Dear Friend,
Located about 25 miles southeast of Orlando, the Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area was bought in 1994 by a coalition of Orange and Osceola counties and state agencies to protect the land from development.
There are now plans for a toll road to be built through the forest, but yesterday Orange County Commissioners stepped back from this idea, flipping their official position of support in a 6-1 vote.
This is a big deal, and is in large part to the grassroots advocacy of organizations like Friends of Split Oak and Save Split Oak. But the work isn’t over yet.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is the government agency that manages Split Oak. The agency also holds a conservation easement in the Osceola County portion of Split Oak and is a party to the Grant Award Agreement with Orange and Osceola Counties to the Florida Communities Trust (FCT).
On December 5th in Orlando, the FWC board will be considering releasing their easement and delegating further decisions regarding Split Oak to the Executive Director. This is seen by environmental advocates as a short-cut to help expedite the process of building a toll road and reduce the time for public comment. It should also be noted that the State Constitution places this decision on the FWC commissioners, not the Executive Director.
We need community members to attend this meeting, or at the very least submit a public comment. You can click here and select “Split Oak Forest and Wildlife and Environmental Area Conservation Easement Release” as the agenda item to comment on. Tell FWC that they should not release the easement, and to keep Split Oak Forest intact.
Thank you for taking action with us!
Onward,
Rep. Eskamani