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ParkNet-Biscayne |
A Fight Worth Fighting
The Florida Keys is one of the most famous and most visited
archipelagos in the world. Contrary to what many people think,
though, the Florida Keys do not begin at Key Largo. To the north
lie nearly 50 more keys (ancient coral reef islands) that are,
for the most part, undeveloped. The fight to protect these last
unspoiled Keys culminated over 30 years ago with the creation
of Biscayne National Park's predecessor, Biscayne National Monument.
During the early 1950s, an era of newfound prosperity, more
and more Americans were taking vacations and moving to Florida.
The Keys were a popular destination and property values soared.
Many people looked at the northernmost Keys, the ones bypassed
by Henry Flagler's railroad, and saw them languishing in the
limpid waters. They envisioned bridges, roads and buildings.
Several years later came a plan to dredge up 8,000 acres of bay
bottom to create a jetport. In 1961, 13 area landowners voted
unanimously to create the City of Islandia. Plans for Seadade,
a major industrial seaport, were announced in 1962. The proposal
called for the dredging of a 40-foot deep channel through the
Bay's clear, shallow waters. Dade County's "New Frontier"
was born, but it never grew beyond the toddler stage.
An initially small, but vocal, group of people had an entirely
different vision for these islands: a national park unlike any
other. This one would be covered by water, protecting not only
the islands but the bay to the west and the reef to the east
as well. It would provide a haven for wildlife and a respite
for people tired of cramped city life. The park's proponents
were not extraordinary in the usual sense of the word. They were
doctors and pilots, farmers and writers. They were people who
knew the area — people who understood new concepts like
ecology and environmental preservation.
The Hatfields and McCoys had nothing on the two feuding groups.
Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and fights broke out. Lloyd
Miller, president of the local Izaak Walton League, said that
the opposition poisoned his dog and tried to get him fired from
his job because of his support for the park idea. Slowly though,
support began to build. Juanita Greene's inspiring newspaper
stories in the Miami Herald helped accelerate the pace.
Hardy Matheson based his entire campaign for county commissioner
on the issue of establishing the park. Vacuum cleaner magnate
Herbert W. Hoover, Jr., who spent considerable time in the area
as a boy, brought legislators down from Washington for dramatic
blimp rides over the proposed park, convinced that anyone who
saw the place would be just as smitten with it as he was. By
early 1968, local and national support for a Biscayne National
Monument was at an all-time high.
Facing a ground swell of public opposition, landowners in
the city of Islandia brought in bulldozers in an attempt to despoil
the area. Dubbed "Spite Highway," the swath was six
lanes wide and seven miles long, right down the middle of Elliott
Key. Park proponents were not deterred. Congress, led by longtime
Representative Dante Fascell, created Biscayne National Monument
to protect "a rare combination of terrestrial, marine and
amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty."
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill on October 18, 1968.
That was over 30 years ago. Since then, a lot has changed.
Greater Miami has become a Latin American capital, with nearly
2.5 million residents and over 8 million annual visitors from
all over the world. The park has undergone several enlargements
and a name change. Spite Highway has grown in to an intimate
tunnel through a tropical hardwood forest, and serves as the
park's one and only hiking trail.
While the struggle to protect the park from current local
threats continues, some things have not changed. The northern
Keys are still untethered by roads and bridges. The shallow water
is still clear and beautiful. It is still a haven for wildlife
and a respite for weary urban dwellers. |