Help us keep Peacock, Madison & Troy OPEN!!

[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

[Tegg]

date of the BoD meeting would be nice...

*nvm... "this saturday" should have been a clue...

[Squirrel Girl]

I am kinda busy these days (what's new?). But I completely will write a letter and explain how far I travel and how much I've used these parks and how much money comes to FL by cave divers traveling there.

It would be nice if someone (hint, hint) will post where I can find through all the (justified) b*tching posts where I send the letters. I'm too busy to wade through everything.

[OFG-1]

I am kinda busy these days (what's new?). But I completely will write a letter and explain how far I travel and how much I've used these parks and how much money comes to FL by cave divers traveling there.

It would be nice if someone (hint, hint) will post where I can find through all the (justified) b*tching posts where I send the letters. I'm too busy to wade through everything.

These are lists of both the Florida house and senate committees. I assume that appropriations will write the final spending bills. The Gov. has until Feb 8th to submit a proposed budget.

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sectio...ommittees.aspx

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/i...TOKEN=10054662

[Steve Thacker]

We will be up there diving Little River on Saturday and will move over in the afternoon for the meeting. Thanks Jim.

[mag3]

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

Jim - Be sure to let us "out of state" NFSA members know what we can do to support your efforts. My MS-Word program stands ready...

I definitely like Pete's (superlyte27) idea of pass holders dropping a daily attendance slip into the iron ranger... so simple and effective...

[Parolles]

I have a good friend who works for a state representative on the Ag & Natural Resources Appropriations Committee. I know they are aware of this situation. I don't really understand state government well enough to know how much power this one representative would have here, but I'd be happy to pass along anything you think might be helpful. I already gave her a few paragraphs about how much foreign and out-of-state tourism Peacock in particular brings into the state.

[Skorpiov]

As was mentioned by someone on the thread started by Kelly J, those of us from out of state have a quandry. It costs me about the same to fly from Houston to Coz as it does to fly to FL. They are going to tip the scale for many divers that don't live in the FL area.

[xylix]

I just donated to the cause. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

I received my intro to cave a few months ago and have already spent a bunch of money travelling down to Florida, staying at the local hotels, eating at the local restaurants, and buying equipment at the local shops. My buddy and I are heading down again in February and had planned on making it a regular thing. It’s hard to believe that they can’t see the bigger picture with closing down these parks. We’ll all just end up spending our money elsewhere.

I'd happily pay more that $4 to dive Peacock if that helps with the State's budget.

[metaldector]

Is there a link to the list of proposed State Parks affected in the proposal? My local news media mentions a local park but not the complete listing.