SAVE THE FARM

 

Please take a moment to read this through.  I'm sure that after reading you'll be fired up to send the information on to your email newsletters and listserves.  You can either copy and paste the text, or send the weblink as well

<http://www.floridaseden.org/journal/>

 

Thank you for your community support!

Annie

 

PUBLIC ALERT!!!

 

Current State budget cuts have placed our beloved Historic Dudley Farm State Park on the chopping block!  Whether you have visited, or not, please take a few moments to learn more and act to save this National Historic Landmark and best preserved working pioneer farm in the nation.

It is an outrage that this paragon of Americana should be so undervalued and treated with such ignorant disregard! We need your help as we send a collective outcry, commanding our State to protect this Florida Treasure!

Together We Can Save The Farm!

 

WHO TO CONTACT

 

Charlie Christ, Governor: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Mike Bullock, Director, Florida State Parks: ph: 850-245-3029, michael.bullock@dep.state.fl.us

Representative Debbie Boyd: debbie.boyd@myfloridahouse.gov

Senator Steve Oelrich, oelrich.steve.web@flsenate.gov

Alachua County Commission: bocc@alachuacounty.us

 

Present efforts are directed at communicating with the Governor’s office and our elected State Legislators. Additionally we are publicizing the proposed closure so that the public at large is aware of the situation and can participate in our efforts as they see fit.

 

Identify your involvement with Dudley Farm, i.e., a CSO member, visitor, educator, etc. This is important information to the officials. Be very clear that you are not an employee of the Park Service. Employees are severely restricted in what they can say and write. 

 

Be clear that you are speaking as an individual, not as a representative of the Friends of Dudley Farm. The Friends of Dudley Farm is a support organization to Dudley Farm and the Park Service. As such it must be very careful about adopting any position contrary to that of the Park Service.   Be accurate in what you say.  If you have visited the Park, state why Dudley Farm is important to you. If you haven't yet visited, let everyone know you intend to visit.

 

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO

 

1. Write a short letter to the Editor of the Gainesville Sun: voice@gvillesun.com

3. Support the Park by visiting.  Admission is very affordable at $4.00 per vehicle. Consider putting an extra $1. in the envelope.  It all helps.

4. Send this email out to family and friends.

5. Participate in Dudley Farm events, listed below.

6. Plan on coming to the Dudley Farm Paint Out, March 12 - 15, 2009

 

DUDLEY FARM EVENTS TO POST AND REMEMBER

 

*****The Dudley Farm PaintOut: Thursday, March 12th through Sunday, March 15th.

30 of Florida's finest plein air artists converge to paint the Farm for 4 full days in springtime.

A terrific way to come learn about and support the action.

 

Plow Days: Saturday, February 7th. Dudley Farm.

Come be thrilled by the "turning of the soil" as done by the teams of work horses!

Great activities for the whole family. Come support this national treasure in our own backyard.

 

Antique Tractor Days: Saturday, February 28th. Dudley Farm.

OK, who doesn't like antique tractors??? Come enjoy a very different Saturday on the Farm.

Florida's Eden and the Friends of Dudley Farm will be at both events to answer questions

and show you how you can easily help save the farm.

 

Historic Dudley Farm State Park is located in Newberry, Florida

SR 26 (Newberry Road), just 7 miles west of the Newberry Road Exit of I-75 in Gainesville, Florida

 

THE STORY AND THE NEED

 

The Florida State Park Service, a division of the state's Department of Environmental Protection, has issued a list of 19 Park closures as part of this legislative session's proposed cutbacks.

 

Dudley Farm has been misplaced on this list. Ironically, this year a steady stream of prominent, national historic experts have also been visiting the Park. They all agree that Dudley has great national significance and should indeed be placed in the nomination process for a designation as a national cultural landmark. Many of these experts were amazed and shocked to learn that this intact, 1800s working farm even exists in America! They believe its one of the very best examples of an authentic pioneer American farm...and its in our own backyard!

 

From what we've learned, Dudley is being singled out because the overhead required to maintain the Farm and its educational programs  is higher than the revenue it makes for the State. The Park is required to operate like a business and is accountable for holding its own and bringing in a profit.  The way it is now, Dudley is being set up to fail.

 

Read On:

 

*Dudley has a very active "Friends Of" group of volunteers. They care deeply and provide many in-kind services the Park would otherwise have to pay for, ie; mowing, fence-building, maintenance, etc. However, current state bookkeeping methods do not allow these in-kind contributions to be subtracted from the park's supposed operating budget, thereby inflating the cost of maintaining the park and devaluing the hard work and devotion of the park volunteers.

 

*Dudley is a huge educational resource for Alachua County, with school groups booked throughout the fall and spring.  Public schools do not pay an entrance fee so these groups do not bring in revenue. The State Park Service mandates--correctly, we feel--that parks serve an educational purpose, however the number of school groups that visit is not counted toward the park's success, but counted against its bottom line.

 

*Dudley is a different kind of park: Many of the parks on the closure list are isolated lands set aside for wildlife and conservation.  Placing them under stewardship deprives the public of the opportunity to visit, but does not damage the parks in any way.  By contrast, Dudley is an operational farm.  Closure or cutting of hours will quickly cripple the ongoing cycle of farm life: farm animals will be moved elsewhere, propagation of heirloom seeds will end, volunteer work to maintain the buildings and their fragile contents will be much reduced.  The CSO "friends of" will lose much of its enthusiasm without a public audience and the years of building up the volunteer corps will have been waisted. In short, Dudley will no longer be the authentic pioneer working farm that makes it unique.

 

*Dudley is a valuable economic asset: Cultural and heritage tourism is an important facet of Alachua County's economy and the fastest growing sector of the tourism market; Dudley is one of the prime economic assets for Newberry, Florida.  Why destroy a valuable tourism asset?

 

*Dudley holds lessons in this challenging time: pioneer life offers valuable lessons on self-sufficiency, stewardship of the land, and conservation methods. Florida is remarkable in that this way of life survived up to the brink of the 21st century, just when we need to learn again how to live in harmony with nature.  The Dudley farm has cistern systems, ponds, and sustainable methods of agriculture that are relevant to today. Crops that are resistant to drought and insects are part of the living heritage of Dudley farm, as are crop rotation, methods of increasing yields, heirloom botanicals, fruit varieties and medicinal plants.

 

I hope by now you're fired up to help us save the Farm.

 

I have been meeting with local and state officials who all tell me that what we need to do is cause a very loud and continuous ruckus!

 

They say we should be outraged about this for all the many reasons stated above and drop any reserved attitudes and just start yelling! By the way, the Park staff is prohibited from advocating for the Park!  And the Friends Of Dudley Farm has to be reserved and careful.

 

So, please send out this appeal; send visitors to our website; contact your state and local officials; write letters to the editor; and come out to the farm and the Historic Dudley Farm Paint Out, March 12 - 15, and help "Save the Farm"!

 

Even in these challenging economic times; Our State Parks offer richly rewarding, yet amazingly affordable outings for all ages. After all, these parks are the people's lands and cultural treasures.

Thank you all for your great involvement in Our Beautiful Florida's Eden!