share your voice on the proposal on our WPTV Facebook page below:
