His plan? Introducing golf courses and adding amenities like 350-room hotels and pickleball courts. These plans have sparked a wave of concern among environmentalists worried about the potential damage to the state’s natural habitats.

She highlighted, “State parks are the last strongholds for a lot of wildlife in rapidly urbanizing communities in Florida.” The survival of several endangered species, including the Florida scrub-jay, could be threatened by these changes.

It’s about keeping a piece of the state’s wild spirit alive for everyone.

Golf courses can be quite exclusive, whereas parks are primarily free and can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. This is where all the backlash started, as people don’t want accessible parks to be turned into exclusive golf courses.

Many would prefer the state to keep its parks and natural beauty spots and create these outdoor recreational facilities elsewhere. This is so that wildlife and nature aren’t disturbed.

It’s unusual for him to face such resistance from GOP colleagues, signaling a significant contention around the proposed park overhauls.

The state’s park system, recognized on a national level, is a beloved part of Florida’s landscape.

Kathleen Passidomo, the outgoing Republican Senate President, took to social media to say, “Our vision [for state parks] did not contemplate the addition of golf courses and hotels, which in my view are not in-line with the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of nature.”

Many protestors held up signs with wildlife art on them. These had been created by Veronica Steiner and were used to tell DeSantis what they thought of his plans, especially the protection of wildlife.

He said, “Teddy Roosevelt believed that public parks were for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and we agree with him.”

DeSantis claims that this will attract more visitors to Florida’s state parks; however, the backlash shows that a lot of people are unhappy with the decision and want to keep the parks exactly as they are.

DeSantis is attempting to downplay how far along these plans were to the public. Had they not been leaked, who knows how much further they would have gone and if it would have been too far along for anything to be done about it.

As both sides of the political spectrum oppose DeSantis’ bid to turn some of Florida’s parks into golf courses and hotels,  the DeSantis camp is concerned about what this could mean for his political career.

This caused a significant amount of backlash from environmental leaders and climate activists. Florida is at the height of climate problems, such as an increase in hurricanes and severe heat, and many believe this new legislation is making matters worse. As DeSantis wants to build hotels in parks, many see this as a bigger sign of him not caring about the environment.

He has also said that if nothing is done about these plans, he is okay with that. Naturally, many critics are dubious about these remarks, especially as the plans were a lot further ahead than the public was initially led to believe.

Eric Draper, former head of the Florida Park Service, points out the untouched beauty of this area, emphasizing its rarity on Florida’s developed Gulf Coast.

Concerns are growing about whether these extensive developments are appropriate for such ecologically sensitive areas.

This has rallied locals and nature enthusiasts, resulting in a petition with tens of thousands of signatures demanding a halt to the developments.

This group was set to carry out the project at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, but it has since been removed from agency review.

There was set to be a Tiger course and a Jack course; however, it is unknown whether this will go ahead as planned or if the two will drop out due to the backlash.

He was even prepared to do the entire thing for free, as he saw it as a charitable cause. However, as there is no longer any certainty that this project will go ahead, it doesn’t look like Nicklaus or Woods will be involved in it.

The consistent pushback suggests a deep-seated community desire to keep these parks untouched by extensive commercialization.

The new plan is to listen to everyone’s concerns before deciding how best to proceed. He has admitted that the plans hadn’t been fully decided when the news was leaked, which is why these concerns are now being addressed.

She said, “Absolutely there is demand for more people to enjoy state parks. The solution is not to try to cram as many people into a park as we can…. The solution is to create more state parks.” This reflects a broader call for thoughtful expansion rather than intensive development of existing parklands.