HOBE SOUND, Fla. (CBS12) — Since word got out that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is proposing to build three golf courses at Johnathan Dickinson Park, it has been met with pushback.

Both state and federal lawmakers are voicing their frustrations and concerns for the park’s future, including Congressman Brian Mast.

Mast is known as a champion for the preservation of Florida’s natural habitat – and the news of these proposed golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park caught him and other lawmakers off guard.

“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,” said Mast.

He tells CBS12 News no one from the state or local governments knew this was happening.

“The source of this goes back to Florida’s Great Outdoor Initiative under Florida’s DEP and they’re looking to expand outdoor activities, so that’s the source of this,” he said.

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That initiative states it will work to expand public access and increase outdoor activities in Florida’s state parks, but a golf course is not what the Congressman nor State Senator Gayle Harrell had in mind.

“It’s a great initiative but we need to do it carefully, looking at each park very carefully and what are the assets we have in the park,” said Harrell.

“I would not be for developing this wilderness,” clarified Mast.

Next week, representatives from the DEP will hold meetings across the state to get feedback from locals, including a stop in Stuart.

But in an open letter to the governor, Mast says this process is a sham because he says the representatives coming to take public comment next week are not part of the DEP’s Acquisition and Restoration Council.

Instead, he says the state is sending a ‘subject matter expert’ in their place.

“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,” said Mast.

So far, tens of thousands of people have expressed their outrage on these proposed plans including on a Facebook advocacy page, Protect Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

CBS12 News spoke with the creator of the page, Jessica Natham.

“As you see from the turnout here, residents will engage themselves. They’re ready to come out and spend money in the parks,” said Natham.