Trading away forest land for development sets a dangerous precedent for the future of Wakulla County. Officials claim we’re “almost built out,” but if they keep swapping conservation land, there’s no limit to how far development can spread. Each trade chips away at the natural buffers and forest corridors that make this county special — once it’s gone, it’s gone.
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Danielle Crum
10 months ago
I am a Wakulla County resident writing to oppose the proposed Ivan Tract – Wakulla County Land Exchange (#67584) and to request selection of the No Action alternative.
This proposal would transfer over 150 acres of Apalachicola National Forest east of Revadee Spears Rd. for development of a county recreation complex, in exchange for county land near Lawhon Mill Rd. in Sopchoppy.
Under NEPA and Forest Service land-exchange rules (36 CFR Part 254, Subpart A), the agency must make a public interest determination, analyze reasonable alternatives, and base any exchange on market-value appraisals. Before any decision, please complete and publish a rigorous environmental analysis (EA/EIS) that addresses the following:
1) Springshed / karst vulnerability
The proposed site lies within the Woodville Karst Plain, which directly feeds Wakulla Springs. Clearing, paving, and stormwater runoff from a recreation complex risk altering hydrology and introducing contaminants into this fragile aquifer system. The EA/EIS should evaluate direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts to the springshed using current USGS and FDEP data.
2) Traffic and neighborhood safety
Model tournament/event traffic impacts on the Revadee Spears Rd. area, including weekend peak loads, noise, and safety for residents and wildlife. Compare this with non-Forest siting options that use existing arterial routes.
3) Wildlife and habitat fragmentation
Assess effects on listed and sensitive species, including gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and other species reliant on longleaf pine ecosystems. Development within the forest would fragment already diminishing habitat corridors.
4) Cumulative impact of regional development
Wakulla County is already being heavily fragmented by ongoing development—subdivisions, road expansions, and commercial growth have displaced countless species and degraded natural areas once critical to our local ecosystem. The Forest Service must evaluate this propo
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Danielle Crum
10 months ago
I am a Wakulla County resident writing to oppose the proposed Ivan Tract – Wakulla County Land Exchange (#67584) and to request selection of the No Action alternative.
This proposal would transfer over 150 acres of Apalachicola National Forest east of Revadee Spears Rd. for development of a county recreation complex, in exchange for county land near Lawhon Mill Rd. in Sopchoppy.
Under NEPA and Forest Service land-exchange rules (36 CFR Part 254, Subpart A), the agency must make a public interest determination, analyze reasonable alternatives, and base any exchange on market-value appraisals. Before any decision, please complete and publish a rigorous environmental analysis (EA/EIS) that addresses the following:
1) Springshed / karst vulnerability
The proposed site lies within the Woodville Karst Plain, which directly feeds Wakulla Springs. Clearing, paving, and stormwater runoff from a recreation complex risk altering hydrology and introducing contaminants into this fragile aquifer system. The EA/EIS should evaluate direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts to the springshed using current USGS and FDEP data.
2) Traffic and neighborhood safety
Model tournament/event traffic impacts on the Revadee Spears Rd. area, including weekend peak loads, noise, and safety for residents and wildlife. Compare this with non-Forest siting options that use existing arterial routes.
3) Wildlife and habitat fragmentation
Assess effects on listed and sensitive species, including gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and other species reliant on longleaf pine ecosystems. Development within the forest would fragment already diminishing habitat corridors.
4) Cumulative impact of regional development
Wakulla County is already being heavily fragmented by ongoing development—subdivisions, road expansions, and commercial growth have displaced countless species and degraded natural areas once critical to our local ecosystem. The Forest Service must evaluate this propo
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Anonymous
10 months ago
Please stop the development of our national forest. This is getting out of hand.
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Stacy Holley
10 months ago
Quit destroying our county.
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ANN WILENSKY
10 months ago
Preserving our forests is vital to Wakulla County!
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Debbie Crumpler
10 months ago
Stop all this destruction of our woods. We the people of Florida own that forest not the county commissioners. They need to be voted out next election. Remember their names.
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Stephanie
10 months ago
I am against the selling off of National Forest land to make a Recreation Park out of it. How can this even be considered?
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Theresa Giles
10 months ago
I am against this proposal
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Linda Fletcher
10 months ago
Leave our precious forests alone! Stop paving over Florida. You’ve taken enough already!
Native Floridian
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Amanda Davis
10 months ago
Strongly against this!
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Rex Lytle
10 months ago
By no means, should anybody be altering the national forest here or anywhere else? It will just lead to the loss of the national forest in the future.
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Daryl Dempsey
10 months ago
Stop! Stop changing all the zoning requests. Stop building these tacky developments and STOP destroying “The NATURAL Place To Be”
Ugh. Ruining it
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C
10 months ago
Stop building! Wakulla county is being decimated, one tree at a time!
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Jenifer Stutler
10 months ago
Stop killing Florida. Do not doze the forest. There's already a rec.park going in right by woodville. It wont kill the citizens to drive 20/30 min to get there. Don't need another one. Instead of going with developers how about you listen to the people who live here everyday. Quit developing Florida. We are full and can't handle the influx. How about focusing on infrastructure to accommodate the insanity of people that have moved here. Stop developing!!! Signed a Florida native watching her state become a wasteland.
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Tracy Walker
10 months ago
This needs to stop. Florida is getting so over grown and killing off the wildlife.
