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Take A Stand And Protect The Nature Coast

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By JOE MURPHY

Special to the Tribune

Published: February 15, 2009

Florida seems a state doomed to not learn from the mistakes of our past. How many times have we been sold a bill of goods from a fast-buck developer promising the moon and leaving communities with only debt and the loss of the natural beauty that used to define the southern Nature Coast?

We have built up and out our coastlines for years with no thought as to what happens when you destroy coastal wetlands, seagrass beds, fisheries habitat and the last places for species like the Florida Black Bear.

It's bad enough when it is a developer, or their consultants, with dollar signs in their eyes who stand ready to pave over the last pieces of paradise. It's even worse when it is the very government agencies charged with protecting natural Florida who promote reckless land deals that will only lead to ecological loss.

As evidence of this, look no further than the proposed SunWest Harbortowne project in Aripeka. It would seem the last place Florida would want to site a large Development of Regional Impact, or DRI, yet developers are proposing a massive project right on the coast. Even worse, the Southwest Florida Water Management District is not only a co-applicant with the developer for the permits needed to build this environmentally destructive project, they are actually willing to swap away public lands to make it happen. The district argues that it will come out ahead with the land swap, but it's simply not true. Critical habitat for Florida Black Bears will be lost as developers win and wildlife loses. It is a sad, old game in Florida that has been played out a thousand times, and this time it is even more egregious as the district is doing the developers work for them.

Anyone who cares about the future of wildlife, Florida Black Bears, growth management, or the Nature Coast needs to stand up and oppose both the proposed SunWest Harbortowne development, and the land swap public employees are pitching to make it happen. Taxpayers, who fund the district and paid for the land it seems so eager to swap away to developers, deserve better and should let district Director David Moore know how they feel by calling him at (352) 796-7211 or e-mailing him at david.moore@watermatters.org. The bears will thank you for speaking out for them.

The writer is the Florida Program Director for the Gulf Restoration Network.

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