Logging on the Key

Even though logging companies need a forest renewal plan to get the permit that requires them to replant within three years, some have found a loophole where they purchase the land, clear it with a permit from DNR, then go to the county to get the property use changed and then resell it without doing the forest renewal plan and leaving behind a mess for the people of the Key Peninsula to deal with. The companies who are doing a lot of the clear-cutting on the Key Peninsula do not care about what is happening here, they are only looking to profit.

This is happening in my neighborhood right now and I have talked with the DNR. The gentleman who was hired to cut down the trees was the one who informed me that the companies are sending out letters to landowners on the Key who have timber on their land to see if they will sell. The property in my neighborhood wasn't even for sale, and now they have started putting in the septic and well. I guess they went to the county and had it changed, even though their permit with DNR said they were going to replant.

I understand that this can work well for the selling landowner, but not for life on the Key.

Emme McAbee

Lakebay