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Ellen Y Chapman
10 months ago
Stop! Find another location. Leave OUR NATIONAL FOREST ALONE. We stopped DeSantis putting pickle ball etc in State parks, speak up and oppose this.
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Tammie Nason
10 months ago
Please seek non-forest sites. Wakulla has such a special environment, and we need to preserve it as much as we can. Leave it as God intended, for our wildlife.
Trading away forest land for development sets a dangerous precedent for the future of Wakulla County. Officials claim we’re “almost built out,” but if they keep swapping conservation land, there’s no limit to how far development can spread. Each trade chips away at the natural buffers and forest corridors that make this county special — once it’s gone, it’s gone.
I am a Wakulla County resident writing to oppose the proposed Ivan Tract – Wakulla County Land Exchange (#67584) and to request selection of the No Action alternative. This proposal would transfer over 150 acres of Apalachicola National Forest east of Revadee Spears Rd. for development of a county recreation complex, in exchange for county land near Lawhon Mill Rd. in Sopchoppy. Under NEPA and Forest Service land-exchange rules (36 CFR Part 254, Subpart A), the agency must make a public interest determination, analyze reasonable alternatives, and base any exchange on market-value appraisals. Before any decision, please complete and publish a rigorous environmental analysis (EA/EIS) that addresses the following: 1) Springshed / karst vulnerability The proposed site lies within the Woodville Karst Plain, which directly feeds Wakulla Springs. Clearing, paving, and stormwater runoff from a recreation complex risk altering hydrology and introducing contaminants into this fragile aquifer system. The EA/EIS should evaluate direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts to the springshed using current USGS and FDEP data. 2) Traffic and neighborhood safety Model tournament/event traffic impacts on the Revadee Spears Rd. area, including weekend peak loads, noise, and safety for residents and wildlife. Compare this with non-Forest siting options that use existing arterial routes. 3) Wildlife and habitat fragmentation Assess effects on listed and sensitive species, including gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and other species reliant on longleaf pine ecosystems. Development within the forest would fragment already diminishing habitat corridors. 4) Cumulative impact of regional development Wakulla County is already being heavily fragmented by ongoing development—subdivisions, road expansions, and commercial growth have displaced countless species and degraded natural areas once critical to our local ecosystem. The Forest Service must evaluate this propo
I am a Wakulla County resident writing to oppose the proposed Ivan Tract – Wakulla County Land Exchange (#67584) and to request selection of the No Action alternative. This proposal would transfer over 150 acres of Apalachicola National Forest east of Revadee Spears Rd. for development of a county recreation complex, in exchange for county land near Lawhon Mill Rd. in Sopchoppy. Under NEPA and Forest Service land-exchange rules (36 CFR Part 254, Subpart A), the agency must make a public interest determination, analyze reasonable alternatives, and base any exchange on market-value appraisals. Before any decision, please complete and publish a rigorous environmental analysis (EA/EIS) that addresses the following: 1) Springshed / karst vulnerability The proposed site lies within the Woodville Karst Plain, which directly feeds Wakulla Springs. Clearing, paving, and stormwater runoff from a recreation complex risk altering hydrology and introducing contaminants into this fragile aquifer system. The EA/EIS should evaluate direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts to the springshed using current USGS and FDEP data. 2) Traffic and neighborhood safety Model tournament/event traffic impacts on the Revadee Spears Rd. area, including weekend peak loads, noise, and safety for residents and wildlife. Compare this with non-Forest siting options that use existing arterial routes. 3) Wildlife and habitat fragmentation Assess effects on listed and sensitive species, including gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and other species reliant on longleaf pine ecosystems. Development within the forest would fragment already diminishing habitat corridors. 4) Cumulative impact of regional development Wakulla County is already being heavily fragmented by ongoing development—subdivisions, road expansions, and commercial growth have displaced countless species and degraded natural areas once critical to our local ecosystem. The Forest Service must evaluate this propo
Please stop the development of our national forest. This is getting out of hand.
Quit destroying our county.
Preserving our forests is vital to Wakulla County!
Stop all this destruction of our woods. We the people of Florida own that forest not the county commissioners. They need to be voted out next election. Remember their names.
I am against the selling off of National Forest land to make a Recreation Park out of it. How can this even be considered?
I am against this proposal
Leave our precious forests alone! Stop paving over Florida. You’ve taken enough already! Native Floridian
Strongly against this!
By no means, should anybody be altering the national forest here or anywhere else? It will just lead to the loss of the national forest in the future.
Stop! Stop changing all the zoning requests. Stop building these tacky developments and STOP destroying “The NATURAL Place To Be” Ugh. Ruining it
Stop building! Wakulla county is being decimated, one tree at a time!
Stop killing Florida. Do not doze the forest. There's already a rec.park going in right by woodville. It wont kill the citizens to drive 20/30 min to get there. Don't need another one. Instead of going with developers how about you listen to the people who live here everyday. Quit developing Florida. We are full and can't handle the influx. How about focusing on infrastructure to accommodate the insanity of people that have moved here. Stop developing!!! Signed a Florida native watching her state become a wasteland.
This needs to stop. Florida is getting so over grown and killing off the wildlife.
Stop! Find another location. Leave OUR NATIONAL FOREST ALONE. We stopped DeSantis putting pickle ball etc in State parks, speak up and oppose this.
Please seek non-forest sites. Wakulla has such a special environment, and we need to preserve it as much as we can. Leave it as God intended, for our wildlife.
Keep Wakulla natural.
Do not bulldoze our beloved forests for profit