Brooks County, GA - L.R. Goodson has been farming for 48 years, battling the elements and insects to make a crop.
But that’s nothing compared to his current struggle.
Goodson is caught in the middle of the battle between endangered species, wetlands and private property rights. He could lose some of his land.
The cast of characters includes the endangered wood stork, the state Department of Transportation (DOT), a mitigated wetland and a road widening.
The Goodson’s horror story begins with the widening of U.S. 84 between Thomasville and Valdosta, some 15 miles away from the Goodson farm near the Georgia-Florida line in Brooks County.
In the process of widening the road, DOT destroyed wetlands and disrupted the habitat of the endangered wood stork, a federally protect species.
Under current law, the state is mandated to “mitigate” - in other words, to create a new wetland or habitat - wetlands and endangered species habitats that have been destroyed.
Betty Goodson West, daughter of L.R., found out about the mitigation plan when she received a call from the DOT, asking her to sell the property.
“I said, ‘It is not for sale at any price’” said Mrs. West.
Two weeks later, Mrs. West got a letter from the DOT district engineer telling her that, by law the DOT could “come over here and start surveying.”
Three truckloads of surveyors showed up in February as Goodson was beginning to prepare land for this year’s crop.
The DOT wants 40 acres in the middle of a 300-acre field now planted in cotton.
There’s a cypress swamp nearby, but the land in question has never been classified as a wetland.
To get to the 40-acre site, DOT will have to build a 60-foot road through the farm.
The issue has galvanized the south Georgia farming community. Some 400 neighbors and supporters gathered recently in a pecan grove at the Goodson farm to show their support. Brewer Pope, a neighbor, simply calls it a “taking” by the government.
The problem has arisen because of laws that don’t take economic factors into consideration. Two bills now introduced to the U.S. House would reform the process of protecting endangered species and people’s rights and the other would give direction to the wetlands issue.
As for the plight of L.R. Goodson, it appears the state does have the power to take his property.
If there’s a victory for Goodson, it’s going to be because the DOT backed off the project due to public pressure. “If there’s anything that’s going to help Betty and her father now, it’s public support,” said Pope.
(Courtesy Perry Times, Perry, GA)
Editor’s Note: After we read this, it brought to light the lunacy we have in our government. The U.S. Government has become an uncontrollable machine that is incapable of correcting itself. It is self-perpetuating, feeding on the people who it should be serving. Ag Air Update faxed this article to U.S. Representative Roy Rowland (D-GA). We should take on a campaign to bombard our duly elected officials with this kind of inadequacies. Maybe one day it will all sink in, maybe about election time!
Reprint permission given by AgAir Update, P.O. Box 850, Perry, GA 31069 - an international agricultural aviation publication.
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