The Division of Forestry's Management Recommendations

Please take a look at David Holley's (Forester, Florida Division of Forestry) report which shows the management recommendations for the "silviculture" property adjacent to me. This report was prepared in October 2006 for our neighbors who had apparently filed for greenbelt property tax breaks for their residential properties. They were granted the breaks, as well as breaks for "wetlands" and "swamp" on their property taxes. The owner of the 5 acre parcel adjacent to mine pays property taxes based on only $1,000.00 land value (2008). In other words, little to nothing is paid in property taxes for this 5 acre parcel.

Page 2 of the report has some notes concerning the FDOF's recommendations concerning the wetlands they found during their inspection of the property. Their recommendations are that the wetlands be kept in their current condition, and that sounds like it means that one should not run a bulldozer through them. The wetlands are also indicated on the soil types map. It was amazing that Mr. Bruce Hill (DOF) sat at my dining room table and told me that the property was not wetlands (even through the US Fish and Wildlife says it is, the DEP says it is, and their own Forester said it is), that it was only wet because we had suffered 21 inches of rain prior to the bulldozing. The rain he is referring to happened at the end of May through the beginning of June 2009. The DOF bulldozed on April 24th, prior to any rain. Mr. Hill did admit that their bulldozers had "buggered" up the creek.

The names and addresses have been removed from the report only because we are still waiting for one piece of Public Records correspondence. As soon as that comes in, all will be revealed.

Wetlands Map

Isn't Google Earth a wonderful thing? Here's a captured image showing our wetlands. This data was obtained from the US Fish and Wildlife's National Wetlands Inventory metadata file, available for free download at their website. I have put a place marker showing where our creek is on our property. The creek flows from west to east, and was bulldozed by the Division of Forestry at the request of my neighbor. Now the creek has lost its normal west to east water flow since the bulldozer went north to south across it in at least one place, leaving behind a deep hole and a tall ridge of debris that the water cannot pass through.

No Wonder We're Having Wetlands Trouble!

I recently ran across this article posted at http:cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com and read it with great interest. No wonder we're having trouble getting anyone to help us with this wetlands mess! The Division of Forestry will not acknowledge any wrongdoing, the DEP has washed their hands of it and referred it on to the St. John's River Water Management District. I recently tried to obtain at least a copy of the DEP's investigative report. Apparently they never made one and will only write back that the case was referred to the SJRWMD to handle. Keep in mind, that no one obtained any permits to do this work in the wetlands, and certainly did not have MY permission! Enjoy Mr. Slavin's very interesting article...it certainly sheds some light on how things are done and who benefits! There are quite a number of other insightful articles so take a look at Clean Up City of St. Augustine's main page here.

Check out our WETLANDS DAMAGE photos on Flickr!

DOF Says "Very Little Damage" and Trees are "Worthless"!

Here are a few more photos of the damage done to our wetlands property during the Divison of Forestry's (DOF's) fire line construction that was provided to our neighbor as a free service.

This is one of the places the dozer got stuck.

It is hundreds of feet away from the creek and occured after four years of drought!

This was all done during the bulldozer's first pass. They weren't even actually plowing yet. The fire plow was raised the entire time. The neighbor told us the bulldozers would have to make at least two passes, followed by the actual plowing, harrowing, then grading. He also told us the fire line would be about 20' wide. This photo was taken in early August, over three months after the initial bulldozing. The debris is still there.

Here is where the bulldozer sank in the creek.

Once again, after four years of drought!

Imagine what the result would be after the plow were dropped and dragged through this wetlands. We're not sure yet if the DOF will follow through with any restoration of the area. They contend that they have done nothing wrong. They have told us to our face that they don't see any damage, that our trees are worthless, and that no one wants "those trees" anyway. The DOF will not acknowledge any wrongdoing in any way, including what has been done to the creek. The DEP washed their hands of it and turned it over to the St Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). The SJRWMD is not interested in imposing wetlands violations in connection to either the damage to the wetlands on the adjacent property, the bulldozing of the creek, or the damage we have suffered as a result of the DOF bulldozing on our property. The legal fees we have spent to hear these statements are approaching the $10,000.00 mark. This does not include costs we may incur for debris removal, restoration, and future damages as a result of root damage to adjacent trees. So far none of the agencies are willing to put their statements in writing.

DOF Damages Private Wetlands Property

It all began on a warm spring day in north eastern Florida. Friday April 24, 2009 to be exact. The Florida Division of Forestry (DOF) was starting construction of a fire line around the portion of our neighbor's property adjacent to our property. To make a long story short, the fire line was being constructed in wetlands, through a creek. The "protected" property is bordered on the East by acres of cleared land, on the South by a sixty-foot cleared easement with a road on it, on the North by largely cleared property, and on the West by my property (which is to say, my yard). We wondered why a fire line was needed here, why it would be built in wetlands, what damage might be done to the creek, and had other concerns as well. However, since it was the DOF doing the work, we assumed they were experts at it, knew what they were doing and how to do it, and would treat the area with the care and respect it deserves.

There are really several families, all related to each other that collectively own the properties to be firelined. We had spoken to one of them who was acting and speaking for the group.We asked to have the DOF come speak to us before beginning work to ensure that the property line was respected. We asked to have the fire line constructed away from the property line so as to preserve the roots of our trees. He said he would talk to them about it. We also reminded him that there is a creek back in those woods.

No one ever came to speak to us. The creek has been badly torn up - they got their very big bulldozers stuck in it so deep that mud was well over the dozer's treads. And the line was placed as close as possible to the property line. At one point, we saw that the dozer was on our property. I walked into the woods and personally talked to the operator telling him to stay off our property with his bulldozers. After that, they actually BULLDOZED OVER 200FEET OF FIRE LINE ON OUR PROPERTY AFTER BEING TOLD TO STAY OFF!!


The DOF as well as several other government agencies had previously determined that this area is wetlands. According to their own Best Management Practices (BMPs), the DOF should never have performed the work here in the manner they did; and they most certainly should have never BULLDOZED THE CREEK! Not to mention that they bulldozed over 200 feet of our property while miraculously leaving each and every property line marker standing untouched.

So far every organization, agency, and government office that is charged with the duty to oversee this type of situation, protect our vanishing wetlands, or uphold and enforce laws, ordinances, procedures, or anything else have been absolutely useless!

We hope that by posting this, we may bring to light the indifference, the disregard for the average, normal, working person and their property shown by the very government agencies who are supposed to protect us, our property, and protected/endangered environments.

In the near future, we will be posting video, public records documents, photos, and everything else we can that relates to this travesty. We will tell the entire story, with names, dates, places - all of it. And substantiate every word with proof.


Here are a few photos until we can get back with more.