Bear hunt, land swaps, electric rates: Florida’s environmental year in review

Guana River land swap

It started out quietly but opposition grew quickly and got loud.

The Upland LLC in May pitched the idea of a land swap in an application to the Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC), a state panel that, among other things, evaluates, selects, and ranks state land acquisition projects and evaluates proposed uses of state-owned conservation land.

The state would exchange roughly 600 acres in the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in St. Johns County to the developer. In return, the state would get more than 3,000 acres of land across four parcels scattered across Lafayette, Volusia, Osceola, and St. Johns counties.

The state parcel, managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, includes a pedestrian trail and is accessible to the public for waterfowl hunting, fishing, paddling, and wildlife viewing. It contains flatwoods, salt and freshwater marshes, wet flatwoods, wet and dry hammock, and scrub. Threatened gopher tortoises and Eastern indigo snakes inhabit the area, according to the application. 

The land swap, agreed to by the FWC, was quickly included on the May 21 ARC meeting agenda. That gave the public just one week’s notice to oppose the proposal.

But it was enough.

Conservation and environmental groups swung into action and St. Johns County residents who opposed the deal circulated a petition. The proposal transcended local politics though, with state and even national leaders coming out against it.

“Guana Preserve and its beauty, familiarity and serenity is woven into the fabric of our communities and is, indeed, a treasure in northeast Florida. To allow — even enable — this land grab to occur is outrageous and completely contrary to what our community desires. Elected and appointed leaders should vote against this development wolf in sheep’s clothing and preserve this extraordinary natural bounty,” President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told The Tributary. 

Florida Republican U.S. and gubernatorial hopeful Byron Donalds posted on X, “I stand with the residents of St. Johns County: Guana Preserve is NOT for sale.”

One day before the ARC meeting, Upland pulled its proposal from the agenda.

Gov. Ron DeSantis denied any personal role in the proposed land swap.

FPL rate increases

The public community came in high in February, asking for a near-$10 billion rate increase for its customers over the next four years. Critics argue that Florida Power & Light also settled high, getting approval in November from Public Service Commission members to increase rates by about $6.9 billion.

Opponents claim it’s the largest utility rate hike in U.S. history.

FPL is the state’s largest utility with approximately six million accounts and about 12 million customers. FPL’s parent company, NextEra Energy, is Florida-based and publicly traded. 

The five-member PSC holds regulatory authority over rates charged for electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater. The governor appoints PSC members from a list of candidates recommended by the Public Service Commission Nominating Council.

The months-long debate over the proposed rate hikes could impel the Legislature to change how the PSC operates. Crestview Republican Sen. Don Gaetz pushed for changes during the 2025 session, filing SB 354, but found no support in the House.

Not dissuaded, Gaetz in October filed SB 126, which already has been approved by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government.

Building back better banned under SB 180

Pinellas County Republican Sen. Nick DiCeglie says the goal of 2025’s SB 180 was to streamline restoration and improve emergency response coordination following major hurricanes.

But the controversial legislation is the subject of two lawsuits.

Twenty-five local governments have filed in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County, arguing the new law unconstitutionally infringes on their authority to govern their day-to-day operations.

The second suit was filed by 1000 Friends of Florida and east Orange County resident Rachel Hildebrand, also in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County.

Specifically, SB 180 retroactively prevents cities and counties listed in federal disaster declarations for Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton from adopting tougher development rules until October 2027. 

The ban could extend beyond 2027, though. Another section of the law allows a similar one-year ban to take effect anytime a local government is listed in a federal disaster declaration and lies within 100 miles of a hurricane’s path.

Signed into law by Gov Ron DeSantis on June 30, SB 180 gives “any person” standing to sue a local government’s amendment, regulation, or development order and, if successful, to receive their attorney fees.

Local governments have 14 days to repeal any restriction that draws a legal challenge. If a municipality declines, the lawsuit can be filed.

DeSantis defended the legislation, telling reporters over the summer that it gives homeowners battered by hurricanes the ability to rebuild their homes according to pre-storm building codes.

“They want to go out and restore their home to what it was like before the storm hits, and the local governments are telling them, ‘You can’t do it. You gotta do something else,’” DeSantis said. “What right do they have to tell you that you can’t rebuild your home? This isn’t California. This is Florida.”

Destin land purchase

A piece of land in Destin made headlines this year after the state paid the landowner, a political donor, 10 times more for it than the owner purchased it for nearly 10 years ago. 

In September, the governor and Cabinet voted to purchase about four acres in Destin without a state-sponsored assessment. Instead, they relied on an appraisal conducted by the seller. 

The previous landowner purchased the land for about $8 million in 2016 and 2017. The governor and Cabinet purchased it from the landowner for more than $80 million. 

The land was previously owned by two LLCs, operated by a Louisiana businessman with a history of contributing to Florida politicians, including those locally in Destin. 

The Legislature, in a last-second budget proposal, made room for the deal. The language lawmakers approved allowed the state to create a park in Okaloosa County without requiring an appraisal.

Legislative Democrats, in announcing their 2026 session agenda, included a bill asking the state to investigate the deal. 

Everglades restoration

This year, the state completed a reservoir on the Caloosahatchee River, a key prevention measure against toxic algae blooms. The project represented a major milestone in Everglades restoration, something the state has focused on for decades. 

The state budget for the current fiscal year, DeSantis’ second-to-last before term limiting out of office, provides $1.3 billion for protection and restoration in the Everglades, a major increase from the previous year. Of that, approximately $800 million is for restoration.

DeSantis asked President Donald Trump early in the year for permission to finish the long-going Everglades restoration project by itself, maintaining federal funding through block grants. 

In July, DeSantis’ administration signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate restoration efforts. His office says the agreement will accelerate the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir construction timeline by five years, putting its completion date in 2029.

Those are some of the bright points of 2025 when it comes to the Florida Everglades.

But when the state opened a 3,000-bed immigrant holding facility in the Everglades, environmental groups, worried that state may not have followed federal environmental regulations and concerned that the project could harm the unique ecosystem, sued the state.

The Everglades facility, built of tents and temporary infrastructure, has been the subject of political debate, the Democrats decrying it and the GOP fundraising off of it. 

It was built at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, advertised with the promise of using wild alligators as a deterrent to escape.

A judge called for the facility to close by the time September ended, but a federal appellate panel reversed that.

“He can’t claim to be the Everglades governor on one hand, and then plunk down this mass facility in the heart of the Everglades on the other hand,” attorney Tania Galloni, representing Friends of the Everglades, said in a phone interview with Florida Phoenix earlier this year.