NEW
RULES ON SHELL KEY!
The
Pinellas County Commission has approved the proposed updates
to the Shell Key management plan. Alcohol and
pets have been banned from the entire
preserve. Camping
by fee-based permit only will be allowed
on the southern public use areas. |
A
brief history of the Shell
Key Management Plan...
In 2000, Pinellas County acquired
a lease from the State of Florida to establish Shell Key as
a Wildlife Preserve. At that time, new rules
regarding alcohol and public use were enacted to comply with
the requirements of the state
lease.
In
2007, the plan came up for it's scheduled review and update.
After several months of public debate and input from various
interests, County staff began formulating proposals to restrict
camping, alcohol and pets from Shell Key.
Beginning
in April, 2007 shellkey.org offered
the idea of camping by permit
as an alternative to the proposed
camping ban.
After consulting with other campers, environmental groups and
county staff, we began to receive
support for our ideas from campers, representatives of environmental
groups as well as County staff in the Environmental Lands division.
** see our original plan
to find practical solutions to the challenge of balancing
public use with environmental protection.
By
October of 2007, County staff formally included camping
by permit into the draft plan. In December, The County
Commission formally
approved the plan.
Please
see the update stories listed at the right of this page for
the most recent updates.
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