As for the politics, well, there are plenty of scary creatures lurking there too. The Tallahassee Democrat once described Wakulla County as a place \u201cwhere political divisions run deep and conspiracy theories abound.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The latest example of Wakulla politicians\u2019 wobbly approach to the concept of \u201cpublic service\u201d involves the national forest. Wakulla County wants to swap some 200 acres with the Apalachicola National Forest and use the forest land to build a recreation area.<\/p>\n This is a deal that the county administrator says has been in the works since 2013. However, a lot of voters just found out about it last week and they\u2019re howling mad. There\u2019s now an online petition<\/a> to stop it and a Facebook page<\/a> called \u201cStop Bulldozing Apalachicola National Forest-Wakulla.\u201d<\/p>\n Chloe Broker via subject)<\/p>\n One of the first posts on the Facebook page is from a local resident asking, \u201cWhy haven\u2019t I heard about this? Nothing on the news?? Geez!!\u201d The reply she received said, \u201cThat\u2019s how they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been kept very quiet,\u201d said community activist Chloe Broker, who\u2019s been working to get the word out. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to plow down this beautiful forest land and ruin people\u2019s peace and quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n Low-key notice<\/p>\n The 630,000-acre Apalachicola National Forest dates to 1936. It was created by President Franklin Roosevelt<\/a>, probably the most radical left Democrat to ever serve as chief executive. FDR gave us Social Security and other government safety net programs, defeated the original Nazis, and helped start the United Nations. All it got him was elected to four terms.<\/p>\n These days, if you click on the Apalachicola National Forest website, you get a message from the U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/a> that blames \u201cRadical Left Democrats\u201d for shutting down the federal government \u2014 although, last I checked, the government is under the control of the GOP.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, there\u2019s a low-key public notice<\/a> on the website that spells out what has so many folks outraged: \u201cWakulla County has proposed a land exchange with the Apalachicola National Forest. The county proposes to exchange lands near Sopchoppy, FL adjacent to Lawhon Mill Road for forest service land located near Crawfordville, FL east of Revadee Spears Rd.\u201d<\/p>\n But that\u2019s all the info offered by the feds. They don\u2019t even mention that one of those cities is best known as the home of the most magical celebration in the state, the Sopchoppy Worm-Gruntin\u2019 Festival.<\/a><\/p>\n The only other helpful item on the website is a timeline. It says there will be a comment period sometime next month. The final decision is tentatively scheduled for next March.<\/p>\n A county document outlining its future infrastructure needs delivered a couple more details: the location of the land in Crawfordville and the fact that the county wants to build \u201ca multi-sport recreational center\u201d with \u201cathletic fields, playgrounds, seating, restrooms and concession stands.\u201d The goal of the land swap is to \u201creduce the cost of land acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n But no one has surveyed the forest property to see if it\u2019s suitable for use as a rec center, Broker told me. She sent me pictures showing it contains sinkholes and cypress swamps galore, neither of which are considered good terrain for any sport except mudbogging.<\/p>\n The people who live near that part of the forest like it just the way it is, she told me.<\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s why the folks in charge haven\u2019t asked their opinion. Florida is supposed to be the state with Government in the Sunshine<\/a>, but these days a lot of politicians hide in the shade.<\/p>\n Why say whoa<\/p>\n I tried calling the forest service folks but, of course, I couldn\u2019t reach them. They\u2019re all twiddling their thumbs at home and waiting for our do-nothing Congress to reopen the government.<\/p>\n Chuck Hess via Wakulla County<\/p>\n Instead, I talked to a couple of former forest service employees. One, Chuck Hess, is a former red cockaded woodpecker biologist<\/a> who spent eight years as a Wakulla County commissioner.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bad idea,\u201d he said of the land swap.<\/p>\n For the forest service, the land swap provides control of a piece of property that probably should have been a part of the forest already. Adding it to the federal holdings should make it easier to do controlled burns, which are essential to the health of the forest<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one problem: The county\u2019s property has buildings on it that can\u2019t be burned. They\u2019re part of the Wakulla County Equestrian Center,<\/a> which is under a covenant that says it cannot be torn down or moved, Hess pointed out.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have promised to keep that horse facility in place,\u201d he explained. If the forest service can\u2019t burn the property regularly the way it needs, he said, \u201cI can\u2019t see the benefit to the forest service.\u201d<\/p>\n You could say the equestrian center is a good reason to tell the county, \u201cWhoa!\u201d<\/p>\n The Wakulla County Equestrian Center (Photo via the center\u2019s FaceBook page)<\/p>\n Forest forever<\/p>\n I had an even longer conversation with another former national forest employee, Eugene Watkins, who says he\u2019s lived in Wakulla County for more than 40 years. He offered a couple of sharp observations about the land swap.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the land swap is mainly for Wakulla to get land without paying for land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Looking strictly at what the land is worth, the county is getting a lot more than it\u2019s giving away.<\/p>\n \u201cThe value of the land that [the county] is giving up is less than the value of the land that they\u2019re getting,\u201d Watkins told me.