FNPS comments on Gadsden County proposed land use change in Rhododendron chapmanii protection zone
FLORIDA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY PO Box 278 Melbourne, FL 32902-0278 July 10, 2024 Gadsen County Planning Commission 9 East Jefferson Street Quincy, Florida 32353-1799 Subject: Mainline Contracting Small Scale Future Land Use Map Amendment (SSPA 2023-02) and Likelihood of Impacts to Chapman’s Rhododendron Dear Gadsden County Planning Commission: The Florida Native Plant Society is committed to the conservation of Florida’s native plants and native plant communities. The proposal to allow mining on the Mainline Contracting parcel may pose a very serious threat to one of Florida’s most imperiled and distinctive native plant species. Chapman’s Rhododendron (Rhododendron minus var. chapmanii) is listed as Endangered by both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Department of Agriculture due to its dire level of imperilment, which is partly a function of its extremely narrow geographic range. The proposed change to Gadsden County’s Future Land Use Map would allow sand mining ...