I just returned from 2 weeks in North Florida, and I must say that it exceeded the anticipation I felt before going. We survived the first Tropical Storm of the season, as TS Alberto brought some much needed rain to the area and little to no damage. If anything the first storm reminded people just how fragile the Gulf Coast is and perhaps helps to slow the onslaught of real estate development.
Living in Colorado is an interesting contrast to having grown up in Florida. Both states are abundant with wildlife, something that I seem to appreciate more with each passing year. For the third straight year, I spotted a loggerhead turtle swimming off the Alligator Point spit. I don't ever remember seeing turtles growing up and now they seem almost commonplace. Someone has posted signs along the highway on Alligator point warning drivers of nesting turtles. I hope the raised awareness will ensure their survival; however, I feel strongly that the ultimate survival of the turtles along this part of the coast is going to depend upon some restraint in human development.
When I first moved to Colorado I became a mountain biking enthusiast and someone directed me to the Waterton Canyon trail just a feel miles southwest of Denver in the foothills. On one of my rides, I came into a herd of Big Horn sheep. It was a thrilling experience and one that had me some what on edge as I considered that I might need to make a hasty retreat should one of the rams decide I was a treat to his territory.
Equal to this experience was my recent encounter with a bald eagle perched in a tree in front of our beach house. I was able to quietly sneak outside and position myself directly underneath the branch where the eagle was perch to get a couple of photos before this magnificent bird launched back out over the water and away to his roost somewhere in the marshes behind our house. I have never seen a bald eagle at the coast and I hope that this is something that others will be able to enjoy in future generations. I worry that the SummerCamp development planned by St Joe will destroy the habitats of both the turtles and the eagles. It is my understanding that St Joe plans to develop the entire St. James Island, including a new highway short cutting the road from the Ochlocknee River bridge to the summer camp development. One evening at the coast, my old friend Terry Nelson stopped by to catch up. He told us about the mother black bear and her two cubs that were hit by cars along highway 98. It seems that first the mother bear was killed one foggy night by a car and her two distraught cubs stayed with her only to be hit by a subsequent car before anyone from State Wildlife could rescue them. I don't know if this mother bear was the same one seen a few years ago in backyards of some coastal residents, but St James Island is now without another 3 bears. At what point will the State realize that the Island is a bear habitat and keep development from driving them out. I am not one for the government solving all our problems, but it does feel like St Joe has a power over us that can't be stopped.
I have long been an opponent of the statewide fishing net ban that was passed 10 years ago. There has been a noticeable increase in fish populations in the waters, but at what cost when the fishing industry is replaced by tourism and development? I also worry that the Gulf Coast culture is being replaced with a market tested and generically commonplace one catered toward the expected influx of people to the "Forgotten Coast". I don't know who came up with this name for the stretch of coastline between Panama City and Wakulla County, but it is not hard to guess. Perhaps a better name than "The Forgotten Coast" is "The Florida Coast not yet overly developed for Tourists". Proof of this can be found in the newly published "Sweet Tea" magazine along with the rising real estate costs and overtly branded signs up and down Highway 98.
I keep reminding myself of Carl Hiassen's words, "nothing wrong with Florida that a Category 5 Hurricane couldn't cure".
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