Operation Mangrove Shield
In 1990, a company owned by Blockbuster CEO Wayne Huizenga tried get a private beach club approved on Soldier Key, the uppermost Florida Key. Earth First had other plans...
IN ORDER TO OFFICIALLY BE CALLED A “FLORIDA KEY”, an island’s terra firma must be comprised of of coral rock known as Key Largo Limestone. The northernmost reach of this Pleistocene rock is Soldier Key. Sad news for the residents of Key Biscayne. You are a Florida Key in name only — a FKINO, if you will.
18th Century Spanish missionary maps of Soldier Key list the name of the (single) island as La Parida y Sus Hijos, which translates roughly to “a mother and her recently born sons”. 19th century maps show both Little Soldier Key and Soldier Key. No evidence of any other island but the one we know of exists today. Perhaps Soldier Key is like a twin who consumes their sibling in the womb, or perhaps the previously listed neighboring islands were sucked up into the atmosphere during a hurricane, Key Largo Limestone and all...Speculation aside, Soldier Key is the setting of a little-known environmental action which took place in 1990. It was called OPERATION MANGROVE SHIELD.
At the time of the action, Soldier Key was still privately owned and held in trust. Pending approval of a development project, Robert Lambert, an executive of Florida Princess Cruise Line, and Wayne Huizenga, the owner of Blockbuster Entertainment, as partners, were given an option to purchase the island. On February 2nd of 1992, looking back on the operation, Earth First! published a story about what went down. In it, they detail Lambert’s plans for the island: the “tiki bar from hell”, daily shuttles from Bayside Marketplace, dredge and fill, you name it.
It wouldn’t have been the first time the island was a jumping off point of recreation from the mainland. In the early 1900s, Henry Flagler would shuttle the guests of his Royal Palm Hotel to Soldier Key on a boat called the Louise so they could fish and picnic.
The developer duo had outbid the National Park Service. Their project was contingent on approval from all stakeholders. It was met with serious pushback by environmentalists and the South Florida community-at-large. Earth First’s Everglades division mobilized quickly. They launched Operation Mangrove Shield on the same day as Operation Desert Shield, using a combination of direct action and publishing against the effort. They called on citizens to cut their Blockbuster cards, scuttled cigarette boats with protest banners in the bay, and raised awareness of the damage the project would cause to endangered Hawksbill Turtle nests and Roseate Spoonbill Habitat.
The actions worked. Public pressure forced the partners to withdraw their plans. Huizenga broke up with Lambert, filing a temporary injunction against him using the Blockbuster name in any of his marketing materials or in relation to his party boats — boats against which Lambert had signed promissory notes to the tune of at least $400,000 and on which he was defaulting. Suckers!
Friends, all’s well that end’s well, and Biscayne Bay was saved from what Carl Hiaasen referred to as “The Tiki Bar From Hell”.
If you like this bit of hidden history, please consider supporting Islandia’s end of year Citizenship Drive:
Islandia's Year-End Citizenship Drive
We print beautiful editions and maintain a part-time staff of Miami as hell writers and artists. We pay all contributors.
 | A guest post by
|