These Florida students want to protect our state parks. Their art shows it.

Yahoo

30-04-2025

In March, the USA TODAY Network-Florida Opinion team reached out to Floridians, seeking their input into House Bill 209 and Senate Bill 80, introduced to protect Florida state parks from the kind of development proposed in 2024.
Back then, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's "Great Outdoors Initiative" proposed to make changes at nine state parks, including Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Hobe Sound. The plan to develop the parks, including adding three golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson, was scuttled in the face of furious public opposition and massive controversy.
USA TODAY Network-Florida journalists have reported on this the past year, including efforts by Treasure Coast state Rep. John Snyder and Sen. Gayle Harrell to pass the protection bills.
The network's state opinion team has advocated strongly and consistently for protection, but sought all Florida voices in the issue. Few came forward in complete opposition. Many letters from readers were published in April.
At the same time, Rory Ellison, an assistant environmental educator at the Pelican Island Audubon Society in Indian River County, where he works as a college intern, reached out to the network and asked if his students could learn more about the issue, then address the effort.
Shortly before the eve of a Senate vote April 29 on the bill, the network received a digital package from the Audubon Advocates, an after-school science education program of the Pelican Island Audubon Society. The members are fifth-graders at Indian River Academy, south of Vero Beach.
The program is designed for fifth-graders in four Title I schools in Indian River County, and addresses "nature deficit disorder," the society says. Its program website says participants go outside, "kayaking on the lagoon, exploring trails and habitat on conservation areas." They learn "science vocabulary words, resulting in better STEM (science, technology and math) scores as they progress to higher grades." Scientists serve as role models.
Ellison explained why he had students work on a project addressing the issue:
"I read (editor Adam) Neal's article in the newspaper several weeks ago asking people to speak out in support of the campaign to save the parks and prevent a situation like last year when the state government had a secret plan to put golf courses and hotels on park land," Ellison said in an email. "This is meant to be seen by elected representatives and is part of the campaign to convince them and the Legislature to pass the bill. Twelve kids worked hard on it."
While youngsters did their own work — shown in the accompanying photo gallery ― they also submitted the following letter, Ellison said:
Opinion: USA Today Network-Florida Opinion campaign to preserve and protect our state parks
"We want Florida lawmakers to prohibit inappropriate, damaging development in any of Florida's state parks and to make sure that any planning activities for park usage be transparent and made with public involvement.
"Please protect Florida's state parks from harmful development by adopting the strong language of House Bill 209 when its companion, Senate Bill 80, is heard on the Senate floor.
"HB 209 has broad support from Floridians and was approved unanimously in the House. It will close loopholes that would leave our state parks vulnerable to environmentally damaging development such as golf courses and hotels. We the People of Florida showed our strength by working together to defeat those threats last year. We need to make SB 80 stronger to be sure plans for bad development on park lands don't re-emerge in the future.
"Thank you for standing up for state parks!
"The Audubon Advocates of the Pelican Island Audubon Society"
This article is part of a campaign by the USA Today Network-Florida Opinion Group to support Senate Bill 80 and protect Florida's state parks from development. Email letter, op-eds, even photos to , and we will publish them. Please include your name, city and contact information.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Protect Florida state parks, student Audubon Advocates say | Opinion