Preserve Palm Beach County’s Natural Areas Forever
On October 22, Palm Beach County Commissioners will vote whether to preserve the county’s Natural Areas forever. We want you to tell them to vote YES!
We have recently seen that politicians can take a loose interpretation of forever. We thought Jonathan Dickinson State Park would be a natural area forever. We were obviously mistaken; remember the recent golf course/resort hotel proposal?
Please take these two steps to help us convince the Palm Beach County Commissioners to do the right thing and preserve our Natural Areas forever.
1. Click here and sign our letter to the Palm Beach County Commissioners.
2. Plan to attend the Commission meeting at 9:30 am on Tuesday, Oct. 22, on the 6th floor, 301 North Olive, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. Fill in a Comment Card (Item # 5D-1, “Support”). You can speak or write a comment.
Here are the facts:
The Palm Beach Environmental Resources Management Staff, not politicians, not political appointees, are proposing a Resolution supporting the permanent protection of County-owned Natural Areas through the granting of conservation easements to conservation land trusts.
A Land Trust offers a layer of protection over and above the current conservation easements and ordinances protecting our Natural Area Lands. These areas are currently susceptible to the will of politicians, just like Jonathan Dickinson State Park was, and still is, unfortunately.
The granting of conservation easements will:
- Reaffirm the primary purposes of the County's Natural Areas: to permanently protect, restore, and actively manage remnant native ecosystems, and the associated plants and animals.
- Allow compatible public passive recreational uses.
- Reaffirm that County Natural Area lands cannot be used for non-environmental purposes.
- Remove ambiguity related to whether the term "perpetual" as used in other conservation easements means anything other than "forever".
- Further solidify and protect the biological, physical health, mental health, water recharge, water and air quality, and flood control benefits provided by County Natural Areas. There is no anticipated cost to the County.