Page 2 - Split Oak Forest News Today

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Thursday presented an update on the proposed mitigation package for the partial release of easements in Split Oak Forest.

The embittering controversy over Split Oak Forest is whether to allow a major highway to be built across its southern pinelands in exchange for a developer’s donation of hundreds of adjoining wildlands acres and a road builder’s contribution of millions of dollars for caretaking. This week, the longtime custodian of Split Oak Forest, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, ...

A judge will soon decide whether Orange County voters were "misled" with a referendum on a 2020 ballot.

It’s the latest page in the chapter of Split Oak Forest and the battle between Orange and Osceola counties.

A contentious dispute is brewing in Orange County as a developer seeks approval to construct a road through the cherished Split Oak Forest, a wilderness park. The proposal has sparked fervent opposition from local residents who vehemently oppose the toll road project.

Defenders of Split Oak Forest insist Orange County can’t agree to anything that harms the conservation land — arguing that should nix a plan for a toll road to slice across 60 acres of the preserve in neighboring Osceola County. More than two dozen Split Oak defenders, some holding signs that read “Save Split Oak” or “Land Swap = Trickery,” urged the board to fight the road and reject a ...

There was a time when Split Oak Forest would have been considered nothing special. Back then, Florida was sparsely populated by humans but teeming with an astounding abundance of wildlife roaming hundreds of millions of forested acres, more than 11,000 miles of pristine waterways and an uncountable number of lakes and springs. With every year, more humans arrived — first in a trickle, but ...

Orlando’s airport is trying to nullify protections for a large expanse of environmentally sensitive land its managers long ago promised to safeguard “forever.” The 1,100-acre tract that includes Mud Lake and wetlands is tightly surrounded by high profile and surging development. Airport officials claim its ecoystem value has been degraded, that it poses a risk to aircraft and that federal ...

A state wildlife panel on Tuesday faced newly emboldened opponents of a planned toll road through Split Oak Forest, and opted to postpone a vote that just weeks ago seemed likely to endorse the forest route. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission decided instead to let its executive director continue to negotiate with Osceola and Orange counties, who share ownership of the ...

Environmental advocates packed a meeting in Orlando Tuesday to tell Florida's Fish and Wildlife Commission they are strongly opposed to a extending a toll road through the Split Oak Forest.