your tax dollars at work --- no where to ride

[Stewards]

Where does that leave the OHV community. This backs up what lisa was saying about the greenies.

Cabinet OKs purchase of Greenway project lands

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved the purchase of more than  1,580 acres as a part of the Wekiva-Ocala Greenway Florida Forever project.

The parcel of environmentally sensitive land spanning Orange and Lake Counties is the second of four properties identified for protection in the Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act signed into law by Bush in  2004. In 2005, the state placed a conservation easement over a first 1,553-acre parcel to help build the parkway while protecting springs, rivers and black bear habitat.

In 2004, the Florida Legislature approved the landmark Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act to build an expressway in Central Florida based on the recommendations of a task force appointed by Gov. Bush.

The Wekiva Parkway, which connects State Road 429 in  Apopka to Interstate 4 in Sanford, includes a host of environmental safeguards, including the preservation of nearly 10,000 acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat and elevating the road across
Environmentally sensitive areas.

The acquisition is an addition to the 76,700 acres Wekiva-Ocala Greenway, which when completed will form a continuous corridor linking several state parks and preserves with the Ocala National Forest. More than 45,000 acres are already in public ownership.

BUSH'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
About 1.2 million acres of land acquired for preservation.

Invested $2 billion of a committed $3.3 billion to be spent through 2010 on Everglades restoration.

Acquired more than 210,000 acres of land for Everglades restoration, including some 36,000 acres of man-made wetlands that clean water through natural marsh filters.

More than a million acres of farm land and natural areas converted to housing developments.

Development continues to encroach on the edge of the Everglades. Environmentalists say the region needs a buffer zone to maintain restoration efforts.

Passage of the 1999 Florida Forever Act to expedite land acquisition for conservation and preservation purposes.

Congress becomes 50-50 partner with the state on its $10.5 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, in 2000.

A 2003 amendment to the state's 1994 Everglades Forever Act that, among other things, extended by up to 10 years to 2016 some pollution cleanup requirements for the Everglades.

A $1.8 billion initiative called Acceler8 intended to quicken Everglades restoration adopted in 2004.

Last year, the Legislature approved the largest budget for environmental preservation in Florida history - more than $1 billion.

Passage of 2006 bill to purchase and protect Babcock Ranch, 74,000 acres of largely undeveloped land in southwest Florida. It was the largest-ever state purchase of land for environmental preservation.

[Stewards]

Land that was paid for by your tax dollars.

[lisa]

  I am so glad you brought up the Wakiva issue. The Nature Conservancy rep. on the Corridor Advocacy Group of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway works on the Environmental side of the Wakiva issue in Lake and Orange County. Just some more food for thought.

[lswjth2]

Hopefully, we can rally enough people after our get together, and have a HUGE PROTEST IN FRONT OF THE STATE CAPITAL. I still say we need a legal fund to start suing.Just my .02....