"Stop the Assault in Tallahassee on Rivers, Lakes" @MiamiHerald #water #eco #everglades

OUR OPINION: Stop the assault in Tallahassee on rivers, lakes

HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com

This land is your land, this land is my land — or so the old folk song goes. In Tallahassee, though, public lands and lakes, rivers, streams and beaches seem to be under assault from various quarters that want to privatize what has been public domain since Florida became a state in 1845.

This latest assault seeks to “clarify” what constitutes the “ordinary high water line” for submerged land along lakes, rivers and streams. Odd such a clarification would be needed as court after court has ruled for more than a century that lakes, rivers and streams (along with beaches) belong to the public, period — and that the public part starts at the high-water mark based on the rainy season.