We love it when we can say something good about the DEP. Land purchase for conservation is probably the best thing the DEP does for our planet.
For the 2021-2022 proposed statewide water quality projects, of the nearly $134 million for agriculture & land acquisition (it was all land acquisition) the State allocated 4.1% of this although agriculture statewide accounted for 70.3% of nitrate pollution. Very disproportionate.
So none of the funds go toward reducing the main source of our nitrate pollution which is agricultural fertilizer. Wastewater, septics and urban fertilizer are separate categories.
So, when seen in its perspective, this is a pittance and goes nowhere toward switching to sustainable farming. Florida is not planning for the future and if we don’t change we are heading toward disaster.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
DEP Acquires 3,600 Acres in Santa Rosa County for the Blackwater River State Forest
|