We’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop. In a Notice to Hikers dated 7/24/15, the Florida Trail Association announced that the section of the trail in the Big Bend blazed between the Suwannee River and the Aucilla River, 55 miles of trail known as San Pedro Bay and Econfina, or the Foley section, is now permanently closed to hiking.
Back in the springtime, the Foley Timber & Land Company announced their plans to sell 560,000 acres of land in Florida’s Big Bend. It was such an enormous amount of land to plop on the market that even the New York Times took note. On our reconnaissance trips in the Big Bend this spring, we noted brand new hunting lease signs popping up at the trail access points.
Until they find a buyer that will take on this enormous mosaic of planted pines and swamp forest – and that buyer will more than likely be a developer, since who else can afford half a million acres? – the land is divvied up into hunting leases where hunting clubs can do as they please regardless of hunting seasons. So hiking through this section was already a dicey proposition.
Unfortunately, there are no alternative trail corridors, according to the Florida Trail Association. That’s because there is a lack of public land in this area. That’ll happen when one company owns most of the region. It would be nice to think a benefactor could purchase a 55-mile corridor for the trail from that half million acres, but with the current political climate, it’s mighty unlikely.
The Florida Trail Association has posted a suggested roadwalk on their website. It’s mostly on not-so-busy roads. SEE THE DETAILS.
Before hiking season commences, we’ll take a look at the route and offer suggestions for water sources, camping, and resupply. Meanwhile, please factor this big change into your plans for thru or section-hiking the Florida Trail, as a new protected trail route won’t be in place in the foreseeable future.
This comment was emailed to us after it could not be posted properly:
In the statement “the land is divvied up into hunting leases where hunting clubs can do as they please regardless of hunting seasons” – perhaps I am being sensitive as a hunter (who is also an FTA active member), but I sense the usual “hunters are bad” or “hunters are crazy with their guns” undertone.
The reality is, we all “do as [we] please regardless of____” within the bounds of the law on our properties.
Hunters hike while hunting. Before I began hunting, I hiked, biked, and paddled throughout forests and WMAs, regardless of the season (usually without orange).
I would just like to challenge members of one recreational group to be more open minded about other recreational outdoors people. We are all out there doing the same thing – loving the backcountry, the wilds, appreciating the beauty, the solitude, our roots as a species.
There are irresponsible idiots in every walk of life that give bad names to the groups as a whole. I hope you will reflect with a more positive language in future articles a respect for hunters and fishermen/women who have done/paid the lion’s share of conservation efforts that we all enjoy.
Regards,
Shawn Beightol
member Big Cypress Chapter, FTA
We emailed a personal reply to Shawn on this matter. Here’s the most important excerpt:
I respect hunting and think hunters are an important force for conservation. My comment was not meant to disparage, but to point out the fact that there have been conflicts in this area recently, specifically the hunt clubs purchasing leases and not knowing the Florida Trail is on their lease, then telling hikers that they are trespassing. This happened this hiking season. Hikers know to wear blaze orange through this area since indeed, hunting on private leases can occur year-round.
I’d love to see FTA work with more hunting clubs – in fact, I wrote an article on that subject back in May that is supposed to appear in the next Footprint. But in this case, with the land up for sale, abandoning the route was the easier choice.