Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hit the ground running after he dropped out of the U.S. Presidential race in January. Earlier this summer, his administration’s 2024–25 “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget was passed. It slashed taxes and made huge investments that went towards “supporting law and order,” among other “freedom first” policy choices. Now, DeSantis and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) are coming after the state’s treasured parks, much to the chagrin of environmentalists and his electorate more broadly.
The Great Outdoors Initiative is the DeSantis cabinet’s vision for new recreational activities in nine Florida state parks. This plan, according to a press statement from the Florida EPA, is about “reinforcing the state’s dedication to conservation, the outdoor recreation economy and a high quality of life for Floridians.”
Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for the Florida Governor’s office, called the plan an “exciting new initiative.” Griffin said that “everyone should be able to enjoy Florida’s natural treasures without long waits or cramped campsites.” Other Floridians don’t see it that way, and the Great Outdoors Initiative is facing stiff backlash.
Florida Park Service, and the public more broadly, were caught by surprise when the plan was announced; those groups were never consulted. Florida already has more than 1,250 golf courses, and 770 pickleball courts. Does it really need more?
“Commodifying and developing our public lands”
The Florida Park Service oversees 815,000 acres of state park area, and 100 miles of shoreline. Since 2019, under DeSantis’s administration, Florida’s state park acreage has increased by 20 percent. In the last few years, the Florida Park Service has acquired 260,000 more acres of park area within Florida’s Wildlife Corridor.
Under the Great Outdoors Initiative, significant portions of Anastasia, Camp Helen, Dr. Von. D Mizell Eula Johnson, Grayton Beach, Hillsborough River, Honeymoon Island, Jonathan Dickinson, Topsail Hill Preserve, and Oleta River State Parks would be opened up for new development. In those nine state parks, DeSantis would like to build pickleball courts, 18-hole golf courses, disc golf courses, cabins, and 350-bed lodges for “glamping opportunities.”
While DeSantis’s Great Outdoors Initiative does include new hiking and biking trails, it’s been met with anger and confusion. Protesters have gathered at Jonathan Dickinson State Park holding signs that say “STOP THE GOLF COURSES.” Audubon Florida Executive Director Julie Wraithmell was quick to react; she said building golf courses “at treasures like Jonathan Dickinson and pickleball courts at Honeymoon Island would be travesties.”
Florida Springs Council attacked DeSantis’s vision for “commodifying and developing our public lands.” In turn, the Florida EPA started fielding concerns and questions on X to clarify specifics about what the Great Outdoors Initiative entails. It said in the post “We love The Real Florida as much as you do, so we want to clear some things up.”
Eric Draper, a former director of Florida Park Service between 2017 and 2021, said the Great Outdoors Initiative’s planning process has been opaque, and may be illegal. “This seems like a process that is deliberately intended to avoid public participation,” Draper recently told a local reporter.
“This appears to be something that has been planned in secret,” Draper continued, “and it doesn’t appear to have involved the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are volunteers in the parks, the citizen support organizations, or the many people who have been involved in helping to create and develop Florida’s award-winning park system.”
Privatizing the Commons?
The idea to build golf courses at Florida state parks isn’t far-fetched. The concept was first floated in 2011 by professional golfer Jack Nicklaus. That year, Nicklaus courted then-Florida Governor Rick Scott to build new (private) golf courses and hotels in several state parks.
Nicklaus’s golf course architecture studio, Nicklaus Design, had successfully built private golf courses at state parks in Alabama, and Nicklaus wanted to build more private golf courses atop Florida state parks, albeit “in an environmentally sensitive manner.”
The idea didn’t gain traction and was swiftly tabled. Now, over a decade later, DeSantis’s administration seems keen on reviving it. Today, there is substantial bipartisan opposition to the Great Outdoors Initiative however. Florida State Senators Jason Pizzo and Kathleen Passidomo have already come out against it.
Rumors circulated the Nicklaus family may again be behind this latest effort to bring golf courses to Florida state parks. Gary Nicklaus, Jack’s son who is also a board member on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, has since denied these rumors.
“I’m pretty annoyed with everybody wanting to tar and feather me without any facts,” Gary Nicklaus recently told a local reporter. The Nicklaus family is expected to issue a public statement denying its involvement in the Great Outdoors Initiative.
On September 3, an information session will give the public an opportunity to weigh in.
