State plans to add golf, pickleball or hotels to Florida parks 鈥� created to preserve remnants of the state鈥檚 once untamed wilderness 鈥� are being revised after withering criticism spread online and at protests over the weekend.
Calling a proposal in Martin County to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park 鈥渘oble,鈥� state officials nonetheless agreed to drop the plan after the veterans group behind it backed off.
鈥淪erving God and Country is our daily goal. That was the spirit for the idea to bring world class public golf to southeast Florida, and donate all proceeds to support military and first responders鈥� families,鈥� , a nonprofit started by a Oklahoma Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, said in an email sent to reporters over the weekend.
READ MORE: Plans to jazz up state parks with pickleball, golf and hotels are met with outrage
State officials have postponed meetings originally scheduled at the parks for Tuesday until next week, but have not yet set times. In the meantime, the public can log comments at .
Meanwhile, protesters who remain worried over state plans, will rally at three parks on Tuesday.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e supposed to be doing resource driven recreation. It has to come from nature,鈥� said Catalina Lemaitre, who鈥檚 helping organize a rally at Oleta River State Park in North Miami Beach at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. 鈥淭his is completely not in alignment with their own mission statement.鈥�
The call for golf courses, along with hotels, pickleball courts or frisbee courses at eight other state parks sparked outrage last week when details were leaked by a retired state worker after the state quietly announced the plans on Aug. 19. Park management plans that must be updated every ten years typically undergo tedious reviews, but meeting notices suggested that while attendees could make comments, no questions would be answered.
Conservation groups, including , , and , started letter-writing campaigns and online petitions. By Friday, even the state鈥檚 Republicans turned against the most ambitious proposals for golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, firing off a to Gov. Ron DeSantis and signed by the party鈥檚 congressional delegation and county commissioners.
鈥淎n hour-long meeting on a weekday afternoon when most people are at work will not suffice,鈥� they wrote.
Nicklaus Companies, founded by golfer Jack Nicklaus, even chimed in, issuing a Thursday saying the company only learned of the proposal through news reports. More than a decade ago, a proposal by state lawmakers to team up with Nicklaus to bring golf courses to the 10,500-acre park also drew outrage.
鈥淎 prior proposal put forth by legislators in 2011 was abandoned in the face of understandable environmental and community concerns. In any event, such concerns should be addressed in an open and public process,鈥� the statement said.
Nicklaus, 84, resigned from the company two years ago.
Statement of Nicklaus Companies and Nicklaus Design Regarding Jonathan Dickinson Park and Florida State Park Plans
— Nicklaus Companies (@NicklausCo)
On Sunday, Folds of Honor announced it was pulling out and FDEP said it would take golf courses off the list. But protest organizers say they remain worried.
鈥淒espite reports that backers have nixed their plans to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, we should not rest easy,鈥� said Friends of the Everglades executive director Eve Samples, who鈥檚 organizing a protest at Flagler Park at 2 p.m. 鈥淭he other 8 state parks are still vulnerable.鈥�
FDEP has declined repeated requests to explain how the proposals came about. Typically, management plans are compiled and reviewed by a ten-member advisory committee called the Acquisition and Restoration Council that oversees not just parks but the wide array of state-owned lands. The committee includes other state agencies affected by plans, along with local officials and conservation groups.
State parks are generally purchased to preserve environmental or cultural resources, so have to be managed to preserve those, said John Fumero, a land use attorney in Boca Raton and former general counsel for the South Florida Water Management District.
But threading the need to attract visitors and preserve wilderness can be a challenge, he said.
鈥淔lorida historically has done a great job of acquiring lands for conservation purposes, but that's only half the battle here. Then the state has to allocate funds to manage and improve those lands,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is a massive backlog of underfunded and under-managed state lands.鈥�
He pointed to J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area, purchased by the state in the 1940s, as an example.
鈥淚t's about 60,000 acres dominated by [invasive] melaleuca. It's a melaleuca forest, large parts of it. And it's a stunning regional wetland area,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t would take tens of millions of dollars [just] to begin to remove the exotic species that are choking out the native vegetation.鈥�
Amenities at start parks that generate income could start to pay for some of the maintenance backlog, he said.
鈥淭here's a right way to do it and there's a wrong way to do it. I think this can be done in a stepwise, responsible fashion where siting these facilities is a critical part of the process,鈥� he said.
But park lovers like Lemaitre worry pickleball and frisbee are not the answer.
鈥淥ur kids know these parks intimately. My son can describe how the mud cracks after a rain and the kinds of rock and trees because they build forts there. These are not parks where we don鈥檛 already find recreation,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur hope is that maybe from this debacle, [state planners] realize Floridians know their parks well. People who use these parks, we love them just as they are.鈥�
This story has been updated to clarify that Jack Nicklaus resigned from Nicklaus Companies in 2022.
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