{"id":39491,"date":"2016-03-28T11:46:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T15:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=39491"},"modified":"2016-03-28T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T15:46:44","slug":"lehigh-acres-gazette-series-on-private-and-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2016\/03\/lehigh-acres-gazette-series-on-private-and-public-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Acres Gazette Series On Private and Public Lands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1 Understanding Use of Public and Private Lands in Lehigh Acres<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Where can I legally ride ATVs, etc.?<\/strong>\u00a0On private property that you own or have permission to access or in designated parks. Consult www.myfwc.com<\/a> \u00a0for management areas that all ATV\/Off-Road Vehicle use.<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t I ride along canals, waterways or wetlands?<\/strong>\u00a0 These areas play an important role to keeping our local area free from flooding, helps improve water quality and allows LA-MSID to recharge aquifers. Any disruption to these\u00a0areas could cause community wide issues.<\/p>\n

I have always used ATVs, etc. on public and other peoples private land. Why is it an issue now?<\/strong>\u00a0Riding has always been an illegal action that has been patrolled. There has been an increase in ATV, etc. activity which has led to the increased enforcement effort<\/p>\n

The landscape in Southwest Florida is both beautiful and fragile. It is Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District\u2019s (LA-MSID) responsibility to preserve and protect its\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 waterways and lands in Lehigh Acres and the western portion of Hendry County.<\/p>\n

Lakes, rivers, canals, reservoirs and the lands that border these waterways play an important role in our water management system. They help to reduce flooding,\u00a0improve water quality and recharge aquifers and must be protected.<\/p>\n

Unauthorized Areas: Use of ATV\/Off-Road Vehicles, etc. on all canal right-of-ways, roadways, public lands unless otherwise stated, and unauthorized use on private lands is prohibited.<\/strong> Watercrafts with combustible motors are prohibited in LA-MSID canals and lakes. Public lands are areas owned by federal\/state agency or any political subdivision of the state.<\/p>\n

Violation of Florida Statutes will result in penalties. Penalties range from warnings and fines to confiscation of property, formal charges and jail time. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe District has been working on this joint enforcement plan for the last several months to limit trespassing, littering and property destruction\u2014particularly those which are environmentally sensitive and crucial to our water management system,\u201d said David E. Lindsay, LA-MSID District Manager. \u201cThe District has always enforced consequences for illegal actions, but now has jointly partnered entities that will be increasing both our education initiatives and enforcement efforts in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay explained the urgency of this enforcement effort comes as southwest Florida is approaching its wettest season of the year which pushes LA-MSID\u2019s need to reduce these negative environmental impacts for good of the community and the integrity of its water system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 1 Understanding Use of Public and Private Lands in Lehigh Acres Where can I legally ride ATVs, etc.?\u00a0On private property that you own or have permission to access or… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":39492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}