At Honeymoon Island State Park, the need to defend “the real Florida” is becoming increasingly urgent

DUNEDIN – For Terry Fortner, the fight to save Honeymoon Island State Park from a proposed development is a personal matter.

Nearly 130 years ago, her grandmother Myrtle Scharrer was born in a pioneer home on Caladesi Island, just offshore. For decades, she lived in the tranquility of the pristine island chain that now includes Florida’s most visited state park. When pressured to sell her land in 1946, Scharrer placed a title restriction on it that laid the foundation for its protection.

Now the state wants to build four pickleball courts in the park.

The proposal is part of a sweeping initiative by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Department of Environmental Quality that calls for major changes to nine Florida state parks, including a golf course, two 350-room hotels and other “amenities” on protected lands from the Gulf to the Atlantic. The plan, first unveiled last week by the Tampa Bay Times, has quickly drawn fierce opposition across the political spectrum.

That’s why Fortner, granddaughter of a legendary Florida pioneer and park conservationist herself, is here today: to defend “the real Florida.”

“We have so many requirements to maintain the resources that are already here, from paying park employees a living wage to providing them with the work equipment they need,” Fortner said. “Adding pickleball courts increases the dependence on their time and limited resources, so they have to oversee the liability of using and maintaining those courts.”

Fortner wore a wide-brimmed sun hat and a flowing dress. As cars honked and their drivers hooted and hollered, she held up a sign that read: “Honeymoon as planned, no offense taken.”

About 100 more joined the protests just outside the entrance to Honeymoon Island State Park on Sunday morning. It’s the second day in a row that protesters have gathered here, and it won’t be the last: Other events, including plans for Tuesday to bring together elected officials to voice their concerns, are already gaining momentum.

Sunday’s gathering was one of several across the state where concerned citizens met at affected state parks to protest. Hundreds lined the streets Sunday near Anastasia State Park, where the state plans to build a 350-room hotel. Farther south in Martin County, hundreds more gathered off U.S. Highway 1 to protest a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

Chris Horton and his Catahoula pit bull, Waydoe, stood at the edge of the Dunedin Causeway as the protesters grew in number. Horton is a triple crown thru-hiker, meaning he has hiked the three longest National Scenic Trails in the United States. Of the more than 10,000 miles he has logged over the past seven years, the views on Honeymoon Island are among his favorite.

Stay up to date with the most important headlines from Tampa Bay

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We deliver you the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

You are logged in!

Would you like to receive more of our free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Discover all your possibilities

“It’s a paradise in our backyard that shouldn’t be disturbed,” Horton said, holding up a sign that read, “We love Honeymoon Island” as cars whizzed by.

Political pressure on Florida’s Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees state parks, has only increased in recent days. From county commissioners to state legislators to members of Congress, elected officials have all come out strongly against the agency’s plans. But the agency has stubbornly resisted. An hour after postponing a series of nearly simultaneous public meetings scheduled for Tuesday, the agency reiterated on social media its intention to build a golf course.

Legal challenges also appear to be mounting. In a letter to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Saturday, the American Indian Movement of Florida, an advocacy group for indigenous peoples, wrote that it plans to sue the state for apparent violations of federal laws protecting indigenous peoples, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

Building a golf course on the grounds of Jonathan Dickinson State Park would destroy 35 known indigenous burial and cultural sites within the park, the group wrote.

The group American Indian Movement of Florida said it would “use all means necessary to obstruct, hinder, delay, disrupt, obstruct, block and stop all efforts by the Florida DEP to desecrate Indigenous cemeteries.”

Spokespeople for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the governor’s office have not responded to requests for comment since Thursday. On Saturday, the Times revealed that a national nonprofit veterans organization had made a similar proposal to state and local officials last year to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Although the ideas were rejected by state senators and county commissioners, the nonprofit Folds of Honor appears to have brought its idea to the state government.

The nonprofit’s founder, Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, had a one-on-one meeting with DeSantis on April 10, according to the governor’s schedule. The details of that meeting remain unclear.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Friday that new dates for public meetings would be announced soon, but they are expected to take place the week of Sept. 2, according to a social media post. Officials said they would find venues that would accommodate the likely thousands of concerned attendees.

Joanna Burchfield’s five-year-old son Jacoby looked out the window as her family of four drove to Honeymoon Island State Park to protest on Sunday.

Wearing a tie-dye T-shirt that read “Environmentalists of the Future,” Jacoby watched the towering condominiums fly by outside.

“I only see things that people have made,” he told his mother. “There are not enough trees and too many concrete buildings.”