Just as Florida state park scandal fades, new land deal stirs anxiety

GUANA RIVER WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA — Floridians of all political persuasions expressed shock last year when they found out their state parks were being eyed for development. Now, before Gov. Ron DeSantis can sign the state parks preservation bill to end that saga, another one may soon begin. This one involves the possible trade of 600 acres of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in northeast Florida to a recently formed private company — and it has residents and conservationists alike on edge. The proposal emerged Wednesday evening when a little-known committee within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection released an agenda for a previously unscheduled meeting this upcoming Wednesday.The private company seeking the land, The Upland LLC, was created in February, business records show. It’s unclear what it would do with the land. The proposal states that “a majority of the wetland habitats will be avoided,” vague wording that has raised suspicions that the land would be developed.The deal comes after the state’s public lands director for the past eight years, Callie DeHaven, abruptly resigned last week. DeHaven’s resignation letter, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, is one sentence, handwritten in blue pen on a sheet of lined paper.“To whom it may concern, I hereby resign my position,” it reads. DeHaven did not respond to emails or a text from the Times requesting comment.Critics of the swap point to parallels to last summer’s parks scandal. Among the similarities: The state is rushing a previously unannounced meeting and a publicly unknown entity is at the center.In exchange for the 600 acres of state land, The Upland LLC would trade 3,066 acres made from a constellation of parcels in four counties. The state says the land it would be receiving in return — about five acres for every acre it gives up — would expand spaces for wildlife to roam.When the Times asked what the state had been told about Upland LLC’s intentions for the land in St. Johns County, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection pointed to the proposal in the agenda, which doesn’t clearly outline a desired land use. Nobody answered when the Times called the phone number listed on The Upland LLC’s business filings. Ed McGinley, professor of natural sciences at Flagler College near the wildlife area, said he was shocked when he learned of the proposed land swap Friday morning. McGinley has taken his students on dozens of trips into the wilderness surrounding the wildlife area.On hikes, he tells his students to be quiet, be present, and observe the animals around them: indigo snakes, scrub lizards and the cacophony of birds singing from the trees above.“Everything is connected,” McGinley said. “At some point we have to realize that we can’t keep doing business as usual — we can’t be clear-cutting natural areas and hoping for the best.”McGinley said the community in St. Johns County is still on edge after last year’s proposal from the DeSantis administration to build a lodge on the fragile coastal habitat of Anastasia State Park. Hundreds lined the streets near the park in St. Augustine last summer to demonstrate their opposition to the park development proposals. Protests against this land swap are being planned for this weekend.“We just did this with the state parks, and now we’ve got to do it again,” he said.Another aspect that makes this swap unusual is it’s relying on a law that wasn’t designed for this purpose.The proposal cites a section of state law that allows people who own land adjacent to state-owned land to request an exchange, as long as they agreed to restrict future development on “all or a portion” of the entire swath.That law was sponsored by former Rep. Matt Caldwell, a Republican from North Fort Myers, who said it was intended to increase the amount of open spaces while allowing private owners, like ranchers, to help with their management. The properties that were adjacent to each other would be the ones subject to the swap.In this case, the private land adjacent to the wildlife management area isn’t being offered up in the trade. The fact that the company owns land next-door to the state is only being used to bolster its legal right to request the trade. “The entire purpose of the land swap language was to end up with more land in conservation, so that we have water recharge, we have room for the bears and the panthers,” Caldwell said. “This was never designed for any kind of intensive development goals.”On Friday afternoon, Matt Chipperfield motored his skiff through the still salt marshes of the Guana River, gliding past a flock of pink roseate spoonbills wading in the flats. Behind the birds, a few hundred feet away, wild oaks and palms towered toward the sky. Just a day earlier, Chipperfield was horrified to learn the state was proposing to trade away this exact swath of land in what he deemed a shady, rushed and unfair proposal, he said.“This is one of the last real vestiges of Old Florida that we have left,” said the fishing charter captain with an anxious sigh.“The best word I can think of is ‘terrified’. I’m terrified to lose it.”

Just as Florida state park scandal fades, new land deal stirs anxiety

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