Rise of Development and the Threat to the Island

By the mid-20th century, as tourism and real estate development expanded throughout Florida, attention turned to barrier islands like St. George. The construction of the St. George Island Causeway in the 1960s gave developers easier access to the island’s western half, leading to condos, vacation homes, and resorts.

However, the eastern end of the island—where the modern state park is located—remained largely untouched. This wild section, covered in pine flatwoods, salt marshes, and rolling dunes, was soon in the crosshairs of developers seeking to expand beachfront properties.

Environmental Concerns

Scientists and conservationists warned that paving over dunes and draining marshes would:

• Destroy wildlife habitat
  
  


• Accelerate coastal erosion
  
  


• Increase hurricane vulnerability
  
  


• Harm the Apalachicola Bay ecosystem, which depended on freshwater inflow and barrier island protection
  
  

These warnings galvanized a grassroots movement to save the island’s eastern end—and a key figure in that effort was Dr. Julian G. Bruce. shutdown123