Amelia Island, Fla. — For Nassau County residents like Greg Gaylor, American Beach’s vehicle access point makes beach days a breeze.
“It just makes it convenient when you can bring all your fishing stuff. Especially if you have kids, you got all their toys and whatnot,” Gaylor told Action News Jax while fishing on the beach Wednesday morning.
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However, the community conservation group, Save Historic American Beach, announced Wednesday that it’s suing Nassau County, in an attempt to put an end to driving on American Beach’s shorelines - at least until the county can conduct a full environmental study.
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“When the DNR said back in 1989 that beach driving in Florida is a dinosaur, it’s still a dinosaur today. It was a dinosaur in 1989, it’s a dinosaur today,” Mark Hawkins, the chairman of Save Historic American Beach said at Wednesday’s announcement. “This island has 13 miles of beaches. You can drive on one mile of beach and half of that one mile is American Beach.”
While Save Historic American Beach says that a temporary pause is vital to protecting the wildlife that calls these shorelines home, neighbors Action News Jax spoke to Wednesday morning on American Beach didn’t feel there’s much of a problem at all - adding they’d be very much against a further restriction on beach driving.
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“I don’t know of anyone that’s ever had a close call running over a sea turtle nest or anything like that. I just think that’s going a little too far,” Gaylor said.
“We have other neighbors from our community that walk on the beach that have seen dead turtles,” Hawkins argued. “So, I mean, the fact that there’s someone on the beach that says they haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
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Action News Jax was sent a photo seemingly showing one of what Save Historic American Beach says has been several instances of sea turtle hatchlings killed by drivers on American Beach.
However, in a letter responding to the lawsuit, Nassau County’s legal team said in part:
“Nassau County is not aware of any verified vehicular collisions with live sea turtles in the unincorporated area of the county, including American Beach.”
Action News Jax also reached out to the county about these concerns and the lawsuit, but they said they’re unable to comment at this time due to pending litigation.
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