{"id":2624,"date":"2026-07-03T09:32:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:32:06","slug":"after-alcatraz-environmentalists-have-a-new-target-the-runway-in-the-everglades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2624","title":{"rendered":"After \u2018Alcatraz,\u2019 environmentalists have a new target: the runway in the Everglades"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>With the one-time immigration detention camp known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d closed down, environmental groups say the time has come to turn the remote airport into an environmental preserve. That could include ripping up the jumbo runway that was the subject of a huge environmental fight decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2622\">Is the World Cup is helping small businesses in Miami? Fans know what they want<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Miami-Dade County owns the 17,000-acre expanse of wetlands that surrounds what\u2019s officially known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a sleepy airfield 45 miles west of Miami International Airport. Gov. Ron DeSantis seized the airport in the summer of 2025 for use as a temporary detention facility for immigration offenders awaiting deportation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Last week, DeSantis traveled to an already cleared out \u201cAlcatraz\u201d and declared the operation concluded, prompting Miami-Dade to get ready to take back the airfield once the state formally relinquishes control of the site.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear when that will happen, but there\u2019s a push to block any future mobilization or development at the site by turning it into a nature preserve. That could mean dismantling the 10,500-foot runway the county installed there in the 1960s, before environmental groups \u2014 led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas \u2014 rose up to block what was supposed to be the country\u2019s largest airport.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that the detention center is closed to detainees, it is paramount that transparency and public input guide the next steps for this culturally and ecologically significant part of the Everglades,\u201d Friends of the Everglades wrote in a letter Thursday to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. \u201cThis site was the target of harmful development a half-century ago, when the Everglades Jetport proposal threatened Big Cypress\u2026 And it stands to be harmed once more if back-room deals are allowed to dictate what comes after \u2018Alligator Alcatraz.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The advocacy group presented Levine Cava with a plan for what\u2019s next for the county airfield, which Levine Cava has already said she wants to see transferred to the National Park Service for preservation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>As part of the five-point plan outlined by the Friends of the Everglades, the group wants Miami-Dade to \u201cevaluate removal\u201d of the airfield\u2019s runway in order to \u201cadvance Everglades restoration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Eve Samples, the group\u2019s executive director, wrote in the letter that the study should analyze the \u201cecological impacts of the original 1969 runway\u201d and \u201cthe costs and benefits of removing the runway and restoring the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Levine Cava\u2019s plan, announced in a June 25 memo and a follow-up letter to DeSantis, is silent on whether the runway should be removed as part of a preservation plan.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conclusion of detention operations presents an opportunity to return these lands to a purpose that reflects their environmental significance and advances our shared responsibility to preserve the Everglades for future generations,\u201d the mayor wrote to DeSantis on June 29.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Before the state\u2019s seizure, Miami-Dade operated the airport for quick landings and takeoffs for pilots needing the touchdowns for licensing purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2620\">How hologram humans are helping travelers find their way at Miami\u2019s airport<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In her June 25 memo to county commissioners, Levine Cava said it didn\u2019t make financial sense to resume airport operations once Florida relinquishes control of the airfield and that she wants to find a way to sell the airport and surrounding wetlands so that the land could be turned over to the National Park Service. The federal Big Cypress National Preserve surrounds the county land.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>To make her plan a reality, Levine Cava likely will need the state as a partner. Because the airfield is part of the county\u2019s federally funded aviation system \u2014 a network that includes MIA \u2014 Miami-Dade can\u2019t just give away the land. Levine Cava said the county would need to sell the property for market rate \u2014 and an appraiser once valued the land at $200 million.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Florida could be a buyer, but that would probably mean keeping the airport intact.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Several years ago, Levine Cava\u2019s administration was in touch with the DeSantis team about Florida purchasing the land, retaining the airport as a staging ground for emergency flights after a hurricane or other disaster, and then donating the wetlands to the Park Service.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Levine Cava said the talks were ongoing when DeSantis announced he was using emergency powers last summer to take over the airport for the detention facility he named Alligator Alcatraz.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Now, Levine Cava is trying to resume those talks for an effort that could stretch past DeSantis\u2019 exit from the Governor\u2019s Mansion in January.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Rodney Barreto, the chair of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and whose lobbying firm is active in Miami-Dade politics, was at the center of the pre-Alcatraz talks about the property. In 2021, he had proposed to Levine Cava the idea of a donation to the Park Service, with the idea of a state airfield being central to the plan.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Barreto said it\u2019s hard to see Washington agreeing to letting the airport go away. In talks with what was then the Biden administration, Barreto said he was told the federal government wouldn\u2019t want Miami-Dade to dismantle an airport that\u2019s still used for training and with a runway that could be used in emergencies by commercial jets.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal government said you have to have that airport in place,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Leave it alone.\u2019 That\u2019s the message that got back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2618\">Miami-Dade school district keeps \u2018A\u2019 grade. See where your school ranked<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Environmental groups urge Miami-Dade to convert the Dade-Collier airport near Big Cypress into an Everglades preserve and study removal of the runway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miami-dade-county"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>After \u2018Alcatraz,\u2019 environmentalists have a new target: the runway in the Everglades - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2624\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After \u2018Alcatraz,\u2019 environmentalists have a new target: the runway in the Everglades - 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