Friends of Camp Helen State Park aim to save Lake Powell land parcel from development

November 8, 2021

On October 29, 2021, the Friends of Camp Helen State Park received a letter from the owner of the 44-acre property bordering Lake Powell to the East of the park indicating a willing seller. In order for the state to move forward with the Florida Forever purchase, the Acquisition & Restoration Council (ARC) will have to rank it in a fundable position when they meet in December.

Lake Powell, a Florida Outstanding Waterway and the largest Coastal Dune Lake in the Northern Hemisphere, is known for its immense biodiversity and exceptional recreational value. Coastal Dune Lakes are rare in the world. Lake Powell dates back to the Pleistocene Era and today it retains evidence of its cultural and historical significance – Indigenous Peoples, Civil War saltworks, shipwrecks and retreats. Due to an outfall that is open intermittently to the Gulf of Mexico, the lake is a brackish mix of fresh and salt water with a dynamic and ever-changing landscape.

The Lake Powell community is passionately active and vocal when called upon for opportunities to preserve and conserve – as evidenced by huge attendance during the annual Lake Powell Clean-up, and overwhelming public attendance to public events held at Camp Helen. This is the last piece of undeveloped land on Lake Powell. The Friends of Camp Helen need the community’s help writing letters of support to the ARC. The last line of every letter should read: Please rank this Lake Powell property in a fundable position during the December 2021 ARC meeting. Email templates are available on Facebook in the public group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/4836572536353276 or here: https://www.facebook.com/lake.powell.96/posts/4889910497686105, or write directly to:

SEND TO:
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (Chair)
Mara Gambineri, Deputy Secretary for Land and Recreation
3900 Commonwealth Blvd., M.S. 144
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3000
850-245-2044
mara.gambineri@FloridaDEP.gov

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Thomas Eason, Ph.D., Assistant Executive Director
Designee for Executive Director Eric Sutton
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600
850-487-3796
thomas.eason@myfwc.com

Florida Forest Service
Erin Albury, Director
3125 Conner Boulevard, Room 228
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650
850-681-5800
Erin.Albury@FDACS.gov

Florida Division of Historical Resources
Tim Parsons, Ph.D., RPA, Director
500 South Bronough Street, M.S. 4
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250
850-245-6306
timothy.parsons@dos.myflorida.com

Lynetta Usher Griner, Vice Chair (Florida Forest Service)
Griner Usher Land & Timber, Inc.
P.O. Box 1819
Chiefland, Florida 32644
352-493-4221 or 352-493-2568
usherlt@bellsouth.net

Bill Palmer, Ph.D., President (Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy
13093 Henry Beadel Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32312
850-893-4153 x226
bill@ttrs.org

Elva Peppers, President
Florida Environmental and Land Services, Inc.
221-4 Delta Court
Tallahassee, Florida 32303
850-385-6255
elvapeppers@felsi.org
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