We've had enough!

Who could have guessed that South Florida's swamps would become the staging ground for what is shaping up to be the biggest battle for property rights this country has ever seen? The immediate target is the CERP – the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The bigger target is The Wildlands Project, but the real target is the basis on which land-use management regulations are formulated.

Land-management policy, once the exclusive domain of local elected officials, has been hijacked by environmental ideologues who have devised a new "collaborative" decision process to advance their conservation objectives, leaving the regulated community with no one to hold accountable at the ballot box.

When government agencies began condemning land, flooding farms, forcing conservation easements and, in general, displacing private land owners to make way for the Everglades Restoration Plan, the people most affected got together and decided that "we've had enough."

Some of these folks were not even aware that they are simply the latest victims of a national program to transform America into what is described as The Wildlands Project – an effort to convert "at least half" of America's land area into wilderness, off limits to humans, and put most of the remaining land under strict government control.

The people who live in the Klamath Basin know lots about The Wildlands Project. Federal agencies and environmental organizations used the Endangered Species Act as an excuse to shut off water to 1,400 farm families in an effort to force the land owners off their land.

The people in Ohio's proposed Darby Refuge area know lots about The Wildlands Project. The Nature Conservancy, and other environmental organizations attempted to drive out private land owners from nearly 50,000 acres of prime farmland to create a wildlife refuge.

All across the country, communities are facing the same kind of transformation, forcing private land owners off their land, to expand wilderness areas, corridors, or buffer zones – consistent with the objectives of The Wildlands Project.

In official parlance, The Wildlands Project is known as "ecosystem management," and "sustainable development." Scores of different techniques are used to slowly tighten government's grip on land use, either by outright acquisition of private land, purchase of development rights, conservation easements, zoning restrictions or in-your-face regulatory control.

For years, property-rights groups have been waging almost futile battles at the local and state levels. Several of these groups met in Alamogordo, N.M., in May to begin to develop a national strategy to combat the erosion of property rights, and stop the relentless spread of The Wildlands Project.

Jay Walley, of the Paragon Foundation, one of the sponsors of the Alamogordo meeting, met with several grassroots organizations in South Florida on June 29. These organizations are joining forces to create a statewide coalition of organizations, which will be supported by hundreds of organizations from all across America.

The Freedom 21 Campaign, meeting in Nashville, Tenn., on July 19-20, will refine the plans that were launched at Alamogordo. Among the issues to be addressed, is a strategy to stop the transformation of America into the wilderness vision presented by The Wildlands Project.

Early ideas favor revival of the "caravans" that brought thousands of people from across America to Klamath Basin, and to the Darby, to insist that government get out of the way and let the people live their own lives. A few weeks before the November elections, caravans from every corner of the country could converge in the swamps of Florida, bringing thousands of people not only to demonstrate solidarity with the Everglades victims, but to coordinate political strategies designed to bring land-use abuses to a screeching halt.

Throughout the summer, thousands of people are mobilizing to see that candidates are informed, and forced to declare their position on The Wildlands Project, and other measures that erode private-property rights.

The national grassroots plan of action is not limited to the Everglades, but is being constructed to address similar issues in every community. No longer will the environmental organizations go unchallenged. No longer will so-called "stakeholder" councils be dominated by professional environmental-organization employees and government-agency officials. No longer will the affected land owners be the last to know what others have planned for their land.

Collectively, the people of America are saying "we've had enough!" And their voices may be heard the loudest, echoing through the swamps of South Florida.

Summer, if you have not YET become a victim of the land grabbers, then I can see how you would think that Henry might be exaggerating. However, I can assure you he is NOT!

This is just another story that needs to be told and we need to rally to help them. Generally the land grabs affect a few hundred or less folks in areas that are so remote their stories are never told.....my area was such, until we determined to get it told and get national attention! Thus things are changing, but the war is far from over!

Please understand that Henry is in noway over inflating any of these stories.....he does not have too!

This is just another story that needs to be told and we need to rally to help them.

countrydummy, I am sympathetic to any person who loses his or her home or land for whatever reason. But, I think Henry Lamb, as I have said before, presents an extremely lo-sided view of the FL situation, and specifically, the Everglades Restoration. Briefly, here is how I see it, and I know, how others who side with Lamb see it:

(1) Those who side with Lamb believe there is no ecological value whatsoever in the Everglades Restoration project led by Gov Bush and GW. I strongly disagree. Fl has suffered from droughts in the past. The restoration will do much to solve this severe problem, and increase the water supply for So. FL. Both of these concerns of mine can not be narrowly categorized as the concerns of an "enviro nazi" -- I believe humans need water. If Henry Lamb has evidence to the contrary, let him write about that evidence first, before he inflames people who do not know nor understand the benefits of this restoration project.

(2) Those who side with Lamb believe the government never has any right to own property for the public good, and if some had their way, they would privatize NYC's Central Park. I disagree. Sometimes the govt does have a right to take land for the public good, and Central Park is one example of that, as otherwise, humans would be living in nothing but concrete. If a person who wants to to enjoy the sight of tree in the middle of nothing but concrete is an "enviro nazi" then put me down as one. The Everglades Restoration is another example of a necessary taking of land.

(3) Those who side with Lamb do not seem to have any knowledge of How To Buy Real Estate. They think the land they bought in Golden Gate is worth a fortune, and so the taking of any property by the gov is extremely unfair. I would say: They made a huge mistake buying in Golden Gate, because that land will never be worth much due to its location, and some people in Golden Gate should be celebrating that they will be paid whatever it is they eventually get as "just compensation" from the gov -- because no one else will pay them that much. So, Henry lamb is whipping up a lot of hate from people who did not know how to invest in real estate. Good for Henry Lamb. Always helpful to inflame people. Especially in an election year.

(4) Those who side with Henry Lamb with respect to the FL situation may be doing so because they are genuinely afraid that they will not be able to afford to relocate nearby. I share that concern. I do not want people tossed off their land or home and becoming homeless. Perhaps Gov. Bush can work out some sort of private-public partnership with one of his many developer friends, so that these FL people who lose their land to the Everglades Restoration will get a break and be able to relocate someplace nearby -- and affordable. Maybe that is possible. Maybe not. I don't know. But, it would not bother me if the government helped out these people in some unique way that does not come off as a hand-out, because goodness knows, that would inflame more people.

GW has previously issued statements from the White House on the importance of this Everglades Restoration project and what it will mean to FL communities. I honestly some people, including Henry Lamb and those who side with him, are genuinely unaware of the benefits of this project in terms of water restoration. Something all humans need.

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