Florida Manatees (ZooTampa) MARION COUNTY, Fla. - The Ocala National Forest is home to several bucolic, crystal-clear freshwater springs that serv
MARION COUNTY, Fla. – The Ocala National Forest is home to several bucolic, crystal-clear freshwater springs that serve as destinations for outdoor enthusiasts and tourists and source of beauty, recreation, and pride for nearby residents.
But now some residents of eastern Marion County are concerned that federal forest managers under President Joe Biden may seek to seize their land to create an impenetrable ecofriendly buffer around the springs.
According to the conservative website PJ Media, the U.S. Forest Service “has found a new method of displacing defenseless homeowners.”
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The hub of the story is Salt Springs, an 8,000-person community in northeast Marion County about 30 miles from Ocala.
PJ Media cited comments by Leigh Garrick, a Salt Springs resident, who said she was told by the Forest Service, “People in Salt Springs better start selling their homes now because prices will plummet when the springs close in January of 2025.”
“Word spread in January that American Land and Leisure, which manages the Salt Springs recreation area in Florida, was informed by the U.S. Forest Service that their contract to lease the area would not be renewed, with no official explanation for the eviction being given thus far,” the outlet reported.
The outlet reported that the Forest Service plans to make the springs only accessible to light paddle craft, making the entire park a manatee refuge.
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“If true, this means that all residents living on the resort grounds have only months to sell their homes and move or face evictions at a financial loss,” the website added. “The attempted destruction of a local tourist area and the community that supports it without any explanation is a major red flag, say locals who are upset at this act of government overreach.”
Upset residents filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get answers they did not receive personally from officials. The response they received last month included a list of federal statutes explaining why the Forest Service was exempt from answering their questions.
One question the feds did answer is that there was no report or document to explain why the springs would be closed.
“If no report exists, then you’re telling me that you basically make arbitrary decisions at the USDA [which oversees the Forest Service] and that you don’t do any due diligence,” resident James Dewar told PJ Media.
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The website noted that County Commissioner Carl Zalak, a staunch anti-Biden Republican, told residents that the Forest Service was not going to “close the recreation area but were only banning swimming, boating, camping, and RVs, rendering it practically unusable.”
Which, in a way, supports the residents’ claims that only paddle craft would be allowed in the area.
As PJ Media noted, “According to the law, frightening homeowners about imminent government decrees to threaten their nest eggs used to be known as ‘blockbusting.’ This might be time to lawyer up.”
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