If not for talented and passionate investigative journalists, this debacle may have slipped through without\u00a0notice. The threats to state parks and shady public land swaps of the last year only came to light\u00a0because a free and independent press, truth seekers and truth tellers, used light to plumb darkness and find truth. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.<\/p>\n
This most recent land purchase benefited\u00a0an individual who made\u00a0political contributions<\/a> and received a deal none of us ever could. This deal cost us faith in a system that we rely on\u00a0to benefit\u00a0all Floridians, not just a powerful\u00a0and select few.<\/p>\n This purchase could\u00a0cost Florida\u00a0much more than it seems. Opportunities were lost to use those funds, now and in the future,\u00a0to acquire\u00a0valuable large sections\u00a0of new public land\u00a0or\u00a0create conservation easements for working farmers and ranchers\u00a0across the state. That ground may not get made up as markets change\u00a0and landowners lose patience.<\/p>\n The process of saving open space, creating areas to hunt and fish, preserving habitat for wildlife\u00a0and protecting places for future generations should be\u00a0one that is grounded in science, policy, legislation\u00a0and the rule of law. Florida has developed a very effective\u00a0and fair system where state agencies, conservation groups, landowners\u00a0and elected officials work together to ensure that land is acquired\u00a0at a fair price based on the greatest benefit and need. This land deal was not that.<\/p>\n On a deeper level,\u00a0the system that Florida uses to acquire\u00a0public land or provide conservation easements to working farmers and ranchers is based as much in hope\u00a0as it is in science and policy. At the most fundamental\u00a0level, Florida\u2019s work to save wild places is grounded deeply in what Wallace Stegner, famed naturalist, called the geography of\u00a0hope<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Florida Wildlife Corridor<\/a>, while based in excellent conservation science, has always been about hope as it connects vast tracts of open space for wildlife and\u00a0recreation across the depth and breadth of Florida. This is the embodiment of hope and the courage to act in shared purpose to conserve creation.<\/p>\n When the governor and Cabinet undermine our state parks, try to swap away valuable habitat for golf courses or engage in backroom deals, they threaten that hope. Ironically\u00a0the governor and Cabinet, along with Florida legislative leaders, have much to be proud of, for decades, when it comes to protecting open space and habitat in Florida. This recent deal casts another\u00a0stain on that legacy and creates cynicism, not hope.<\/p>\n The Florida Wildlife Corridor is grounded in the hope that we can find grace\u00a0and wisdom to value other species besides ourselves. The hope that we can save some of Florida\u2019s truly wild places before they are lost. The hope that we can show future generations the best in us\u00a0and\u00a0that\u00a0we valued\u00a0what they will inherit.<\/p>\n Eighty-three\u00a0million dollars could buy thousands of acres of public land\u00a0\u2013 thousands\u00a0\u2013 in the effort to connect and expand wildlife corridors and greenways in some of the most endangered ecosystems in Florida. It\u00a0could provide thousands of acres of essential conservation easements to working farmers and ranchers to stay on their land\u00a0and\u00a0continue their\u00a0multi-generational legacy.<\/p>\n Eighty-three million dollars, when used ethically and honestly and within the policies that have successfully guided public land acquisition in Florida from Preservation 2000 to Florida Forever<\/a>, could purchase\u00a0a lot more than 4 acres.<\/p>\n Floridians have chosen the generational moral responsibility to try to ensure wild Florida and our recreational traditions survive for another generation through our public lands. We need to continue in the hope of doing\u00a0so. This type of shady land deal has no place in that effort.<\/p>\n Joe Murphy is a native and lifelong Floridian who lives in\u00a0the southern Nature Coast. Banner photo: Views of hotels and apartment buildings from Norriego Point Beach in Destin. The land purchase will expand a park at the beach access point (iStock image).<\/p>\n Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here<\/a>. To support The Invading Sea, click here<\/a> to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu<\/a>. To learn more about the Florida Wildlife Corridor, watch the short video below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Joe Murphy Taxpayers trust that the money we send to Tallahassee will be used for the highest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3287,3288,28,3289,3290,3291,30,29,3292,3293,3294,1898,3295],"class_list":{"0":"post-2731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-conservation-easements","9":"tag-destin","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-cabinet","12":"tag-florida-forever","13":"tag-florida-governor","14":"tag-florida-headlines","15":"tag-florida-news","16":"tag-florida-state-parks","17":"tag-florida-wildlife-corridor","18":"tag-land-conservation","19":"tag-land-purchase","20":"tag-public-lands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Jonathan-Dickinson-State-Park-boardwalk-1024x576.jpg\")
A boardwalk to the Hobe Mountain Tower at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, where the state proposed to build golf courses last year before dropping the plan amid widespread opposition. (Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/JoeMurphyNWFHeadShot-982x1024.jpg\")
Joe Murphy<\/p>\n