Walton County's "Leave No Trace" Program

I just read this post on another thread, and was wondering the same thing!

Here we go again- another round of crap on the beach, nobody picking it up, arguing over the rules....:bang:

I moved this post to a new thread.

Here is some reference - http://www.sowal.com/bb/local-gover...ave-no-trace-modified-ordinance-approved.html

Oh I so 100% agree!!!! When I think of ways to change our habits I start with the fact that people can't even follow the rules of the beach. PICK YOUR CRAP UP! Ugh.

Even if there wasn't one single turtle out there we should still have enough respect to leave our beautiful beaches better than we found them (old scout saying)

I will call TODAY and ask that the laws we currently have start being strictly enforced.

Great thread!

I know all of us are concerned about the spill and believe me, I appreciate the natural beauty of So. Walton daily and it is my home. Having said that, why isn't the County picking up items on the beach anymore that are left overnight? It is turtle season and as usual, there is no cooperation from our County to protect our beautiful beach from man made laziness. Has anyone viewed our beach early in the AM? It is a mess and I would think we would want to protect the turtles even more now since their numbers will obviously be down due to the oil out there. My friend who is a turtle walker called the TDC and she was told to call Code because TDC wasn't picking up anymore. She called Code and Code told her to call the TDC and round and round it went until she found out no one was picking up this year. Why do they start picking up mid way through the season and then "drop the ball" every year? Can anyone out there explain this to me?

Okay. The voicemail is broke at the annex, parts are ordered. They have one employee doing LNT, he covers 26 miles of beach. Do the math. He starts at 6AM and works to 2:30. I understand does some weekend work also.

As for the misinformation on who to call, if you have an actual name(s) and email it to me, I will get it to the right people and make sure that the correct information is given in the future.

wrobert please list an email to who we contact about this huge problem. The laws must be enforced or its tent city.

There will be no email address to reply to. There used to be a list of email addresses in the Walton Sun for a lot of county officials but that hasn't been the case in a long, long time. They got tired of all the email about the same issues. And that was their lack of enforcement for just about everything! I think last year that list was published but no email addresses were available. My friend was finally told that no one was picking up. It's obvious with only one person taking care of 26 miles of beach that the county has no interest in clearing the beach and enforcing the Beach Ordinance. One person couldn't handle one city block with all the crap that is left on our beach. If we don't respect the beach by enforcing the Beach Ordinance, how can we expect others to respect it?

wrobert please list an email to who we contact about this huge problem. The laws must be enforced or its tent city.

Walton County, FL - Home Page - Commissioners


Scott Brannon
415 Highway 20 East
Freeport, FL 32439
(850) 835-4860
Fax (850) 835-4836
brascott@co.walton.fl.us

Kenneth Pridgen
17400 State Highway 83
North DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433
(850) 834-6328
Fax (850) 834-6385
prikenneth@co.walton.fl.us

Larry Jones
1483 County Highway 1087
DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433
(850) 892-8474Fax
(850) 892-8475
jonlarry@co.walton.fl.us

Sara Comander
417 Highway 20
West Freeport, FL 32439
(850) 835-4834
Fax (850) 835-0295
comsara@co.walton.fl.us

Cecilia Jones
70 Logan Lane
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459
(850) 231-2978
Fax (850) 231-3872
mailto:ljoncecilia@co.walton.fl.us

First let me say that Walton County government and businesses have a lot on their plate right now and it's understandable that "Leave No Trace" might take a back seat for awhile.

But that aside, we all enjoy being called a clean "Blue Wave Beach" don't we?
Clean Beaches Council - Beaches

7 Blue Wave Ethics

1. Leave no trace (what you carry in, carry out)
2. Move your body (walk, run or swim)
3. Don’t tread the dunes (use a walkover or walk-thru)
4. Know your limits (swim, surf and boat safely)
5. You are what you eat (eat healthy seafood)
6. Feed your mind. (read a book)
7. Respect the Ocean (riptides, storms)

Note number one on the list. Seems to me without a "Leave No Trace" enforcement then we don't deserve to be certified as a "Blue Wave Beach". The ordinance alone without enforcement is not sufficient.

I think the only way to make it known that nothing is allowed to be left on our beaches is to hire a contractor to enforce heavily for a few years, mostly in the spring and the beginning of summer. Unfortunately this is going to add to vehicle traffic on the beach, and even though it would mostly be early AM, we have too many tire ruts on the beaches now.

Enforcement needs to be combined with a no nonsense message to visitors, rental owners, and agents - "remove it or lose it".

Firm enforcement is not going to be agreeable to everyone because it will make some visitors unhappy, and some here worry that we would be seen as a little unfriendly. But if we kindly and firmly explain it is our way, it will be seen as proper, and in the long run will be seen as wise. Every beach community has to go through this as they grow.

We've already seen some incidents of private citizens taking matters into their own hands and removing or destroying items. Without proper enforcement, we will probably see more of these incidents, and that will be more damaging to our reputation than official enforcement.

Some visitors think it is their right, and it has even become their tradition to set up camp on our beaches during the duration of their visit. That, combined with easier and cheaper access to chairs, tents, toys, etc. means it gets worse and worse every year. We should put our foot down now.

_______

I just sent an email to Walter McLeod, the President of the Clean Beaches Council, in hopes of getting his take.

completely agree. We need to set the standard and enforce it. To not enforce the rules, is very shortsighted. They may be overly burdened right now, but as you say, letting this go will result in a larger problem down the road...

Again, I am not sure why Walton County can't employ (interns, workstudy, volunteers) some students as "Goodwill Ambassadors" who can aid in the clean-up, but also educate the visitors.

I am amazed at how few people know about the dangers of digging holes and leaving them; and the number of people who are clueless about the turtles.

Usually, when we tell them, most people are more than happy to do the right thing to protect the turtles and the beach.

Really,imo if you aren't at a camp ground, you don't need to wag a tent. Tents are for camping, not the beach. If you are strong enough to take your crap to the beach you damn well are strong enough to drag it away. Leaving things on the beach gives all tourists a bad name.

When our family first moved here we lived on the beach. And yes, our deed said we owned the land down to the Gulf. We posted a sign on our beach walkover about removing items left on the beach overnight and that was 7 or 8 years ago before it was the thing to do but we wanted to maintain a turtle friendly beach. We did throw away items that were left on the beach overnight and the funny thing is that one family actually replaced their items THREE times before they decided to believe our sign. We could see them come down to the beach with the store tags still on their items and they would look round to see who was watching them. But it took them three times to finally get the message to take their items home with them. That is the real reason folks around here don't read our signs. They know there will be NO consequence.