<\/p>\n But as Broker pointed out, it\u2019s just not the kind of land where you can build ballfields and playgrounds without a lot of expensive major alterations, he said.<\/p>\n Watkins told me he lives about a mile away from where the county wants to build its new rec center. He understands why the people living even closer aren\u2019t happy about trading in the peace and quiet of the forest for the hubbub of ballfields and playgrounds.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people moved in there, they were told it would be a national forest forever,\u201d he told me. \u201cBut now they\u2019ll have to cope with lots of traffic and bright ballfield lights shining into their backyards.\u201d<\/p>\n Wakulla County Commission Oct. 20, 2025 meeting (Photo via screengrab)<\/p>\n Sprawl over all, y\u2019all<\/p>\n Saying that Wakulla County\u2019s commissioners like development is like saying Popeye wouldn\u2019t mind a bite of spinach<\/a>. They\u2019re absolutely besotted with big-money developers, and the heck with any consequences to the residents<\/p>\n Two years ago, for instance, a citizens\u2019 group proposed a springs protection ordinance because lots of people were worried about the future of Wakulla Springs, which is both a huge tourist attraction and the source of the community\u2019s drinking water. The commissioners didn\u2019t even want to discuss it<\/a> for fear it would slow the county\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n Such a devotion to sprawl-over-all has taken a toll on the county and its longtime residents. At a commission meeting Monday night, several people complained about how the place has changed so radically they barely recognize it.<\/p>\n Chad Smith at Oct. 20, 2025, Wakulla County Commission meeting (Photo via screengrab)<\/p>\n \u201cThe rate of growth in this county is ridiculous,\u201d longtime Crawfordville resident Chad Smith told commissioners. \u201cOur roads are falling apart, and our schools are jam-packed. This used to be my home, but this don\u2019t feel like my home no more.\u201d<\/p>\n The meeting room was absolutely packed, Broker told me. Lots of residents were ready to get up and raise sand about the proposed land swap.<\/p>\n Two things stopped them.<\/p>\n First, the commissioners got a report from a pair of consultants about the county\u2019s poorly organized, badly maintained, and sorely understaffed recreation program. The consultants made it clear that the county\u2019s current rec center has plenty of room for additional ballfields and other facilities, and that the local schools have land available too.<\/p>\n In other words, there\u2019s no need to acquire any land from the national forest to build a new rec center.<\/p>\n Wakulla County Commissioner Fred Nichols via Wakulla County<\/p>\n Wakulla County Commission Vice Chairman Ralph Thomas (Photo\/Wakulla County Commission)<\/p>\n Then came the second thing. After complaining about all the \u201choopla\u201d online about the proposed land swap, Commission Chairman Fred Nichols<\/a>, a former cop, in effect said he\u2019d like to put the whole idea under arrest.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t feel comfortable putting a recreational park there,\u201d he said of the national forest property. Then he went even further and said, \u201cI\u2019m not for messing with any U.S. Forest Service land.\u201d<\/p>\n But then the commission\u2019s vice chair, mortgage broker Ralph Thomas,<\/a> piped up to say there was no formal land-swap proposal in front of the commission anyway. He insisted the opponents had \u201cginned up\u201d the controversy and he had no clear idea what was being proposed.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when a Florida Trident reporter named Michelle DeMarco<\/a> who lives in Crawfordville stepped to the microphone. She reminded Thomas that she had emailed him about the land-swap when she first heard about it last year.<\/p>\n DeMarco compared the public\u2019s anger over Wakulla\u2019s proposed land-swap to the furor that erupted statewide last year when everyone found out Gov. Ron DeSantis was trying to sneak a trio of golf courses into a state park.<\/a><\/p>\n The Legislature wound up forbidding any governor to ever again try something so stupid. DeMarco pointed out how similarly unpopular the land swap had become.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people here don\u2019t want this,\u201d she told commissioners. They adjourned shortly afterward.<\/p>\n The way to win<\/p>\n Everyone I talked to attributed the push for this land swap to the longtime Wakulla County administrator, David Edwards.<\/p>\n Edwards, who was hired in 2011 despite having no experience in county management<\/a>, has had a somewhat checkered history<\/a> with the state Ethics Commission. That\u2019s because of his tendency to accept gifts from county vendors and contractors.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t respond to my efforts to contact him for comment. But several people told me that Edwards has said in public that the land swap is an idea that\u2019s been kicking around among county insiders since 2013. Hess confirmed that.<\/p>\n When I asked Hess why the swap was suddenly such a strong possibility now, he told me the reason was simple: \u201cBecause the current administration doesn\u2019t really care about public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n The minute he said it, I saw he was right.<\/p>\n Just last month, a Florida Phoenix affiliate reported<\/a> that the president who\u2019s even now ripping up the White House<\/a> is \u201cmoving forward with a plan to open more than 58 million acres of previously protected national forests to development.\u201d<\/p>\n Our frequently math-challenged chief executive<\/a> is also proposing mass layoffs and firings of thousands of employees working in the federal agencies in charge of maintaining public lands.<\/p>\n This destruction of the public\u2019s holdings is all part of the Project 2025 playbook<\/a> that as a candidate he claimed was too extreme. Since he was sworn in, though, he\u2019s been following it like it was written on stone tablets and handed to Moses on Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n![\"Chloe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/65fd8a526be78e54e9daaf227acd30a4.jpeg\"\/)
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