http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/11/13/clearing-of-rare-south-florida-forest-begins-for-development-of-biotech-city/
The first two paragraphs read:
After ten years of opposition to state- and county-backed efforts to construct a biotech hub in Palm Beach County, Florida—where the rare Briger Forest currently stands—developers are now clearing land under suspicious circumstances. Since 2010, opponents of the “Scripps Phase II” project have cited the presence of gopher tortoises, rare native ferns, and other threatened and endangered species as reasons to stop the proposed development of the Briger Forest.
Despite these concerns, The Scripps Research Institute—a California-based biomedical company with a campus across the road from the threatened forest—are moving forward on their plans of expansion. Last week, members of the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition (PBCEC) and Everglades Earth First! (EEF!) discovered that Ranger Construction Industries had begun clearing a large segment of the southeastern portion of the Briger Forest.
Another paragraph of interest:
ReplyDelete" city staff were unable to locate a land clearing permit for the construction taking place. The following business day, when PBCEC members returned to City Hall, city staff were suddenly able to locate the permits, which—though dated 10/22/2014—seemed to have been hastily filled out the night before. Information missing from the permits included: Project Name, Project Address, APN, Subdivision, and Development. Not to mention that the “Total Square Footage” of the land clearing permit is listed as 0, despite the fact that hundreds of feet of forest have already been cleared."
This reminds a lot of the Tupper Lake controversy. Although the plans for the space is entirely different (an industrial/research oriented use of the land rather than recreational/vacation), I would argue that development in this area is incredibly damaging to the integrity of the natural space. I don't know much about Briger Forest, but from what I can tell (from the article), it seems like a spot that is worth more as a natural area than it will be as a developed research facility.
My questions for the writer of the article and/or for Scripps would be
a) Why are they developing in this area and not somewhere else?
b) Why is this wilderness space not better protected by the state if it has so many species of interest?