Development and Habitat Loss in Florida

Development and Habitat Loss in Florida

This article relates to Absolution

In August 2024, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) (under direction from the governor) proposed to clear land in nine state parks to make room for tourist-friendly developments—pickleball courts, golf courses, lodges, etc. Called the 2024-2025 Great Outdoors Initiative, it was anything but great. Here's just one example of why from Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades:

"Fertilizer runoff is a major problem throughout the state. So, when you apply fertilizer through turf – as is present on golf courses – it creates run off to waterways and that's what leads to the toxic algae blooms that we've seen in years past on the Treasure Coast."

Luckily, through the diligent efforts of Floridians sending letters, calling, and protesting, the proposal was dropped—for now. But this is just one of the many potential and already realized development plans threatening the state's natural landscape.

A resident of the Florida panhandle, Jeff VanderMeer infuses his "eco-horror" Southern Reach series with these concerns. VanderMeer isn't a fan of didactic fiction, so he never tackles climate change directly. His characters and their actions, however—their prodding, and how the environment naturally reacts to their presence—say a lot implicitly. In the fourth book of the series, Absolution, he allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. Its first story could easily be read as a cautionary tale against interfering with an environment's inherent structure, showing what happens when you violate what's not yours to begin with.

For a series intrinsically linked with the environment, and for Jeff VanderMeer himself, it makes sense to explore these themes: his daily hikes at St. Marks Wildlife Refuge inspired Area X, the series' main setting. St. Marks was one of the state parks on the FDEP's list for development in August 2024.

Florida is the third most populated state in the US, and the number of new residents has skyrocketed in the last decade. Citrus groves and other agricultural land have been sold off to housing developers, with human growth taking precedence over the environment. National Geographic explains that in Florida, "more than two hundred thousand acres—roughly the size of New York City—that are currently devoted to fruit and vegetable production are at risk of conversion to other uses by 2070…In the United States, it's one of the only places producing fresh fruits and vegetables in wintertime to supply the whole nation." Land containing cattle pastures and nurseries is threatened as well.

Another concern is habitat loss for keystone species like the gopher tortoise. According to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, "Many other species in the ecosystem rely on gopher tortoises to survive...The gopher tortoises also help the ecosystem by grazing on low-growing plants and passing the seeds, distributing them to different locations." The Florida panther is also on the brink of extinction, with only around 200 left in the wild.

But while humans can hurt the environment, we also have the power to protect it. This happened in August and it happened in 2023 when the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife (CCFW) launched a campaign to encourage volunteers to dig "starter burrows" in their yards to provide help for the burrowing owl, whose habitat is threatened by construction.

Once a natural place is seen as prime real estate, how long until it is barren of anything beyond concrete and metal? It's worth noting that in VanderMeer's Area X, the more humans poke and prod, the more nature retaliates.

Gopher tortoise crossing sign in Sanibel Island, Florida, courtesy of Jean-Lou Justine, CC BY-SA 4.0

Filed under Nature and the Environment

This "beyond the book article" relates to Absolution. It originally ran in November 2024 and has been updated for the October 2025 paperback edition. Go to magazine.