N. Cook
05-29-2004, 07:23 PM
David and I attended the event. Several "dignitaries" including the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, a Deputy USDA Under Secretary, Martin County Commisioners, etc.....Henry Dean, Executive Director SFWMD led the event. The elites were helicoptered in, we drove the three miles of dirt road to an oak hammock. Beautiful piece of property, some wetlands, but a lot of quail and turkey habitat...very dry, but plans are to store water there. Lots of congratuatory speeches and words of "partnership" between the agencies (and the land owner). $30mil from the USDA, $9 mil from Martin County, $10 mil form SFWMD. These WRP lands are usually leased back to the land owner.......NOW THE HARD PART....NOT ONCE WAS THE PUBLIC TAXPAYER THANKED, NOR WAS THERE ANY MENTION OF PUBLIC USE OF THE PROPERTY. Over seven speakers.....not one could come to stating where the $50 mil really came from.....lots of kudos to each other on getting the money from the USDA or county or WMD.....nothing about the waitress mom or fireman dad who gave up a part of their hard earned income to pay for this....and probably will never be able to set foot on the land. In most cases the lease includes all rights, including hunting....in fact the WRP lands can be made into hunting for pay preserves. UW-F will try to determine the exact situation regarding public use and has started a dialog with the on site manager.