Peacock,Madison,and Troy to CLOSE!!!

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

The North Florida Springs Alliance(NFSA)is the citizen's support organization that partners with the state to support operations at Troy, Peacock and Madison Blue state parks. Many of you may recall that the NFSA just completed the interpretive trail at Peacock.

This Saturday the manager of Troy, Peacock and Madison Blue state parks will be attending our BoD meeting at Troy Springs at 3 PM. He will be in a position to answer questions about these proposed closures and will also be able to discuss with us how to effectively lobby for getting these 3 parks off of the list. Members and non members are encouraged to attend.

The NFSA has about 150 active members. There is strength in numbers and the more members we have the more lobbying influence we may have upon the decision makers in this park closure process. I'd like to encourage you to join if you have not already done so. Click on the link above and join using your PayPal account as shown on the webpage.

If we have specific actions to take such as letter writing, and e-mail campaign or whatever we can do to help influence this decision making process you can be confident that the BoD of the NFSA will actively pursue taking these steps and will make sure our membership is heard on this issue.



Jim Wyatt
Treasurer, NFSA

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

I'd like to see alot of parks off of that list!

 

[fireflock]

Washington Monument Syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'd like to see all parks off of that list!

fixed

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

fixed

yes, much better!

 

[karstdvr]

Everybody

Thanks for your support. Your voices have been heard,and we are here to respond to this issue.

We convened on Saturday and this was an opportunity to educate ourselves. The State of Florida has a several billion dollar short fall,and each agency has been required to perform an exercise for a 15% reduction in their budget. This same thing was done last year,with the same parks targeted,but nothing happened. This year is different in that even though the same budget cutting exercise was completed,there is a new administration that has the intent to address the fiscal crisis in Florida. So the alarm is ringing,is this a fire drill or the real thing? Nobody really knows,but it is prudent to assume the worst,and have a concerted effort to to make our preferences known.

The NFSA is dedicated 100% to addressing this issue and informing you of what is going on. We feel correspondence directed to certain levels of government will have the best effect from the cave diving community. In the days to come we will provide you with addresses,and some bullet points relevent to these parks,but right now we are awaiting some public information on park statisitics,so we ask you put your printers on a temporary stand by.

The NFSA will also educate the noncave diving community that would have a significant economic impact with these park closures aka "ripple effect",and solicit their support.

As stated earlier we thank you for your support,and the new members,because the larger our membership base, the bigger our voice is.

Sincerely
Kelly Jessop
President NFSA

 

[CamG]

Thank you Kelly, Jim and the other officers in the NFSA for leading this fight.
Please know that I will rally what troops I can up here in the north to join the fight.
I feel that the time to get on this is now and that the ripple of which you speak will be larger than anyone could expect.
We do not need any closures of diving parks but rather discuss other options for fund raising.
Thanks to all who are coming to the aid and support of the NFSA!
Lets make sure the voices of all its members get heard!

CamG Keep diving....keep training....Keep learning!

 

[BB1]

You might wamt to add in the lost revenue that would have been spent by visiting overseas divers coming to dive Florida caves.

I know there are divers coming from Australia in June and we are planning to come over next year. All were planning to dive Florida before carrying on to Mexico. If lots of sites get closed then we may just carry on straight to Mexico.

Might not be much but if it helps support the case to not close then worth it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

... and that doesn't just apply to foreign divers ... unless you consider places like Seattle to be a foreign country. So far all my dive trips have been to Florida. I will go back again and again to dive places like Madison and Peacock. But if they start closing them ... that money will probably go to Mexico ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tgsmith]

... and that doesn't just apply to foreign divers ... unless you consider places like Seattle to be a foreign country. So far all my dive trips have been to Florida. I will go back again and again to dive places like Madison and Peacock. But if they start closing them ... that money will probably go to Mexico ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Fortunately, Cow is my favorite cave, in addition to others that aren't state parks. I'll keep going to the Luraville area just to dive these other spots........BUT, if Peacock closes I think Bill and Cathy are going to take some MAJOR hits on their income, to the point that Wayne and EE might be the only shops in that area.