Locally we are facing a new management plan for Fort Clinch State Park.
As civilization closes in on Fernandina, our state park is increasingly finding itself poked at and assaulted by outside pressures and Florida’s growing population. Let's not allow our park to be dealt with as an under-utilized open space instead of something that should be preserved for all time.
Speak out now. It is imperative that citizens of Fernandina and surrounding community weigh in on the changes being suggested to our park structure and fight for sustainable tourism. In order for your opinion to be considered your comments must be made before March 30th when the public comment period closes.
Here are just a few of things which are worrisome:
SEA OATS- It's being determined that the harvest of sea oat seeds would be appropriate at our park as an additional source of revenue. (Pg. 7)- "For this park, it was determined that the harvest of sea oat seeds could be accommodated in a manner that would be compatible and not interfere with the primary purpose of resource-based outdoor recreation and conservation.... We know that the roots and stems of sea oats build and anchor sand dunes by trapping wind-blown sand. Sea oat seed harvesting for revenue would create a 'disturbance' for the health of the dunes because the smilax that once helped hold the dunes together has been impacted by deer so the sea oats are very important to our dunes. DEP feels that it is obligated to consider "compatible secondary uses" to increase revenue for parks. In the past, private companies were allowed to pick seeds in exchange for a bid number of seedlings which were used by the state park system. To now allow the picking of seeds strictly for revenue is no different than private industry seeking to harvest trees, to pick palmetto berries, or to graze cattle in the park. If our park itself needs to plant sea oats for restoration purposes, it can contract the harvest and seedling production under its existing authority without claiming the activity and revenue as a purpose of the park. Please state that some of the largest dunes in the state are in Ft. Clinch. This new language is not responsible management of our natural resources and should NOT be in the new management plan.
NEW RV SITES BEING ADDED: At the informational meeting the state park planner said that there needed to be "parity" between the the Atlantic Beach campground with its 21 sites and the Amelia River campground which has 41 campsites located in the oak hammock. Parity, why parity? We could cut down every tree and build campsites up and down the beach and there would still be a demand for camping just because it is near the beach. Enough is enough or there will be no end point. The management plan is calling to expand the Atlantic Beach campground to include 10 additional RV sites. Please tell the park service that this level of development is not sustainable nor wanted by our community. This area is a coastal grassland and has fragile plant communities needing protection.
TRAIL: Is the trail which is proposed to run between the Beach Campground and the pier area needed? Most people wanting to access the pier area would walk along the beach and/or along the road. If there are fears about vehicle/pedestrian conflicts then the park should enforce the 20 mph speed zone. The proposed trail would meander through what is now undisturbed coastal grassland that is utilized by wildlife. The grassland is a savannah type eco-system. People wandering along a trail is NOT needed. Conserve this area as wildlife habitat.
BATHROOM AND SHELTER- Let's keep Ft. Clinch WILD and protect the old-growth canopy. The undeveloped nature of the Fort is why people come and why we all like it so much. This new management plan calls for the picnic area just south of the Fort parking lot, which is in a heavily wooded area, to have a new bathroom and/or something like a porta-potty installed and plus a picnic shelter. There is no need for new bathroom facilities- people needing the bathroom can walk the 150 ft across the parking lot to the bathroom that is adjacent to the Visitor’s Center. There is no reason to impact environment by building these new facilities. No to both. No new manmade structures in this fairly natural area.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: On Pg. 7 it speaks about "alternative energy" in the plan- which is worrisome. Sierra Club was told that this will be taken out of the plan- but if it is not- it could mean installation of wind turbines or solar arrays. It should not be in the plan without clarifying detail. Alternative energy could also be "biomass harvesting" for wood chips ....
FISHING PIER: Sierra was told that there are no guarantees what type of pier we will get as a replacement. Will the new one stretch 1/3 mile out into the ocean- highly doubtful. It is understood that the pier was built in the wrong place originally, but before the hurricane engineers had developed an option to extend the life of the pier by 20 years by adding pile jacks and replacing sections. The engineers are currently saying the pier is too damaged to fix. Is this true? Could we push to have the pier re-evaluated by new eyes? If it costs two million to tear down and could take up to 10 years to rebuild- could that money be better spent starting major repairs so that this community doesn't lose access to any fishing pier for so many years and then not know what will be rebuilt in its place. Push for a re-evaluation.
SINGLE USE: Ft. Clinch State Park is now designated as single-use to provide public outdoor recreation and other park-related uses.” Single use is appropriate, but the push to change the language of the management plan to "other park-related uses" is a red flag to those who do not trust DEP to preserve the Florida State Park tradition. The plans from a few years ago used the text: “At XYZ State Park, public outdoor recreation and conservation is the designated single use of the property.” FL Park Service has suggested languaging to allow 'secondary uses' but also they have said in a general way generally that they would work on their boilerplate text in all of the state management plans, which will hopefully eliminate the unclear intent of “other uses”. But you can also help encourage that process for the Fort by commenting.
PLEASE BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR COMMENTS. THEY CAN BE EMAILED TO Tyler.Maldonado@dep.state.fl.us with the words Fort Clinch in the subject line. Comments must be received before March 30th.