A controversial proposal to develop golf courses on federally protected national park land in Florida has hit a major snag.

In August, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection released the “Great Outdoors Initiative,” which would have seen golf courses built in national parks in the state. The plan reportedly included two 18-hole golf courses and one nine-hole golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, as well as additional pickleball courts or disc golf courses for Oleta River State Park in Miami-Dade County, Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County, Camp Helen State Park in Bay County, Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Broward County, Grayton Beach State Park in Walton County and Hillsborough River State Park in Hillsborough County.

It also proposed building lodges with up to 350 rooms at Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County.

The Tuskegee Dunes Foundation was behind the plan to build the golf courses, the Palm Peach Post reported, with the plans released after they were leaked to environmental activists. The foundation, which is registered in Delaware, told the newspaper that the golf courses and other facilities at the state parks would have told the “inspirational story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis paused the plan in August amid bipartisan uproar, calling the initiative “half-baked.”

But now a Republican state senator is taking steps to stop further progress on the initiative.

State Senator Gayle Harrell on Wednesday filed a bill, dubbed the “State Park Preservation Act,” that would remove golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts and ball fields from the list of recreational uses permitted in state parks.

Harrell, who represents the district where Jonathan Dickinson State Park is located, filed the bill for consideration during the 2025 legislative session that begins March 4.

The bill calls for state parks to be “managed to provide the greatest combination of benefits to the public and the land’s natural resources.” It also permits, among other things, activities like fishing, camping, bicycling, hiking, swimming, boating, canoeing, horseback riding, jogging, sailing, diving “and similar conservation based public recreational uses,” but bans “sports requiring facilities, such as golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball fields, and other similar facilities.”

The bill would also prohibit construction activities within a state park that “may cause significant harm to the resources” of the park, and it would ban construction of lodges. Additionally, it would require public hearings for all conservation and nonconservation land management plans and provide a specific timeframe for which these plans must be made available to the public.

It comes after intense backlash to the Great Outdoors Initiative. State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Republican, slammed the proposal for nine state parks to redesignate areas for more active uses.

“We have worked hard to improve our state parks with the goal of protecting and preserving natural habitats, and enhancing access to passive recreational activities like hiking, biking or canoeing,” Passidomo posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“Our vision did not contemplate the addition of golf courses and hotels, which in my view are not in-line with the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of nature. I am open to other ideas, but from what I know at this time, the proposal should not move forward in its current form.”

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Florida Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Wilton Simpson, both of whom may seek to succeed DeSantis, also came out against it.

“Public lands should be enjoyed and protected,” Simpson said in a statement. “We have to be really careful when we talk about building infrastructure in state parks.”

Patronis called the proposal a “slippery slope.”

“The current state parks have established designation, design, followings for their theme or characteristics,” Patronis added.

Republican U.S. Representative Brian Mast of Stuart also slammed the idea.

“My first reaction when I heard about this was whose idea was it, who’s been putting this forward, who’s heard about this, who knows about this and I immediately started making phone calls about it,” he told WPEC in West Palm Beach.

“If the voting members of this board are not in attendance, then it is what I already said it is—it’s just box checking, it’s just a dog and pony show, it’s a slap in the face to the community, it’s a middle finger to the community.”

Environmental activist Julie Brashears Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida, also slammed the plans.

“I’m not sure who is feeling a desperate lack of golf courses in southeast Florida, but what I can tell you is we are feeling a desperate lack of native scrub habitat,” Wraithmell told the Palm Beach Post. “Putting in a golf course on top of habitat is not what state parks are meant to be.”

A petition opposing the golf course plans amassed almost 100,000 signatures in less than a week.

“There are already at least 47 golf courses between Stuart and Jupiter. That is FOURTY SEVEN golf courses in a 20-mile radius; we do not need to destroy a beloved state park to add any more,” the petition’s organizer wrote on the page.

“I’m devastated that as a community we even have to worry about this. Florida land and Florida wildlife is precious. They’re not making any more of it. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and I’m personally sick of seeing my home ruined.”

Following the uproar, DeSantis put a lid on the plans but downplayed the anger.

“A lot of that stuff was just half-baked and it was leaked to a left-wing group to try to create a narrative,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Polk County, later referring to it as “obviously a phony narrative” that the state parks were about to become “a big parking lot.

“Here’s the thing, I’d rather not spend any money on this, right? If people don’t want improvements, then don’t do it.”

He added: “I’m totally fine to just do nothing and do no improvements if that’s what the general public wants. As if they were going to try to take away unspoiled land. No, there was almost 1,000 buildings on that base back in the day. There’s still some remnants of it.”

Harrell’s bill still has to pass through the state Senate and House, but if approved, it would take effect in July 2025.

Newsweek has contacted Harrell and DeSantis for comment via email.