House Presents Hurdle to Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress

The proposed Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress National Preserve took a hit — but it’s not over yet.

The National Park Service proposed a Wilderness Designation in approximately 150,000 acres of Big Cypress National Preserve, which would restrict access, including to areas currently used by Florida’s tribes, Gladesmen, hunters, photographers and others. 

By restricting vehicular access to these remote areas, as would be the case with the Wilderness Designation if approved by Congress, these areas of Big Cypress would become practically inaccessible to humans. 

The House of Representatives approved an appropriations bill in late July after Republican U.S. Representatives Scott Franklin and Byron Donalds added two lines that could prevent the Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress for at least one budget year. 

The bill provides Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations for the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and several related agencies. 

Franklin authored the language to the bill that if the National Park Service and the Department of Interior designate a portion of Big Cypress National Preserve as wilderness, their funding will be cut.

That passed the House of Representatives in late July. And will head to the Senate for approval when they convene in September.

The move will not necessarily prevent the Designation long-term, but it could at least delay it this budget cycle, until after the elections, legislators said. 

“This is a big win for Southwest Florida,” announced Donalds on social media following the approval by the House in July.

“It’s far from resolved,” said conservationist Mike Elfenbein, executive director of the Isaac Walton League of America Cypress Chapter, established in 1976 as a national conservation organization that is currently based in Estero, according to GuideStar. 

This could buy us some time until the next year, Elfenbein said.

Big Cypress National Preserve is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is the first national preserve. Meanwhile, the Wilderness Designation is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Advocates for the Wilderness Designation have included the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club and other members of the Everglades Coalition, which includes local, state and national conservation and environmental organizations. 

The Wilderness Designation is considered the most environmentally protective level available, advocates have said. 

Opponents, however, are concerned that lack of access would hinder environmental protection, particularly managing invasive species and prescribed burns. Elfenbein described the proposal as racist because it will foremost prevent Indigenous people from accessing burial and ceremonial grounds.

Opposition to the Wilderness Designation include the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida; the Seminole Tribe of Florida; Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott; Reps. Mario Diaz Balart and Scott Franklin; along with at least 15 other Florida members of Congress, including mostly Republicans and at least two Democrats.

“As we approach the 50th Anniversary of Big Cypress National Preserve, it's vital to protect this natural treasure for future generations. Any proposed wilderness designation threatens sacred sites and the way of life enjoyed by tribes and visitors,” Balart has said. 

The Native Organizers Alliance has announced several warnings against the designation. 

“The truth is the creation of national parks and the designation of wilderness areas has often resulted in the forced removal of Tribal Nations who lived there, causing direct harm to the ecosystems which they had been stewarding,” the NAO, led by executive director Judith Le Blanc of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, wrote in a prepared statement to Congress.

“The creation of Everglades National Park, for example, resulted in the forced removal of Miccosukee and Seminole traditional villages and the stealing of their 99,200-acre reservation. It is not the presence, or lack, of human habitation that defines the health of a landscape, but rather, it is the relationship of human beings with that land that determines the land’s fate,” NAO officials wrote. 

NPS publishing a 208-page Backcountry Access Plan in 2022 that is to be used to determine which parts of the Preserve, if any, should be proposed for wilderness designation by Congress. 

The NPS “proposes that Congress designate approximately 147,910 acres of land (25% of the original preserve and adjoining Western Addition) as wilderness. The proposal generally covers the areas known as Mullet Slough, Deep Lake, and the Loop Unit,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, the NPS has closed secondary trails throughout the Preserve and is establishing a permanent route for the Florida National Scenic Trail and other hiking opportunities, according to its website. 

Elfenbein, on behalf of Cypress IWLA, wrote to Congress urging their support of HR 8206, a bill introduced by Scott to ban the Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress. 

This is not the first time NPS attempted to establish a wilderness designation at Big Cypress, after attempting and failing in 2015. 

HR 8206 and S 4267 are proposed to prevent the NPS from ever attempting the wilderness designation at Big Cypress again.

Elfenbein also cited failures at Everglades National Park as an example when wilderness designation fails to protect the environment. 

The NPS estimates 300,000 acres of Everglades National Park are inundated with nonnative species and that the populations of native mammals and small fur-bearing animals have declined by as much as 98 percent, Elfenbein points out.

“The restrictions imposed by the wilderness status have allowed invasive species, such as the Burmese python, Argentine black and white tegu and various non-native plants to proliferate unchecked,” Elfenbein wrote in the June 28 letter to Congress.

South Florida Water Management District recently began the Western Everglades Restoration Project near Big Cypress and SFWMD leaders noted concerns that a wilderness designation could thwart their progress.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Florida Department of Environmental Protection leaders have expressed similar concerns. 

In contrast to opponents’ view, the National Parks Conservation Association has been a leading advocate for the designation, writing to Congress: "Everglades National Park is also a shining example of how prescribed fire, invasive species management and removal, and other science-supported ecological management techniques are successfully employed within this designated wilderness.”

The Miccosukee Tribe is at the forefront of negotiations to purchase property to prevent one of the greatest environmental hazards to Big Cypress National Preserve— oil drilling. Tribal members and their supporters advocate for the Tribe’s continued access to Big Cypress as the longest-standing environmental stewards of the area. 

Joy Beasley of the U.S. Department of Interior opposes HR 8206 and wrote that it is preemptive because the NPS has not yet proposed the Designation, despite the report where NPS does recommend it to Congress. She wrote that the Preserve was created in partnership with the Tribes to prevent a jetport at the time, 50 years ago. 

“The NPS remains committed to working with stakeholders, local and state officials, and Tribes—the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the Seminole Tribe of Florida—on all issues of concern within the Preserve,” Beasley wrote. 

Related legislation includes:

- HR 8206: A bill stating Big Cypress National Preserve may not be designated as wilderness or as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System sponsored by Rep. Scott C. Franklin (R-FL-18).

-S 4267: A bill to prohibit Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress National Preserve sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Naples).

Visit congress.gov to track bills and contact your representatives. 

The recently approved FY25 Appropriation Act, in addition to preventing Wilderness Designation at Big Cypress this budget year, reduced funding of the Environmental Protection Agency by 20 percent, among other provisions.