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Mining
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The extraction of Florida’s mineral resources contributed to the growth and decline of towns and
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impacted land cover and natural resources in the 20th century. Florida’s main mineral resources
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include phosphate, limestone, and sand (Florida Department of Environmental Protection
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[FDEP] 2014). The state also contains deposits of heavy minerals that include zircon, leucoxene,
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ilmenite, and rutile (FDEP 2014).
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Phosphate mining is a major industry in Central Florida, and the state produces about onequarter of the world’s phosphate (FDEP 2014). Phosphate was initially discovered in Alachua
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County in the late 1880s, but the first phosphate boom was in the Dunnellon area (Florida
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Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute [FIPR] 2016a). The industry later moved further
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south to the Polk County area, and Dunnellon’s last mine closed in the 1960s. The City of
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Dunnellon continues to exist today, but other phosphate towns such as Romeo, LeRoy, Brewster,
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and Parkersburg do not. Early mining was done by hand, but this practice was later replaced by
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strip mining. Mining removes vegetation, alters drainage patterns and recharge, changes soil
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profiles, and destroys habitat. Processing phosphate is also water intensive, which has caused
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springs to dry up (Derr 1998). By 2000, more than 460 square miles of Florida had been mined
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for phosphate (FIPR 2016b).
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The state’s limestone, sand, and gravel are primarily used for road and building construction.
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Limestone has been quarried in Marion County since the early 1900s, and even though mines are
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located throughout the state, concentrations are still located in Marion and Miami-Dade County.
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Sand is mined throughout the state, but many mines are located in the Panhandle and Central
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Florida. Heavy minerals are mined in northeast Florida. Heavy minerals mining began in 1916
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near the present day city of Ponte Vedra Beach. Two of these minerals, ilmenite and rutile, are
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used as pigments in manufacturing items such as paints, plastics, and paper (FDEP 2014).
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FLORIDA LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE IN THE PAST 100 YEARS • 59
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Urbanization
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Land booms have occurred multiple times in Florida resulting in rapid population growth and
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development. One of the first major land booms occurred after World War I. By this time, middle
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class people had the time, money, and means to travel to Florida. Automobiles and improving
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roadways made travel more accessible for middle class families, and Florida became a popular
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tourist destination. Cities developed to attract tourists, but also to meet the needs of visitors that
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were interested in buying homes. Developers built new communities to meet demand, and they
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altered the land to do so. For example, Carl Fisher cleared mangroves to build Miami Beach
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(George 1981). D.P. Davis dredged nearly 100 million cubic feet of sand to merge two small
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islands near Tampa into one, now known as Davis Islands, by covering the mudflats (History
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2014). George Merrick designed and built the Mediterranean Revival community of Coral
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Gables, which included the construction of canals that offered gondola rides (Parks 2015).
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However, a few seasons of bad weather helped end the post-World War I boom by 1925.
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Following World War II, development in Florida boomed again. New home financing options
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and improved construction techniques that lowered costs made homeownership possible for more
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people. Additionally, retirees were drawn to Florida for its climate and lower housing costs.
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Developers once again set out to build new communities in Florida. These developers utilized
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economies of scale to create large suburban communities that sometimes included shopping,
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schools, parks, and community centers (Nettles 2015). Once again, developers transformed the
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landscape by completely clearing large tracts of lands during construction. Developers also
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created new canals to maximize the amount of waterfront property. Some of these large housing
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developments were designed as new towns, such as Spring Hill or Beverly Hills, and other
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developments catered solely to retirees, such as Sun City. This boom slowed in the late 1960s
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due to an economic recession.
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Since the 1970s, Florida has been a growth management state and has sought to regulate new
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development in an attempt to minimize infrastructure costs and environmental impacts. Florida’s
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earliest land use regulation was the Zoning Enabling Act of 1928, which allowed local
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governments to control development by enacting and enforcing zoning codes (Arrant n.d.). No
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further regulation occurred until after Florida’s mid-century boom, but in 1972 and 1973 Florida
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passed two planning statutes. The first created Regional Planning Councils (RPCs) to address
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regional land use issues and the impacts of large-scale developments. The other created
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Developments of Regional Impact (DRIs) and Areas of Critical State Concern (Arrant n.d.). DRIs
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are large development projects that impact more than one county, and are required to undergo an
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approval process that considers and mitigates the impacts. The DRI process has been scaled back
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since its inception, and the types of development it addresses was reduced in 2011. Areas of
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Critical State Concern are significant areas and natural resources that the state protects by
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overseeing local approvals for development. The state currently has five Areas of Critical State
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Concern: Big Cypress, Green Swamp, Florida Keys, Key West, and Apalachicola (Florida
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Department of Economic Opportunity 2016).
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60 • MICHAEL I. VOLK ET AL.
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The next step in growth management was the Local Government Comprehensive Planning
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Act enacted in 1975, requiring local governments to have comprehensive land use plans. Nearly
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a decade later, in 1984, Florida adopted a State Comprehensive Plan with planning goals and
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action steps. The following year, Florida enacted the Growth Management Act. This revised the
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1975 act by requiring local government plans and amendments to be adopted by ordinance and
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approved by the state. This act also required local governments to have Future Land Use Maps
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(FLUMs) and Land Development Regulations (LDRs) (Stroud 2012). Florida revised its
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comprehensive plan requirements again in 2011, this time significantly reducing the process for
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state review of local plans and generally relaxing local planning requirements (Shelley and
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Brodeen 2011). Although growth management policies have helped facilitate a coordinated land
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use planning process throughout the state, Florida is still highly impacted by rising populations
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and policies that incentivize development, making careful land use planning more important than
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ever.
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Disruption of Natural Processes
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Throughout Florida’s history, people have disrupted natural processes to ‘improve’ the land.
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These efforts have included draining wetlands, converting forests to farm fields and citrus,
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introducing exotic species, and suppressing fires. Before people understood the causes of malaria
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or yellow fever, which were once prevalent in the state, they linked the diseases to swamp gases
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or miasma that came from standing water. Swamps were considered undesirable places with
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deleterious effects on health, and draining these areas was considered beneficial. Additionally,
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people believed that swamps and marshes, once drained, would make good agricultural land. In
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other cases, filling in marshes was a way to create more land for development. One of the largest
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of these projects was the draining of the Everglades. Early efforts began in the 1800s, but the
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initiative intensified in 1906 under Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (Davis 2009). To
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drain the Everglades, a series of canals were dug to channelize and drain the water. The new
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canals often expanded or altered existing rivers, such as the Miami and Kissimmee rivers, but
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efforts to manage water and control flooding had limited success (Davis 2009). By the late 1970s
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and early 1980s, the state undertook plans to restore hydrology within the watershed where
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feasible. Efforts have also included dechannelizing and restoring the natural flow of the
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Kissimmee River, which serves as the headwaters of the Everglades and flows into Lake
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Okeechobee. Water treatment reservoirs have been built in several areas south of the Everglades
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Agricultural Area (EAA), and others are planned in areas throughout the Everglades watershed
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as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) (U.S. Department of the
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Interior [DOI] 2016). Figure 2.1 provides a comparison of historic and current hydrology in the
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Everglades, as well as future hydrology as proposed to be restored under CERP, with primary
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flow patterns indicated by blue arrows.
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